Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina

This is a very nice city. I would trade Atlanta for it with no hesitation at all. (You've got to be kidding.... there is no comparison in the two cities. Atlanta is a favela compared to Buenos Aires!!) There are 3 million in the city and ten million more in the suburbs. It seems to have all the good parts of European cities. They didn't really show us the bad parts. Except for one slum. It was built out of the same tile blocks as the favelas in Brazil. These were built under a highway overpass and were not as extensive as the hilltop ones in Rio. Libby likes Buenos Aires better than Rio. Jack likes Rio better.

BA is on the world's biggest estuary at the outlet of the Rio de la Plata, which is an extensive river system. The water is a mottled mix of river and ocean water. The color of the water is coffee and cream, but it has an interesting pinkish tinge. It is not repulsive, but it does not invite swimming.

The current government is a modern Peronist variety. The president is Christina Fernandez de Kirchner. I think the Peronists and anti-Peronists are a bit like Democrats and Wingnuts with no moderate middle (kind of like how we seem to be going, come to think of it.). Our tour guide was an anti-Peronist, so he thinks the whole Evita thing is vastly overblown: “She would be completely forgotten, except for Lloyd-Webber.” Of course, we heard “Don't cry for me, Argentina” about three times during the day. It was the big finale at the tango show. One picture for the day was taken at the tango show.

We went to a tango show and dinner at La Ventana, Barra de Tango, in downtown. The show started at 8:00 and dinner was at 10:00. The show has a lot of tango, but the parts we liked best were the Bandoneon player (It is not an accordion, it is a bandoneon. They are different.) and the 12 string ukelele that makes “Andean” music. I like Andean music and the ukelele player was very good.

Wine was served with dinner. It was a Malbec. The day tour guide said Malbec is the best of Argentine wine, even though the name means “made bad.” The table next to us didn't drink theirs, so they gave it to me. I got a cork from the waiter and recorked it to take back to the boat. Libby thought somebody in security would not allow it, but I went right through with nobody batting an eye. Now I have to figure out how to get the cork back out. The airport security in Mexico City confiscated my traveling corkscrew last summer.

The tango started in the bars and back rooms in La Boca, the old port district. The port has been moved twice since then. The first old port, La Boca, has been turned into a Disney style tourist attraction. The other abandoned port, Puerto Madero, was turned over to real estate developers who have made a very upscale commercial and residential district out of it.

La Boca is interesting. The buildings are mostly made out of corrugated metal painted garish colors. The windows are covered with louvered shutters. Another of the pictures of the day is the Boca Babe (my name for her. The locals probably use another name). She was sitting on a second floor balcony just watching the world go by.

This place is expensive. Prices seem to be on a par with New York, but the minimum wage is about $15 per day, if I understood it right. Unemployment is severe. The tour guide said there are lots of poor people and they come out at night hunting for ….......anything of value. Maybe that is why there are so many dogs here – big dogs.

To hire a dog walker costs $90 per month per dog. The dog walkers seem to get up a pack of about ten and walk them for 5 hours a day through the extensive park system in town. They look like Cesar Milan on his TV show leading a pack around. Small dogs, like you see in Miami, were rarely seen. All these Porteños (that is what they call residents of Buenos Aires) living in small apartments with big dogs really do need dog walkers. A dog walker with his pack is another picture for the day.

Two days in Buenos Aires was not enough.