Sights and Sounds of Sin Sity

Do not think of this next entry as a knock on the city of Buenos Aires. Think of it more as a real insight to what every major city in the world possess but doesn’t mention in the travel guides, brochures, articles, and pictures they post to lure people from all over the world to visit.

La Boca
I was invited by friends to site see the city, and we chose to visit a very touristy area called the La Boca, near the river on the southeast side of town. Not an area you want to be caught walking around in at night. But none the less a very touristy place for many reasons, there is a soccer stadium in the center, which hosts the number one soccer team in the city this season. Another reason is the outdoor tango dancers that liter the street performing for passing shoppers and onlookers. It also features a little market square that sells the usual; necklaces, skirts, shirts, hats, knifes, mate cups (a traditional Argentina tea drink), and little things to bring home that will remind you of the La Boca later. I took my neighborhood 152 bus to the end of the line and walked another 6 blocks to get there. Let me start by saying, it was not worth the trip. The pictures professionals have taken to entice travels to visit over glamorize the whole thing. (so I guess they did their job, a little too well). I was not impressed at all. In fact it almost seemed liked some poor families back in the day got together and decided that if they painted their houses (cardboard boxes more like it) strange and different colors that people would come and take notice, and then use this attraction to sell things, and make money to raise their family. Well, they may have been poor, but they were smart, because it worked like a charm. The area is actually small, about 4 blocks in total, and every iron shack is painted green, red, blue, and yellow, with these huge, weird, fictional character dolls on balconies and street corners. We sat down at an outdoor café where we were immediately entertained by two tango dancers. It is a very passionate and difficult dance. I’m pretty sure if I attempted it, I would end up stepping on my partners toes a lot, as well as forgetting to catching my partner when she dipped, leading to her immediate concussion as her head would bang the ground! As usual, since we were in La Boca, everything was extremely over priced, the food was very good, but they charged for my friends sitting with me who didn’t order anything. I could definitely understand this, say if we were eating at Charlie Trotters, but this place was NO WHERE NEAR that quality. They were a glorified café at best because of the location they vended from. I was extremely frustrated with the way things were going. I was glad when the whole excursion ended about 30 min. later, when everyone had had their fill of pictures, food, shopping and site seeing.

Lack of better words
While walking about the city for whatever reason; to get to class, eat lunch or dinner (I never eat breakfast), site seeing, going out at night with friends, and believe it or not going out for a relaxing jog thru parks and different neighborhoods, one cannot help but notice, for lack of a better word, the terribly disturbing things that goes on. I’ll start with the dog owners, and lack there of. For some odd reason I get the feeling it might be illegal to pick up dog shit. Its everywhere, its like walking through a city with landmines, but instead of exploding, you smell the rest of the day. I walk thru the city playing hopscotch. And occasionally, I end up cursing very loudly in English when I lose this stinky game.
Who ever planned out the city should be dug and up and killed again. My theory of city planning is very similar to the American job hunting commercials. I think it was a bunch of monkeys in a room using crayons. People drew them a circle in the middle of a vast white sheet of paper and then let them go to work. There isn’t a street in the city that runs straight for more than a couple blocks. It has to turn, or get cut off at some point. Looking at an aerial map of the city would remind anyone of a spider web… on crack. Getting from one point to another on foot involves many streets, patients, and a lot of luck. I often have to refer to my Giat’e. Its my city guide, and the funny part about it is, people that have been living here all there lives still use it. At first I refused to carry it around. Never admitting defeat when I was lost, always claiming I could get my friends to the promise land. But when people quickly started disserting me, I swallowed my pride, and now I don’t leave home without it. I find myself with a lot more time on my hands now that I use it, which has allowed me to write this blog.
I have attempted using the bus system, with little success. COPA students have a plethora of horror stories from attempting to use the bus system. (Ex. one girl got on the wrong bus and was driven outside the city. There was no bus to get her back and she ended up walking for 2 hours to get home!!). Its just as confusing and frustrating as the streets themselves. Unlike the city of Chicago, were there is one bus for every street, there is a minimum of 15 buses per street here. Now you would think this is fantastic, cause then you could get to where your going a lot faster. But the buses rarely stay on the same street they pick you up on. They travel to all edges of the city in different paths, and you never know what route they might take. I think it depends on how the bus driver is feeling that day. He might want to take the busier, but larger streets, or he might want to take the smaller, just as crowded streets that move just as slow. Now, using the bus system involves taking a class, but not for learning the routes. There is bus etiquette. Argentines are like military personal when it comes to waiting for the bus. They stand single file, and sometimes these lines get to be about half block long, no joke. And no matter how many people are standing there, and the bus drives sees you, if you do not signal, or flag him down, he will drive right past you, again no joke, I found this out the hard way. Next, when the bus finally does stop, you must let all the women on first, no exceptions. Now, the law has to be on the bus drivers side, or lawyers down here must make a fortune on injury claims. When picking up and dropping off riders, the bus never comes to a complete stop, it’s a lot like how my father (Eloy Burciaga) would stop at a stop sign. If you have ever ridin’ with my father, you know this means you are practically jumping off the bus, and while in the air moving your feet in the running motion so when you hit the ground you don’t fall down. For a young, athletic, and good looking guy like myself, this is not a big deal, but I cant help but feel sorry for the elderly in walkers that are ducking and rolling off these death boxes on wheels. The easiest way to travel, is either by foot, taxi or the subway. But again, there are two problems with the subway. First, it closes at 21.30 (which is 9.30pm), and second are the homeless people in the tunnels and around the entrances.
There are thousands of homeless people here. Most are harmless, but we have been warned to steer clear just in case. The disturbing thing about the homeless is the amount of families you see. It is not unusual to see mother, father, 2-6 kids, and sometimes even an animal. Now the homeless in Chicago can make somewhat of a living sifting through garbage and finding cans and other recyclables. But in Buenos Aires there is already a business for that. At night, when the garbage is put outside on the sidewalks (much like New York, there are no allies), people who you think are homeless because they are rummaging through the garbage looking for plastic and cardboard. But they are far from homeless. They get paid, its well organized, they get trunks to come in and pick up what they have found. Its actually quite fascinating while at the same time…well dirty. I guess in one respect they are helping the environment by recycling, but throughout the sifting process they make a mess.
Every major city will have its ups and downs. And while at times things may seem polluted, dirty, unsafe, and unpleasing, it is what makes Buenos Aires what it is, one of kind. A culturally rich city, with years of history, and many many things to offer!
I am staying in a nice, but densely populated area of the city called Recoleta. There are no homes, all tall apartment buildings about 12 stories high. There is either a café or restaurant at every corner. I live close to a street named Santa Fe, and it reminds me of poor man’s Michigan Avenue. It is just shop after shop and shop. I am not even sure how half the places stay in business. Honestly, how many shoe and clothing stores can you have? But I cant complain, the women are very well put together. But the guys, there are two types, the work type, which is a nice pair of slacks, with a button down and loafers, reminds me of Christopher Doolin. Then you have the guys that look like they got dressed in the dark, and that’s being nice. Nothing matches, clothes are dirty, wrinkled, look a hundred years old, its almost comical. And you see this at clubs too. Kids look like they just came from a soccer match.
Night life is outrageous. On hot nights I cant blame kids for dressing relaxed. Clubs can feel like 100 degrees. There are hundreds of people packed on the dance floor dancing and sweating profusely. I honestly buy water because I sometimes feel like I might die from dehydration! Most nights carry well into the next morning. Its not unusual for me to be arriving home when my host brother of sister are getting up for work or school. Its absolutely crazy down here. I love it!
I will have to continue this blog when I get back from vacation. This week is Semana Santa! I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.