Art in the night

We love Buenos Aires, right? We love that small children and old couples stay out until the wee hours of the night. We love the springtime air and purple blossoms lining Nuevo de Julio. We love the immense beauty and striking skyline at every corner of the behemoth. Naturally, there are many sociopolitical problems lurking around as well, not to discredit a large array of social needs, but Saturday night's La Noche de los Museos singled out directly one reason to adore this city.

We love this city because it provides events like Museum Night. On Saterday the 15th of November the 5th Museum Night brought babbling bands of pedestrians, extranjeros, portenos, young and old, to frolic about the city from 7pm-2am. During this time public transportation was free, provided it was collecitvo running between the 130 some odd museums, galleries, and congressional buildings taking part. Art, anthropology, music, and film, were just some of the activities connecting the dots throughout Capital Federal, all centered around el centro de los Museos, on Av de los Italianos in Puerta Madera. At 21:00 the German Film "Metropolis" was screen with live musical accompaniment. The film is a 1920s silent film, I expected a beautiful, but classical rendition of the soundtrack, in keeping with the old spirit of silent film. Instead a band much like the 1970's Italian group "Goblin" rocked, funked, and jazzed the audience into climactic paralysis. It was beautiful, and fun. Later, DJs from popular clubs around the city put down their beats.

Not that late nightlife is anything new around here, the point is precisely this: the city put on a brilliant event, involving many aspects of the cities art, music, and anthropological culture, they made it accessible to everyone, made it easy for people to come and go, and it was free. Furthermore, it happened in the middle of the night and everyone went.

We love this city why? Go and figure it out for yourself...

The Night of the Museums! Chancha Vía Circuito!

Tonight is La Noche de los Museos, at:

Centro de Museos de Buenos Aires / Av. De los Italianos 851.

It is Free, museums all over the city are participating, but from 19:00 until 2:00, the festives will be grand at this location. Fritz Lang's Metropolis will be screen accompanied by live music, DJ's from around the city will be scratching until the wee hours. Dale!

The Platas

Yesterday I was in La Plata. Being lucky enough to have a housemate with periodic access to a vehicle we hit for the south, stopped in Quilmes, a small working class city on the coast of Rio Plata, and continued onward for La Plata. Quilmes has a dirty but pleasant coastline with restaurants and bars and a wharf in partial construction. One gets the sense there are very few yankies or gringos that take in the sun around these parts and so an adventure into strange, but possibly unsafe cultural transcendence would commence.

Down and Down, on to La Plata, the provincial capital of Buenos Aires. The city was larger than I had thought, which is only in comparison to friends having told me that it was smaller than they thought and quite walkable. There are around 550,000 inhabitants and the center has an impressive array of cultural edifices. A number of museums, an ecological reserve, and the neo-gothic Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepcion de La Plata. Five kilometers west of the city is a large park of trails, hiking, and grassy clearings amidst slightly forested areas. For the ease and closeness of the city it is a grand escape of the metropolis that is Buenos Aires, to explore another somewhat urban local, with a much more placid demeanor. It would be unkind as well not to mention the great friendliness of everyone we encountered along the way, from bici riders to futbol fanatics, we navigated the city by random acts of kindness.

When I first arrived in Buenos Aires, excuse my ignorance, I was confused by "the Platas." You mean to say that there is the city La Plata, but also, further south, Mar del Plata? Yes there is; it probably routed from a more mediocre grasp of Spanish, one that has been cleared up by now. Ha. Anyways, tomorrow is the final day of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. The largest and most renowned film fest of South America, something for which I am banging my head for not having gone. So I you happen to be heading there, or are already there, by all means check it out, its cheap, and the cinema will be glorious.

Villa Mayo

It is no surprise to anyone who has traveled outside of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, that the city's flare, aura, and charm, are of a different nature than the rest of the country. It is also no surprise, that Buenos Aires is massive. Capital Federal is a right large landmass of barrio after barrio, but even beyond the center, areas outside are still considered part of the city. One beauty of the, I don't know...just one beautiful thing, is the vast difference between Buenos Aires, and what one might otherwise think of as Latina America culture and city space. What one might not know, is that you do not have to go very far to find it.

Villa Mayo is not a terribly popular area, certainly not amongst tourists, but if you have the ability to get out of Capital Federal, to the north west, the barrio along with surrounding areas is a bit more country, a bit more slow placed, a bit more tranquil and, just different. Argentines look different, they speak differently, and time goes differently. It is not particularly "traditional" in whatever sense that word is supposed to mean, as in rustic or colonial, or indigenous, it is simply life, in a very much non-Buenos Aires sort of demeanor, which if you have been around here for a while, is a very nice thing. Naturally, a certain level of exotification goes into what I am saying, as the differences and the attractions are in a certain way the result of lower economic stability and infrastructure, which tends to typify the type of South or Central American street side one might normally think of, but such a by-way offers visual stimulation of a different nature to strolling down Nuevo de Julio or Corrientes of Defensa. The point is, I suppose, that the grand differences between Buenos Aires, and more Latino influenced places is at times forgotten, no matter how well known, and you really don't have to go very far to be reminded

Super Tuesday

Cross cultural exchanges at times erode one's ability to be clever, and hence the title of this post is ever so clear, so so not clever, and so so straight forward. Tomorrow is election day in the U.S.A. and although we are all here: in Buenos Aires, or elsewhere in Argentina, or South America, or somewhere, it is, to quote Steven Colber from the Daily Show on the 2004 election "an electoral Hiroshima to make Armageddon seam like Yahtzee," or rather that was on the Bush-Dukakis campaign. For 2004 he simply claimed "it is the most important election of our lifetime." So tomorrow is that day that much of the world has been looking towards. We will all eagerly await for the Daily Show to show us just how funny politics are. Lately, with guests such as Michelle and Barack Obama, the election has been legitimately, or illegitimately presented to us, depending on the comic bent of John Stewart.

But in all seriousness, and I am not taking away from the intelligence or informed nature of the Daily Show, there certainly are better, and more complete news sources from which to observe the election from afar. Why is it that I am writing on the election anyways, assuming that South American Explorers members consist of a more diverse background than U.S. citizens? Something in the winds tells me the recent fluctuation of the Argentine Peso, or Bolivian anti-drug funds, or the ongoing crisis in the Congo for that matter tends to be in some way or another associated with the U.S. The trends in the Hong Kong financial market were dipping the other day, which also might have had something to do with this possible recession thing happening in the states (and please exploit the vagueness of that word recession as most U.S. mainstream media have also done). So, if ever there was a moment when the whole world were looking at the U.S.-which there has been-another one is right now, and as early voting problems in states like Colorado and Florida already have turned on the flashing lights, Obamas' lawyers gear up to insure a flagrant free voting arena tomorrow, Fox news is in pregame mode, Bradley is on alert, and the U.S. prepares for the possible first ever wartime party exchange in the big house.

All the U.S. citizens abroad have already, so we hope, cast their votes and tomorrow will be a long day of speculation and observation, three to six hours ahead of the mark, which might make for a long night. If you need a place to observe election coverage here in Buenos Aires, The Sacramento at El Salvador 5729 will have television coverage from 9pm on, coming from CNN world. If you need conservative coverage you can find it on Fox News, if you are looking for an independent media perspective Democracynow will be doing a five hour special coverage of the results at www.democracynow.com

critical mass today!

at 4pm at obelisco. Dale

Las Madres De La Plaza De Mayo

Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo have a building at Plaza Congresso. It is a cafe, a bookstore, a resource center for human rights, a library, a video library, and a plethora of good ol' fashion radical ideologies. The cafe makes damn...damn good empenadas for 2.5 pesos. The bookstore has large sections reserved for Marxist literature and libros de carton, beautiful. There are comic books on gender and positive sexual vibes. It is a noisy, active, city hall-like place of forward thinking and support. La asociacion is also called La Universidad de las Madres, and you can imagine the sort of reference points, and ideologies, and power that might be brewing from the people in this open community. I have yet to view la Madres on Sundays but I imagine it is beautiful. Beautiful people tend to grace the building with their presence. Hearts take up more space there.

Walk through the doors, passed the bookstore on your left and cafe on your right. Follow the stares up, and enter the first door on your left, walk down the hallway of file cabinets and organizers. Anyone can join the video library, bring identification and a blank dvd. There is a strong culture of cinema in Argentina, and once the dictatorship went down, filmmakers rushed to manifest visually the horrifying era. Right now I have rented "La ora de los ornos" a very famous underground film made during the dictatorship. It is in three parts and a few hours long, it does not exist with English subtitles and it is a beautiful display of raw Argentina and powerful Marxist propaganda, it depicts a people, a faciest regime, and a solution.

get more info on the mommas at: www.madres.org

Buenos Aires International Jazz Fest

Yes, it did end yesterday, true, it is not necessarily polite to brag about how wonderful something was, but I am going to do it anyways; well not really its a productive conversation to express how wonderful cultural events are in Buenos Aires. The Jazz fest from Oct. 15-19 was no exception. I am ardently against mentally and forthcoming, verbally expressing the currency exchange between U.S. dollars and Argentine pesos when it involves expressing how much cheaper something is here than in the U.S.A. I find it insensitive and naive, a mode of cultural isolation to ensure the gap between natives and foreigners stays wide. That being said, the most expensive events of the five day festival was 30 pesos. That is $10 U.S. for world class jazz, not to mention that many seats of the same concerts were available at 15 pesos, and that a large majority of the festival was entirely free. The Festival was subsidized by the ministry of culture; the saving grace of my own mental currency exchange is that 30 pesos is cheap in Argentinian terms compared to the same quality of music. Just last week Gilberto Gil, the great (and interestingly, ex-brazilian minister of culture) Brazilian musician played at Teatro Rex, the cheapest tickets available were 40 pesos, and they went up to around 180. At the end of the month Gal Costa and Tom Jobim will play at the Rex, and minimum tickets are 60 pesos. The festival housed performances in an array of locations throughout the city, primarily at Centro Cultural Recoleta.

Last night, the closing of the festival at Teatro Coliseo packed a full house for the New York based Jazz band Argentos, and finally the Brazilian marvel Rosa Possas. I missed a good portion of the Argentos set, but what i missed from them was healthily replaced, and promptly overfilled by the angelic vocal chords and brazilian jazz of Possas. She charmed the large crowd through lullaby and the standout basest beat boxed along. This is all to say, the arts in Buenos Aires are a carefully crafted dimond in the rough, or not, it could be that they are blown wide open and people gladly embrace the manicured attention to detail. And so, although this episode has passed, open your eyes to the many events that are always happening on local or international levels, for free or small support. Pick up free papers, there are many, and they tell much. Go to Teatro San Martin, La Tribue radio, CC Roja and Borges and Recoleta, art gallery Mite, and listen with your ears and look with your eyes.

San Martin Theatre and Cannes

San Martin Theatre is located at 1530 Corrientes, currently it is screening a 4oth anniversary festival of Cannes. Tomorrow, the 15th, is the last day of the festival and over the last month the theatre has shown some divine examples of cinema, spanning the globe. Each film costs 7 pesos, and it is group of films organized together only because they are exactly as I said, phenomenal films. Take advantage of the opportunity to see some very good cinema at a very cheap price, go to http://www.teatrosanmartin.com.ar/cine/default.html to get information on the showings for today and tomorrow. All films are either in Spanish or with Spanish subtitles, so look at it as either an opportunity to practice your language skills or satisfaction of understanding film in another language, but either way go, be thrilled by beautiful imagery and story narration. Hide your eyes from the exposition of "Tarnation," be moved by the ending of "West Beirut," let the charm of film warm you to your bones.

Holidays In Argentina

There is a wonderful culture of Argentines taking advantage of and giving good name to holiday opportunities. The first day of spring for example is a holiday, Student Day, and you will find the youth out in stride. In the winter months, they have Friends day, which seems to me to be quite a humorous and wonderful idea. What happens on friends day, either you celebrate your friends, or yourself for having friends? Way to go me! Yesterday, Monday, October 13, is Columbus day around these parts. In all honesty, I couldn't tell you when that day is in the U.S. Which might have to do with the way I feel about the whole conquest and what not. Nonetheless, it manifests in another three day weekend where people escape the city and head for...Tigre seems to be that one place where Argentines escape to. Stores remain, in a confusing fashion open and closed, and the subte is free.
Tigre is just a jump away by train, and soon you can find yourself surrounded by verdent landscapes, clean air, and river. The town itself is quite a playland, offering an art museum in an old hotel building with garden terraces and simple and impecable architecture. There is a theme park with roller coasters, one resembling the Top Gun ride from Paramount's Great America, if you happen to know the greater San Jose, Ca area. River taxis can tow you away from the town, and into kilometers of privet docs. and quite space, where the sounds of everything tend to just trail off.
So, prepare for the next one, December 8th, is the day of Immaculate Conception, which might not be the type of holiday to go off skinny dipping with your Argentine friends, but then again, most days are a cause for fun and drink around here, and that's not such an exaggeration. People of all social classes tend to take a load off when they are able and escape the noise pollution, and air pollution of capital federal and run off to greener pastures in what means they have and are able. Indeed, if your own capture and domination is a day to celebrate, then well immaculate conception is the creme de la creme.

Whose Streets?

The first ever Buenos Aires Critical Mass was held last Sunday, Oct. 5. It was small, consisted of about 40 people, counted as 80 wheels, and was quite tranquil.

So let the long anthem stand, call out, "whose streets?" and someone will answer, "our streets."
Critical Mass is an unorganized, organized bike ride, in which, all over the world at different times, people take to the streets, on some assortment of human powered wheels, and ride. Simply ride, in the streets, to make ever so clear the disclaimer, we, the cycling world, are traffic too. A somewhat obscure, and difficult to find activity, nonetheless it is a strong part of many different types of cultures in many countries all over the world, ranging from places in San Francisco, CA, USA where cyclists are often arrested, or at times even hit by cars, to places like Budapest, Hungary, where there is the largest ride in the world, and about 3 or 4 times a year over 100,000 people close down the largest street in the city to shout out amply and clear, you too should get out of your car, and on a bici. The reasons are so increasingly obvious. So now, welcome Buenos Aires, to the club, a non elitest and open club of fun and creative values, come ride a bike. Queen sung about it, now its your turn, the next Buenos Aires mass will be November 2nd, starting at obelisco at 16:00. Come join the fun, it really is just alot of fun!

Bonpland Mercado Bien

If you are a more permanent member of Buenos Aires, then the city might be just like any other city where you might live. A space to conduct your life and to engage in your interests and ideologies. When it comes to food consumption, everyone knows where Buenos Aires stands; I am a vegetarian, needless to say, I have not been to an Asado. Aside from the website, www.happycow.com which lists vegetarian resteraunts all around the world (including a quite comprehensive list of Buenos Aires fooderies) there are a number of vegetable markets around the city. I would like to focus on one market for the time being, and also the notion of markets in general. Although it is great to have a resource to eating out with mushrooms and zuchini in this otherworldly land of thick, bloody, steak stacks (which if is your preference I am in no way denouncing your choices), the idea of the market place is quite a bit different. First off, markets are of course, to buy goods for cooking. Secondly markets are an important step in the process of community exchange. As a foreigner it is difficult to engage actively in the sort of value structures you might at home. If supporting local farmers or alternative products, or if you have allergies or shy from certain food groups for whatever reason, Bonpland Mercado Bein might be a space for you to check out.

The market is located at Bonpland 1660 and operates 10-22 Saturdays. Inside it is not a produce market, but rather consists of vendors selling various grains, breads, alternative and organic processed products, such as vegan mayonnaise or organic olive oil. Here you can find hummus, and pan de mijo (mijo is a birdseed, the peel of the seed is used for the bread). Information is offered on the health benefits of the different grains. Cooperativa La Agambleria Economia Solidario operates from the market space and sells many products produced in cooperative businesses. There is a book vendor selling spanish literature on political theory, social organization, and the like, and in the back there is a display of local artists work. The enviornment is quite pleasent and friendly, and if nothing else you might learn how to say some strange foods you did not know existed, in spanish.

If you are hip to the now, as far as local markets, slow foods, and alternative food consumption goes, Bonpland Mercado Bien will sooth your brain. If you are not, go check it out, and learn just how relevant a market such as this is, and more, the differences between food choices and food culture here versus the U.S. or Europe where green living and organic purchasing is generally for an upper-middle class that can afford its value structure. That is a vast difference to Buenos Aires, where people purchase produce at local corner markets, and everything is inherently a little seperated from the grand agrobusiness that exists back home.

Eloisa Cartenero

La Boca is another land contrasted to its neighbor, San Telmo. Grand romantic facades and cobblestone in the heart of tangoland awe the tourist in you, but walking along Brandsen st. in the heart of working class Buenos Aires, it is hard to deny that life is lived with passion and pain close at hand. The starch contrast of the two communities is a thing itself. Needless to say, real life is a strange and beautiful thing; precisely the thought process strolling along the street, until edifice 647. One might notice it without the number; it is the one with wheat pasting and paint, and graffiti. It is the one called Eloisa Cartonera.
Stumbling onto this place might be an independent mover and shaker’s wet dream. The inside consists of (how’s your Spanish?)- carton: cardboard, lots of cardboard; cardboard books; cardboard art; cut up cardboard; new and old cardboard. There is also a printing press, and there are people. Six community minded people, who have run the colorful cardboard cooperative since 2003. Not all began with the Coop, but presently there is an equally colorful staff (all brown) of Argentines, a Chilean, and a Columbian. Inside, these community minded folk turn cardboard into art and inside they provide the city’s Cartoneros with a more stable income. Cartoneros are the people that you see, at night or in the morning, collecting carton. Not the garbage-men but individual people often on bicycles, roaming the streets in search of this specific waste. Suffice it to say a hard, if not inhuman mode of survival. Eloisa Cartenera buys the cardboard at $1.50/kilo, a much higher rate then most other purchasers, and uses it for art and book making.
As it turns out, there is an international culture of Cartenero books and literature all across South America. One of Eloisa’s goals is to expand awareness of South American literature. They print the text and paint creative cardboard bindings, as well as display a library of cardboard art and books “hecho” in other countries. Of the many implications behind this project, the most striking is the creation of a community supported space of art and sustainable living. The project began in 2003 within the context of the previous economic collapse, with an art exhibition by Alberto Franco, an artist of Eloisa. Their solution was to build a cyclical process of support in the community with an emphasis on artistic production. Eloisa provides a means for the Carteneros, while beautifying the space in which they all live. They buy the cardboard and what is not used is given back to the Carteneros to sell elsewhere. The books and the space are used to spread awareness of the plight of the Carteneros and proliferate South American concepts and ideas in literature. There are over 200 titles available at Eloisa Cartenera and the cooperative nature means any and all ideas are welcome and appreciated.
So, put one foot in front of the other and stroll down La Boca, soon you will find yourself in an active world of vast creativity concerned with the box-man that is rarely noticed and embodies an invisible side of Buenos Aires to the not so attentive eye. So perk up, and pop in, to a space that is trying to deal with one of Buenos Aires’ many problems from the bottom up, leaving colorful skid marks (or prints) in those hard to find, and usually more worthwhile places. Eloisa Cartenera is open Monday through Friday 9:00-19:00 and Saturdays 14:00-19:00, located at 647 Brandsen, La Boca. More info is available, in Spanish, at there website www.eloisacartonera.com.ar/eloisa/home

Charly Garcia is teaching me spanish

Have you ever awed at the statements, "the Beatles taught me English," or thought it pretty damn cool that music in English is responsible for a global spread of the language since the proliferation and liberation that trends in music brought about from the 60s on words? Revolutions around the world have always, or at least often, incorporated artistic creation as a means to fuel the diluted souls of the oppressed. From Eastern Europe, to Brazil, to Cuba, language in melody, in harmony with ideas, has taught and educated. I would venture to guess that nearly every person I have encountered from another country has at some point expressed to me, if the topic of language comes up (which is rare that it does not, for obvious reasons), that music or movies in some way has improved their English. Take notes people. For the last two weeks or so, whenever I play music, whenever I retreat into my perceptual escape of the pod; my pod, the ipod. I refrain from those comforting tunes that remind me of home, or those exotic beats of cumbia or Brazilian jazz or prog rock, or samba or forro, and I unleash the frazzled furry of Charlie Garcy.

So do like everyone else does, and put a little creative pazang into your Spanish studies, find activities that you like, that you can do in Spanish. Listen to Argentinian music; whatever you like, rock, tango, folk, cumbia. Charlie Garcy is a classic Argentinian rock musician, classic. Like standard, he and another musician, Luis Alberto Spinetta are primarily responsible for the beginning of Argentine rock. Garcy is crazy. His first band Sui Generis began in the early 70s as a folk rock, psych rock band. In the mid 70s the band broke and he began a second band that never received the same popularity. Later he escaped to Brazil do to the administration of the of the time. In Brazil he lived the life of a Hunter/Gatherer with his Brazilian lover. In 1979 he returned to Buenos Aires and began the project Seru Giran which he eventually spent small jail time for lyrical content. And now, no more on Charly Garcia, but rather find his music and be charmed, and learn Spanish. Funny how some things of an English nature tend to breed global similarities, that's globalization for you, and while there are many negative elements to that, including the cultural destruction that comes with a homogenized global English, there are ways we can learn from putting our own language out there. Not only will you find some fabulous art, but you will start to understand that language that has been the cause of many awkward nights and small-talk catastrophes.

The Day After Spring Day

Monday afternoon; it is the day after the first day of spring, and if this were a ten second spot for the next blockbuster, I might use phrases like, "Springtime in September. Buenos Aires, the off season romance" or the like, and it would be all frills and thrills. Being much more profound than that, the day after spring day is a time for a little reflection, or more goofing off. Spring day in Buenos Aires is the first day of spring, September 21. Or if you would like a little relativity, the first day of fall in most northern hemisphere nations; that means you guys, U.S. and Europe. Spring Day in Buenos Aires is a good deal more than the welcoming of the new season, the first sign of birds flirting with the air, and sweet sweet pollination. Spring Day is also Student Day, a real holiday, and the youth of the city take off their fashionable coats to reveal fashionable shirts and go riverside, or amidst any and every patch of grass Capital Federal and beyond can offer. The River along Vicente Lopez was crowded with passer-byers and cyclists, young kids, futbol, and games.
So, welcome the first day of spring, and welcome the energy of Buenos Aires to turn such days into holidays and youth days, and concerts in Plaza Francia. Its getting warmer, pay attention to city events, park concerts and outdoor activities will start crowding up the byways. Have fun, and remember, its probably winter where you come from!

ways to move

The many ways to move around the world are constantly evolving and changing. The communication mass, the heinous world of invisible broadcast and wavelengths, or in the words of Seneter Ted Stevens-a series of tubes that you can´t just dump stuff into, anyway you break it down, the world is getting smaller because it is expanding. Moving through different time zones, climates, altitudes and types of beans, you might have noticed the many options available to cozy up at the end of the night in your temporary residence. There are hostels, hotels, posadas, casa y camas, cheap places, expensive places, am I forgetting any? Each one offers a different type of experience to differing needs at variable prices. And with each one, you tend to know what you will get, or go there on purpose looking for something, and you can find just about anything; Argentina has Telos if you are really the adventurous type.

Allow me to propose one more option to your notes: couchsurfing. Couchsurfing surely needs no introduction as a concept, and has existed much longer than the digital boom has granted it a certain proliferation. It is indeed proliferated in the Internet era by virtue of Hospitality Club, and couchsurfing.com . I am a member of both but have only used couchsurfing.com and as a basic concept the online forum is much the same as your myspace or facebook or Brazilian counterpart. With one exceptional difference, you befriend people and come face to face with them in person, on foreign beds, or your bed (or couch, or floor) in near every nook and cranny the world has to offer. With nearly 530,000 couches available,

¨CouchSurfing is not about the furniture, not just about finding free accommodations around the world; it's about making connections worldwide. We make the world a better place by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world!¨ (www.couchsurfing.com)

Lets just say, in Buenos Aires there are approximately 3,000 members alone and the community stages a wide array of activities, parties, fun and educational events, and a plethora of personal experiences of travel spectacular. Check out the site, ask people for their experiences. I have couchsurfed in about 10 different countries spanning Kosovo to Brazil, and many horizontally and vertically in between, including hosting many people at my past homes in the U.S. If it is still at all unclear what the site does, it provides an alternative way to travel through a place by staying with or meeting people you find on the site or offering your accomodations for a traveler. So you see, there are many ways to move, expand yours.

.elia

The Big Bang

...And one day there was Buenos Aires. Stoic there, waiting, along the Rio Plata, strategically located right along your path of travels. You thought to wonder, the frequency with which reputations live up to their titles. Deliberating over the footwork of Tango or the verticalness of Obelisco, you arrived. You saw the masses of travelers line the streets of San Telmo on Sunday afternoons. You saw a tango show, right? But you are traveling along a different path, more consumed with the habits of old Portenos, sitting street side, or in a cafe. You want to follow your nose, and hound dog your way amidst the hidden streets and the places behind closed doors. Smell your way through Capital Federal, or touch, or hear, or you know the others, either way, the city lacks neither art nor culture, nor sport or politik. Whatever you want to put in the pot, Buenos Aires will cook it up all spicy like.
Now, as this marks number one, for the SAE blog, it seems proper to start at the beginning. Which means, the entry point, the "where are you from, how long have you been traveling, I just got to Buenos Aires" beginning. One thing a recent arrival might gather about this city, is just how long it goes. In fact, it doesn't seem to stop. Necessarily, and quite wonderfully, public transport in Capital Federal is quite regular, quite vast, and generally effective. Between the subte and colectivos one can get just about anywhere they intend to go. To adequately traverse the labyrinths of public transit, find el Guia"t" (for around 8 pesos you will get a city map guide complete with each and every bus, its rout and locations-in pocket or notebook size). Such vastness adds the sort of dilemma children often find themselvs in candy shops, so my fellow children, where to go? True to word you will find the "authentic" locations (or whatever that word means these days) but the idea is to discover Buenos Aires, and not the all inclusive paid vacation. So, leaving your destinations up to yourself (or the binders and leaflets and endless suggestions here at SAE), walk the streets, the collectivos, the parks, the cafes, but remember to keep one thing in mind, the goal is to uncover that special place hidden behind the facade. So when you find it, love it and cherish it, be that respectable traveler you call yourself. Buenos Aires is full of Argentinians, full of Latino and European culture, when you find your little piece, share it, but not so much it is lost of the reason you went there to begin with.
That truly is the mission of an independent traveler: to discover, to see, to participate, and to keep intact what wonders have been untapped. Remember this city will offer you everything you could possibly want, but be mindful that you are privileged for that opportunity, and many Portenos do not have the all night party lifestyle the place is so well known for. Life here is hard, and it is beautiful. The SAE blog will in that vain provide you with little bubbles to hold gently in your hand, or to pop, just know which is which, and you will be fine.
-elia