12/20/2007
Back
December 20, 2007: If I haven't written in a while, it's because I have been travelling back to the US. It was a long, hard journey, full of tribulations, but here I am. Everything is changed, but it's also the same. Almost 3 years in Argentina have made me see things in different lights and they are all interesting in their own ways.
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12/13/2007
South Puerto Madero
Thursday, December 13, 2007: In South Puerto Madero there are carritos, where people can buy choripanes, sausage sandwiches. And there are also small barbecue stands and stands that say: Hot Dogs and Cold Drinks. South Puerto Madero has a lot of empty lots, but I have a feeling that will soon change. There are some buildings in construction with names like Townhomes. English is the A List language.
Unfortunately, the stray dog problem is in Puerto Madero, too. I saw nice looking dogs, none scruffy or in bad shape. Their eyes followed people waiting for the colectivo numbers 2 and 4, but no one paid attention to them.
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11/02/2007
Capital
Friday, November 2, 2007: Buenos Aires has become the gay capital of Latin America. There are several gay-friendly hotels in the city and there are plans to make the city even more attractive to tourists willing to spend money on 5 star accomodations.
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10/26/2007
Buenos Aires
I appreciate the beauty of Buenos Aires, especially the old-fashioned homes still remaining in parts of the city (like in Belgrano around Calle Ciudad de la Paz). They’re so beautiful and interesting that I would buy one of these homes and furnish it as if it were fit for a queen, if I had millions of dollars right now. These old-fashioned houses with their balustrades and balconies and colonial roofs are authentic as well as a part of the history of this city. I look at them and I can’t get enough of them.
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09/30/2007
Statistics
Sunday, September 30, 2007: It is estimated that 10 tourists per day in Buenos Aires are robbed by thieves. This information has come out after F.F. Coppola´s house was broken into the other day. The tourists make complaints to the police and the Tourist Protection office.
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07/03/2007
Music to my Ears
Tuesday, July 3, 2007: Yesterday afternoon, on the bus number 152 going downtown, a young blonde American woman sat next to me. She was talking to a man, also young, and very hip. His hairstyle was half rapper, half something else. I dared not speak to them, though I am not sure why, so I tried to listen and listen hard. I made out the name of Francis, then something about the people of Buenos Aires being very intriguing. He also talked about a movie he had made. All this, especially the American accents, were an unexpected gift.
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06/02/2007
Tigre
Saturday, June 2, 2007: Tigre is way out in the North part of the provincia de Buenos Aires. There is a great, long island with beautiful palm trees on the main Avenue, Avenida Libertador. The houses are beautiful, some very traditional a la California, others are huge old houses, two or three stories high with triangle-shaped roofs and large gardens. But late at night Tigre is not a good place to be. There are tall trees and not enough street lights. Waiting for the colectivo, like good old number 60, is risky. The bus goes practically everywhere, but usually doesn´t bother to stop, even if it is very, very cold and the only person waiting is a freezing woman.
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05/23/2007
South
Wednesday, May 23: Barracas, Constitucion, San Telmo: barrios in the southern section of Buenos Aires. The buildings are old, some run down, quite a few signed by their architects. Most of the buildings have something called character.
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01/29/2007
Palermo Cool
Monday, January 29, 2007: The neighborhood of Palermo was always special. But now, in the first part of the 21st. Century, it is even more so. Real Estate people have divided it up into more slices. In the old days, there was just Palermo Chico and Palermo Viejo. The new names of the other neighborhoods of Palermo are: Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood, among others. More tourists are visiting the area and home prices have gone up.
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12/07/2006
Jenna
December 7, 2006: Jenna Bush is still in Argentina. Her sister Barbara has already left to go back to the United States. The other day Jenna visited La Cava, a large villa miseria in Beccar (located in the northern section of the provincia de Buenos Aires). People asked what she was doing there. Why shouldn´t she go if she is working with UNICEF? La Cava has a bad reputation even among other slums. Been around for years and years.
Jenna has acquired an Argentine boyfriend. He is 25 and involved in marketing. Another reason to remain in the country.
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11/24/2006
On
November 24, 2006: In spite of the unfortunate purse snatching experience, the Bush daughters are still in Buenos Aires. They were spotted in the Palermo Hollywood neighborhood. Now the local police as well as the Secret Service people are guarding them.
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11/23/2006
Purse Snatcher
Thursday, November 23, 2006: I am sure the purse snatcher who grabbed Barbara Bush´s purse in the neighborhood of San Telmo the other day, never thought he had just stolen something from the daughter of the President of the U.S. I wonder where he is now, what he will do with her wallet, credit cards and cell phone.
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10/15/2006
Belgrano
October 15, 2006: Belgrano, with its beautiful homes and high rise apt. buildings, is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Avenida de Los Incas has some new buildings where the apts. have wide balconies and varnished wood ceilings. Some of the older houses look quaint and charming, while the newer mansions have been designed by architects with English country homes tastes.
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08/27/2006
Crazy
August 27, 2006: The weather has been crazy, unpredictable this week. First, we had 1.1 Celsius on Tuesday, then over 20 Celsius (going all the way to 27 Celsius) later in the week. Now, it´s back to cold again, about 5.2 Celsius early this morning.
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08/09/2006
Cablecars
August 9, 2006: After a 43 year-old absence, cablecars will reappear again in the city of Buenos Aires. Some will be touristy, since the cable cars will be going to the trendy neighborhood of Puerto Madero, with its restaurants, shops and casino. Others will go through more traditional barrios, like Constitucion, with its great big train station.
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06/23/2006
Visit
June 23, 2006: The President of Argentina and his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kichner, have been in Spain this week drumming up business for the country. They need to make it safer for Spain, Argentina´s mother country, to want to invest. Safe and enjoyable and, best of all, profitable for both countries.
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06/21/2006
Recoleta
| June 20, 2006: The neighborhood is trendy. The cementerio of La Recoleta is where Evita, among other famous people, is buried. There are bars, pizza parlors, fashion boutiques, bookstores, coffee shops, lots of cars, lots of traffic. Lately, I have noticed more American tourists, young people for the most part. On a sunny almost winter day, it´s nice to sit at a sidewalk table and have a picada, an assortment of cheese and cold cuts with some Coke or beer. |
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06/19/2006
Small Towns
Monday, June 19, 2006: There are about 600 small towns in the provincia of Buenos Aires with an average population of 2,000. There is a program called Volver to encourage those who left for the big city and other places, to go back to their hometowns. Building better railroads will probably not do it. What will drive people back when they have tasted something brighter, sometimes better? Money? Family? Jobs?
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06/04/2006
Hotel
Sunday, June 4, 2006: A gay hotel is set to open in the bohemian and very trendy barrio of San Telmo next year. It will be a 5 -star hotel catering to the well-to-do gay tourist crowd visiting Buenos Aires. If non-gays want to stay there, that will be fine. As long as they pay their hotel bill, anything is possible.
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05/19/2006
Rain
Thursday, May 18, 2006: It rained today here in Buenos Aires. Just started coming down about 11 in the morning. Buenos Aires in the rain is fun! The streets are crowded with people, bumper to bumper traffic sticks out like a sore thumb and there is no where to hide from the water. The deep, deep water.
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05/08/2006
Retiro
May 8, 2005: Retiro. Just like one of the principal train stations in Buenos Aires. A beautiful neighborhood. Beautiful, segnorial buildings, Sofitel Buenos Aires, art galleries, the British Arts Centre, a museum.
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04/26/2006
Caballito
April 26, 2006: It is a traditional neighborhood in the heart of the city. A noisy place, especi ally around Avenida Rivadavia. There are colectivos taking you anywhere you want to go, anywhere at all. And, in the streets off Rivadavia, the houses can be old fashioned, with gaslights and doors with black grillwork. Some modern brick apt. buildings have been built where old mansions once stood.
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04/17/2006
Tourism
Monday, April 17, 2006: The number of tourists has been increasing lately. Lots of Americans, Irish and British tourists are coming here with more frequency as well as longer stays. They are well informed about prices in Argentina, so hardly anybody can fool them. That used to happen in the past and it made the country look bad, very bad.
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04/15/2006
Some Cash
Saturday, April 15, 2006: Some people, on the other hand, have money. Enough to take the 4 day long weekend off and travel to vacation spots like Cordoba, Mar del Plata, Villa Gessell. In fact, there are about 2,250,000 people hitting the road this year--that´s 10% more than in 2005. As usual when any type of holidays arrive, all train and long distance bus tickets are sold out.
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04/13/2006
Palermo Hollywood
Thursday, April 13, 2006: Raul Castells, the famous (or infamous) piquetero, wants to open another community dining room. His first one, in trendy Puerto Madero, is not doing too well. It gets tourists and other curiosity seekers, but it is not attracting the poor people it is meant to service. The new community place would be located in Palermo Hollywood, another upscale neighborhood, so named because of the TV and movie people working there. Who knows what this man wants to accomplish? Does he want more tourists?
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04/09/2006
Hilton Buenos Aires
Sunday, April 9, 2006: The Hilton Buenos Aires, in the trendy neighborhood of Puerto Madero, has a spectacular lobby as well as great, personalized service for their guests. The lobby was featured in the Argentine movie 9 Reinas (9 Queens). The location could not be better, since Puerto Madero is the most exclusive neighborhood in all Argentina. The guests include businessmen as well as well -to- do tourists from the U.S. and other parts of the world.
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03/10/2006
Comunity Dining
Friday, March 10, 2006: The community dining room, is an idea of Raul Castells, one of the most notorious piqueteros in Argentina. It was inaguarated yesterday (inaguration was the word that he used) and it´s in Puerto Madero, the most exclusive neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Travel food for tourists, who can have their picture taken with a piquetero or two. Food for the needy people, too. Maybe.
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02/17/2006
Hostages
Friday, February 17, 2006: Travelers going on their vacations via bus were not able to go anywhere because of an unexpected driver strike. The busses were supposed to leave late Wednesday night from Estacion Retiro , probably the most important train and bus station in the country. And it´s not the first time that innocent consumers have been caught in the middle of a labor dispute. In fact, it happens very frequently during the summer months.
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02/07/2006
Avenida Santa Fe
Tuesday, February 7, 2006: Avenida Santa Fe is hardly the equivalent of Fifth Avenue in NYC, but walking it is a lot of fun. Businesses all around, some big, some small. And Alto Palermo Shopping, in honor of the neighborhood of Palermo is always crowded. Fast, sometimes furious place.
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01/31/2006
Alert?
Tuesday, January 31, 2006: It seems that the British government has issued a travel alert. British citizens should not travel to Argentina. The crime rate, the piqueteros and their protests that paralyze the city of Buenos Aires, purse snatchers--all sorts of reasons. Argentines are offended. Why the warning? There´s no need for it, they say.
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01/21/2006
Plaza San Martin
Saturday, January 21, 2006: Except for Central and Golden Gates Parks, there´s no place I like bettr than Plaza San Martin in downtown Buenos Aires. It´s right by Estacion Retiro, one of the main train stations. I love to sit on one of the wooden or stone benches and look at the great big tree right in front of me. I love to watch people walk up and down on their way to Calle Florida, where the expensive shops are. Best of all, I enjoy the sense of seclusion in the middle of the big, noisy city.
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01/18/2006
Bars
Wednesday, January 18, 2006: It´s all the rage these days. They are all over the trendy neighborhoods, like Palermo. Almagro and Caballito. Students were its first customers, then families and now tourists have discovered them. They are just plain, ordinary (but still traditional) mate bars--places were you can go and drink mate and bite into bizcochos or pastries while you talk with your friends. The mates are the ones with the gourd and bombillas, the same mates that our mothers and grandmothers loved. The only difference now is that it´s drunk in public and that a waiter serves you.
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01/17/2006
Americans
Tuesday, January 17, 2006: There seem to be more Americans in Buenos Aires these days. Some of them are young, always looking for better lodgings and eager to explore the city. Listening to them chat on their cells makes me feel very homesick.
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01/14/2006
Mar Del Plata
Saturday, January 14, 2006: The seaside resort town of Mar del Plata was done up for the Summit of the Americas which took place back in early November 2005. The 5 star hotels and the neighborhoods they´re in are great. Everything is of the best material, A -list level. But, there´s another side to Mar del Plata--that´s where the residents live, and they have to pay high prices for things. Sometimes these prices are just too much for them.
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01/13/2006
Taken
Friday, January 13, 2006: Now that I think abnout it, I was way overcharged for that cup of cafe con leche. The most that other places charge (and I was able to check) is about $4.50. That confiteria that gypped me must have taken me for a tourist, something like that.
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01/11/2006
Tour
Wednesday, January 11, 2006: There are such things! There are tours called piquetero tours, where I suppose, tourists hang out with piqueteros and go to piquetero meetings. Maybe these tourists are there when piqueteros interrupt traffic during peak hours and demand salaries that they´re often not entitled to.
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01/03/2006
Punta
Tuesday, January 3, 2006: The rich go to Punta del Este in Uruguay to get away from it all. There are expensive cars, and famous people like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss visiting Punta. Very expensive, of course, but who cares when you´ve got money?
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11/29/2005
Ezeiza
Tuesday, November 29, 2005: Airport workers went on strike and passengers, lugging suitcases, walked for miles all the way to Ezeiza. Then, some people started to charge $30 pesos per 3 kilometers to get them (somehow) to their flights on time.
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11/22/2005
Shooting Up
Tuesday, November 22, 2005: 34 Celsius expected today, about 88 F. Yes, the tempèrature is shooting up and i dream of a house by the beach. Or a house near the water, but not right by it. 4 months there, enjoying the sand and the weather. No real life to worry about. Nechochea, Pinamar, Miramar--these are some of the places I´d love to live in this summer.
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11/17/2005
Belgrano
Thursday, November 17, 2005: The barrio de Belgrano is practically a city within the city of Buenos Aires. High rise buildings, many apts. with balconies, lots of businesses, an air of prosperity, of we can do it. Sidewalk cafe time has started in the city. With 28.4 Celsius today, a sidewalk drink is the thing to enjoy while the world walks up and down.
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11/10/2005
Chusmas
Thursday, November 10, 2005: People yack it up all over the place. They gossip and they look you over. They look at the top of your head, then travel down to your feet. Not a good thing to see because the ones who´ve had a lot of experience at this sort of thing, don´t even bother to hide what they´re doing.
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11/07/2005
None
Monday, November 7, 2005: No explanation is required. Yes, some of the cats living inside the Jardin Botanico in Bs. As. have hard a hard life and humans are no good to them. I know that´s true, but still it makes me feel sad to see that they´ll die there unwanted, maybe unfed.
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11/06/2005
Mistake
Sunday, November 6, 2005: All the violence in Mar del Plata! Whatever for? What good did destroying businesses, damaging buildings, do? Bush is probably thinking something like: Why did I bother to come here?
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11/05/2005
Blame
Saturday, November 5, 2005: The big news this week is the Summit of the Americas in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata. Bush, unwanted guest or not, is still the star of the show. That´s all everyone talks about, all that you hear on radio and TV. They blame him for this. that, everything. I see it from the outside. Yes, I was born in Argentina, but I grew up elsewhere and I know that the problems of Argentina are not because of Bush.
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11/04/2005
Heat Heat
Friday, November 4, 2005: The temperature is over 28 Celsius and it´s great! Totally great!
Couldn´t be better because it makes me want to go out there and live.
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