My Last Weekend as a Tourist in Buenos Aires

The weekend of June 27th/28th was my last as a tourist in Buenos Aires. Although most of the people I knew in Argentina had already left to return home to the United States at this point, I was determined not to let it stop me from enjoying my last days in the city. My first stop on Saturday morning was the Botanic Gardens in Palermo. The gardens are free and open to the public, but they are honestly nothing too special unless you are just looking for a quiet escape from busy city life. One interesting thing of note is that there is a section of the park that includes cacti (see picture above). Who knew cacti could grow in a climate that is so cold in the winter and that gets substantial rainfall throughout the year? In addition to the plants, there were plenty of people in the gardens as well just relaxing on the benches reading books, writing in journals, or making love, but the most interesting thing to me was the numerous statutes throughout the park. Some are traditional and depict Greek and Roman gods or famous figures from Argentine history. Others, like the one pictured here at left, are, well, not so traditional...







My next stop was the US embassy. As I was walking down the street in the area where I knew the embassy to be, I saw a large, beautiful, grandiose building and knew that it had to be the US embassy. Except it wasn't. In fact, the US embassy was the gray structure a few buildings down the street with a huge gated fence around the entire perimeter (pictured at right). To tell you the truth, I was more than a little disappointed--especially considering the prideful letter I got from the embassy that I mentioned in my last post. In any event, I approached the guard house and proudly told the guard that I was a US citizen and wanted to visit my embassy...in English (after all, this was the US embassy). Apparently, he did not speak English though, and he went to get another employee who did. Obviously I could have spoken to him in Spanish, but I just assumed that I wouldn't have to at the US EMBASSY of all places! Oh well. "No" is the same word in both English and Spanish, and that is the response I got when I asked if I could enter. The embassy is only open during weekday business hours.








So on I proceeded to the Evita Perón museum. Evita was the husband of Juan Perón, former president of Argentina, yet she is remembered more fondly than he is today. Among her many accomplishments are the following: gaining the right to vote for women, establishing social welfare programs, improving education throughout the country, establishing orphanages and schools for abandoned and unwanted children, creating programs to help the elderly afford the shelter and medication they need, serving food as food pantries HERSELF, inspiring PRIDE in average Argentinians, and much, much more. It would not be an exaggeration to say that as of now, Evita is the most important figure in Argentina's history and is the equivalent of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln in the United States. The museum certainly emphasized all the positive aspects of Evita's life and career, and didn't really acknowledge the criticism of her that is expressed in the musical "Evita" that she may have been seeking publicity and didn't genuinely care about her work. Still, I am inclined to believe that these accusations are false, and there was something truly endearing about the way the museum presented her life and legacy. The musical "Evita," has in fact NEVER been shown in the country of Argentina--a testament to the people's love for their national hero. The most impressive part of the museum, to me, was a statute in the final room of the exhibit that everybody around me seemed to overlook. It is pictured at left. I learned, after talking with a guard at the museum (because this is not stated in the exhibit) that this is a statue that stood in an orphanage (which was later converted to the current museum) that Evita had established during her lifetime. Then, during the days of the military dictatorship (when everything associated with Perónism was expelled from the country), a groundskeeper at the orphanage took the statute and hid it away, risking potential jailing and even death should it be discovered. The statute and the memory of Evita meant that much to him! Then, when the military rule ended, he brought the statute back out, and it now rests in its original home--the orphange. The man had risked his life for a staute, but really it was a symbol of something far more important than metal and paint.







The final visit of the day, for me, was to the Japanese Gardens. Much like with the Botanical Gardens, there was not much to do here except take in the sights and sounds. Unlike the Botanical Gardens though, there were a LOT more people here, and with all the kids running around, there was not much peace or quiet.



Then, on Sunday, some friends of mine from Duke came down to visit from Santiago, Chile. They were there (and still are today) working on a Duke Engage project, but they decided to fly out to Buenos Aires for a long weekend, and I showed them around a little bit on Sunday. I took the A line subway (pictured immediately below) to get to their hostel, and that was an experience in and of itself! The cars were made of wood and the doors did not even open automatically. You actually had to physically pry them open yourself, and it was even possible to open the doors while the cars were in motion. Furthermore, the train had no speakers so when the doors were about to close, the driver of the train would actually have to blow a whistle to announce that the doors were about to close! It was a fun experience taking the train this one time on a peaceful Sunday morning, but I would hate to have to take it every day to work!


Then, after I met up with the group, the first site we visited was the National Congress pictured at the bottom of this post. There was not too much to see because we could not get in. There were, however, some political propoganda (pictured immediately below) in preparation for the national elections which were being held that day.


Then, we continued on to the San Telmo street market, which I had visited during my first weekend in Buenos Aires, so I ended my stay the same way as I started it. Read my brief first post about the market and checkout a picture of the market here: http://argentina-chris.blogspot.com/2009/05/white-has-nothing-on-pink.html. This time, though, I took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a number of souveniers and gifts that I had passed on the first time, and I'm pretty sure that my friends and family are now glad that I did!


After that weekend, I had one final week of work and classes in Buenos Aires before I was off on my trip to Mendoza and Chile! Please keep reading (and commenting) as I update my blog with posts concerning my trip and then a few final concluding posts about life in South America, more broadly...

The Mouth of the City

La Boca is the equivalent of New York’s Bronx or Chicago’s South Side. It is the part of the city that you want to avoid at all costs when the sun goes down, when you’re alone, when you’re a woman, and when you’re not feeling confident in your ability to talk your way out of a robbery. When I toured La Boca last Wednesday with a group of about 7 people and our tour guide, it was before the sun went down, my tour guide was not alone, and my tour guide was not a woman, but he was still robbed right in front of us. Apparently he wasn’t feeling confident in his ability to talk his way out of the robbery because he handed over the money immediately. Later, they tried to take my backpack but were unsuccessful, as I talked about in my previous post on June 4th. I didn’t get a chance to talk about La Boca though so that is what this post is for.

The name La Boca means "the mouth" in Spanish, and in many ways, the name is fitting. La Boca has a lot of ugliness on the inside where the plaque corrects and cavities occassionally develop, but it looks beautiful at first glance, just like a nice pair of lips conceal the depths of the mouth. In reality, though, La Boca is probably actually the most recognized part of Buenos Aires because of the touristy section (pictured above this post) that appears on the cover of nearly every Buenos Aires tourist book. Personally, when I picked up my copy of Frommer’s and saw the photo, it was one of the parts of Buenos Aires that excited me the most. For some reason, they don’t show pictures like the one displayed here at left. Perhaps it’s because that layer of darkened water you see at the front is actually a mixture of oil, tar, and general waste products from one of the most polluted towns in the entire world. Argentina does not have as many strictly enforced pollution restrictions as many other countries, and the result is that you have blackened cesspits and murky shores of the Rio de la Plata (despite the fact that Uruguay’s side is clear). The scary part? According to the tour guide, many Argentines used to swim in bodies of water like this. Who knows where those people are now and/or how many fingers and toes they may have?

In contrast, the distinguishing thing about the part of town that you’ll find on the cover of your Frommer’s is the vast amount of COLORS that you see throughout the main streets. The reason for the great breadth of colors (even on a single building) is really quite funny. When the buildings were originally painted, there was never enough paint to go around, and people never knew what colors of paint would be brought in on the next trading vessel. As a result, they painted their buildings with whatever colors they had, and then completed them with whatever colors were included in the next paint shipment. Since then, the variety of colors has been preserved to allow La Boca to retain its original character (and probably also to ensure that the guidebooks have a good front page for the tourists who are more than willing to pour their money into this otherwise neglected part of town).







One of the main attractions in La Boca is La Bombonera where the Boca Juniors soccer team plays. The name for the stadium comes from the Spanish word for candy box, supposedly because the fans' singing reverberates as it would inside a candy tin. We did not get to actually go into La Bombonera and visit its museum because the robbery detained us and our tour guide did not feel comfortable proceeding on, but we did get a view of it from afar, as you can see from the picture, above-right. We also got to see some soccer being played at a slightly less professional level near one of the street markets (displayed here at right). This is not an uncommon sight throughout Buenos Aires.




La Boca is also known for its arts and crafts vendors. You can find a very fine artist’s store in many parts of the city, but I noticed that it is very hard to find paintings and drawings in most parts of Buenos Aires. Artists’ specialties normally include sculptures, leatherworks, and a special type of oil painting called “fileteado.” (You can find more information and pictures of this style of artwork here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileteado.) But, in contrast, La Boca is home to many painters and drawers and their works are displayed out on the streets of the touristy parts of town (as shown here at left).






Later on in the tour, we went to San Telmo and Puerto Madero, two parts of town that I had already been to but which were even more fascinating to visit with a porteño to explain their historical significance. San Telmo is the older part of town I described in a previous post. It is the place where tango is said to have originated. Specifically, thisw it apparently came about: families rented rooms in a common building such as the one di is hosplayed here at right. (In fact, this is the EXACT LOCATION OF THE EXACT BUILDING where tango is said to have originated.) The problem was that each family had very little room because approximately 5-7 family members were routinely cramped into a single, small living space. As a result, they would crowd around in the common area and out in the streets, and they each contributed their own dance styles unique to their own, diverse ethnic backgrounds to a common dance that we now call “tango.”




Puerto Madero is the exact opposite of San Telmo. Whereas San Telmo has become antiquated, less populated, and somewhat unsafe at night, Puerto Madero is the part of town where all the young executives and wealthy residents are now moving. Located on the shore, this part of town is comprised of many high-rises, as in the picture at left. Some of the finest restaurants in town can be found here, though I have yet to try any in this part. There is also a bridge across the water connecting Puerto Madero to the main part of the city that is considered an engineering masterpiece (pictured below). Look at the shape of the bridge very carefully and see if it reminds you of anything in particular. Actually, you probably have to get a sideview like this one: http://www.danheller.com/images/LatinAmerica/Argentina/BuenosAires/PuertoMadero/puerto-madero-bridge-6-big.jpg to be able to see it fully. Anyway, the bridge's design is supposed to depict a couple dancing tango. With the woman leaning backward in the arms of the man. The idea is that two people become one when the dance tango because they are so synchronized with each other's movements that they essentially become one entity.

In a way, it is fitting to see this bridge connect the old and new parts of the city that we saw today. Many aspects of the city have changed, as was evident from our tour, but tango has remained a constant. The dance, important for both cultural and entertainment reasons, is a mainstay of Argentina. In fact, I have begun tango lessons three times per week, but that is another story that I will have to save for another blog post...

My First Parilla!

Tuesday night, my Spanish school hosted a dinner at El Desnivel, a typical Argentina parilla (steakhouse). I went with a couple of other people from Road. Because it was my first parilla in Argentina, I decided to splurge and not worry about the cost whatsoever. I ordered the FINEST steak on the menu (loma), along with a nice side item and a drink. Including the tip, the approximate grand total came to a whopping $17. That's right--17 US dollars. I could have ordered a medium cut of steak for about $7 if I had wanted to. And El Desnivel is not atypical. Food (particularly beef) is VERY cheap in Argentina. Most restaurants average about $5-$7 for main plates. A typical alcoholic drink like a daiquiri or margarita will cost $3 or $4, and only a 10% tip is expected. What all this adds up to is a very UNHEALTHY summer of MASSIVE QUANTITIES of eating for me!

We also got to do a little exploring of the area of San Telmo, where El Desnivel is located. Although the area did not seem to be the safest, we were glad that we got to see this historic part of town where tango originated in Buenos Aires. Among the attractions we saw were the narrowest building (pictured at left). Also, on the walk from the subte over to the restaurant, we got a nice view of the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada at night (pictured below).