Travelling not soliciting: Buenos Aires Part 1

I've now been in Buenos Aires one week. This is quite a different sort of experience for me than most of my previous travels since I am here for five weeks and have the chance to get a glimpse of life as a resident. I am also enrolled in a beginners Spanish course for foreigners at the University of Buenos Aires which will give me another perspective.

I have really lucked out with my accomodation. I have a fanastic one bedroom apartment in the very upmarket area of Recoleta --think of Knightsbridge in London, or the Upper East side in New York. It is beautifully furnished and well equipped and has a balcony which allows me to sit and watch the street life below me (I'm on the second floor). I found it through TripAdvisor and a small agency called DiscoverBA www.discoverBA.com. They rent out the apartments of "portenos" (what Buenos Aires residents call themselves) who are away on business or holiday, so these are real homes not cheaply furnished short term rentals. Mine is furnished with a mix of good antiques and high-end modern pieces, with excellent art work on the walls. For those of you who are familiar with Buenos Aires I am on Austria near the corner with Avenida Las Heras.

There are many parks in the Recoleta area and the streets are lined with expensive apartment buildings, ranging from the 19th century Parisian Baron Haussmann-type to the modern (ugly) concrete ones. There are no single family houses in this area (or anywhere that I have seen so far in Buenos Aires) --everyone seems to live in an apartment, although there are some fine mansions--mostly embassies-- in Palermo Chico which is not too far away. I am about 10 minutes walk from the famous Recoleta Cemetary and the fashionable shops of Avenida Callao, Av. Quintana and Av. Alvear.

Recoleta area is very much a traditional wealthy residential area. There are no tourists in my immediate neighbourhood and so I am in at the deep end, having to buy groceries and catch buses and order in restaurants without the cushion of English speakers around me. Each day is a new challenge and a new small success as I learn to make my way around the city with my non-existent Spanish. A good thing I guess is that I must look like a Recoleta resident because no one pays the slightest attention to me as I walk around.

I have had one day of Spanish classes so far--they are 3 hours a day five days a week plus homework from now on. That is a very different experience again. The university building is right in the centre of the business district, called the Microcentro and the building itself is a huge late 19th century edifice which is completely falling to bits. But that is what I associate with university buildings anyway--lots of character but broken down furniture and peeling paint and falling plaster. All my class mates are at least 30 to 40 years younger than me and a real ethnic mix--two Chinese, one Japanese, one Turk, one Norwegian, one Russian.(I have decided to be Canadian not English while in Buenos Aires so as to avoid the flames of the current anti-English sentiment which the Argentine government is whipping up over the Falkland Islands--uh, Malvinas.)

This however still leaves me time for sightseeing and I am gradually making my way around the "must sees"--the San Telmo Sunday flea market (a cross between Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane on a Sunday, with a dash of Portobello Market thrown in); the Recoleta Cemetary (the so called "city of the dead' where the tombs of the great and the good of Buenos Aires have their mausoleums;quite extraordinary. see pictures); the Japanese Garden (very well done); the Zoo (very sad);Palermo Viejo(didn't especially appeal to me--too full of poseurs and almost no "viejo"(old)--but I'll go again to some of the restaurants); the Rosedal rose garden (lovely); the fashionable shops (I'm not sure who buys all the Rolexes and the Christian Lacroix cocktail dresses since all the shops looked empty); the Botanical Gardens (scruffy but well stocked with tropical plants and trees); Puerto Madero (a new city like London Docklands, full of glass and concrete skyscrapers but not much soul); the Microcentro (the central shopping and business area with narrow streets,tall buildings and huge hurrying crowds of city workers---I heard an American behind me say that it felt like lower Manhattan and that is true).

Here are a few impressions:

Dogs
The portenos love dogs---there are many petshops offering adorable doggies in the window for sale and a full grooming service for the fashionable canine.
But portenos don't like/have time to walk them. So a whole black economy has arisen of dogwalkers. You see them particularly in my area because there are so many parks and the upmarket residents in the apartments can afford the status symbol dogs.
They have up to 15 dogs on leashes. Big ones, small ones, every breed of dog I have ever heard of --airedales, weimeraners, collies, spaniels, standard poodles, miniature poodles, toy poodles, pekinese,labradors, malamutes, dalmations, dachshunds, chihuahuas, fox terriers, retrievers, red setters, beagles, and on and on. (see photos below)
The dogwalkers will pick up your dog from your apartment building and deliver it back at the end of the day and in the meantime the dogwalkers can be found relaxing and chatting in the parks while the dogs are tied to a convenient lamp post. "Poop and scoop" is almost unheard of and so you really need to watch your step.

Cats
Yes there are cats too, of every colour you have ever seen, but the ones out on the street and in the parks are feral. The Jardin Botanico is a particularly favoured spot for them. Someone feeds them there since there are little bowls of food and water under a number of the park benches. As well as the vagrant cats there are many vagrant human beings in the Jardin Botanico too.

The economy
It is difficult to know how well the economy is doing. Argentina has had a very rocky past, going from the boom days of the late 1800s to the bank default and crash of 2002 and many ups and downs in between. In the late 19th century people were talking about Argentina and the US in the same breath and seriously debating whether the 20th century would belong to Argentina or to the United States.
After the restoration of democracy after the military dictatorship failed so miserably in the Falklands War in the early 1980s, up until the late 1990s, Argentina seemed to be on a roll and going from strength to strength with its currency on par with the US dollar. All that came crashing down in 2001 when Argentina's foreign debt overwhelmed it and it defaulted on its foreign loans, there was a run on the banks, people were barred from withdrawing money and finally the currency was devalued, falling from 1:1 to 1:4.5 against the US dollar. The Argentine middle class was wiped out and found themselves in poverty---the upper class was probably alright since they likely had their money abroad anyway.
To the foreign observer things seem okay now, but it is so difficult to be sure. Inflation is still quite serious. I've changed money twice and the second time the rate I got for English pounds sterling was over a peso better. It is clear that the currency remains a concern since you are not allowed to change more than about $150 at a time and they levy heavy fees for doing so. People do not want to accept large denomination bills, but the cash machines do not dispense anything but!
Which brings me to the cost of living.

Cost of living
Argentina is a pleasant surprise for a foreign visitor with dollars or pounds sterling or euros who is not on the tourist trail. Prices are very reasonable. Bus fares are a pittance---less than 25 cents for a bus ride anywhere in the main part of the city. Food in the grocery shops is also cheap. House prices are very good---a two bedroom apartment in this upmarket area of Recoleta is between $150 and $200,000. I had my haircut in a good salon for $20. A steak dinner with a glass of wine and mineral water in a prosperous neighbourhood restaurant cost $22. My lovely apartment costs $50 a night.
There is no conspicuous consumption on the streets. Women dress with care but with no displays of expensive jewellery or designer clothes. Maybe the odd Louis Vuiton handbag but that is all. (This may have something to do with fear of street crime, although I have not so far seen any evidence of this.) The cars are ovewhelmingly modest ones--Peugeots, or VWs or Hondas. I've only seen one Mercedes and that was a vintage 1970s one. I did see one late model BMW but it was not one of the big models.

Politics and religion
Never discuss politics or religion in polite company--stick to the weather. But it does seem that bad governance has got in the way of Argentina's advance and prevented it from achieving its potential. After all this is a country with abundant natural resources, and high literacy rate, and a rich agricultural hinterland. But it has lurched from military dictatorship to "crony capitalism" to populist "bread and circuses" gestures to outright corruption for over a century. It seems that this may continue---the press is suggesting that the current Peronist government may seek to change the constitution so that Cristina Fernandez Kirchner can have a third term. The current foment over the Falkland Islands does seem to be a cynical ploy to distract Argentine public attention away from the troubles of the domestic economy.
And religion? Well it does seem that Roman Catholicism is alive and well although not "in your face". A very full congregation spilled out of the church around the corner yesterday and as you pass a church in the bus at least two or three women in the bus will cross themselves.

Cartoneros
What are they, you may well ask? Like the dog walkers, they are another manifestation of the economic catastrophe which Argentina suffered in the early 2000s. Those who lost jobs and homes in the crash turned to another way to make a living:collecting and on-selling recyclables. You see them at dusk pushing huge handmade carts through the streets picking through the rubbish left outside the shops and apartment buildings. You then see them the next day in alcoves or between buildings sorting out their haul.
Neither the cartoneros nor the dogwalkers nor the hawkers selling lottery tickets, magazines, coffee and donuts to the people lined up at bus stops or cars stopped at traffic lights, are druggies or vagrants. They move swiftly and industriously about their business, and a business is what it is for them. No doubt it is not the business they expected to have before the economic crash, but it is a way to make a living and they are to be commended for that.

Architecture
There are almost no historical buildings left in Buenos Aires. To be fair Buenos Aires is not an ancient city, having really only started to develop in the mid-nineteenth century.
However Buenos Aires' cityscape bears the scars of 150 years of the political turmoil and bad governance referred to earlier.
Each new political leader or military dictator put the stamp of his personal vanity on the city. Old streets were buldozed for impossibly wide boulevards, huge personal estates were allocated to political or military leaders, ridiculously expensive and foolhardy public works were undertaken to line the pockets of some crony, bombastic equestrian statues were erected to honour the vanity of the generals.
Despite all this the different "barrios" or neighbourhoods do retain some distinctive character and there are some good buildings---lots and lots of bad ones though as well!

Weather
Ah, a safe topic. Right now is very hot and humid since it is the middle of the summer---sorry to those of you in Europe who are suffering in the current freezing weather. However there have been some violent thunderstorms which have created floods on the streets. Buenos Aires is very low lying and was built on swampy land in the flood plain of the Rio Plata so there is really nowhere for rain water to go. You can start the day with brilliant sunshine and temperature over 30 degrees Celcius and end it with violent thunder storms with huge forks of lightning lighting up the sky over your head and earsplitting crashes of thunder. The children are all on summer holiday from school and so many people are out of town on their holidays on the beaches to the south of Buenos Aires or on the coast of neighbouring Uruguay. But unlike Paris the city does not seem to stop in its tracks and the buses are still crowded and the streets filled with people.

Next....I have lots more trivia and musings about Buenos Aires but will stop now and load up some pictures. More posts will follow within a week.

This is my street, Calle Austria. My apartment building is the small red brick one on the left and my apartment is the one with the greenery on the balcony on the second floor.

Yes they are here too! This one is on the corner of my street

This is the living room of my apartment with the French doors leading out to the balcony

The balcony of my apartment looking across the street to a small park built on top of a parking garage!

San Telmo Sunday flea and antique market

The rose palace --Eva and Juan Peron greeted the adoring crowds from the balcony at the top. (And so did Madonna in the film "Evita")

I think they don't like us for not letting then have the Falklands.

One of the many bombastic statues of generals which dot the city, this one says that it was paid for my public subscription (I bet!)

one of the fine early 20th century apartment buildings in my Recoleta neighbourhood

One of the mansions in Palermo Chico near my apartment, this one like most of them is now an ambassadorial residence

The ultra-hideous concrete National Library, also near my apartment

The Japanese Garden close to my neighbourhood

The lovely Rosedal rose garden not too far from my neighbourhood

Flooding on my street--honest, this was taken later on the same day as the previous two pictures

The ultra modern Puerto Madero docklands area

The Recoleta Cemetary, rightly called the "city of the dead". The mausoleums are just like miniature mansions

Recoleta Cemetary. Only the oldest and wealthiest families have family tombs here.

One of the many elaborately ornamented tombs

This is the tomb where Evita is currently buried. It is the Duarte family tomb. It caused a huge scandal when she was placed in here since she was an illegitimate child of the Duarte family. However since her body had been moved from pillar to post (even being disintered and shipped to Spain where the remarried Juan Peron was living in exile. Bet he was pleased!) it seems unlikely that she will be moved again.

The cemetary is well cared for and it is almost like going for a walk in a posh neighbourhood

The central square of Recoleta Cemetary

You have to be from a "good family" to have a tomb in Recoleta but some are more modest than others

Some tombs are in a very poor state of repair like this one and others are kept beautifully with clean lace covers on the tombs inside and fresh flowers and even photographs. I suppose it depends on whether there are any living family members to do the care and maintenance --or more likely pay the cemetary staff for the upkeep.