This is a picture of the sidewalk outside my apartment building at 2 am. And judging by the sounds I heard at 4:30 am, I imagine it looked the same!! These Argentines would sure do well working the night shift!!!
Having walked around the city a little more each day, I have a better sense of my neighborhood's flavor compared to the other barrios. Las Canitas is quite small-- probably 4 blocks by 10 blocks and it's jam-packed with stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, and cafes. There seem to be fewer residential properties than in other neighborhoods. I also get the sense that well-heeled portenos (there should be a tilde over the 'n' here but I'm too much of a technophobe to figure out how to do that!)-- folks who live in Buenos Aires-- come to my little spot to drink and shop and play. Since I arrived here, I haven't heard any English spoken.
Last night I made a very innocent pilgrimmage to a neighborhood called Palermo to a bar showing the NFL playoffs. The magic of traveling in the internet age is that you can google "NFL playoffs in Buenos Aires" and a list of places (or, in this case, a single place) showing the game appears with the address marked on a map. I took the Subte and walked 10 or so blocks without getting lost: a small miracle.
Palermo takes up a large part of the mid-section of Buenoes Aires. My guidebook tells me that this city's middle class inhabits the neighborhood. It's quite charming looking-- cobblestoned streets, lots of families with strollers, and a mix of hip and hippie stores. I heard English spoken everywhere, including the bar showing the football games. The place is owned by an American guy and an Irish guy. It's clearly a hangout for English speaking expats.
My teetotaling night took a turn when I fell in a with a few Seahawks fans (those of you who don't follow football should know this is a very bad team that, against all odds, beat the reigning Super Bowl champs) and this is how I can tell you, based on painfully earned first-hand knowledge, that Argentine tequila tastes like unrefined gasoline.
What? What's that you say? Why are you yelling? I think I need to go back to bed.... Check out these pictures of my apartment while I recover:
brilliant! teetotalism is entirely for the birds.
ReplyDeletesounds like you're acclimating nicely - sweet digs!
Wow! That's almost exactly 12 years between tequila shots.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...almost exactly 12 years since MY last tequila shot.
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