The GREAT Iguazu Falls!

For my recent filmshoot, we had to mimic 2 tropical locations - Ecuador & Jamaica. The place we finally settled upon to provide these was the far NE province of Misiones.
The town of Iguazu is at the far northern tip of Misiones province & this is where we made our base for the working time up there, for all the obvious infrastructural reasons. It is also the town closest to Iguazu Falls.
Interestingly, the correct name of the town is Puerto Iguazu because it is traditionally the farthest northern (river) port of Argentina. It is a 'border crossing' which is on a tributary of the Iguazu river, named Rio Iguazu Inferior.

It all started on the Aerolineas Argentinas flight from BA to Iguazu on thursday 19th. It was a GLORIOUS day the day we flew up there, I had a window seat - for once not over the wing! - so could see all the delta below the whole trip up.
About 10 minutes out of Iguazu itself, the pilot comes on & announces how lucky we are that today air traffic control have agreed to let him do an aerial flypast over the falls. He tells everybody to remain in their seats, with belts fastened, etc. because he's going to do a figure 8 so both sides of the aisle will get a good view of the natural wonder of South America. Loud applause breaks out!
There is visable excitement from the cabin crew, who all rush to take spare seats among passengers. The geographic point of the falls is a pivotal point between 3 borders - Argentina, Brazil, & Paraguay so airspace is fairly restricted around there. Later I am told this is a RARE occurrence indeed by my flight companion, our production designer who has made this trip in excess of 30 times during her life & has never witnessed the falls from the air!

OH MY G-O-D-S!!! What a stunning sight! And as luck would have it, the flightpath favoured the right side of the plane, where I was in the 'plum' seat to enjoy the view! Just as we hit a 45% angle to the top of the falls (but right in front & centre) the most defined, perfectly-arched rainbow appeared, just like switching on a light in a dark room. Amazing! Then it was gone, almost as quickly. Then another appeared! Then gone again. Then another! This repeated until there had been 5 (FIVE!) glorious punctuation marks to this amazing sight in less than 2 minutes.WOW!

The plane touched down to an outburst of loud, thunderous applause from all aboard!
I quietly accepted this to be more than a mere co-incidence. It was a sign, a 'good omen' for my working life here in Argentina. The next day, friday was actually my real 'first filming day' in Argentina, as an Argentine producer i.e. & was a terrific success :)

The day after the filming, a group of us from the crew went into the Iguazu National Park to physically visit the falls. They did not disappoint at all! Many of the crew had never been there either. We trecked out along the boardwalk across the river at the top of the falls, to the viewing platform perched on the edge of the ravine named Garganta del Diablo ("Devil's Mouth") where the thunderous roar from the volume of water falling was deafening!

We then decided we had just enough time to do 1 of the other tracks, to get closer to a lower view for a different perspective, before leaving for the airport to catch our return flight to BA. So we set off on the Circuito Inferior ... nothing 'inferior' about that treck at all! Shit! Of course, you have to actually get lower to be lower down the falls. And yes, it's a bloody high waterfall. But once you start off on this 1 way treck, there's next-to-no-chance of changing your mind.

About 15 minutes into it, I had 2nd thoughts but was encouraged by all the others that I really would be missing out if I didn't see the falls from the lower perspective. OK, OK then. (Wouldn't want them to think I was a typical "gringa" tourist after all!) Jesus when will I learn to listen to my instincts more? That was a workout & a half - which I can well do with - but at 1 point I thought I might be looking at the most magnificent sight anybody could wish for just before they die!

It's all steps. LOTS of steps. Then some ramps. Then more steps. Sometimes there's even steps going back UP before you can continue heading downwards. And it seems like it's never going to end. Never! Anyway, the point is, it is certainly very spectacular, when you get to catch your breath long enough to enjoy it. Well worth doing it. Of course, I ended up trailing the group (well, they are all under 35 years!) & holding up the waiting bus for 15 minutes at the gate to the park.
My advice: don't plan to do it in a hurry because you have a plane to catch in 2 hours!

I now can proudly say I have seen & been to all 3 of the great water falls on earth.

What is a 'boleto'?

It's a general term for a 'ticket' but here it refers to the non-refundable 'deposit' for the purchase of a real estate property, commercial, industrial or residential. This past week we had to place the 'boleto' for our apartment purchase.

There is a whole other 'hoohaa' involved here, as with any financial transaction during the current socialist administration, made way more convoluted than necessary.
Culturally the status quo is this: the citizens don't trust the government; the government don't trust the citizens; the banks don't trust the citizens; the citizens don't trust the banks; the banks don't trust the government either.

The fallout from this current nationwide stance is that there are 2 economies functioning within Argentina - the 'declared/stated/legal' economy; & the undeclared cash economy. Within this there are 2 currencies in play - the Argentine Peso for all daily costs, including all utilities bills; & the US Dollar for the major purchases in life (real estate & motor vehicles).

Mortgages are a rare occurrence here. Most properties are paid for IN TOTAL! Of course there are many, many different ways of gathering the total funds required for a property purchase, most commonly in family groups - but rarely is a bank mortgage involved. Why? Because in order to qualify for a bank mortgage, you have to;
a) put down minimum 60% deposit of the total value of the property!
b) the bank charges you very high interest, around 21-23% interest on the mortgage!!

So people accumulate their savings into USD$ & keep the money under the mattress or buried in the yard. Some keep safes at home & there's a huge business in safety-deposit boxes inside banks too, though many people are still loathed to store ALL their savings in those bank boxes either. The established people keep their money in banks offshore, in USD$ accounts usually in Uruguay or the USA.

The boleto is, in a way, more important a step in the process of purchasing a property here than the actual settlement. It's the point of commitment. It is usual to pay 30% of the entire value of the property as the boleto but it can be more, up to 40%. Upon transaction of the boleto, neither party can reneg on the commitment. This is the reason that the 'support industry' (real estate agents, attorneys, finders) all demand their fees payed at the time of the boleto as well (!) and THEN several often don't even turn up for the settlement of the deal! The attorney of course is involved until the end & the taxes are all paid, etc. but you don't expect to see the real-estate folks again. They have been paid their fees & you are on your own. Their fees are an interesting negotiation within themselves but the absolute maximum fees is 5% of the value - which the multiple parties have to split. Yes, it's a whole world unto itself, quite a bunfight sometimes.
In our case, we were charged the current 'industry standard' of 4% total, of which the seller's real estate agent receives 3%; the buyer's real estate agent receives 1%. HOWEVER, we were told that the seller's real estate agent would be splitting their (3% total) commission into 1.5% declared & the remainder 1.5% undeclared. BOTH to be paid in USD$ cash.

This goes 1 step further. The actual value of the property is subject to government taxes when ownership changes, akin to 'stamp duty'. Due to people understating the values of their properties for years, the BA state government established a mandatory register a few years ago, where THEY state what the minimum value per square metre for each suburb (barrio)is, that must be declared on any legal documentation. The bad side-effect of this has been that most real estate that has been sold in the past 3 years has jumped way up in stated value! Now there seems to be no holding onto the illusion of the former undervalued statements. The good side-effect of this is that the 'additional' (undeclared difference) is now limited to around 30%.

The boleto plus all the commissions had to be paid on wednesday in USD$ cash.
Ergo, though nobody has said this, we feel that the funds that make up the boleto payment that must be paid in USD$ cash has an uncanny equivalent to the 'undeclared' difference above the declared value of the property. Non?

Home search update 1

We may have found it! An apartment in the Belgrano "R" barrio.

We have put an offer on an apartment, which is to be formalised, both on paper & with a hefty deposit this week of 30% of the total offered purchase price ... in USD$ CASH!! Yes, this transaction will happen inside a bank. More on this next week.

From the brief, here's what we've managed to find in this 1 property;
- an apartment (3rd floor)
- a terrace
- security car-parking space (there's 2 carspaces issued with this apartment)
- 3 bedrooms (PLUS a small study)
- 2 full bathrooms (that's for all you guests!) + a spare loo
- a real kitchen, with enough cupboards, & has gas cooking appliances
- a laundry area within the apartment
- a definite dining area (open plan living/dining)
- an 'ample' living area (to fit the large scale old furniture we have)

Bonus additionals;
- a low-rise building (has 9 floors total)
- 24 hour security
- a large kitchen
- a storage room on a communal floor
PLUS;
- overlooks the large garden, property of the groundfloor apartment, which has 2 mature trees, at our balcony height :)
- security grills already in place on bedroom windows
- a 2nd 'service lift' that accesses the kitchen door directly from the garage
- well-built structure, solidly made in the 1980's = good audio insulation!
- top condition parquetry floors in 10" pieces, honey-toned, herringbone pattern

The blow-out was this part: target budget is USD$300,000 but we did not do too badly at all these things for an extra USD$50,000.
Basically, from what we saw available, it became apparent that our brief was unlikely in a 2 bedroom (+ study) property which is where our target budget was set, for our desired areas. If we wanted all these things for the lower pricetag, then we'd have to move further out, a fair way further out.

Generally, I think it's been a great find!
And there's 2 other local points in it's favour I'm told - there's a very famous home-made pasta shop nearby & a branch of the famous Argentinean icecream parlour chain, Freddo around the corner!

Easter in BA

Not very commercial at all. None of those over-the-top cheapo decorations in the supermarkets. No oversized Easter Bunny cutouts in the shopping mall. No Easter cards.

BUT don't despair. There ARE CHOCOLATE EASTER BUNNIES!!! ("For the children" I am told.) There are also medium & small sized chocolate eggs also, for 'token gifts'. These are made in dark chocolate only & decorated with some icing flowers & cake-icing style decorations in icing colours, each egg individually-wrapped in clear cellophane. They rattle, so we have yet to discover what type of sweets are enclosed?
These dark chocolate eggs appeared only on Holy Thursday at the bakery, not earlier.

We heard lots of church bells this morning too (Easter Sunday) ringing out across the neighbourhood, a lovely sound on such a still morning :)

HAPPY EASTER!

A natural 'wonder?'

It's the darndest thing!
It was no surprise to discover there are mosquitos here in Argentina. Mosquitos are almost everywhere, are they not? BUT the alarming difference here is that the Argentine mosquitos are mute. MUTE!! Honestly!!!
That puts us at a helluva disadvantage ...

Our 1st trip 'off the island'

This week we went across the river to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.
It was only a short trip, staying overnight, midweek. The purpose of this trip will become evident as the months advance but it concerned banking.

This was the 1st time we have left Buenos Aires since we arrived. That's 4+1/2 months for me & over 3 months for husband. It was a tad dizzying I must admit.
The BIG thrill was that we travelled as LOCALS!! Our Argentinian status means we are members of MercoSur which includes the privilege of crossing borders within the continent of South America without a passport, using only our id cards (known as DNI). Similar system to EU zone. And it worked! Plus we can still purchase Duty Free goods on the return ferryride. Great heh? Well, it's pretty limited Duty Free range but husband managed to spy the essential Underberg elixir at an affordable price which made it worthwhile.

It was actually different over there! Different to Argentina I mean. We were there 5 years ago on our big trip but didn't stop in Montevideo. The Rio Plata is even blue on that side of the river! The entire city is built - as usual - facing the river. (Buenos Aires is not, it's built with it's 'back' to the brown river.)

It was refreshing to be in a less pressured environment, it's definitely more laid-back & you can see it in the faces of the people. Nobody's in a hurry. At all. To our 'still not fully trained eyes' it seemed there was less street crime presence also. We saw people walking on the streets, relaxed, wearing jewelery eg. No taxi driver would accept our ARG Pesos either, which legally they are able, telling us they're concerned about counterfeit notes from Argentina & they are just simple Uruguayans who cannot identify a counterfeit because they do not have this industry in Uruguay(!)

After our appointment, we found the recommended restaurant a short walk away within the old city barrio. It was in a touristy pedestrian-only area, nearby the port full of portrait artists, etc. so I was dubious upon approach but once inside I relaxed when I saw all the local business people being seated. The high-turnover outdoor seating area was where the foreign tourists were concentrated. We had a very tasty, relaxed 'proper' lunch with a nice, inexpensive bottle of Uruguayan Pinot Noir (U$22-2002) before wandering leisurely back to the hotel via the riverside esplanade walkway. Husband remarked that the old city of Montevideo had the same ambiance & state of disrepair as Fremantle had prior to the redevelopment that occurred there in preparation for the America's Cup. If any of you readers are looking for a (secure) longterm property investment, you can snap up whole blocks of ornate, rundown buildings in this prime location if you care for a super bargain!!

I had some emails to answer, so used the wifi there in the guest lounge area while husband had the obligatory siesta nap on 1 of the comfy lounges nearby until we left for the return ferry checkin. Though we were quite tired upon returning home, it was certainly a worthwhile tiny break from our usual surroundings.
It is our intention to travel on short trips more often in future.

The ' home brief '

As you can imagine, this has been a matter of much debate!!

We have settled on this;
- definitely an apartment (husband does not want responsibility for gardening beyond balcony potted herbs & the mandatory gardenia plant);
- must have either a balcony &/or a terrace
- must have a security car-parking space for 1 car
- we need 3 'bedrooms' (1 as a study where husband's family global financial management activities can be contained!)
- we need 2 full bathrooms (that's for all you guests!)
- we need a real kitchen, with enough cupboards, preferably gas cooking appliances
- we need a laundry within the apartment (many buildings have just a communal laundry)
- we need a definite dining area (open plan living/dining or dining room)
- we need an 'ample' living area (to fit the large scale old furniture we have)
- target budget is USD$300,000

Bonus additionals;
- a low-rise building
- 24 hour security
- a kitchen with enough space for a small breakfast table?
- any extra storage space
- an inner balcony/courtyard space
- any facilities, especially a pool!

The trick is to find this property in our chosen area, for somewhere near our targeted budget! Now, that doesn't seem so difficult, does it?? Not even asking for a view! Well, there's not much of what we'd consider a view around here anyway, so we're not fussed.

We know that there will be limited properties that meet this brief for this budget in Hollywood, where there's a 20% inflated value for the trendy aspect at this time. In fact, it's unusual to find a 3 bedroom apartment in any of the new developments in Hollywood at all, many built specifically for the 1 bedroom yuppie crowd & for the high-yield rentals market to expat visitors (yep! that's us right now!)
So we're not holding out much hope for Hollywood. The developments in Hollywood tend to divide into 2 groups - those with car-parking spaces/garages & those with 'facilities'(small pool &/or a rooftop communal terrace entertaining space &/or a small gym). It is rare to find a block with all these amenities in Hollywood.

Colegiales has almost no 3 bedroom apartments at all we're told :(

Belgrano 'R' is the most promising prospect, however we've been told to expect to have to do some renovations before moving in. Most of those buildings have not been renovated since they were built, now coming up 20-24 years & need some work done. They were well built but there's a lot of 'brass fittings' a la mode at that time. Plus the average age of the well-heeled owners from that decade meant there's a dominance of wallpaper too. Thankfully we're assured that renovation costs here are very affordable & top value. Phew!

The home hunt begins!

Now that we've established the area(s) we feel we'd want to live in, the thoughts of 'what' to live in follow. There are 3 areas we've identified as suitable, all joined. They are Colegiales, Palermo Hollywood & Belgrano 'R'. Colegiales is the central 'barrio'(suburb) of these.

Colegiales is a small suburb, almost entirely residential, mainly filled with houses. Seems like an enclave that's been overlooked by the developers though there are some high-design renovations amongst the houses, some which appear to be small apartment blocks designed to integrate into the low-rise surroundings sympathetically. Most the streets are cobblestoned & it's a lot like a village within the city. It's not famous for anything at all. There's an outdoor farmer's market there on saturdays.

Palermo Hollywood is the section of the very large suburb of Palermo where we have been staying since we arrived here. It's where many of the production industry facilities are located, hence the name. Hollywood adjoins Colegiales. It's an area where there is a balance of residential & commercial activities. Many of the charming ph houses remain in original condition, others are converted into bars & restaurants for the local yuppie patrons. Hollywood is best known for modern sliver apartment developments in recent times. It is virtually 1 big construction site with building in progress on every block.

Belgrano is the 'established' residential suburb & borders Colegiales on the far side from the city centre. The subsection known as 'Belgrano R' is purely residential & is in the southern most section of the suburb, ie. farthest from the river. This is where the blocks were larger when land was subdivided & so some of the larger private villas are found there. Many English & German migrants settled there, building free-standing homes with substantial gardens.
In the last economically bouyant period here (late 1980's-late 1990's)many of these large properties were sold, torn down, & replaced with large, luxury apartment blocks, the style with 1 apartment per floor & miles of marble flooring. Very solid.

Residential architecture-Pt 3.

During the 1970's-1980's was a dreadful period aesthetically here as in many parts of the world. That's when the ugliest, large, rectangular, multi-story apartment blocks appeared that today resemble mass housing projects everywhere else. Thankfully there's not that many areas blighted by those, though you will see them on the drive in from the international airport from the single highway route. Typical that the initial impression for visitors arriving by air is light-industrial areas & the least appealing buildings!

It was in the same decades that much of the 'downtown' CBD area was developed, when the p.h. houses were demolished to make way for skyscrapers full of fluorescent lit offices. This is the part of the city that we use as locations to double visually for many North American & some Continental cities.

Immediately following the financial crisis, savvy developers moved swiftly to snatch up bargain-priced land throughout the city, demolishing many p.h. houses & replacing them with 'sliver-apartment blocks' as they're known locally. Between 6-10 floors high, depending on the building zone of the particular barrio, they have been constructed on the same footprint as those single-story homes of yesteryear. This dictates that the common layout is for 2 narrow apartments per floor, 1 facing the street, the other overlooking surrounding rooftops. The occasional single-story penthouse apartment is usually the only possibility for more than 1 bedroom. Whilst a growing % of these modern, luxury apartments are inhabited by owner-occupants it is far & away the majority scenario that these are 'investment properties', rented to foreigners like us as short-term alternatives to hotel accommodation.

In the areas where the property development has been concentrated there's been an accompanying explosion of bars, cafes, restaurants & boutiques. These are big pedestrian areas so you'll get to walk off your beef, don't worry. These barrios naturally attract the expat crowd therefore you'll find an abundance of languages spoken, commonly including english.

Residential architecture-Pt 2.

Then the merchant class got VERY rich. They brought top French architects to Argentina from Europe for years at a time, to design & supervise construction of their buildings, including their new homes, & new country homes, Town Hall(s), municipal buildings, libraries, museums, social club houses, & eventually entire Parisien style apartment blocks. These buildings are still standing today. The civic buildings are still in use. Many of the private homes are embassies, museums, art galleries, function centres & luxury hotels today.

This is why BA is often referred to as the 'Paris of the South' & why so many tv commercials are shot here as a location, particularly for the French brands. It's this aesthetic richness that is startling to people who're expecting an impoverished Latin American country. 

During the same period, the same affluent group of leaders planted an extraordinary amount of trees along each & every street. As Argentina has an abundance of water, these trees are now very tall, very strong & line the streets creating a shady canopy in summer, in every direction you look. Their roots make hell with the sidewalks these days but that's the price Portenos (citizens of BA = port people) are used to paying. Many public fountains were built & formal gardens were established too. Similarly, many of these grand buildings are suffering from maintenance neglect, as a result of the financial crisis in 2001 that rearranged priorities within the municipal budget overnight. It's enough to keep up the annual repainting to eradicate the ubiquitous graffiti! So sad.

Residential architecture-Pt 1.

It struck me how varied the architecture is here. Rich aesthetically. This is a city of 'human scale' akin to the classical european cities such as Paris & Madrid. Yes there is a modern CBD with skyscraper office towers, but they're in a concentrated section of the city only, down along the river toward the passenger port in Puerto Madero.

The founders of the city did an excellent job of planning the layout on a grid system from the start, allowing for an abundance of parks & plazas at regular intervals.

Initially they had simple dwellings, which were replaced by single story homes, known as "p.h." style (which simply means a property that is horizontal.) They built these solid, single-story stone homes based around a communal central courtyard on narrow (single-width) blocks. There is always an internal pathway along the side of the entire length of the building for access to the multiple apartments contained. These homes are very deep & housed all 3-4 generations of the family together. The edifice usually fronts directly onto the footpath, with Mediterranean-style wooden exterior shutters on the windows, with beautiful, simple wrought-ironwork as a security layer. These houses are scattered throughout the city, many in dire need of repair, particularly their antique plumbing & wiring.

The standard building practice was for 10 foot high ceilings & the floors are always marble, often the large black&white diamond shaped tiles in heavy traffic areas. There's usually a fireplace at either end of the house & an exterior stone staircase leading from the courtyard up to a balustraded rooftop terrace. Up on the terrace is where the clothing was hung to dry in the sunshine year round. Many also have their traditional Argentine stone/brick bar-b-que grill up on the terrace with tables & chairs rather than in the courtyard. The few renovated ones are very expensive as "p.h.'s" are very much in demand. There's no off-street parking area of course from that period, so it's street parking only, 1 car length per house.

Yes they're lovely (or so they seem from the outside) & I'd love to convince 'husband' to just look inside some of the renovated p.h. homes but I think that's going to be near to impossible as he's adamant about not wanting a property without an abundance of light which then narrows the choices way down within the renovated selection :(

A unique Chinatown.

Everywhere we've ever been, or lived, or known of it's an iron clad guarantee that in Chinatown is where you'll be able to get a meal when everybody else has long gone to bed. The Chinese race have a global reputation for long hours, hard repetitious work, & strong business acumen. Wherever there's an opportunity of potential customers, no matter the time of night, there'll be a restaurant or at least a noodle stand open in Chinatown.

This is why we were shocked to find that here in Argentina, the Chinese do not maintain the same stereotypical business practice as their relatives in far flung locales. Here the asian owner/operator supermarkets actually CLOSE before the general closing time of the local shops!! Chinatown supermarkets & stores close at 8PM; most boutiques close at 9PM; local supermarkets close at 10PM.

The restaurants in Chinatown do stay open after the supermarkets have closed but not after 12 midnight. In a culture here, where the general evening meal happens between 10-11:30pm this seems at complete odds!
By natural conclusion, we figured that (again stereotypically) the Chinese must therefore be OPEN for business well before the locals. Not so.

 After much curious discussion, we have found nobody yet who can tell us 'why is it so?' Our (ignorant) conclusion is that the migrant Chinese here must feel that they can finally relax a little & still have a decent life by working the hours they feel are sufficient, rather than what their forebears expected. And that they can afford to cater to their own life rhythm & not the local culture's life rhythm. Interesting :)

We're intrigued by this, so will keep investigating & will let you know.

Let's complicate this lingo!

The designers of Spanish just couldn't help themselves. They had to make it more complicated for everybody!!
The most common verb in any language is "to be". Right?

So some genius in the year dot decided that en espanol, they should have more than one verb "to be"! And yes, both these verb words have all the essential various conjugations by tense & grammar.

Why? Why indeed?
It's to drive we students of el espanol completely crazy!

What's the difference? Well, I'm still trying to sort that out;
1) "ser" is used for 'permanent conditions' &
2) "estar" is used for 'non-permanent conditions'

Seems straightforward. Not so fast!
A person's religeon is 'permanent' : non-negotiable. Cannot change. Ever.
A person's career is 'non-permanent': a former engineer is not always an engineer, even once they have their degree. They could change their mind!
Being married is 'permanent'. As is being divorced, even if remarried.
However, being 'single' is 'non-permanent', even for an elderly spinster.

Are you seeing a pattern here? I have to learn to think like an ancient Catholic scholar to find some basis for learning when to use which bloody word for what. hahaha!!

Shades of Butch Cassidy?

An interesting local occurrence this week that's worth telling.
Just beyond the city limits, to the Westerly direction there is a poorer suburb where the interstate commercial train lines pass through between the port of BA & the country towns, usually carrying produce for export (e.g. beef).

It's developed as a light-industrial area but there is a shanty-town that has sprung up nearby there recently. The shanty towns are mainly populated by non-Argentinians, people from other poorer South American countries that come down to BA in search of work. Being largely illiterate, their work prospects are limited, consequently many of these young males collect into loosely formed gangs, roaming around in search of prospects=trouble. The common thought is that their main source of income comes from busking as jugglers at stop-lights, petty theft & pick-pocketing the hapless tourists. As lousy an existence as it seems to us, this is still better than the impoverished alternative they left behind!

This week, there was an armed holdup of a train heading out from the port. A shootout with the local cops left 1 young man dead & several wounded.
This is the 2nd holdup on this trainline in 3 weeks.

The 1st time, the 'banditos' got away with a large amount of flour. Public opinion was that it was a crime of hunger & therefore apprehensively viewed with some compassion, stirring up public debate. (There's a federal election here in October so all politicians are jockying for position.)

This time, it was auto parts. Hhmmm?? Auto parts. A whole trainload of them! Now the assessment has changed. Given that the banditos were well armed & that this particular load was targeted, being (serial-coded) items that cannot be passed as quickly or seamlessly into the community as food, the criminal cops now figure there's more to this than just an opportunistic hit by the shanty boys. Duh!

Languages by generation

Many younger people here (I mean 30 years & less) speak English. They often also have smatterings of other languages too, most commonly their hereditary language (Italian/German/Polish) or Portugese - remember that Brazil is nearby & that's a favourite beach holiday destination for most Argentinians.

No, it is not a mandatory subject in the public schools here however it is a popular elective subject. The reason that there's an age difference between the amount of people who do & those who do not speak English here is historic.

After a very turbulent 50 years, democracy returned to Argentina in 1983. This meant a liberal policy prevailed towards foreign influences as the domestic market reopened. Scholastically the curriculum expanded & new technologies began slowly to appear. BA had previously only 1 state-run TV station. By 1990 they were also 3 privately owned TV stations (which were partially dependent upon advertising sponsorship ... a new industry!) & many, many more privately-owned radio stations.

 The introduction of foreign music, particularly pop music was voraciously adopted by the youth. Spanish & Italian songs were popular immediately but many of the hit songs' lyrics were in English. Around his same time, the wealthier Argentine families who had managed to live abroad during the preceding period of the 'Dirty War' from 1975-1983 (the time of the last military junta) returned here to rebuild their businesses but many of their university aged children stayed away for tertiary education before returning to Argentina. While most of those students were in either Spain or Italy, the pop music by that time was becoming largely dominated by English lyrics.

There were no TV programmes in English here until 2002, with a rapid expansion of cable TV services available, supported by affordable satelite technology & the economic crash of the local currency making foreign investment such good value for a few years then. With the arrival of cable tv with programming in original language, there was a competitive expansion in the local cinemas also who - gratefully - took the policy to maintain all foreign films in the original language also! Foreign childrens' films are dubbed into Castillano for the local market.
Now there was English on all electronic media streams.

Then with economic growth, so came the computers. For many years, Spanish was the 4th most popular language on the internet (largely fueled by the Hispanic population in the USA) but with each year, more & more young Argentine students were using the English websites equally - because they can follow them! Now in this past decade it has become obvious that English is the primary language of the web.

And yes, as a side effect, the beautiful classical language of the Castiglia region in Spain that is the basis for the local Porteno lingua franca spoken in BA is fast being corrupted by English based slang : los jeans e.g.

1 in 3 secondary school students here now study English through to graduation. It's the profusion of portable technology that feeds the interest in comprehending a fair level of English after graduation is over though :)

New Year's Eve in Argentina

Well after Xmas Eve, we had an idea what NYE might be like ...
 I'd been told that the private fireworks displays were usually double that of Xmas Eve, because NYE isn't for the kids, it's more for the adults. Huh?

Around the 'hood, business had been quiet all week during the festive season, though about half the businesses were operating. We'd stumbled upon an interesting place with a charming courtyard garden at the front street entrance, filled with lounges & large, low, wooden tables that week. It's nearby to lots of other businesses we frequent but it's so low key that you can easily pass by & miss it completely. Being the curios person I am, seeing the gate open I entered & took a look around this beckoning space. Beyond the courtyard is a traditional BA single-story house (known as "P.H.") that's been very tastefully restored & decorated in a simple antique way in sympathy with the house. There's a high, long, solid wooden bar that is central to the main room & the ceilings are 16 feet high.  It turns out it is a french restaurant, run by a female french ex-producer & only been open a year ... with a special NYE menu. Reservations began at 9:30pm. Perfect! Great solution = 10pm dinner with bubbles/set menu; out in the 'hood for any fireworks action;  & walking distance home afterwards.

All relaxed from our Xmas gift massages, & having polished off a bottle of our duty-free Mumm champagne at dusk whilst making & receiving skype calls from Europe - where it was midnight, hence the toasting - we ambled around to La Maison in an optimistic mindset indeed! Gorgeous setting with candlelight greeted us. Professional waiters too. But what a wonderful meal! WOW! It turns out that (quite appropriately) it was largely seafood based to match the included bottle of bubbles. Husband was very happy to have found a 2nd restaurant in BA that has a chef who knows how to cook seafood properly (a rare find in southern Latin America.) We soon befriended another customer dining alone nearby, a very charming 40-something, multi-lingual Porteno (local man) named Juan who joined us for the rest of the evening's revelry.

Like clockwork, a few minutes before midnight there was a flurry of topping up of glasses & everybody began to make their way outside & onto the street. Ok, we followed suit. HOLY SHIT! From every direction there was a cacophony of explosions with overhead eruptions of colour! The many local B&B hotels all seemed to be putting on their own mini shows from their poolgardens or rooftop gardens plus at most intersections there were groups of young adults who'd sort of set up their camps there. Right in the centre of the intersection itself they had set out circles of portable chairs, their eskies & bags of 'stuff' which I soon realised was the fireworks stash! We made our way towards the closest intersection along with loads of others, all with a glass in hand & toasting everybody you meet :) There were about 180-200 people at our intersection & as far as you could see along the roads in all 4 directions it looked like a pattern at each corner. The crowd seemed to be made up of 1/3 residents of the street & 2/3 hospitality patrons. I noted about 15 different languages as I mingled. The vibe was just WONDERFUL! It was not just FUN but it was extremely welcoming to everybody, an atmospheric mix of a very palpable sense of generosity combined with great optimism. Several rockets were zinging sideways just above the treeline before disappearing into distant backyards. Few people seemed bothered by this. hahaha! Uh oh!

After I realised that I'd not seen husband or Juan for some time I wandered back inside the La Maison courtyard, fireworks still going on though less often, to find out it was almost 1:30am & deserts were being served. Of course! Another bottle of bubbles. Much conversation. Much laughter. The volume went up & soon several patrons were dancing in the courtyard. Then Elvis. WELL! Suddenly the owner & a patron were up doing the Twist on the bar, beneath the large chandelier, still with plenty of headroom to spare. 1 great song after another, everybody letting their hair down. At some point when I went to the loo, which is outside in the courtyard, I noticed that the large door to the courtyard entrance had been closed & bolted - good idea I thought! Then back to the (private) party!

We saw the sky was no longer dark. Time to go. Leaving the group still partying, we & Juan left for home. It was 5:45am. We were in bed by 6am.

Again, together with all of BA, we slept through till around 5pm, got up for a few hours to eat a light snack & watch the BBC World news of NYE celebrations from around the world before retiring again back to bed. And no hangovers either. We like New Year's Eve in Argentina :))

This has been 1 of the best New Years' Eve in many years. I take it as another sign that this move was destined for us.

Our Xmas gift(s)

We don't make a big fuss over Xmas.
Rarely even give gifts, especially not to each other. If it happens, it's usually more a case of justifying a purchase, such as the year we splurged at the post-Xmas sales on a 60 bottle wine fridge for the garage at the cottage - to stop the boiling summer destruction of the case of excellent boutique wine I'd bought at the cellar door in Margaret River the week prior, without thinking it through. Duh! Best investment we've made in a 'gadget' in years. We've even packed it into the container to bring over here. That luxury purchase has earned it's SALE pricetag many times over since :)

Anyway, back to this year. Having just moved here & with all the stresses & strains that go with an international move, we were both exhausted by the time Xmas week arrived. Husband had much trouble wrapping his head around having to do grocery shopping in Spanish & planning meals across the 3 day Xmas weekend when everything was to be closed. He'd only been here 10 days & didn't know where to go yet to buy what he wanted, nor even how to get there, wherever 'there' was??

I'd sent him as the guineapig to try Queenies Nail Salon thinking it was a stress relief for him to have a pedicure, knowing that the proprietress Giselle (whom I'd met briefly when I stumbled upon Queenies prior to his arrival here) spoke fluent Californian english, confident he'd be fine. While there he starts up a conversation with Giselle about what else is here in the 'hood, resulting in her recommending him the spa at the nearby HOME B&B hotel for deep-tissue massage!!

The next day he's off around to the Home hotel buying us each a Xmas Gift voucher for a '2 hour treatment including massage' voucher. Now THAT was a great Xmas gift idea which we both used in the few quiet days between Xmas & New Year.  I had a complete body exfoliation, followed by an 'Ultra-relaxing full massage'. And it was GREAT!!!

Gender night

We noticed that it was quite common to see reserved tables in restaurants be for bookings of either ladies only, or men only - to the point where you noticed a pattern. Different weeknights, different restaurants, groups of 4-10. Initially, due to it being December & the pre-Xmas timing, we thought it must have been an office group of friends, or perhaps a festive get-together type activity with friends they hadn't seen all year or a similar reasoning.

When this pattern continued into January it gave me pause to make enquiries from my local sources.

It turns out, since the early 1990's here when women began to have some earning power, the custom developed for regular single-gender only outings, weekly in fact. Those satisfying 'girls night out' occasions we're used to occasionally happen weekly here.  For both sexes. Same night usually. Though it is scheduled according to the commitments of the particular group, the 2 most popular nights are wednesday & thursday. Plus it's a fairly entrenched practice I'm told, encouraged by both genders, & always outside the home. The general opinion is that it is healthy for their personal relationships to have a sympathetic outlet to share their builtup frustrations with. Plus they get to compare notes without protest. Can't disagree with that!!

On many weekends, often the same group will gather - both genders & kids attending - for a get-together at somebody's house from the group, usually around an 'asado', a traditional bar-b-que. These mid-week gatherings negate the need for all those 'side bar' conversations we are accustomed to at such social gatherings.
The Argentine custom is the better I believe.

Xmas in Argentina

Christmas here in Argentina is only celebrated on Christmas Eve.
They inherited that from their European roots. It's sensible too in a southern hemisphere climate in December with average 30ºC to plan a festive (hot) meal with lots of alchohol for around 10:30pm. I like that. And of course this custom agrees with us completely, as we always have celebrated Xmas on the 24th December too!

Most companies are closed on the 24th & all shops are shut up tight by 1pm. BA was like a GHOST TOWN!! All the shutters were rolled down tight, even the dogs knew it was SIESTA time. It was an ominous warning to prepare for a l-a-t-e night. And it was the 4th hot day in a row, at 35ºC that day. We'd been told that at midnight residents let off some firecrackers, usually outside their homes on the street because there's no traffic moving about on that night. And that it was worth us going for a walk outside around midnight but to keep a keen eye on the skies above our heads, for falling (lit) debris. And of course nothing exists here like a fire ban system. Yikes!

After a very tasty fish dinner a deux prepared expertly by 'husband' with a bottle of French bubbles, we were just finishing our meal when the skies began to light up. The audio level escalated in about 5 minutes from near post-apocalyptic stillness to moderate MAYHEM! It was wonderful from our balcony !!! Went on for a solid hour. We ventured downstairs at around 12:20am & into the middle of the smokey street to see what was actually happening in the 'hood. As there was no traffic AT ALL it was amazing to be standing in the centre of the street & be able to see about a half km in both directions. In front of every 3rd house, in the centre of the street, there was a huddle setting off fireworks of all sorts. Not just little Tom Thumbs either! There were lots of very serious rockets & quite spectacular type explosions.

It turns out that anybody can buy any type of fireworks at all. No rules apply! You even can buy them from the corner shops during December! Kids spend all year saving up for their 'stash of fireworks'. School breaks up here for the end of the year only a few days prior to Xmas Eve, so it's a highly anticipated activity for release of pent up emotions. Much applause from the elderly onlookers after each successful singular explosion. Cute. And a good way to pass the time for digestion from the plentiful festive meal just finished :)

Periodically we heard explosions until daylight. Made me smile, even as it continually woke me up. We had just gone to bed, when at around 2:30am, VERY LOUD music started up! We were incredulous. Where could that be coming from? Sounded like weekend level of volume from the Salsa Club next door, only closer. Besides we knew the club had closed a few days earlier, until March - all their patrons gone to the coast for the holls. We get out of bed & head back out to the balcony: there, in our own apartment block back garden, some groovy young neighbours are hosting a very late Xmas Eve poolside party!! And the pumping latin dance music (Shakira) was coming from a serious audio system down by the poolside bar-b-que, which had been decorated with bunches of red & green balloons. WHEN? There were about 20 white leather seating cubes with a few matching lounges also placed on the poolside grass & a pretty serious looking bar set up. We figured the 40 groovy young 20-something things were not going away anytime soon, so after a quick dance we went back to bed, chuckling & passed out. I woke up again some hours later & it was just pre-dawn, music was still going but at about half-volume. I got up for a pee & was kind of confused. Splashing? Pounding in my head. Yes. Yes. Splashing! ... Everybody was now in the pool, of course! 1 glance over the balcony confirmed that the party had been in full swing all 'morning' & was now wrapping up. A party that STARTED at 2:30 am & went until dawn when everybody, now shitfaced ended up in the pool. After that row of hot, hot days we'd had it occurred to me that those exact hours would be the best time to hold a poolside bar-b-que Xmas party. BRILLIANT!

Then .... SILENCE! We slept. ALL DAY. Followed by a very quiet night in the 'hood. Even the dogs knew not to bark. I like Xmas in Argentina.

Lost in Translation

My husband (who insists on remaining anonymous on all social media sites) is traversing the city, alone, doing chores. He is in the downtown CBD area when he hails his next cab, telling the driver he wants to go to 'Chinatown'. The driver nods enthusiastically & (seems to) insist that there are 2 such places, he needs to know which 1. Husband understands & explains with much waving of arms that he means the closer 1, not the 1 outside of the city.
The driver sets off at great speed (this is normal reaction, as if we are all competitors in The Amazing Race reality tv show) & husband settles back. About 7 minutes later, way short of the usual 20 minute ride, the cabdriver  pulls into the Sheraton Hotel driveway & screeches to a halt, turning around to look at husband, with great satisfaction & a big smile.
"Why are we here? This is not Chinatown, this is a hotel! I want to go to Chinatown directly! No stops!"
.... say "chinatown" with my husband's accent, & in a GREAT rush ...

Husband jumps out - not letting the cabdriver leave - & seeks translation skills from the Concierge in the lobby, who resolves the confusion.
The way to ask for "Chinatown" in Spanish is "barrio chino" - nothing like it!! Ugh. After much profuse apologies (much more arm waving) they soon lurch back out of the Sheraton hotel driveway & head towards barrio chino.

Upon retelling the story later, we discover that in fact there are 2 Sheraton Hotels in BA; the poor taxidriver did take husband to the nearest 1; & that the farther 1 is about 75 kms away from the downtown area.
Thank goodness the driver half-understood my husband's directions !!

*Note to self: this is why I must always carry a map of the city on me!

Queenies Salon!

Oh what joy!!
We found a real nail salon here in BA. In our street too! Now we won't feel so deprived of life's little monthly luxuries :)
It's only pocket-sized & recently opened by an Argentinian woman who's been living & working in Los Angeles for many years, who seized the opportunity to start such a business here. For a culture that is so focused on their bodies, it's odd that this boutique business has not reached here sooner. She's doing very well & is looking for a 2nd premises already.

I had my Christmas mani-pedi there on Xmas Eve - long overdue after 3 months of neglect - & am very pleased to report it was 'top drawer'. There are no custom-built soaking chairs available in Argentina yet apparently so it's a little old-fashioned with soaking your feet in a shallow pail of soapy water but it works just as well. Of course, that means no inbuilt massage machine in the chairs either.

Hooray for Queenies!!

What? No Christmas Spirit!

Oh my goodness, there is no Christmas Spirit here in BA. Or so little of it that it's like the occurence of a rainbow, very obvious when you notice it.

No Christmas cards - none are sent by my company. None received either. This means of course no cards displayed on strings across the walls :(
No Christmas decorations - none! Not a wreath in sight. No tinsel, no stars.

There are some public decorations - visable at night - the outline of a christmas tree, made from strings of golden lights - in the public parks. I saw 2 of those from the cab. But that was it.
Perhaps it is a private only activity, in homes where there are children? What a shame though.

Meat handlers = 'butchers'

It's alarming to see what is displayed here for sale in the average butcher shop. The manner in which it is 'prepared' is very rough. Huge chunks of meat that look almost like they've been cut by chainsaw. This is so common that we surmise this is the general standard of butchery here? I am told that due to the daily consumption of meat here, that the turnover is so high there is no need to make a big fuss about the butchering. (Really?)

There are a handful of 'gourmet' butchers in the city but the difference in price for their goods make it cost prohibitive for the average Porteno to shop at those vendors. The gourmet butchers trim their produce well (ie remove most of the fat) & kryovac seal it too, as we are used to.

The marked difference here is in the manner the beasts are prepared for slaughter & handled post-slaughter. There is no practise of 'hanging' meat here at all. The beasts are brought into the slaughteryards a few days prior to slaughter, then played music I'm told & fed well so they are relaxed when 'the axe falls'. This is to ensure they are not tense, so the meat will be tender. Once slaughtered, the same carcass is already butchered & for sale in the city's butcher shops within a day. So everything you buy is 'fresh' meat.

Also, due to the (famous) Argentine bar-b-que method, the meat is cooked over a long period of time - on average 3-5 hours - so that requires that the fat be left on the raw meat pieces. The fat gives much flavour to the meat as it's cooking. Once served, each diner removes the fat from their meat as they desire.

1 other thing I've noticed, most people at these asado's (Bar-b-Que) take way more meat from the grill than they eat, leaving platters of cooked meat leftover - for the dogs?There must be so much wastage, daily!
It seems to me that because the meat is so plentiful here that the locals take it for granted & don't value it much. The africans would be livid if they knew! Makes me wonder how long it will take for the locals to realise that food is a valuable commodity, not to be wasted enmasse like this? They've had it so good for so long that it must be unthinkable for the Argentines to conceive of a limited source of meat.

Nestor 'the beater'

Nestor Kirchner was the President of Argentina for the maximum 2 consecutive terms, followed by his wife Kristina who then ran for the same office & won 2+ years ago. Nestor recently died of a heart attack, aged 60.

At dinner with friends the Kirschners came up in conversation & I was startled - no, shocked! - to learn that it was public knowledge that Nestor was an habitual wife basher. Yes, he used to beat up Kristina. Even after she became President too! And the whole country knew about it! Apparently, when she lost a major negotiation with the rural sector representatives, he was so angry that he beat her so badly that she 'disappeared' from public view for a month!!

No wonder she's a fan of plastic surgery? She obviously needed it!
I'm glad he's gone. What a weak man. Good riddance is my response!

What an irreligious lot!!

And we thought the Australians were casual toward religion?
These Roman Catholics here are the slackest type of practicing Christians I've ever come across! In general, it appears the Argentinians are extremely tolerant of religious belief. One assumes because of their Spanish & Italian heritage that they're all of the RC faith but you'd never know it!
There's an absence of churches, which means the melodious sound of a churchbell is rarer still!

This only became noticeable because of the approach of Christmas. Not a Nativity Scene in sight. Not anywhere! Provoked, I asked my work colleagues about who'd be attending Midnight Mass for Christmas? Not a single person, nor did they even consider it a custom. They muttered something about the main church in the centre of the downtown area might have such a service but nobody seemed certain of it ... ?


This attitude to religion certainly agrees with me!! I did miss the bells on Christmas day though.

Taxi practise by Portenos

There's something that doesn't quite add up here with the taxi business.

ALL locals will make a point of telling you that you must only use Radio Taxi services, not the gypsy cabs that are available everywhere around the city. For a Radio taxi you must call 1 of the many Radio taxi companies to book a cab (which inherently requires fluent Spanish) & wait for that specific cab. This implies you have access to a hotel Concierge, an office receptionist or a bilingual friend able to call 1 for you. If not, you are in trouble & best take your chances out on the street by hailing 1 down.

There is only a subtle visual difference between the Radio Taxi cabs & the gypsy cabs. They're painted the same black & yellow colours, with their similar logos in the same positions, so visitors will not pick the difference. The Radio Taxis by law must have their cab licence number painted on both their passenger-side front door & their boot/trunk door. Gypsy cabs often also paint their cab licence number on the passenger front-door (to mimic the 'authentic' look of the competition?) but rarely on the boot door .... are you following this? The 1 big difference is whether or not the cab has a rooftop sign ... & if so, exactly what it says! If it says RADIO TAXI then, by law, it can only be an authentic Radio Taxi. The gypsy cabs that invest in this aspect of mimicry can only say TAXI on their rooftop signage. And all this you have to observe as the vehicle is approaching you, usually at a fair speed!

Now that I feel more confident with my "travellers' Spanish" after 4 weeks of catching taxis daily, I have hailed a few of these gypsy cabs (admittedly, only in the daylight & only the one's driven by older, harmless-looking men) & cannot understand what the anxiety is about?

I can only surmise that 'during the troubles' (as the period around the 2001 currency crisis here is referred to) when there was a very real desperation that led to a dramatic spike in the city's crime rate that many incidents of muggings must have gone down in taxis? Or in association with catching taxis? And the locals have not gotten over it yet, clearly.

*Note to self: don't get too bold about ignoring local practices until you really speak the lingo & have been here at least a year - 'where there's smoke, there's fire'?

Inaugural Ciclope Festival

In early December I attended the inaugural Ciclope Festival which was held here in BA, on a large, luxury motorboat moored inside 1 of the lochs at the newly redeveloped barrio of Puerto Madero.
It was an interesting hybrid of part Cannes/part AICP but was marketed directly to the production community. The attendees were appreciative of the input from & content shared by the visiting speakers, most of whom were also members of the larger jury.
There was a gala ceremony held on the upper deck of the boat on the 2nd night, where the Ciclope trophies were presented to the winners of each craft category. There was a good mix of LatAm winners amongst the international winners, particularly in the animation & original music categories. Not all LatAm finalists were Argentinian either, many were from Brazil & some outstanding submissions from Colombia.

The revelatory insight for me was how loathe the Argentine producers were to support this festival. The reason given to me was ... "it's only the 1st year for this Ciclope, so we'll wait & see if it's a success before we decide if we'll support it or not". Well, tell me then: how do expect to see a Ciclope next year if you don't support it at all?? The general response to my question was a shrug of the shoulders, a smirk & something about 'This is Argentina. This is how we are. You will learn this.'
There were more Brazilian attendees than Argentinians. That's a disgrace. Also producers came from other LatAm countries - Mexico, Colombia, Chile, even Venezuela! The Producers World Summit was alone well worth coming to the entire event for - the heads of the 3 big international producers' assosciations were present (APA, AICP, CFP-E) as they are in Cannes for this same event & moderated the open discussion. The absent Argentinian producers would have learned a lot had they the sense to come!
However, I must add that the Argentinian producers who did attend proved to be an open-minded, positive group of fun people! Several of them had 1 common trait, they'd lived & worked in other foreign markets, which is why they appreciated the opportunity Ciclope presented to meet their fellow LatAm production community. I'm sure we initial Ciclope attendees are going to become the basis for a local film production community here, despite the general apathy & widespread resistance to such a notion! Ha!

JUMBO adventure

As the name would indicate, JUMBO is a vast megamarket. There is a large grocery section inside there which sells many international brands so I was recommended by several people to do my shopping there. Plus it's close by - 15 blocks or so. And they have a home delivery service also. Made sense.

I've never been inside a store this big. Never! This is bigger than the largest Bunnings or Home Depot warehouse I've ever been to. It's HUGE!!
Now, this being my 1st shopping trip in my new country, I had a long list of staples, dry goods & toiletries to buy as well. After I'd worked out the layout & found the shopping trolleys, etc. I headed to the food section. Whoa! The refrigerated section for yoghurt alone was 40 foot long. I kept thinking 'who could possibly buy this much of yoghurt?' And (of course) because it was only my 3rd day here, I had not yet bought a decent dictionary yet, so was just 'winging it' this time. WRONG!
Using the natural 'process of elimination' method, I worked my way slowly & methodically through each aisle until I had pretty much all the items on my list plus many more items I'd remembered once I saw them on the shelves. This took me a lot longer than it should, without language to guide me but I was focused on the task, so didn't realise the time passing.

I worried that I had not enough cash on me to cover the total cost, even though everything seemed so reasonably priced. My large 2 level trolley was very full. I kept thinking how great it was that JUMBO do the home delivery service, for people in my circumstance for example. When I got to the checkout counter that was trickier to navigate, lots of gesticulation involved. I wasn't even 100% sure I had the right address for the delivery service! It was 15 minutes to closing time, so I eventually worked out that the check-out chick was telling me my delivery would now have to be scheduled for the next morning. But she reassured me that all my groceries would be stored in the chiller overnight, so not to worry about the food items - at least that's what I thought she'd said. She had even packaged up 1 bag of perishables for me to take with me (lucky 1 of us knew what we were doing).What was the time? It was 9:45pm. PM!! Yes, it was dark outside! I had been inside this JUMBO complex for almost 5 hours. Shit!

I had j-u-s-t enough cash, with a spare 20Peso note for a cab home. Phew! The whole pile of shopping arrived the next morning around 10:30am, bag after bag, delivered right into inside the apartment. Great service.

*Note to self: better get a dictionary fast!

What's with the littering guys?

It's quite a shock to see your taxi driver throw his lolly wrapper out the window! This behaviour has been eradicated from Australia for 2 generations already, hence the jaw-dropping reaction by me. It actually took me a few seconds to realise what had just happened.

Having asked several locals about the glaring lack of civic pride endemic in this beautiful city, I've been told that it's not nationwide, only here in BA. The reason given is that there's been so many foreign arrivals to BA from the other impoverished, Spanish-speaking Mercosur countries who don't know how to respect the environment, that the citizens of BA ('Portenos') are unwilling to fight what they consider is a losing battle.
Piss poor excuse in my opinion. The founders of BA who invested all the original funds in French architects, Spanish city planners/engineers & Italian landscapers to create the special ambiance & the high standard of visual aesthetic that is still so abundant here today would be horrified to see how little regard the locals have for their inherited hometown today!!

An auspicous start!

I was quietly surprised that my finely co-ordinated arrival & entry to the apartment went off without 1 hitch :) Considering I'd orchestrated it from afar, via email only i.e., it could have been a very different story!

As my airport transfer vehicle pulled up at the specified street address exactly at the time I'd nominated to meet, a taxi did also, carrying 2 ladies, including Martina from the real estate brokerage whom I recognised. The 2nd fashionably dressed woman whom I was introduced to as Cecilia I was to learn 30 minutes later was our new landlady. It struck me then as 'amusing' the level of discomfort a 'fashion victim' is prepared to endure when I saw Cecilia was wearing knee high designer black leather boots on what was a very warm day (about 28ºC). She looked terrific though!

After a 12 hour flight & having travelled alone with 3 large suitcases to manouvre through the airport systems, I was not really at my most alert but nonetheless these women were here on a business appointment with me, so I did my best, as politely as I could. Pages of multiple Tenancy contracts to be signed by all parties (all in Spanish only of course); household contents to be checked item-by-item against the long, printed inventory (again in Spanish only); instructions on operating the many electrical & digital devices inside this apartment; details on the schedule of the building caretaker & the weekly maid service; then the counting of the money & issuance of official written receipts (yes, in Spanish.) I had been asked to pay the initial 6 weeks rent upon arrival because it was tidier to do so, to end the year, etc. because we took the apartment for a 6 month lease, from November 15th. However, the rent here must be paid in cash. USD$ cash only, not local currency which I had organised at Sydney airport before departure. The 1 month bond/deposit had been paid in advance a month prior - yes, also in USD$ cash but that's another story!

Just as I'm thinking I don't have too much more energy left in my mental tank for these highly detailed, loud, foreign transactions, Cecilia unzips her boots & begins lining the cash notes vertically around her ankles! I had to laugh. GENIUS! Then she called a taxi, explaining to me in broken English how she was now headed directly to her bank downtown, to deposit this cash into her safety deposit box there. Recalling that scene made me smile several times over the next few days.

*Note to self: pay attention to how & where you carry cash amounts.

Dogshit, lots of it.

The next thing I remember is that the 'pooper scooper' has not yet been introduced to BA (Buenos Aires). At the base of most of those large shady trees is dogshit. And there are many, many pet dogs here.

*Note to self: better learn to walk with my head down at the footpath level!

1st impression redux

There are very many large beautiful trees in Buenos Aires. Old trees. strong trees. Lots of shade, makes all the difference in a hot summer. Having just arrived from a parched Western Australia this struck me: there must be plenty of water here then!