A Fond Farewell To Buenos Aires

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We’re now well into our month in Buenos Aires (BAr) and the more we see of the place, the more we love it. Whilst we’re not exactly “portenos” (a resident of Buenos Aires) yet, we do feel like the length of our stay has allowed us to integrate into life here more than a “normal” holiday would and gain a different perspective on the city and its people. Every morning as I walk Angela to Spanish School (!!) it’s fascinating to watch the city slowly stir from its slumber and the hustle and bustle builds as the day goes on. Locals hurry along the pavements making a beeline for any shade (it gets hot very early) whilst studiously avoiding the condensation dripping from the obligatory air conditioning units mounted high on the buildings above. Concentration must also be maintained to dodge cascading overspill from apartment balcony gardens being watered overhead whilst not getting soaked by a spraying hosepipe as old ladies clean their doorsteps. An endless stream of black and yellow taxis drive slowly next to the curb looking for their next fare whilst innumerable brightly coloured buses thunder by.

The “Colectivo’s” (buses) are the main mode of transport for the masses - don’t forget there are over 13,000,000 people living in Greater BAr. It does have a fairly limited underground system, a decent train service and of course the plentiful taxis but they all play a distant second fiddle to the ancient, bone rattling buses. These roar down the narrow one way streets at ear bursting volumes, every one being driven like it’s a Friday afternoon and the driver has been told he can clock off as soon as he reaches his destination. You need a degree in Advanced Algebra to understand how the numbering for the collectivo’s work and we’re sure the route planners looked at the most efficient way to reach point b from point a and did the absolute opposite. Still, like many things in BAr, it just seems to work - we’ve not seen any traffic snarl ups yet and at around 15p per journey, irrespective of length, it makes for tremendous value.

We’ve used the colectivos extensively and the trains too when we’ve needed to go further afield. One such occasion was our Friday evening visit to BAr’s second racecourse, Hipodromo San Isidro. This is around a half hour train journey out of the city and, similar to the course in Palermo, it’s absolutely huge (it can cater for 200,000 punters........). As it was a Friday night meeting we’d emailed ahead to find out if they served beer (!! - no way were we going to be caught out for a second time) and were pleased get a reply in the affirmative. Again, the racing form etc was a mystery to us but we enjoyed the night as the atmosphere is so relaxed and the heat has gone out of the sun by this time.

Just getting to and from places like this is an eye opener - there is always something happening that is interesting and new to us. For example, on our train ride back from the races to Retiro Station every carriage has its own “entertainers” looking to score a few pesos. There was a fat kid who could juggle like nothing on earth and others using a sales technique I’ve only ever seen out here. They walk through the carriage putting merchandise (gonk pens, hair clips etc) on peoples laps and then repeat the trip collecting either the goods back or money if anyone is daft enough to buy them. There was even an Argentine Michael Bolton lookalike (except his balding curly perm was much longer and jet black) complete with an electric guitar and amplifier strapped to him. He was belting out some local rock classics and appeared to be doing quite well financially (didn’t yet seem to have discovered the benefits of a good deodorant though........).

Despite being their shortest serving pupil ever, the Spanish school still kindly lets me go along with Angela on the trips they run most afternoons. So far we’ve had a city tour (the guide speaking solely in Spanish), brewed and drunk “mate” (the local herb tea) in the park and visited the incredible Recoleta cemetery. Now, we’re not normally interested in graveyards but this one is different. It’s reserved for the Argentine great and good and contains some of the most fabulous shrines, sculptures etc imaginable. Distinguished families own huge marble mausoleums that must have cost a fortune to build and undoubtedly Recoleta’s most famous “resident” is a certain Eva Peron. She is still one of the three most revered people in the country (along with Maradona and Che Guevara) and her name is always spoken with great reverence and respect. Peronism was actually made illegal by the military Government from 1955 to 1971 (it was forbidden to own photos of Eva and her husband or even to say their names!!) and her body conveniently “disappeared” from its grave. Sixteen years later it was discovered in Milan and returned to the family crypt where it still is today - and very well protected too.

Probably the best trip with the school though was to a Tango Cafe where we had dancing lessons from professionals. It’s difficult to explain just how popular tango is here (maybe a more relevant question is WHY is it so popular..........) - there’s a whole industry of shows, schools and so on built around it. Tango’s background is disputed but it was invented by immigrants in the seedier parts of BAr around the 1880’s, where gentlemen would dance it with “ladies of the night” to aid their “selection process”. At that time it was frowned upon by the middle classes but they soon adopted it when the dance somehow found its way to Paris and back and became acceptable to them. There are shows all over the place every night of the week where they tell sad stories of loss and betrayal in love through dance and songs from dramatic, opera type Tango singers.
It’s become obvious for all to see that, as we’ve travelled the world, my dancing is certainly something that sets me apart and numerous nationalities have been amazed by it (think Cook Islanders, Indians, Maoris etc). It was no surprise, therefore, that I was a natural at the Tango too and even Angela’s leaden feet couldn’t stop me from burning up the dance floor (true, she limped from my standing on her toes for a few days after, but the male does take the lead in this dance and she just couldn’t keep up.................. ;-) ).

Our apartment is located in the “barrio” of San Telmo - a quaint, cultural neighbourhood that is a hotbed of tango and the arts in general. The adjoining barrio is known as La Boca and is a stark contrast. Whereas San Telmo is laid back and sedate with a relaxed feel to it, La Boca is quite a scary place, and although it’s only a short walk away, it could be in another world. It gets its name from being at the mouth (boca) of the Riachuelo river and it was BAr’s principle port until the end of the 19th century. It has heavy Italian influences as many settled here in the 1800’s to work in the city’s burgeoning meat industry as packers. The barrio then suffered a heavy blow as the port was relocated to nearby Puerto Madero causing large scale unemployment. Ever since then it has largely been seen as seedy and unsafe with its crime rate by far the highest in the city. Its residents are fiercely proud of their heritage and community and, as you enter it, a huge mural welcomes you to “La Republica de la Boca” (The Republic of Boca); it’s as though it’s declared itself a separate state from Argentina which itself is a republic.

La Boca does have a lot to recommend it though. In an effort to brighten up their dull, tin houses, the inhabitants stole large amounts of brightly coloured paint from the ships to decorate the corrugated exteriors and these make for a vivid spectacle. There is also La Caminito (Little Walkway), a curved street with the walls lined by stalls where local artists sell their paintings and sculptures. However, without doubt its most famous inhabitant is “La Bombonera” (the chocolate box) - home to the country’s most famous football team, Boca Juniors. Unfortunately, the season doesn’t start until February so we couldn’t go to a match but we still did a tour of the stadium and its museum. Although old and basic by Premier League standards La Bombonera was still very interesting and I should imagine this is a terrifying place to be if you’re at a game wearing a shirt in colours other than the blue and yellow of Boca. They are seen as the working peoples club and their most fierce rivals are the affluent Los Millionaires (“The Millionaires”) of near neighbours, River Plate. Hooliganism is a huge problem here; guns and knives are frequently used by the fans and over 200 people have been killed in fights since the league was formed (so much for the “English Disease”!!).

BAr has more teams than any other city in the world and although it sounds dramatic to say soccer is a religion here, it really isn’t far off the truth. My only previous knowledge of Argentine football could be summarised by The Good (Carlos Tevez), The Bad (Maradona - cheat and Heinze - traitor) and The Ugly (probably Tevez again..........) but I’ve learned a lot more now as everyone is constantly talking about it - every United match is shown live because of the Argentine connection. Clubs are run as associations rather than private companies meaning the fans effectively own them and have a huge say in how they are managed. They elect the President, choose which players are bought and sold and their “barrabravas” (hooligan gangs - funded by the club itself!!) are almost as famous as the players themselves. At the recent Argentinian Cup Final, TV crews covered the arrival of the barrabravas coaches at the ground live, commentating on the pictures of them taking up their places in the best area of the stadium which is reserved for them!! Can’t see that happening on Match of the Day.

Despite this, the Argentinian people as a whole seem laid back and very friendly. We’ve found that they go out of their way to help by any means possible and love the chance to practise their English with us. However, if the need arises the portenos can also be a militant lot and there always seems to be a demonstration of some sort or other going on. We regularly hear chants and drums of distant marches from our terrace followed by wailing police sirens and there are at least three full time, permanent protests on the main city square of Plaza De Mayo (Indeed, one day Angela ventured onto the narrow street during a break from her Spanish lessons. Before she knew it, she was being swept along in a throng of banner waving, leaflet spewing militants with not a clue as to what she was protesting about!!) .

The protests are usually for causes like getting the city’s recently closed casino reopened, support for strikes etc but the funniest one recently was where the Mayor sacked 2,500 Town Hall workers because they were too lazy!! (I bet that would send shockwaves through civil and public servants in the UK ;-) ). For some reason these people are known as “gnocchi’s” (yes - as in the Italian pasta) and, after a massive public outcry, a judge ordered for them to be reinstated. The Mayor, who sounds like a man of great directness, reluctantly agreed to this but would not reconnect their PC’s or telephones as, and I quote, “They don’t have any work to do anyway”!!

Another quirk of the portenos is that everybody kisses each other every single time they meet. I know this happens to a certain extent at home but not men on men if you see what I mean. Now I’m no homophobe but the sight of a hairy Argentine bloke of prop forward proportions puckering up as he moves towards you can be very disconcerting. Most times I’ve leapt into action by firing out my right hand to be shaken whilst moving my cheeks out of range; however, a couple of times I’ve been too slow.............). Our neighbour and landlord, Martin was telling us about when he worked in New York for a number of years and wondered why he could never get a girlfriend from the office. Eventually he realised it was because he greeted his (male) Argentinian workmate with a kiss every morning and this was giving the wrong impression.................

Anyway, it is with fond memories and real sadness that we leave Buenos Aires. Our month here has been wonderful, affording us the time to explore and understand the place in reasonable depth (and for Angela to pass her Elementary Conversational Spanish Course with flying colours). Neither of us knew a lot about BAr before our arrival and have been very pleasantly surprised by the city, its people and their way of life. Whilst large scale immigration has provided plentiful and obvious European influences, these are heavily tinged with those of South America creating a place of great beauty and bursting with culture. Add in glorious weather, an incredibly variety of elaborate architecture , an impossibly low cost of living, wonderful food etc and you can see why Buenos Aires is a place we’d heartily recommend. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention the excellent wines - just about all of it produced in vineyards around Argentina’s fourth biggest city, Mendoza.

Our next stop? Mendoza, of course!!

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Photos

Housing La Boca Style
Ashamed about living in poverty the Italian immigrants of La Boca stole paint from ships in the port to brighten up their simple tin houses.

You're Left In No Doubt.................
.................You're entering La Boca, the toughest "barrio" In Buenos Aires. Be afraid, be very afraid.......

Recoleta Cemetery
A place of incredible beauty to say it's a graveyard......
A gravedigger wanted to be buried in one the beautiful tombs so much he committed suicide to hasten things along!!

Evita's Place of Rest
It's one of the least ostentatious tombs in the Recoleta Cemetary - in keeping with her humble origins.

Poise, Elegance, Style and Panache
I'd settle for a bit of any of the above..............
Our tango lesson was great fun.

"Mate" In The Park
Mate is the National drink of Argentina and is a type of herbal tea. It is brewed in a "gourd" (an ornamental cup) and is drunk through a silver straw (bombilla). It's then passed from person to person with more hot water added as and when needed.
They drink gallons of the stuff here but we're not absolutely sure why...............

Easy Life!!
It's absolutely no problem to get into the Latin American pace of doing things.
Everything normally operates in "Mañana" mode but if you need to be extremely punctual for something (for example a business meeting) they say to be there "English time"!!

La Caminito - "The Little Walkway"
A street where the daft and \ or colour blind buy gaudy paintings by local artists. Luckily, we're neither of the above and don't have any room in our cases anyway!!

It's Certainly Not Old Trafford...............
......there's not a prawn sandwich in sight. I should imagine Boca Juniors "La Bombanera" (The Chocolate Box) makes for an incredible experience on match days.

Schools Out!!
After four weeks of hard study Angela truly deserved her graduation certificate - and complimentary "mate" gourd........

There's Always Something Happening..........
.......And it's usually quite loud.
We came across this parade on our last night in the city. The colours were vivid, the noise deafening and we thought it really nice of them to organise this lavish send off for us.

Comments

[nacho hoffmanner]

Hi...i am argentinian, landed here by chance looking for a school for my kids. I can explain you what they are called gnocchis. Gnocchis are a very popular dish in Argentina, as many other italian dishes cause of our italian ancestry. One tradition is to eat gnocchis on the 29 of each month with a note, like a 10 pesos note, under the plate. It is supposed to bring good luck. I dont know where this tradition comes from, but i know that public employes that dont work are called that way because they show up at their offices just on the 29 of every month, the usual payment day in this country. Hope this helps...