Buenos Aires Part 4

San Antonio de Areco


This past weekend I went to a 180 year-old estancia--La Portena-- in the Pampas near to San Antonio De Areco, which is regarded as the gaucho capital of Argentina. San Antonio is a charming small one-traffic-light town. Founded in 18th century and regarded as the gateway to the west, it had a large influx of Irish immigrants in the early 19th century---the names on the memorial stones in the local church are very Irish. Today it is vying for UNESCO World Heritage Site status and probably should have it. There have been strict building restrictions imposed and so there are virtually no buildings later than the early 20th century, and most are 19th century with the odd 18th century. It is home to a large number of artisans who work in silver and leather and display their wares in small studio workshops called tallers. Elaborately worked silver harnesses, saddle ornaments, spurs and knives were the wealth of the gauchos and the craftsmanship was --and is--wonderful. The silver came from Bolivia and Peru but was worked locally. 


I was a little disappointed in the journey out to San Antonio. I had visions of fields of pampas grass and then fields of wheat or corn interspersed with fields full of cattle being herded by gauchos. But in fact  the majority of  journey was along an autoroute lined with shopping centres, car dealerships, small factories and businesses. Of course it is only about 110 km from Buenos Aires so I am sure that if you went further afield or off the autoroute you would find more rural scenery.


 Indeed that is what we found when we turned off onto the dirt road to the Estancia La Portena. There were the fields of cattle (Aberdeen Angus is the predominant breed). There, the tufts of pampas grass. Although there were fields of corn, the main cash crop these days is soy beans--practical,  but not very romantic looking. 


In fact most of the traditional estancias no longer raise cattle or crops. There is more money in tourism. So the gauchos become performers, singing and dancing and displaying their horsemanship for the tourists and the estancia workers become caterers,  preparing huge asados (barbeques) of beef and chicken and lamb for the tourists. To keep the tourists happy there are swimming pools and horse riding and carriage rides around the estancia. Still, being  a tourist, I was quite happy  with this arrangement, and for the estancia owners and workers it is at least a way to make a living and keep their farms and their traditions going. 


I was surprised at the amount of trees--my preconception had been that it would be rather like the prairies in western Canada--mile upon mile of flat countryside with fields of wheat with almost no trees and the only thing higher than 10 feet being the grain elevators.  But there were plenty of trees lining the fields. I have since learned that many of these are not trees at all but are a form of evergreen herbaceous bush called "ombu" (remember that for your next pub quiz or game of Trivial Pursuit http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/ombu.htm). They sure do look like trees--growing to about 70 feet and with a huge spreading canopy, glossy green leaves, and multiple trunks giving them a huge girth of 40 to 60 feet. Apparently they do very well in the pampas because they need very little water and have fire resistant trunks and the cattle don't eat the leaves.  On  the estancia there were more traditional trees--oaks, sycamores, eucalytus, acacia, firs, and hackberries (a type of elm)--shading the estancia buildings and providing shading for the trails through the woods around the estancia. (see photos)


At La Portena, as well as the riding we enjoyed a huge asado (barbeque) served on trestle tables under the trees, followed by  a performance of gaucho singing and dancing  and then a show of horsemanship. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and it has decided me that after I leave Buenos Aires at the end of this week I will spend a week on an estancia near Cordoba called Los Potreros where maybe I can learn to ride a little faster than a walk.


Now a few more musings on Buenos Aires....


Argentinian food


I'm going to be controversial here. Argentinian food is not very good. At least it is not very sophisticated or imaginative. It reminds me of Canadian cuisine back in the 1970s and 1980s. Loads of meat. Not many vegetables or salads. Barely any seasoning or spices. There are pizzas and pastas but all very bland and overloaded with cheese. Sushi is disgusting--no tuna, or ebi, or unagi, or tamago, or any of what we would regard as standards. Only salmon and some cooked shrimp. Last week I had a maki roll that had been spread with mayonnaise!! Cakes look good but most actually have that articial flavouring taste. Ice cream is plentiful and quite good. So a diet of steak and ice cream is your best bet.


And they retain that quaint old-fashioned practice of adding a hefty cover charge to the bill for the bread and butter and the privilege of sitting at a table. And you cannot add tips to a credit card payment and all tips have to be in cash. At one meal I ended up emptying my change purse of the coins I had so carefully hoarded for the bus fare! 


Argentinian champagne


Now that has been a pleasant surprise! It is excellent. Noting that the climate and soil of parts of northwest Argentina are conducive to growing the grapes for champagne, several of the French champagne houses have set up offshoots in Argentina's north west(Moet, Mumm). And of course it is a fraction of the price of the "real" stuff. I've been drinking a perfectly pleasant one which costs US$13/GBP8.50 a bottle.


Ethnicity


Portenos in my well-to-do part of town, are overwhelmingly European in look (--and they are not very tall, which makes me feel quite at home!) However there are a lot of people on the buses and in the shops who clearly have indigenous Indian blood --whether they are native to Argentina or immigrants from Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay etc. 


It seems to divide along class lines---those with the pure pale European look are the wealthy and those who are darker are the maids and the busdrivers and the shop clerks. 'Twas ever thus. 


What is puzzling though is that there are no black people or anyone who looks like they have any trace of African.Yet in 1806 the city of Buenos Aires had 15,708 Europeans, 347 indigenous and mestizos, and 6650 Africans and mulattos ---so over a third of  the population had some African heritage. What happened to them? Theories are that they were cannon fodder in the long 19th century wars with Argentina's south american neighbours like Paraguay. That they suffered disproportionately from yellow fever. That they intermarried with the European immigrants who flowed into Argentina at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. More controversially and less spoken about are the racist--genocidal--views of some of the revered Argentine leaders at the time such as Sarmiento.


One thing that does not seem to be restricted to certain ethinic groups is poverty. I have mentioned the carteneros and the dog walkers in previous posts--all very industrious even though functioning in a "black" economy. A large number of them sleep on the streets, as well as others. There are a fair number of beggars, particularly outside the churches and supermarket exits. But while some of these have an "indigenous" appearance, this is by no means the majority. It is quite a shock to walk down a street in a posh district like I am in and nearly trip over someone sleeping on the sidewalk.  Just now I walked to a local restaurant and passed a man settling in for the night on his cardboard pallet and with a stack of newspapers (broadsheets, none of your tabloids thank you!) which he was assiduously reading . So hard times and homelessness does not seem to be restricted to drunks, druggies or the mentally or physically disabled as it is in some cities.


Architecture and heritage


Unfortunately it seems that the powers-that-be in Buenos Aires have still not caught on to the fact that most people (tourists especially--and Argentina needs its tourist trade) like to see historic buildings and charming neighbourhoods, and are not that interested in 18 lane streets slashed through the middle of neighbourhoods or in glass and concrete office buildings (except in Peurto Madero where they do look in keeping (see earlier blog)). As a result far too many of Buenos Aires neighbourhoods are letting their lovely old 19th century building go to ruin, tearing them down and putting up bland "modern" offices or apartments. And so you see a few charming old houses and then a modern building beside them like a rotten tooth. Perhaps Buenos Aires is just a little bit behind the times as they are with their food :).


Moving on...


This will probably be my last Buenos Aires post. I leave for Cordoba on Saturday and then onwards to other exciting and interesting sights elsewhere in Argentina. I'm going to Salta in the Northwestern provinces, to Mendoza's vineyards and to Bariloche's lakes and mountains. There should be another post from Estancia Los Potreros near Cordoba next Sunday (depending on internet connections and whether I have fallen off my horse). 


This week I have my exams for my Spanish course. I have learned a lot but not nearly enough to carry on a proper conversation so if you happen to speak Spanish don't test me, please!

Gauchos at La Portena--these are not actors, but are 4th and 5th generation on the estancia

The avenue of trees leading up to Estancia La Portena

La Portena original main house

Original outbuildings of the estancia

The asado barbeque pit

lunch under the trees

Gauchos singing--they are multi-talented: good musicians, good dancers and excellent horsemen

Gauchos singing and playing--note brick bread oven behind them

Some of the fine old trees on the estancia

Gauchos hooking a ring with a small spindle at full galop

Me on "Coquita"--she was lovely: docile, obedient  and just the right size

Coquita with her three month old foal who followed us all around the trail

simple 19th century houses around the plaza in San Antonio de Areco

The early 20th century general store in San Antonio de Areco, now a cafe

Gaucho silver horse tack, made in the traditional manner

Magnificently worked silver gaucho knives

silver craftsmen at work, San Antonio de Areco

The mix of architectural styles in Retiro

An all-too-common site--derelict building just left to crumble

This corner has fared better but note the ugly modern building on the far right

This one is being saved and converted into  luxury condominiums

This early 20th century apothecary has been saved and is now protected

The early 18th century Iglesia St Ignacio

Iglesia de Nuestro Senora next to Recoleta Cemetary, with the stalls of the Sunday Recoleta crafts and flea market surrounding it

Very nice buffet Sunday brunch at the Alvear Palace Hotel, the best hotel in Buenos Aires

Desserts!

Me enjoying the Sunday Brunch at the Alvear Palace Hotel

Buenos Aires Part 3

This is over  the half-way point in my time in Buenos Aires, after which I will travel to other parts of Argentina and then to Chile. 


Spanish lessons


I'm slogging away at the Spanish classes, which I am finding pretty intense (five days a week and three hours a day plus lots of homework). I hadn't realised when I signed up for this course at the University of Buenos Aires that we would be taught Buenos Aires dialect  which seems to be  the equivalent of learning English with a Bronx accent and with slang grammar ! So I am trying to maintain what little I recall of the Castilian- Spanish pronunciation that I learned in my few lessons last autumn  back in England so that I don't find myself laughed at in other parts of Latin America and in Spain. Thanks to Google I now understand that there are as many different dialects of Spanish throughout Latin America as there are countries--what have I got myself in for?!


Apparently the reason Buenos Aires developed its unique Rioplatanese dialect is down to historical reasons, and in particular the huge influx of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century (50% of portenos --the name for Buenos Aires residents--have Italian ancestry and a large proportion of the portenos have Italian surnames) who superimposed their Italian intonation and pronunciation onto the Spanish language. 


So not only are there different words for the same thing--like American English "pants" meaning something very different to what it means in British English where "trousers" is the proper term--, but also there is a whole different verb form for "you"in the singular. In Latin America and particularly in Argentina "you are" is "vos sos" whereas in Spain you would say "tu eres"---I suppose it is a little like the equivalent in English of  using "thou" instead of "you".  


The worst of all for me though is the Buenos Aires pronunciation. "Ellos" which means "they" is pronounced "eh-sha" in Buenos Aires instead of "eh-ya" in the rest of the Spanish speaking world. Now it is true that people seem to understand me when I say eh-ya---but I don't usually understand them when they say eh-sha!


All very very confusing and now I appreciate the problems that  non-native speakers find with American versus English pronunciation--as the old song goes "You say tomayto and I say tomahto". 


Rio de la Plata and Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay


Last Saturday I went across the Rio de la Plata to the historical city of Colonia in neighbouring Uruguay.  


Rio de la Plata means "river of silver". Well it sure isn't! It is milk-chocolate brown. This is not pollution (although I am sure there is plenty of that) but silt from the huge rivers that drain a quarter of South America and join and meet the sea around Buenos Aires. Aerial photos from space show a huge brown stain which spreads for hundreds of miles . 


The river is very wide at this point and the distance from Buenos Aires across the river to Colonia is a bit more than the English Channel. So you cannot see from one shore to the other. I found it really disconcerting to look across a horizon-less brown sea. 


I crossed on one of the fast catamarans---me and half the families in Buenos Aires it seems! Colonia is a favourite weekend excursion for portenos. 


Fortunately nearly all of the porteno families disappeared off to the beaches along the Uruguay-side river banks and to the newer parts of the city, and it was really only the tourists who went into the Barrio Historico (historic quarter). 


It is one of those places which time forgot. It was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and then was batted back and forth between Portugal and Spain for a hundred years because of its strategic position between the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. However, as soon as it became definitively Spanish, Spain promptly forgot about it and it mouldered away until being rediscovered in the late 20th century and becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has a number of tiny but interesting museums in the renovated 17th century buildings and wandering its shady squares and cobbled streets are a pleasant way to spend a few hours.


Interestingly, there are full border formalities between Argentina and Uruguay so you need to arrive at the ferry an hour beforehand to go through immigration and get your passport stamped and re-stamped and inspected and re-inspected. Makes you realise how nice it is to be able to cross borders so easily within the European Union.


Tigre Delta


On Sunday I--and the other half of the families of Buenos Aires!--went to Tigre which is   summer home community about 35 kilometers north of central Buenos Aires (actually it is really all part of one sprawling suburb). 


The  delta is formed by the Parana River where it meets the Rio de la Plata.  It is huge--14,000 square kilometer area with  thousands of islands and inlets, water channels, canals and backwaters. Tigre is the only town but the shores of the delta area around it are lined with summer homes of the portenos, reachable only by boat. 
You can take one of the traditional wooden canal boats and tour some of the channels. They are about 60 foot long and seat about 80 passengers.Being a weekend, the channels were clogged with canal boats, motor boats, kayaks, canoes, sea-dos, row boats, rowing skulls---and people swimming! 


The water is an even darker chocolate brown than the River de la Plata, and what with the gasoline from the boats, debris and probably sewage from the many summer homes it is not the sort of place I would want to swim. But the water was full of people --jumping off their docks, wading out into the channel (which is very shallow), laying on their lilos--so I guess they know what they are doing.

Railways


Getting to Tigre gave me a chance to take a train for the first time since I've been here. Argentina downgraded its rail system a couple of decades ago and so all those mystical trains --the Old Patagonian Express, The Train to the Clouds, and others-- have either been closed or are shadows of their former selves. However commuter trains still run in Buenos Aires into the grand old 19th century Retiro station. And they are SOoo... cheap---an hour's train trip costs 20 cents.


Visiting it gives you a vivid reminder of the dominance of Great Britain during the last half of the 19th century industrial revolution when trains began to slash their way across cities and whole countries. Walking into Retiro is like walking into any British 19th century train station, such as St Pancras before it was gussied up. In fact the giant steel girders were manufactured in Liverpool (see photos)!


Buses


More on Buenos Aires buses, which I find rather fascinating and quite distinct --sort of like London's red buses are distinct. And I am not the only one--I found an Buenos Aires bus-spotters website on Google with hundreds of pictures and  scores as to how many times each had been spotted! 


There are many different makes of buses, which are called "colectivos" but all with a similar shoe-box shape. Each one of the several hundred different lines has a different livery--some pale green with dark green trim, some gold with red trim, some blue with red whooshes down the side, some turquoise and cream, and on and on. 


Lots of chrome and many of them have elaborate etched glass mirrors as trim inside and fancy plastic mother-of pearl steering wheels, alongside the driver's favourite car ornaments--teddy bears, disco glitter balls, football penants. (By the way some of the buses do have horns.)


Each bus has its number painted prominently on all sides as well as its big lighted sign above the front window. This is good for passengers because the buses come along in droves and you need to stick your hand out in time as soon as you see it to flag down your bus before it zooms past you. 


Buses run all night and very frequently and cost next to nothing. You have to be able to tell the driver where you are going since their are minute differences in prices depending on your destination--so you might end up --shock, horror--paying 20 cents instead of 19 cents!


Walking


Although the parks and plazas are plentiful and pleasant in many parts of the city,  in the downtown area it is not so easy. The streets are narrow and the sidewalks even narrower ---you need to be thin and have nothing in your hands if you want to pass someone without stepping into the street. And they are in a terrible state of repair so you need to be constantly alert so that you don't trip over something or run into a wastebin, load of bricks, discarded metal post, newspaper kiosk, dog's mess, or worse. 


Do I look so clever? No, I didn't think so..


While I am on transport, I should mention that a phenomenon that has marked my travels for the last 45 years has started up again. 


That is, people asking me for directions. It happens wherever I go--even in Japan 40 years ago! Here in Buenos Aires at least once a day I am approached at a bus stop or on the street and asked where to get the bus to wherever or where such and such a building is. There may be 10 people nearby or in the bus queue but it is me they head for. 


I'd like to think it was because I look naturally self-assured and intelligent but I tend to think that it is just that I look non-threatening.


Manners maketh the porteno man


I am pleased to report that chivalry is not entirely dead in Buenos Aires.Many men (of all ages and sizes and shapes) have lovely manners---ladies first onto the bus and would you like this seat senora. 


Galleries and museums


Yes I've been to quite a few. I made a list of all the touristy things I want to do and I try to visit at least three tourist sites during the week days. This is not always easy since, curiously, art galleries and museums  don't open until 2 in the afternoon so I have to go after my Spanish class for an hour or two. 


I would not say that the contents of Buenos Aires' public museums and galleries are world class. The National Museum of Fine Arts has a few nice impressionists and some small Rodin sculptures but most of its  paintings are by that well-known painter "Anonymous". In fact despite its veneer of being a classic European-style capital city, you see that Buenos Aires does not really have much history or deeply embedded high culture. It is after all a late nineteenth century city, the capital of a relatively new country with a very rocky history and thousands of miles from the European capitals that it emulates. 


That said, there are a couple of private art galleries which charge a steep (by Buenos Aires standards) admission but which are housed in really well-designed modern buildings, and the art works are superbly displayed. These galleries have been built especially by wealthy collectors to display their collections--the Colleccion de Arte de Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat (cement heiress) is one and the Museo de Arte LatinoAmericano de Buenos Aires (showing the collection of wealthy businessman Deuardo Constantini) is another. Both really worth spending time in.


No tango?


You are probably wondering why I have not mentioned tango. It is of course so closely associated with Buenos Aires that every tourist must go to a tango show. 


Well I did that with my son Ken a few years ago when we came briefly to Buenos Aires, and frankly once is enough. The shows do not start until 10 pm or later and they go on and on and on--and then on and on some more as the musicians and singers and dancers milk the audience for just one more round of applause. 


The dancing and music is interesting but after the first three or four hours you feel you have got the idea well enough. The crowning touch for me was the grand finale when "Don't cry for me Argentina" by Andrew Lloyd-Webber (from London!) was played for about 20 minutes as though it was the Argentinian national anthem.


Here are a few more photos.

One of the "diques" (yacht basins) in Puerto Madero

Dinner at La Cabana Las Lilas, a tourist magnet in Puerto Madero, but deserves its reputation

The pink flowering trees are ceibas--"silk floss" trees--and they are all over Buenos Aires. Beautiful

View of the city skyline from the railway tracks

View back over the Buenos Aires skyline from the ferry over to Colonia--looks hazy because the windows were filthy!

The only colonial (1765) building left in Buenos Aires--the Cabildo (city hall). Only this small portion was saved from  the grandiose schemes of some Argentian general or poltician.

Cafe Tortoni, a classic cafe from the early 20th century which has remains remarkably intact.

The beautifully restored early 20th century opera house, Theatre Colon

The ostentatious but beautiful gallery of the Teatro Colon

In my neighbourhood there are some inviting quiet streets with gentle hills which attract skateboarders

An interesting demonstration of 'capoeira', a Brazilian martial art performed to music, which was originated by escaped slaves who needed to keep themselves in good physical shape to defend themselves.

a very small part of the Avenida 9 de Julio, reputedly the world's widest street--18 lanes. Why????

Sleeping rough on one of the boulevards dividing the lanes of the Avenida 9 de Julio

Walking isn't easy in downtown Buenos Aires (see blog)

Nature takes over a sidewalk

One of the Buenos Aires buses in all its glory

Retiro train station---the 19th century British design of railway stations is followed

No wonder Retiro looks like a British railway station!

This could be a rural railway station anywhere in England, couldn't it?

a quiet shady street in the Barrio Historico of Colonia, in Uruguay, across the Rio de La Plata from Buenos Aires

Colonia's strategic location on a promontory overlooking the Rio de la Plata required a lighthouse

A cobbled street with a 17th century house, Colonia

grape vine on tiled roof in old Colonia

Lynn on the viewing platform of the Colonia lighthouse--note the brown water behind

Rio de la Plata means "river of silver". Do you see any?

Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay

Cafe in Colonia

17th century buildings in Colonia

If you want to rent a car in Colonia, this is what you get.

Rowing skiff in Tigre, Buenos Aires 

traditional wooden canal boat in Tigre, now used for tours of the delta

Emblems of a more prosperous age

a typical summer house on the waterways of Tigre---note the colour of the water!

One of the many waterways that branch off and meander through the Tigre delta

Swimmmers share the narrow waterways with canal boats,motor boats, row boats, and more (see blog)

The way to spend the weekend in Tigre delta

A modern version of the typical Tigre summer house on the waterways of the delta

The late 19th and early 20th century were the heyday of the Tigre Delta.

One of the original early 20th century summer homes on the Tigre Delta