Category Archives: Argentina (home)

Interesting and odd things about Argentina, as well as to do’s and places to go.

Change of Season

29 Wednesday Apr 2015

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I love walking through the city. I love love walking a lot through the city. Easy, Buenos Aires is a very big city. Partly because walking is actually the best way to see and get to know the city, and at the same time it is a good physical exercise. And maybe it is also a bit about saving money. Taxis have become quite expensive these days; Or let us say, the days when you could take a ride for less then 10$, and the driver would refuse a $100 bill, are long gone. And with that, so have my interesting talks with the drivers. Strangely, the main subject has always been politics. Strangely, most taxi drivers hate the current president (whoever that is), and usually they blame politics for Argentina being a ‘bad country’, all this in contrary to Europe, where everything is all perfect in their eyes. But as I always say, ‘cada pais tiene sus cosas’, every country has his problems.

But that is not what this post is about. It is about change of season. After 3 weeks of totally perfect and stabile autumn weather, the type of summer weather every Belgian would sign for without thinking( sunny, 25°C during the day and 15°C at night), we have had a cold, rainy day. Yes, temperature dropped to 16°C, it rained, and it was cold. While at the same time my family in Belgium was happy and boasting about the sunny spring weather of yes, (hope you are sitting down when reading this) : 12°C. Which immediately got me worrying : how will I survive Belgian summer, wearing summer clothes in these wintery temperatures?

Of course that was the discussion I had with the taxi driver who has just brought me home. He told me is was in such a pissed off mood because of the rain and the cold (OMG, you too?!!), he said he is an old man and remembers the good old times, when he was just a kid, when they had their typical Argentine 1st of May celebrations. He told me that a good 1st of May celebration begins with going to a soccer game. In the rain. After that comes the typical family ‘asado’ (BBQ), ‘under the roof’, as it was always freezing cold. The puddles used to be frozen in the morning of May 1st and ice would come back in the evening. Yes, on the 1st of May. I found it really hard to believe, considering the past weeks’ weather, and even today : we are still a long way off to freezing temperatures. I could probably count the days under 0°C that I have experienced over the last few years on one, maybe 2 hands. And it immediately made me think about my parents and grandparents, weren’t’ they always boasting about how cold winters used to be and how there used to be lots of snow each winter? Are seasons really changing? Or do we only remember the exceptions and take them for reality? I wonder. In the meantime I am hoping that this nice man is wrong, and that we will have a nice, warm, and sunny 1st of May. I wish you all a great 1st of may day!

photo : ©Katti Borre 2014

Hungry?

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Argentina (home), do & go

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BASA basement bar and restaurant 

In the somewhat unusual neighborhood of Retiro we found a ‘new’ bar-restaurant . It is trendy, has international appearance, is beautifully decorated, has good music, and has absolutely delicious food. If you are in search of the ‘place to be’ or/and see the Argentine ‘Beau Monde’, this is your place.

It seems to be the bar that is most popular, although the restaurant was fully booked and had several shifts. Prices were somewhat shocking as they were real European, in other words : very expensive! (count $500pp at least)

They have valet parking $60, automatically put on your check. How un-Argentine!

If you don’t care for the prices, this is the place to go!

 

BASA basement bar and restaurant, Basavilbaso 1328 (between Juncal and Liberator), http://www.basabar.com.ar

review in La Nacion

review in TripAdvisor

 

Experiencia Infinita

26 Sunday Apr 2015

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Live Performance Art. Only Yesterday my daughter told me it will be one of her courses next year, and I had to ask her what that is exactly. ‘It’s all in the name’, she told me. But now I know, Infinite Experience in Malba is Live Performance Art. The artist being present, and part of the art, doing things, being art. It is quite interesting actually.

I can not describe the exhibition without spoiling the surprise, so I will just say that it shouldn’t be missed. Those who really want to know, check out the link below.

Malba, until the 6th of June Experiencia Infinita

“The Belgian are the bravest”

22 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Argentina (home), Belgium, do & go

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or : “Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae”

That is how we (Belgians) know, and grown to love and admire Ceasar. He is the first one who mentioned the ‘Belgians’ in writing, in 57 BC, and spoke well of our ancestors. Of course, we Belgians take all the credit. We were the bravest, weren’t we? Even though the Romans conquered us anyway. Even though after the Gauls, different tribes have conquered our environs and we probably don’t have much Gaul blood running through our veins anymore. We like to pretend we are still them.

So of course we like to identify ourselves with the great French-Belgian comic heroes, the Gauls Asterix and Obelix. When we were little, we got their stories from our parents with a spoon, and we gave the comics to our kids as being true history.

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Asterix, an exhibition in Centro Cultural de Recoleta. Don’t miss it, and find out how we Belgians used to live, and how we (used to be or still?) are.

Terrified

21 Tuesday Apr 2015

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Thunderstorms. How I have missed them!

Says the girl who has always been terrified of them.

It was but when I was expelled from both my mothers’ and my brothers’ bed as a safe place during thunderstorms that, around the age of 12, I decided I had to do something about it.

My parents strongly believed they should not ‘spoil’ their kids. Me biking to school was part of that. Rain or shine (oh and actually, a lot more rain then shine), winter or summer, I was off on my bike. Although I love to blame my parents for being too harsh on me : I totally loved it. I left the house at the same time by bike, as one of my teachers, who lived around the block, did by car and we arrived around the same time. I was home much faster then anyone else. I had probably become the fastest kid-biker of the neighborhood and I enjoyed that reputation.

But there was but one occasion that my mom brought me to school, one exception to the rule. Maybe because they pitied me for being so afraid, but more likely because they thought it wasn’t safe : that was during a thunderstorm. That wasn’t exactly often. There are hardly any thunderstorms in Belgium. There are years that no thunderstorm passes your neighborhood. They last maybe an hour of so, if you’re lucky.
And I decided that biking to school during that rare occasion would help me off my fears. I did it once or twice, only because it hardly ever happened to me. And even when it did, I biked so fast that I arrived in school in 2 thunderclaps.

But it did help. A bit.

It was but moving to Argentina that completely cured me, and which, strangely enough, made me even love thunderstorms. Here a thunderstorm is, well, a thunderstorm. It takes hours, or a whole day and maybe even a night, or longer. It rains so hard you need boots to go through the puddles as they are too big and too deep to jump over. Events biggest umbrellas can’t help you from getting soaked. The thunderclaps are so loud it makes the buildings shake, the windows and doors rattle for a minute or longer. The noise seems to echo on and between the buildings, and seems to last forever, until the next thunderclap takes over. Very often it goes together with a serious light-play. A flickering light almost. It is extra ordinary.

Nowadays I tend to go out with, or even without my camera during a daytime storm, and at night, well, I just make sure the window is open so I can hear even the farthest thunderclap, see the lighting, count the time between both, calculate the distance, wait for the next. All this while enjoying the loud noise of a serious downpour, which sounds like music.

Although, I must admit, one does get used to it, to all the noise, the violence : its like living next to the railroad : mostly I just fall asleep, as fast as on any other night, waking up in the morning, hoping the day might bring another storm to come.

 

The Perfect Housewife

15 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Argentina (home), General

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It’s not even 10 am and I have already cleaned the entire house, done the laundry, emptied and stored the suitcases, and I even have had time to drink various coffees. It must be that I have finally become the perfect housewife?

Maybe the fact that we had just arrived home the day before, a day I had spend sneezing every 5 seconds and emptied a complete Kleenex box in no time, probably had something to do with my sudden eager to clean. Two months and a half of dust had gathered, well, about everywhere.

But I guess I should truly blame it on the jet lag I say I never suffer from. Traveling through time zones has always been easier on me then the daylight saving time, which stays in my body for days if not weeks. But then a time difference of merely 5 or 6 hours isn’t exactly the end of the world.

Traveling east is easy as long as you don’t have to wake up at ungodly hours, traveling west is even easier if you don’t mind making some early mornings. And if all goes well, in less then 5 days your back in your normal rhythm.

But here are some tips to get over a jet lag :

1. The flight : Change your clock to the time of destination as soon as you get on        the plane

2. NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT THE TIME IN YOUR PREVIOUS DESTINATION.

3. The first day : When traveling east : do not have a nap on your first day. Try not to book anything for the first night, and go to bed when you ‘feel it’s time’, even if your watch says only 9 pm. If you miss this moment, you’re up for a long night and a couple of difficult days. When traveling west, it is ok to have a nap, and try to go to bed as late as possible. Make sure the room is blacked out, or use an eyemask.

4. NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT THE TIME IN YOUR PREVIOUS DESTINATION.

5. In both cases, take melatonin half an hour before you go to bed during 5 Days. It brings your sleeping rhythm back on track.

6. But the golden rule is NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT THE TIME IN YOUR PREVIOUS DESTINATION.

But although I do feel the jet lag, it doesn’t really bother me. And it certainly won’t stop me from traveling through time zones. It is only when it comes to communicating that time zones bother me. And, with kids on each side of the atlantic, that is about all the time.

Super glad to be back in BA, super happy to be home again. Now close in time to my daughter, and far from son. But no worries, times are changing soon.

Loosing the North

08 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Argentina (home), Belgium

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IMG_1556I am -literally- counting the days to go home. I have been away for so long, that I have lost count of the weeks, and that I can’t figure out wether it is either spring or autumn, wether we are going towards summer or winter. It is a strange feeling. I have lost the North. I do remember vaguely that I couldn’t get away from the BA heat soon enough, that the heat was killing me, too much sweat for doing nothing. I longed to put on a coat. Various coats if necessary. Warm sweaters. Hats. Gloves. The dark and gloomy days. It all appealed to me like never before. I hadn’t had winter in over 6 years. What is winter, anyway?

I came to the right place. The northern hemisphere has been quite chilly this year. Finally wearing my more then 6 year old winter coats that are of no use in Buenos Aires, and all the other things I had longed for. How I enjoyed that! Various friends had pleasure in asking me ‘Cold enough for you?’. I couldn’t have been more excited! And as my mom always says ‘one can always dress to the cold’. But really, can one?

While walking in NYC with 2 sweaters and 2 coats, gloves and hat borrowed from my daughter, walking slowly, because my muscles were all sore of the cold, when at the same time my daughter who -in my eyes- hardly had any clothes on, said to me : ‘Mom! It is not cold AT ALL’, I realized I’ve had enough of winter and need to pack up my things and go southwards again. I have stayed up north for too long. I need to go home.

It really is time for spring. I see it in the people’s eyes. Especially when it is a spring-like day. With every ray of sun people go out and sit on terraces, out of the (still) cold wind, with heatings to stop them from freezing to death. They call it ‘terrasjesweer’ (terrace weather). The first rays of sun are coming, the first easter flowers are out, but to me, it is still a long way to nice warm weather.

Just as much as the summer in BA is too hot and too long, the winter in Belgium is too dark, too gloomy and too long. As a tourist escaping from the heat, I seem to be the only one enjoying it, knowing it is only temporary and my choice.

So I go south, to spring. Oh no, right, to autumn. But well, Argentine autumn is my favorite season.

(photo : Belgian spring day, people on the beach, 8°C)

Global Citizens, a new start

04 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Argentina (home), Belgium, General, New York

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OK Guys, I am back. After -how long has it been?- more then a year I am afraid. Maybe even 2. But Ok, nothing is lost, yet!

I was completely tired of the subject ‘why on earth did I move to Argentina’, as I felt like I had totally answered that question, over and over again.

Now I seem to ‘suffer’ from the Empty Nest Syndrome, with kids that study abroad (that is, outside of Argentina), which forces me to travel more. (Poor me). My trips are so long that I start to wonder wether I am a tourist, an expat or a native myself. Although I still ‘live’ and totally ‘love’ Buenos Aires, I am quite happy in the other countries I have been spending my time. And that’s when I realized that I have actually become a Global Citizen. 

Global Citizen :

Noun. 1. A person that intentionally chooses to consider all countries as potential places to live, work, and play.
2. A person that can rationalize their life experience without undue consideration of national boundaries or cultural differences.

Fortunately my job as a photographer allows me to work from whatever place on earth, so there are no boundaries whatsoever. That’s when I thought it time to start sharing my experiences again, with whoever is interested in reading them.

Here’s to a new start!

PS feel free to comment, good or bad, I have always liked that!

(photo : globalisation : Belgian fries in Manhattan ©katti borré)