buenos aires

The big city has treated Melissa and I very well. Its been a great week in a city that looks half European, half industrial and half South American. I know thats three halves, but its a large city. I think that I will let the photos do the talking this time. Not because there is nothing to say about Buenos Aires, but because a play by play of us doing laundry, seeing movies and cooking our own food is much more interesting for me than it would be for you.

I can provide a few other sensory tidbits for you. The city is really big and noisy. A friend described it as a dirtier version of New York. Others described it as a cheaper version of Paris. There are some iron balconies and 6-story, rounded corner buildings, but beyond that I find it difficult to see the resemblance. I am not sure why, but there is garbage everywhere. Their recycling system may have something to do with it. There are folks who dig through the garbage at night and pull out things they can sell to the recycling plant, then leave the rest scattered about. Aside from the garbage problem and the buses sounding like rubber dog toys, squeaking down the roadway with holes in their shocks, the city is nice. There are cobbled alleys, large plazas, a terrific subway and lots of trees. You can find a sidewalk cafe with hot, yummy empanadas, nice ice cream or cafe y meida lunas (coffee and mini croissants) just about on every block. There is tango in the streets, classic guitar on the Subte platform and people everywhere at all hours of the day and night. It´s fun place to be.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the shopping. At home, shopping is about 37th on my list of favorite activities. Here, It would rate at about 4th. Partially because it is so cheap, but mostly because of their style. Really cute, creative, colorful clothing and shoes. We found out about this clothing designer sale that happens every saturday in the posh, trendy neighborhood of Palermo. They sell all their samples and extras for next to nothing. We went and there was so much cute clothing, I couldn´t begin to pick anything out. And the designers are just sitting there next to their racks, free for the talking to. It was fun. I bought a skirt and some tank tops and now feel much better about being in the city. Those zip off shorts just won´t do when you want to go out to the tango bar and watch dancers while you sip Argentinenian wine.

A good example of the architecture in the city center. Some great examples of Spanish and French styles in the late 1800´s.


Caminito. The famous pedestrian street where the tango started in the neighborhoodhood of La Boca. Now it is a tourist trap with more souvenir shops and staged photo opportunities than real people. The colorful buildings came from the area being built up with leftover ship wood, then painted with extra ship paint, in any color available. Very fun spot.


A tango dancer in La Boca. Well, she was a photo model really, but I saw other dancers in the city and she looks just like one of them.

More La Boca pride. There is a lot of neighborhood rivalry in Buenos Aires. These two playing soccer were the only real people I saw in La Boca.

The Recoletta cemetery. A small city of sorts for the most wealthy families in Buenos Aires. Families build small temple-shrines of sorts for themselves. Marble, granite and Corinthian columns seemed to be popular. A few were air conditioned and had house plants. Others like this one were run down and featured piles of coffins stacked down into the basements. Creeptastic for sure.

Evitia´s family grave. Still not sure who she was, since I have not seen the movie or read my Argentinean history books.. Pathetic of me, I know, but at least I knew to take a photo of her grave. The tour groups may have tipped me off, but I intend to find out why she was beloved and to this day has fresh flowers in her doorway everyday of the year.

We took a tour of the Colon Theater, the city´s main venue for opera, ballet and symphony. We saw the nearly acoustically perfect main hall from the presidential seats, saw the costume shops, the sets workshop, and I saw three Stradivarius violins in the museum cases. Thanks to UPC pastor Earl Palmer I knew that those were a special treat to see.

Here are our friends Netta and Guillermo. We met them at a restaurant near the farm in Mendoza. They run a philosophy school in Buenos Aires and are the nicest people ever. We have stayed with them for the last half week in the city. They even took us out to their family´s county home for swimming, cooking and relaxing. Their city house is an awesome colonial in the city. Tall ceilings, fancy plaster rosettes and molding, shuttered doorways and an enclosed patio. Its been so nice to stay with them. They have recommended good food, ice cream shops and activities and welcomed us to their dinner table, their internet, and their home.

In La Plata, a city near Buenos Aires, we went to a huge cathedral. It was very impressive and very European. Guillermo knew all the history about it and it was very interesting to see. We even caught the end of mass. It was nice to be in a church during a service again. I miss UPC and wish that it was easier to find churches to go to while traveling.

I am sad to leave South America, spanish and dulce de leche. Its been a fast and full two months. Now that my journey is a quarter of the way through, I realize how fast the whole thing will probably go. I am sad to think that it will come to an end someday, but feel thankful that there are so many great things left on the itinerary.

Tonight I fly to Africa. I say that so nonchalantly because I haven´t really given it a ton of thought. Too busy trying to navigate Buenos Aires and get my fill of steak and ice cream. Hopefully the culture shock will be made mostly of excitment and not too overwhelming. I have 8 hours on the plane to process before getting there - I am sure that will be enough. Bring on the continents!