San Patrick's Church

The "San Patricio" church is in the Coghlan quarter, near the Luis M. Drago railway station. You can see the irish inspiration of the architect in the red bricks and the stylized windows. It is not the only church in this style in Buenos Aires, but it is special for me because the parents of a special person got married there.
As the 17th of March is coming you may be wondering: "Do you do something special for Saint Patrick's Day in Buenos Aires?". The answer is yes. The irish community pays tribute to Saint Patrick and as the night begins thousands young people (of course most of them non irish) flood the streets downtown to go to the irish pubs and drink as much beer as they can. Sometimes there also are "free beer wagons" in the streets, handing out free beer.
 

La crème de la crème of Buenos Aires

Naon St. is one of the places where the high society resides and where some foreign embassies are located. This is part of the Belgrano quarter and I guess that having a house here makes a person very distinct. Yhe beautiful thing about this St. is that it´s a boulevard, filled with very high trees and no skyscrapers or tall buildings, something quite strange for Buenos Aires, a city that (with the suburbs included) holds 3,5 mio. people. 

Maradona & Stencil

Maradona Argentina's "demigod" can be found everywhere. it is said (in popular culture) that he has the hand of god because he made a score against the English during the World Cup '86. I can´t realy agree, but I don´t want to be critizicing our local folklore. Anyway, Buenos Aires is filled with stencil art but I never saw one of Maradona. The door also intrigued me... only God or, I guess some would say, Maradona knows what´s behind it.
Location: Palermo Soho on Armenia St.

The travelling sign

I took this picture mostly because I´ve never seen one of these sings up close. Solo empanadas is an empanada-delivery place (being empanadas a tipical food here in argentina: pastries filled with meat (most classics ones) or ham&cheese or empanadas gallegas (from spain) with tuna). I guess they´re opening another shop. They have the most crazy advertising campaigns: dancing empanadas. Whenever the traffic lights show red a crew of empandas start dancing in front of your car. The people inside those coustumes must suffer a lot, because there are, I dare to say, no ventilation holes in their empanada suit.
If I ever get the chance I´ll post a picture of them.

Urban art: Palermo Soho

This is one of many art manifestations troughout the city. You can find it in the fashionable "new" quarter of Buenos Aires. I say "new" because it´s one of the barrios where the population settled in after the yellow fever. Now it´s the avant-garde place filled with cool and modern restaurants. This place is also packed with craftsman and designers. I took this yesterday before it started to rain... (now its pouring on Buenos Aires) 

Barbie army

I guees this is not characteristic of Buenos Aires, Barbies are everywhere. But thinking about consumer goods and habits, porteños (people from the city of Buenos Aires) are obsessed with shopping. And Barbie is the ultimate icon: the need of reproducing ideals (women here want to be perfectly tanned and blonde). I´m not special: I´m tanned too. ;)
I took this picture at an huge supermarket called Jumbo and got reprehended for it by one employee.
 

Facultad de Ingenieria

This is one of the most beautiful faculty buildings of the UBA (Buenos Aires University). This building is very similar to the law faculty, because they have the same origin. They were once the "Fundación Eva Perón" (The Eva Perón Foundation from 1946 to 1955) and used as social center. It has been rumoured that beneath the building several escape tunnels have been built to make it easier for Evita (1919-1952) to escape whenever there was trouble. I do not know if this is true and we never might, because the lower floor is flooded. I hope the mistery will be solved someday!!
(P.S.: Buenos Aires is filled with tunnels, not just those from the underound, most of them have been built for political reasons, but I´ll post more about that later on) 

Riachuelo

This is a view of the Riachuelo that divides the city of Buenos Aires and the Buenos Aires province. The Riachuelo is the icon for public mistrust in politicians: 9 years ago the government promised to clean it up: it´s the most polluted river in the city due to the factories that were build next to it, but nothing happened.

The first europeans that settled next to the Riachuelo came from Spain in an expedition in charge of Pedro de Mendoza in 1536. The seaport was located on it´s north side and the south side was later on carefully explored due to the settlements of "threatening" indigenous people. The Riachuelo looked a lot differnt back then, with local fauna and water plants. I hope that one day these damages on the environment can be repaired and that "life" returns to this river.
On the back of the picture you can see the south coast of Buenos Aires.

Our national airport: the "aeroparque"

This picture was taken at our national airport (for flights inside the country only), our aeroparque. We also have an international airport: Ezeiza/ Pistarini. This is another night-shot, but this happens for a reason. Today we had 33ºC, unbearable to go out by day and I only dare to go out at night with this heat!!!

Open air theatre

Saturdays, during the summer vacations (here they last 3 months: from january to march), is open air theatre time all over the city. This picture was taken at the municipal golf course (day pictures will come later). The work performed was written by a famous Argentinian comedian: Niní Marshall (1903-1996). A comedian who portrayed the singularities of an "porteño" (a person born in Buenos Aires) and used the spanish language in very peculiar way to create humourous scenes and situations.  

San Telmo by night

This is the traditional bohemian quarter of San Telmo. Usually the streets here are very busy, but this picture was taken at 2am and the street couldn´t have been emptier. San Telmo is one of the oldest "barrios" or quarters of the city. Until the widespread of the yellow fever in 1871 the whealthiest people lived here. I find this place very beautiful with its traditional cafes and resturants, always a tango resounding in the air, and the narrow stone paved streets have an unususual charme.

Birds on a wire

Buenos Aires, the city of pidgeons. These sit very calmly on telephone cables, although you can find them most of the time in parks or crossing the street when you're driving your car. This picture was taken yesterday afternoon on a very hot day (32ºC).

Alfajores-. Argentinian pastry

These are alfajores, they come in different versions with different ingredients inside of them. The most classic are those who have a heart of dulce de leche ( a sweet made with milk and sugar, a kind of soft caramel) between two layers of pastry. These picture was taken at a new pattiserie that opened near the Buenos Aires Zoo, called Nucha. They make all sort of gourmet cakes and alfajores.

Club de pescadores

This is the Club de Pescadores (Fishing Club) of Buenos Aires. It has been declared national historical monument and is a popular turist atracction. It has an aquarium an a quiet restaurant. It was founded in 1903 on a called "old dock" by the french who used to tie up their coal boats there. Several fishermen used to meet there to practice their favourite sport. So they build a small shelter to storage their belongings. Although the Rio de la Plata has shown it's rage sometimes against them, the Club de pescadores got permision from the government to stay there and faced both natural and political adversities. Here is a picture from 1930 that shows the dock in it´s social use: http://www.club-pescadores.com.ar/images/historia2.jpg. The building is originally from 1928-1937, although it suffered several damages due to the hight of the river.

 

Happy Valentine´s Day!!!

Hello to all the people in love!!! Happy Valentine´s Day. It´s a great day to show your loved one you care...with chocolate perhaps. This picture was taken outside (they didn´t let me take pictures on the inside...) a famous and glamourous bombonerie, Lion D´or. Their specialties are Marrón Glacé (Candied Chesnuts) covered or not with chocolate.

The Rio de la Plata

El Río de la Plata. This river has been witness to many historical moments (arrival of immigrants, wars, invasions, pollution thoughout decades) and still looks "silverish" at night. It was called Rio de la Plata by Gaboto, the second who navigated it (the first one being Solis). Our indigenous peoples called it "Paraná-guazú" , which means "river as sea". Yesterday was a beautiful night and I took this picture from the "costanera norte" (north coast).

Today in Buenos Aires: Welcome to my Blog!!!

Welcome to my Blog!!! This first picture was taken on the outsides of Buenos Aires, but yet makes a statement of the what everybody thinks a true argentinian is: creative, a bit cocky, sad, traditional. I personally like to think we are insane people!!!This graffiti is on the wall of a highschool in Pigüe (a city in the Buenos Aires province, founded at the end of the XIXth century by the french, with beautiful natural landscapes). I took it on my holiday four days ago. It shows great Tango icons like Carlos Gardel.