Well, 3 days into my visit to Buenos Aires and I have taken refuge from the hot sun and my self-imposed city hiking to try and record some impressions. This is the first South American city where I have felt less obviously visible – my clothes don't stand out – I'm not much taller than nearly everyone else and I don't get called Gringo. The city is a bit dirty and noisy but at the same time vibrant and hot in both senses. The Porteño are friendly if somewhat introspective and studiously political, well probably more so the middle classes – the seem to read a lot of newspapers and debate and hold forth a lot.
The architecture is somewhat haphazard
and the traffic constant and heavy but perhaps not as polluted as
other cities I have visited – newer cars and greater emission
controls I guess and buses are relatively modern. Police presence is
minimal which is a surprise given some of the history. Restaurants
are in abundance and it feels like prices are around 20% less than UK
equivalents. Most of all the feel of the city is good – It is a big
place with much to explore, lots of cultural possibilities and some
excellent open spaces.
My first walk was somewhat unplanned
and I found my way down to the water side via impressive
congressional buildings expansive piazzas, across a 14 lane highway
which bringing an enormous quantity of traffic right through the heart
of the city. Puerto Madero is a modern development of high rise
apartments, shops, restaurants and parks which takes in some
reclaimed docks. It is pleasantly peaceful and leads down to an
ecological park which is bordered by a road that has several
parrillas where you can buy charcoal grilled hamburgers or chorizo –
the cooking smells are enticing but the product of it are poor in
quality. I headed back via an area of older buildings with a market
that was partly antiques and bricabrac and partly food. The fruit and
veg and other products all looked fine and there were some
interesting speciality stalls selling things like old metal toys and
matchbox packets. I also took in a large and rather brash shopping
mall/children's amusement venue and cinema in Abasto. The children’s
bit was called Neverland and this didn't redeem it one bit. Around
Abasto it is somewhat run down but looking as if it could become
quite fashionable some time in the future. I came across an odd
assortment of shops selling naked manikins for modelling closes in
shops. I wanted to take some photos but felt that it could appear a
tad dodgy so didn't.
In the evening I retuned to Abasto to
check out Club Azucar the salsa venue. Entry costs 25 pesos, about £4
and for that you could bag and hour and a half each of rueda,
bachata and salsa. I watched some bachata and joined in the salsa
intermediate class. The moves were a bit unusual and the teaching
somewhat sketchy but there was a lot of repetition and I just about
mastered it but was pretty tired by the end. People were very
friendly and forgiving of my mistakes but it was mostly a young crowd
and somewhat rah rah for my tastes – but I was proud of myself for
giving it a go. I'll probably go back.
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