Buenos Aires is really something, at least when you do the route that I’ve done. It’s completely different from all the cities I’ve crossed so far in South America, even compared to Sao Paulo. It has a very clean, save and orderly touch. It felt very European to me, with very few sky scrapers but lots of nice architecture. Even the language is very different and (people from Argentina will kill me) sounds very funny at first. But I learned to love the sound of the “ll” they way they use it here and the word voluda/o (don’t know how to spell it) younger people use when they talk to each other.The people (with a few exceptions) seemed very friendly and helpful and I was surprised to see this in a big city as people from big cities tend to be not this way.
I haven’t really worked since I got back to this continent so it was more then time for a working block. Hotels were either full or too expensive for a month, so I decided to find an apartment this time. It wasn’t easy to find something on such a short notice I searched over the internet and went to local real estate offices. I wanted a place that had broadband internet connection, that didn’t make it any easier, but finally I found a very nice place although a little expensive and with a tricky shower that flooded the bathroom at times. If you rent an apartment be sure to ask for the finale prize, as the prices they tell you or are written down don’t include the commission, which in my case was another 10%.I have to say that it was a lot more comfortable to work in an apartment then in a hotel, so I think from now on I’ll try to find an apartment first. The apartment was in the aristocratic neighborhood of Recoleta just a block away from the famous cemetery, which now that I am writing this I never saw from the inside. So people were a little bit snobbish and as restaurants weren’t very cheap around, since I had a kitchen now, I tried my self as a cook. I also signed up in a fitness center since I felt I needed some workout as a balance to the work. I was surprised to see that besides the usual aerobic classes they also had Flamenco or Tango classes.
The subway was interesting to ride since one line still used the old cars so it felt like 1920 or something. The city is alive 24/7, no matter at what time of the night you take a city bus; it’s always full of people.
The highlight of my stay in Buenos Aires was certainly when I went to a soccer match of the club “River Plate” in its big home stadium with a friend I’ve gotten to know in the hostel in Miami. She is a “hincha” of this club for a long time and I always wanted to see a game in Brazil or Argentina. People in the stands were singing the whole time, it was really crazy. She also took me to a suburb in the north, right by the river, it was incredible the mansions that were build there Beverly Hills style. And we even sneaked into a Toquinho concert to hear the last few songs.
At the end of my 4 weeks I still had some work to do and I also wanted to do a little for my own project so I decided to stay another 2 weeks.
I really liked my stay in Buenos Aires, it’s a great city to live in, the only thing I really missed was a beach, although it is right by the river Plata, it’s pretty dirty and there are no places to swim, but it has Puerto Madero and some nice parks you can hang around and enjoy the sun or listen to one of the bands that sometimes play there on Sundays.