Brett's Southern Crossing

After 4 and a half months living in Buenos Aires I feel like I should have a lot to say about it.  In a way I guess I do, but I’m not sure how to summarize it into a blog post.  My time there was split in half, 2 months living in Las Cañitas and 2 and a half months living in Recoleta with a 2 month trip though Argentina and Chile in the middle.

My Apartment Building in Las Canitas

The first time I enrolled in Spanish classes at the Universidad de Belgrano, which had good teachers and materials but was about 50% more expensive than most schools and class sizes were a far too large at 15-18.  Classes were 5 days a week, 5 hours a day.  It worked well enough for learning basic spanish, but I think it’s a poor way to learn advanced spanish or get proficient in conversation.  The second time I studied with two private professors, meeting in cafes and restaurants, for a combined total of about 10 hours of instruction each week.  This really helped my speaking ability but I have to admit I could have studied a bit more between classes.  Still, by having a resonable number of class hours I was able to devote more time outside of class to practice, which really helps a lot.  Too much class is counterproductive in the end.

Profesor Gérman

Profesora Natalia

Until the end of my time there I hardly did anything touristy.  It was nice because it seems like I really lived like a local for the most part.  Buenos Aires has a lot going on and an incredible number of cafes, ice cream shops, and restaurants.  Everything is available for free delivery from your laundry to ice cream to anything you want from the local minimart.  There are plenty of downsides too – terrible air quality, dog poop all over the sidewalk, etc.

I didn’t learn quite as much Spanish as I hoped.  I can talk to anyone about just about anything, but I’m still a ways from being fluent.  I’m planning to keep working on it in Austin though.

It was an amazing experience and I’m glad I made time to do it!

My last couple weeks in Buenos Aires I finally got around to doing a bit of sightseeing.  You really only need to spend 3-4 days in the cities to see most of the tourist sights, although it’s the kind of place you could easily stay for ages just to enjoy walking the neighborhoods, eating in great restaurants, relaxing in cafes, and going to special events.

In no particular order, here are the touristy things I thought were worth seeing:

Recoleta Cemetery

Where the rich and famous show off by building elaborate mausoleums.  Many of Argentina’s famous politicians and wealthy families are buried here, and it’s still a functioning cemetery where the modern-day elite aspire to rub their deceased shoulders with the likes of Evita.  The cemetery is huge and has the feel of a city, with a network of streets weaving through hundreds of mausoleums.  Most are ornate and in good repair, but some are really degraded.  I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it seems you (or your family) somehow need to keep paying for maintenance.  Some tombs were damaged and in a really unfortunate state considering there were still coffins inside.  Also, in case you were considering it putting a skylight in your mausoleum is not something I would recommend.

La Boca

Possibly Buenos Aires’ most touristy place, this famous neighborhood is known for its brightly painted buildings, art museums, and its association with tango.  There’s one street several blocks long packed with tango-themed cafes and restaurants with performers who will dance together and then drag tourists on stage to give tango a try.  If you’re interested in tango, it’s possible to take classes in many places in the city.  Attending a milonga (community tango dance) is another good option – you can watch lots of people dancing with their partners, and professors often give performances and demonstrations.  There’s something really cool about seeing aging couples dancing together dressed to the 9s.  Considering the dramatic events of the last 40-50 years in Argentina, it’s like watching a bit of history.

Downtown

There is a solid cluster of photo-ops in downtown Buenos Aires, including Avenida 9 de Julio (a massive 18-lane avenue), the Obelisk, Casa Rosada (the Rose House, where the President lives.  Tours available in Spanish), Plaza de Mayo, Teatro Colon (one of the world’s great opera houses, newly restored) and the main plaza surrounded by opulent government buildings.

Puerto Madero

This port was constructed for many years, only to be deemed too small once it was finished.  The area was instead converted into an upscale place with fancy restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops, waterfront promenades, condos, and a museum on a retired naval ship.

San Telmo

A bit sketchy at night, but packed with great restaurants, bars, and clubs.  During the day on Sundays there’s a huge antiques fair in Plaza Defensa, and at night the plaza is filled with tables and chairs for an outdoor bar.  One of the city’s most popular neighborhoods.

Palermo

The definition of Palermo has crept over the years to become an area so large it now has to be subdivided into Palermo Viejo, Palermo SoHo, Palermo Hollywood, Palermo Chico, and a few others that I’m sure I’ve forgotten!  The neighborhoods are filled with cafes, restaurants, and boutique shops, but this is still primarily a residential area and is a great way to see what a typical nice Porteño neighborhood is like.  Don’t miss a night in the outdoor bars near Plaza Serrano followed by dinner at any of the nearby parillas (Argentine grill restaurants).  Order a parillada to share among the table; they’ll deliver a massive grill filled with coals and heaped with chorizo (sausage), morcilla (black sausage), vacio (steak), costillas (ribs, usually beef), and perhaps some exotic bits like the intestines or even tripe.  It’s a great value, delicious, and about as Argentina as food gets!

Cafes and Bookshops

Buenos Aires has lots of cafes and bookshops that stand out.  El Ateneo Grand Splendid is an amazing bookshop set in a restored old theater.  Las Violetas is an ornate old-school cafe with waiters in white bow ties.  They serve absolutely massive hamburgers, and if you go with a group you can order a picada platter crammed with a variety of sandwiches.  They also have a bakery with dozens of different types of cakes and candies.  Las Violetas isn’t near much of anything else on the tourist circuit, but you can go there on the A-line subway, which is an interesting experience itself.  The A-line was the first metro in Latin America and many of the trains still running on this line are rickety antiques with wood-paneled interiors and manually operated doors.  Classica y Moderna is another neat bookshop that is a good example of a typical city bookstore.  It’s got a nice cafe up front and tall racks of books crammed in the rear.  Cafe Tortoni is classic cafe downtown, known best for its history of having famous Argentina writers, artists, and politicians among its clientele.  For Example, Luis Borges, Carlos Gardel, and Alfonsina Storni.

And More

Of course there’s plenty of other options too.  A futbol match, going to the horse races at the hipodromo, taking a train to the river delta in Tigre, going to a milonga (tango dance), etc.  And remember that a typical weekend night out is dinner from 11pm-1am, drinks for a few hours, then a club til dawn!

Video Screen in Parque San Martin

One of the cool parts of staying in Buenos Aires for so long was the chance to spend an entire World Cup in a cities with a team in strong contention to win.  I had been looking forward to it for months, and though Argentina didn’t go all the way it was still pretty nice.

Most of the Argentina world cup matches I watched in a local restobar near my apartment, and I watched USA matches and quite a few other matches in my favorite cafe in Las Cañitas.  The Argentines seemed excited if not truly pumped for the matches I saw, although I really only watched the group matches in the restobar.  So there wasn’t too much on the line.

I went to Uruguay for a weekend partway through the cup, and got two see Uruguay defeat South Korea to make it to the final 8.  The last time they had advanced so far was 1970, and I have to say they were really worked up for their knockout round match.  I watched the match in a small restaurant in a little town called Colonia de Sacramento and after they won tons of Uruguayans were zooming up and down the streets on motorcycles towing huge flags and setting off fireworks.  The news was live for hours showing crowds celebrating in the streets of Montevideo.  The next day I went to Montevideo to see Argentina defeat Mexico, and was interested to see that the Uruguayans were not supporting their neighbors!

The last match I saw was Argentina vs Germany.  All the matches had been screened on massive video boards downtown in San Martin Park.  By this time I was out of my apartment and living in a hostel, so I went with 4 English girls in my hostel to see the match.  Unfortunately Argentina was pretty much dominated by Germany so it was more of a funeral than the party I was hoping for.

After seeing Argentina dominated we were able to look very serious with this guard at the Presidential Mansion

All in all it was great to see matches in two countries who were really into the cup.  I know that in a lot of cases schools and businesses closed, and an Argentine friend told me her office had brought in TVs and popcorn makers for the staff to enjoy.  I learned a lot about the game and know quite a bit about the players now as well.

Argentina, along with several other South American countries, are celebrating their 200th anniversaries this year.  As Napoleon caused chaos in Europe, most of South America took advantage of the situation to declare independence from Spain, or at least begin the process.  In Buenos Aires there was a week of celebrations culminating in a huge parade down Avenida 9 de Julio.  In Argentina’s case, while July 9th is independence day they celebrate the nation’s birthday a little earlier in May, since the first local government was formed in May of 1810 (independence wasn’t declared until 1816).

In true Argentine fashion, the parade started well after dark at 9pm.  The floats were really well done and covered all of the major events of Argentine history including the indigenous peoples, wars of independence, political upheaval, military dictatorship, Malvinas/Falkland Islands war, the Madres y Abuelos de Plaza de Mayo, Peronism, the industrial revolution, democracy, and more.  I took a video, which was difficult since with 3 million people attending the parade it was kind of a mosh pit just to stay in my spot!

A great photo album of the festivities can be found here.

On my last day of class last month I was lucky enough to witness a tradition I had heard of for new University graduates (my classes are run through a well known University here).  Most of the Argentine students are off in January and February, but a few were still working and apparently had finished their final exams that Friday afternoon.

In Argentina it’s customary to “celebrate” completion of final exams by a friend or relative by mercilessly pelting them with food.  I only saw the end of this ritual, and my video isn’t very good.  It’s a shame, I can imagine this would be great to watch start to finish!  In the brief time I was there I saw them hit with raw eggs, flour, a jar of honey, shaving foam, feathers, and who knows what else:

And a few closeup photos for detail:

One of the world’s great bookstores is in downtown Buenos Aires.  There are half a dozen El Ateneo locations in the city, but the most well-known is the one at the intersection of Avenida Sante Fe and Avenida Cabildo.  The owners bought a historic theater called the Grand Splendid, restored it, and turned it into the largest bookstore in the city.

You can read books in cushy chair in the opera boxes and visit the cafe located behind the curtain on the stage.  The ceiling is somewhat domed and painted by an Italian artist.  To be perfectly honest, although it’s probably the largest bookstore in the city they could do better…the first two floors are books, the third floor is CDs and DVDs and the fourth floor is empty and closed.  Lets fill this place to the top with books, ok?

If you like the look of this place, I found an article about some other amazing bookstores.  I only wish I had time this summer to see the one in Maastricht!

In the last week we’ve had a lot of rain in Buenos Aires.  I enjoy watching from my balcony for some reason when it’s really pouring.  There aren’t storm drains here, instead the streets have a notch cut in them about a foot from the curb.  The notch is about 3 inches wide and deep and allows small amounts of water to be carried away.  I’m not sure where it eventually drains…there must be storm drains somewhere.

A few days ago it was coming down hard, and the streets were totally flooded.  It’s fun to watch the rivers of water and a few poor people dashing along trying to get out of the rain.  Someone who lives just a couple of blocks from meet took this video:

A collectivo (bus) like you see in the video tried to detour down my street, but was too large to make a turn from Huergo onto Avenida Chenaut.  He ended up wedged in so that parked cars were pinning him in front, on the side and in back.  That provided a half hour of entertainment as they tried to find a way to direct him back out!

Here’s a map showing where I live and where the video was shot.  If you’re interested, you can zoom out 5-6 levels to see where my neighborhood is in Buenos Aires.  Downtown is the eastern part of the city near the water.

View Larger Map

I planned to learn a lot more about Buenos Aires and Argentina before I left, but moving always takes way more time than you expect.  So I’m going there knowing embarrassingly little about the history, culture, and political situation.

But here’s what I do know, and am looking forward to:

• A multicultural and somewhat European society.  Buenos Aires has had tons of immigration from Spain, Italy, the UK, and even eastern Europe.
• Lots of good food and wine.  Argentina is known for its beef and asado (barbeque), for its pizza and pasta (I’ve read 60% of Argentines are part italian), and for producing excellent wine.
• An active and sporty society.  Futbol, rugby, polo, and other sports are popular.  The Tigre river on the north side of the city has lots of rowing clubs too, so I’d like to continue to row from time to time.
• Natural beauty…the ocean on the east coast, the Andes to the west, Patagonia and Antarctic regions in the south, the famous Iguazu Falls at the northern border, the pampas (plains) where cattle and wine are produced, and who kn0ws what else!
• Buenos Aires is known as a party town…with dinner not eaten till 9-10pm and lasting past midnight, plus music and dancing through the night.  How do these people get to work??

Final part of a three-part series about what I’ve been up to and what I plan to do next year.  Part 1 was about my time in Australia.  Part 2 was about my time in South America.

I’m back!  It’s been a busy couple of weeks.

So here’s my plan for next year.  After my trips to South America I decided it was about time to finally learn Spanish.  So I’m planning to move in January to Buenos Aires.  I’d like to spend 4-5 months learning in a full-time school, and there are lots of them available.  Most are private schools, but I’m most interested in the Espanol para Extranjeros (Spanish for Foreigners) program at the Universidad de Buenos Aires.  (I also need to learn how to type accented letters!)

The UBA program only accepts in-person registrations so I’m going to have to just show up and see if there’s any space left.  Another odd thing about the university program is that it has 4 month-long courses, but they’re run in January, February, June, and July.  So there’s a weird gap there.  After the first two months I’ll have to decide if I want to travel and return, switch to a private school, or something else I haven’t considered yet.

After that I’m going to backpack through South America for as long as my money and interest last.  I’m guessing I’ll return by the holidays and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in Ann Arbor.  And finally, I’d like to then look for work in Australia…what an end to a great plan!

Of course everyone is welcome to visit me.  Family, friend, acquaintance, whatever.  Just figure out a way to get to where I am and I’ll show you around.  I have a few suggestions on how to afford a trip too, so keep your eyes out here for that.