Buenos Aires - Life in the City

On the political scene, the President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner had the Central Bank president fired by Presidential decree; which by the way, she really doesn't have the right to do. The next day, a judge blocked the President's plan to use Central Bank reserves to pay public debt and ordered the bank's chief reinstated.  Despite all of this, the papers report that an interim bank chief (probably a friend of Christina's!!) was already taking steps to move 6.6 billion dollars in foreign currency reserves to the treasury. Needless to say that the financial markets here in Argentina have dropped. Almost about as bad as Stephen Harper trying to prorogue Parliament in Canada!

On the "star" newsfront, Argentina's biggest star Sandro, died this past week. He was only mid 60"s and was revered in the country as one of their best singers( love ballads)....similar in status to an Elvis Presley.  His body laid in state in the Congressional Building for 24 hours and the funeral procession wound its way through the streets of B.A. with hundreds of thousands of his fans in the streets.

Following are some of our observations of every day life here in B.A.
- All one way streets with the exception of the 2 major roads in downtown and in the newer area of Puerto Maredo (will talk about this area later)
- Protests take place quite regularly it seems, some permanent and some spur of the moment like the Central Bank issue that is taking place now.
- Parilla's everywhere - meat restaurants. Most of you know that we are not big meat eaters...well in this City/Country you really don't have much of a choice. Must say however that the meat is very good as long as you ensure that it is not overcooked. It seems that the Argentinians love their beef, but they all like it overdone....almost black. They also eat meat in great quantities. On one occasion, we were having our normal meal (sharing a steak and potatoes) and the lady next to us must have eaten 4 - 6 times the amount of meat that the two of us ate!!!
- Vegetables are hard to find in restaurants...and if you do get them, they are usually canned peas. Have been eating a lot of salads to compensate.
- Vendors push their carts through the streets. Of the more interesting ones are coffee vendors. In their carts they carry probably 20 thermoses filled with coffee and go from office to store, selling their coffee to the office/store workers.
 - Remember in a previous entry on the blog, we talked about socks being sold everywhere....well the other thing we have noticed is shoelaces being sold everywhere as well...in kiosks, stores, vendors, etc. Once again not sure that there is a big market for these...all women wear sandals!!
- Shoe shine stands in all the streets and all mens shoes are clearly polished regularly...they take great pride in this fact.
- Sad to see, but you constantly see the poorer class, pushing large carts collecting cardboard...even families with small children.
- Vendors take over the pedestrian walkway in downtown B.A. every afternoon to sell their wares...mate cups, jewelery, toys, etc.
- Argentinian's are very loving people. Everytime they meet or leave a co-worker, friend or sometimes even meeting someone for the first time, they kiss one another on the cheek..just once.
- Near the bus station and under a freeway is a shanty town which is reputed to house over forty thousand people. These structures are cobbled together out of brick, wood and galvanzied sheeting...all illegal but tolerated.

 We discovered a newer part of the City on one of our outings. The area is called Puerto Madero and is the newest neighbourhood of B.A. It was conceived some 20 years ago when the then existing port could no longer admit some of the larger ships. Their locks were too small. So they redeveloped some of the older buildings into new offices and condos. Also modern high rise condos have been built; and not withstanding their rocky economy, some still under construction. We were told that these condos go for 1 million U.S. Trendy restaurants and shops have also sprung up.  In this area is also a Nature Reserve, remembering that this used to be a port. We walked through the nature reserve for about 10 kilometers. A great area to discover and such a juxtaposition to the mainly old and crowded main City.

Took a bike tour with Biciclette Naranga on the weekend discovering the north part of the City. Great way to get some exercise and also see parts of the City we would not have seen otherwise. Visited Puerto Madero getting some additional history of the area from our guide, Palermo Soho, Palermo Viejo, Recoleta, the Rose Gardens and the  huge Parque Centrale.

We took four afternoons of Spanish lessons from a  company called Spanish Andando (andando means walking). Well, this is exactly what we did. We met in four different parts of the City, usually in a cafe or bar for about one hour of lessons and discussions, then onto the streets to put into practice what we had learned. Had to go to a Farmacia (Pharmacy), a Verduria (vegetable market) and order food at a restaurant. We caught a local bus and had to go to the local bus depot to get information on a trip out of B.A. We really enjoyed the course, a great  and fun way of learning. The emphasis is not on grammar, but more on conversational applications.

It's been extremely hot and humid recently which makes getting around harder. On Sunday, January 10th, we left for Puerto Iguazu; a small jungle town on the border with Brazil. The town is noted for the spectacular Iguazu falls. Will cover this visit off in our next blog.