BA Part 3: What I Loved

My 3rd week in BA was my busiest and probably my best week. There’s a lot to say about it so rather than recount everything in chronological order, I'm going to try a “revolutionary” new format: What I Loved About Week 3. Get excited.

What I Loved About Week 3:

1. Welcoming in a brand new year

This was the week when I happily closed the door on 2012 and welcomed in 2013 with open arms! Our New Year’s Eve celebrations began with a pre-party at our apartment. Danny and Hugo had gone all out with a smoke machine and flashing disco lights which was quite fun/ random, since there were only 9 of us! We raised a glass to the UK New Year at 9pm, whilst watching the London fireworks live on BBC World (felt all sentimental and resolved to be there next year!) and then sat down to a lovely meal, while we waited for our own midnight to arrive. We greeted 2013 with champagne and lemon sorbet on the balcony, as down below us people ran out into the streets setting off firecrackers and the occasional firework.

The pre-party wound down at 3:30am, when we finally headed out to a club in the city centre. I’d kind of wound down along with the pre-party and was feeling pretty tired by the time we reached the club, and so only ended up staying for an hour or so. I walked home with my house-mate Rico, watched the sun rise on 2013 and then collapsed into bed!

New Year's Eve at the Casa de Amigos

2. Tango

I didn't know much about Tango before I arrived in BA, and it wasn't something I was particularly interested in... until I came across a couple of impromptu performances in the street, and was instantly captivated. There’s just something about the style of the music and dance which I find really beautiful: it’s sultry and seductive, but has an air of melancholy and nostalgia too. And it’s taken so very seriously in Buenos Aires - it feels like it’s part of the heart and soul of the city. One teacher I met, told me that good tango is better than sex. The connection with your dance partner is so incredibly intense and of course it can go on for hours and hours every night!

It takes two to tango!

One of my favourite neighbourhoods, San Telmo, is also the home of Tango and you’re guaranteed to see a couple of performances at the weekly Antiques market. At the start of my 3rd week I headed back to the market to purchase a couple of things I’d spotted the previous weekend and ended up spending several hours there watching the dancing and also listening to a band - El Afronte - playing Tango music in a side street. The band were excellent and I really enjoyed listening to them play. I guess the music brings together a lot of the instruments I like best: piano, double bass and bandoneón (OK, admittedly this last one is something of a new favourite!).

Tango in the Plaza de Dorrego

Orquesta Típica El Afronte

There are numerous Tango shows in the city and on the Wednesday night, Rico and I went along to one in San Telmo. In true Buenos Aires style it started at 11pm and finished at 1 and there were performances from dancers, singers and musicians. I loved the venue - a tiny dark old bar, with only 10 small candle-lit tables - it felt very intimate and the dancers were only a couple of feet in front of us. One couple in particular were absolutely incredible - I had to acknowledge that the guys you see dancing for free on the streets just aren't as good!

I also would have liked to try a lesson but didn't get around to it in the end. Maybe something for the future though!

3. Exploring New Neighbourhoods
There were still a few tourist attractions to tick off, and on Wednesday, I took a (long) walk over to the Recoleta neighbourhood, to visit its famous cemetery. The place feels like a mini city, with huge mausoleums arranged in different sectors, along tree-lined walkways. The tombs are incredibly grand and ornate, decorated with intricate engravings and towering statues. In most cases you could peer in and see the coffins, which felt a bit weird. This is where Evita is buried, although her own tomb is quite modest compared to most of the others, as she came from a poor family.

Mausoleums

Cherub decorating a tomb

Evita's grave - always with fresh flowers

Recoleta is one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods and is a beautiful place to explore, with many grand houses, wide avenues, and parks (one of which contains a cool flower sculpture which closes its petals at night!). I also finally made it along to the Modern Art Museum, MALBA, where they had a suitably weird but interesting Tracy Emin exhibit, amongst other things.

Having got a good feel for the main neighbourhoods, I started exploring some of the slightly less touristy neighbourhoods further afield, like Colegiales, Belgrano and Abasto. In each of them I found lovely cafés in which to while away a few hours, with my book!

A jug of fresh mint lemonade and Game of Thrones - there goes another afternoon!

4. Helado!

Ahh thank you, Italy, for your influence on this city. The ice cream here is just amazing: I’ve never seen such an array of equally delicious and enticing flavours, making it a constant challenge to decide on which to try next. There are ice cream shops all over the city - from the big chains to the small independents - and you can also get it delivered (=dangerous)! And you can buy a ½ kg tub with 3 or 4 flavours (=dangerous). After a few days I feared I may become an addict and had to start monitoring my ice cream intake lest I become a huge fatty.

I had the best ice cream of my life here - Dulce de Leche and Passion-fruit - whilst sitting on the grass on a sunny evening in Recoleta - heaven!

Can't begin to tell you how good this was

5. The Passion of the Porteños

Buenos Aires is known for its regular protests - apparently there are 20-25 demonstrations in the city each week and I witnessed at least 4 or 5 in my first couple of days. Traffic grinds to a halt as demonstrators swarm across the streets with their flags and banners, setting off firecrackers and and shouting and blowing horns and whistles. It’s a pretty impressive sight, although not so pleasant when the tear gas starts!

There was one very famous, regular demonstration which I was particularly keen to see: that of the “Madres de la Plaza de Mayo” (the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo). This is an organization of Mothers and relatives of those who “disappeared” during the Dirty War in Argentina (1976-1983). At this time the military government abducted, tortured and killed left-wing “subversives” including taking thousands of babies from their mothers and placing them with other families. It was forbidden to speak out against these atrocities but finally in 1977 a group of mothers defied the government by meeting in the square every Thursday to protest. They've been doing it every Thursday afternoon since and have become a huge organisation which aims to find the missing children and reunite them with their families. Its estimated that 10’s of thousands of babies were stolen, and as of today they have found around 100. Obviously the children are growing up in other homes, completely unaware of their past.

The demonstrations take place outside the Presidential Palace

When I arrived in the Plaza there were already a few people from the Madres organisation there, with their banners and flags. At 3:30pm another two big groups arrived, and slowly started marching around the square. It was a very moving experience - the people carry photographs of their lost loved ones, and you can see the pain and loss in the eyes of the old women. I guess I found it particularly poignant as it happened around the time I was born, and so it’s people of my own age now, who are suddenly finding out that the parents they've grown up with are not their biological parents (and in many cases, that the people they thought were their parents were actually involved in the disappearance of their real parents). So it wasn't exactly an enjoyable event, but it was a very emotive one.

Hard to translate exactly, but basically means "Always onwards to victory, dear children". The first part is a slogan associated with Che Guevera 

Carrying the photos of their lost loved ones

6. Street Art!

Before arriving in BA, my friend Kat had recommended taking a Street Art tour. Again, this isn't something I’ve paid much attention to in the past, but I had noticed a lot of really cool murals in the streets around BA, and was interested to find out more about it, so I headed along to a tour with GraffitiMundo, on Friday afternoon.

Graffiti and street art isn't seen as a negative or criminal in BA. It really emerged after the dictatorship, when people were finally safe to express themselves freely again and consequently it’s really celebrated here. We walked around several streets in the Colegiales neighbourhood and saw some incredible art. In many cases it’s actually been commissioned by home-owners, or restaurants, to bring a bit of colour to a white wall! 

Huge mural, in remembrance of 2 children who were killed by the police in this neighbourhood

Really cool mural covering an entire long wall

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

7. A day on the river

Towards the end of the week, a new house-mate, Diego, arrived from London (originally from Italy but has lived in the UK for years - calls himself a “Britalian”). We all hit it off right away and on Saturday he, Rico and I went on a day trip together, up to the Tigre Delta, about one hour on the train from the city centre.

As much as I loved BA, it was nice to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, and Tigre felt like a different world. It was so peaceful and relaxing, full of canals and little islands covered in trees. The houses back on to the water and most have their own mooring. We took a boat ride which passed along many of the waterways, and it was nice to see people sitting out in their gardens, swimming, kayaking and just generally enjoying a beautiful summer afternoon by the water!

Not a bad weekend home!

Rico and Diego on the boat

8. A whole new Rhythm

You really do get into a whole new rhythm in this city and I found that I adjusted to it quite quickly. Leaving home at 9-10pm, eating dinner at 10 or 11pm, and staying out until 5am became normal. I’d just get up late and eat lunch at 4pm! The adjustment wasn't always a good thing of course - I actually found that even when I tried to have an “early” night (midnight) I would lie there wide awake until 3am!

On my last night in the apartment, Zeynel, Diego, Rico and I went for dinner (11pm) and then decided to just have a quiet drink in San Telmo. We found a street with a row of nice little restaurants with tables and chairs on the terraces and we sat down to enjoy a couple of cocktails. It was quite surreal when I realised that it was 4am, but that every chair in every restaurant in the street was still taken! And these weren't people on a big night out - but just people having a quiet drink and chat with friends, as you would at 8 or 9pm in most other countries! It was crazy but also quite nice. Although I don’t know how they ever get up for work the next day!