Living Like the Porteños

As you read this, picture me sitting in this chair with my laptop, writing and listening to the sounds of the city and the other residents of this building. This patio opens up from my small bedroom. I moved today, away from the security of an apartment where I could come and go unnoticed, and interact very little, to living with a porteños (a person from Buenos Aires). I'm living in the spare bedroom of Adolfo Nusinkier, a single man about my age. He teaches English and translates writing for IBM. His parents were from Poland and fled the nazis to come here during WWII. We are on the 10th floor in the back of the building. It's still a little noisy but the sounds are distant: sirens, dogs barking, people somewhere cheering a futbol game. I was nervous thinking of living with someone else but, so far, so good. He fixed me dinner tonight and even a dessert of flan with duche de leche, a caramel sauce. And now it is late, so here is the view at night.

Dinner with Thiago and Drew

Drew's good friend here is Thiago from Brazil who is studying history at a university here. We had pizza together last night and then took a cab to a casino which is on a boat in Puerto Madera. I played blackjack at a table that had a very low minimum bet. The table was packed and the guy next to me was muy burracho (I bet you can figure out what that means). It was very hard to follow anything that was said but luckily, I communicated my bets with hand signals. I held my own for an hour and then lost about $40. Afterwards we shot pool at an old school place near my apartment.

Sunday Photos from Around Buenos Aires

I went on a different line today and found it to be much more modern. I'm posting this because my other pictures of the "subte" looked a bit like some grim Eastern European city.

I'm waiting for the train and took this self portrait in a mirror on the platform.

On the subway, people come around and hand out booklets, cards, subway maps and pamphlets. They set them right your your lap or your knee! Then they come back and ask for a donation. The passengers are patient and sometimes flip through the offerings and then politely decline them. The sellers usually aren't pushy. It's a funny system.

McDonald's is trying to upgrade it's image here so they have introduced "McCafes" that serve coffee drinks. I tried one out and ordered a double expresso con leche. I'm sorry to report that it was excellent. How do you like the little cookie and glass of "agua con gas."

This is a little detail on a building across from my apartment. Nothing other than a photo I liked.

The skyline here is marred by cell phone towers and power lines. Peter said it was much more expensive to put them underground. But what an eye sore.

Drew and I went to Boedo, a nice neighborhood in the city. He borrowed my camera and shot this. The fence really makes it much more interesting.

We went to a park on Sunday afternoon and rock bands were all over the place blasting away. The park was packed with kids, families, musicians, vendors. Drew has such an appetite for exploring this city. I get a little worn out.

In the middle of all the confusion in the park, this gato was just hanging out with some of his amigos.

Happy Easter from La Plata, Argentina

We rode the train from Buenos Aires to La Plata, about 40 miles, for only 4 pesos, or about a dollar. We thought we had a round trip but we were in for a big surprise. More later.

Drew said this is one of the biggest cathedral in South America. When the Pope comes this is where he hangs out.

 We took an elevator up inside the spire and this in looking back down the shaft.

Back in the train station we had some time to kill. These girls were very curious about Drew and it made him uncomfortable.

Drew took this picture of me buying a soda to prove that I really do interact and try to speak Spanish with the locals.

This dog is watching a fat man eat a sandwich. The dog is the picture of patience.

We caught the train back to Buenos Aires and I was in the middle of a power nap when they kicked us off the train in some little town. There was lots of confusion but we boarded a bus under a freeway and continued on. It became the ride from hell snaking all over the province of Buenos Aires as the sun set. They recently had tornadoes here so some roads were closed. At one point the road was block by people burning debris right in the road. The bus whipped a U turn and kept going down dark side streets, dodging fallen trees. We were on the bus for two hours before we made it back home. It was kind of depressing to see all the slums but it was an adventure nonetheless.

Every night from my apartment I hear lots of shouting. I went to investigate and found an indoor soccer stadium across the street.



Mis Profesores

These are my teachers at my language school. On the left is German (pronounced Herman) and then Victoria. German has a two-month old baby. Toward the end of one lesson his cell phone rang. Through the phone I could hear his wife's voice, no doubt telling him to get his butt home as soon as the lesson was over. He rides the subte from Boedo, which Drew said is a nice neighborhood. Victoria is still a student and I don't know a lot about her except she wants to be a writer. In my lessons, I mainly try to understand what they are saying and talk with them. They occasionally write things on the white board and Victoria likes to teach grammar. Next Wednesday I will be living with an Argentine family for one week which will be really scary but it will give me a chance to see how much I've learned.

The Heavens Opened Up!

Drew met me after class and we walked back to my apartment together. Around us, the light was fading but the sky was a threatening orange. We shopped at "el Chino" (the Chinese market) and we were upstairs cooking dinner with the balcony window open when the wind began to howl. We are on the 9th floor (they don't count the ground floor here) and we are looking down on the tops of the trees. They were waving like crazy and stuff was flying through the air. Down on the street people were running for cover and the traffic actually slowed down. I opened the shutter on the camera tried to get a lightning bolt but nature didn't cooperate. But I did like the glow of the rain in the air in this picture.

A Subway Ride in Buenos Aires

Here, the subway is called the "Subte" and is pretty big, very crowded and fairly cheap to ride.

You have to buy a ticket first, of course. Each ride, or "viaje" (trip) is $2.50 pesos which is 57 cents.

Let's go down to the platform. Somestair cases have these nice tiled walls. But there's a lot of graffiti too.

Oh man! We just missed a train. No importa. I'll have time to look around.

The routes seem to start at the port, which is the right of the map, and fan out as they go inland. There are only two cross-town lines. 



There's a lot of people who beg in the subte. Here, a child is sleeping while his mother (out of sight) asks for money from passersby.



On the trains, people are selling all kinds of things such as books of stickers and even socks! The passengers are very tolerant and a surprising amount actually buy stuff from the vendors. The portenos (people of Buenos Aires) seem to treat poor people with respect.

Here's an action packed photo from this morning's ride. Here is an ample woman and a man sniffing his armpit. At rush hour the trains are really packed.

 It's a relief to be out of the subte and I find myself on the edge of a plaza with stalls of booksellers and these guys playing chess. Their concentration is so great they don't notice me take their picture.