A week in Buenos Aires

No doubt you’ve heard of Buenos Aires, that Latin American city where Tango and gauchos meet. A city that can fill your eyes and stomachs.

I’ve seen sections of the city that look like Paris and others that feel as closed in as old Jerusalem. Buenos Aires is a true mixture of Europe and the US with the best and the worst. There are some Belle Epoque buildings that should be near the Louvre and other buildings that could be on a street in Dayton.

The typical worldwide urban icons are visible - Mc Donald’s, Coke or Pepsi signs, people wearing clothes and backpacks with logos of Channel, Izod, Nike and Timberland talking a mile a minute on their cell phones, along with cars built by Volkswagen, Ford and Chevy. But we’re nowhere near Europe or the U.S. Buenos Aires is almost as far away from those corporate offices as New York is from New Delhi.

Argentina’s economy is slowly building back from the Peso devaluation of several years ago. There are luxury condos, hotels and high-rise office buildings being built, and expensive restaurants are packed for dinner. On our first day, we walked up a main shopping street, Florida, in the older Microcenter business district. It was filled with shoppers, sightseers and workers as if Christmas was around the corner; it was the 28 of February. This is a busy city.

When you look at the prices of items, you’ll see before the number a dollar sign, $. Now this means that the price is in Argentine Pesos. However, if the price is large, like a car or condo, the price is in US Dollars written as U$D, plus the number afterwards. I guess they either trust the US dollar when it comes to large amounts, or the number would look too large in pesos so no one would buy.

The economy isn’t back yet. I’ve seen some buildings outside of the window of our hotel room where construction stopped some time ago. Around the city sidewalks and some roads are in need of repair, and there are stores and other places that look as if they’ve been up for rent for a while. We drove past a shantytown known here as Villa Miseries, built under the highway only a few blocks from those luxury buildings. A friend who lives in Buenos Aires said, ‘They’re lucky. At least they have a roof over their head." He was referring to the highway above them.

People here keep trying. Every night there are locals, called "cartonaros" who go through trash to find cardboard, metal or other items for recycling. These people used to have regular jobs, but after the economic collapse, they had nothing. This became their job. It’s now institutionalized, with the city granting them permits.

One man told us Argentineans are resourceful, "If need be, with a couple of rusty nails and a paper clip, they could build a rocket to the moon.’

Resourcefulness seems as well to apply to the arts. If one has limited resources, what can you make?

While we drove past the shanties, we saw murals on walls that ran along the access road - well-crafted wall art depicting different things. Some was abstract, some realistic. What I’ve noticed is the wall painting as well as some graffiti throughout the city is quite good, there is even three-dimensional wall art such as in the impoverished La Boca area.

This creativity has gone from the streets to the galleries and some museums. In a city-sponsored gallery there was “new media” art, using video, photography as well as some traditional materials to produce some of the most creative artwork I’ve seen in years. It is my opinion that these endeavors might just mean many of the next generation of world artists are coming from not from the US, France or China, but countries like Argentina.

But the great art of Buenos Aires is not on the walls or upright in museums. It is in the restaurants, cafes and other establishments for food. This could be the true reason for Buenos Aires being known as the "Paris of South America". So far I haven’t had a bad meal, wine, coffee or ice cream yet! These places have ranged from some of the top restaurants of the city to a street vendor near the river walk who sold charcoal-grilled sausages. All have been good to great! A true city for “foodies.”

No matter how we see or feel about a new place, we are still tourists and like most tourist, we couldn’t leave Buenos Aires without visiting the tomb of one of the most famous Argentineans ever, Evita.

Evita Peron, mistress and then wife of political strong-man Juan Peron, was a “saint” in the eyes of the working class of Argentineans in the 1940’s and 50’s. She died in her early 30s, to many Argentineans' sorrow. Evita, the woman of legend and song, ‘Don’t cry for me Arr genn teee nahhh….’ is enshrined in a mausoleum in the Recoleta Cemetery, a resting place for the famous and infamous of this land.

In front of the mausoleum several people stood staring at its door, adorned with a few flowers. The exterior marble facade had several brass plaques from politicians, workers unions and a host of others - all giving their glowing sentiments.

The one plaque I felt was missing was from Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote the music to the blockbuster musical. Webber became as famous, not to mention wealthy because of “Evita.” It would be a reasonable tribute from him to have a plaque that said something simple such as “Evita, Thanks a Hundred Million”- Andrew Lloyd Webber".

A travel guide I read said that you can exhaust Buenos Aires in a couple of days. As far as I can see, from the harbor to the outer areas, there’s so much here, it could take a lifetime.