Tag Archives: Buenos Aires

The Red Light City

08 Friday Apr 2016

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Patience is what I thought I have already learned. When you live in Argentina, patience is what you need. To wait in line at the bank, to wait in line for the bus, to wait in line for the supermarket, only patience can save you. And I thought I had quite enough to face the world’s challenges.

Until I started traveling in Europe and ended up in Zurich, Switzerland. A beautiful little city on the lake with the same name ; very, very picturesque, cobble stoned streets full of nice restaurants and shops. It has international vibes, let’s say I heard more English spoken than German. Suisse German I must say. Although my German is quite rusty, I do understand most of what a German says, where as I can’t figure out anything these Suisse are saying. Fortunately (for me) the Suisse are true polyglots.

But what struck me most when coming here, is the amount of red lights. It seems the huge amounts of traffic lights are all set on red. For cars as well as for pedestrians.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

So stressful I decided to take out my chronometer. Probably the first time I ever used that thing on my phone. 1 Minute until it switches to green, long enough to let 6 cars or so pass. If you can’t pass through the first green, add another minute or so to your schedule.

Or more.

Same for the pedestrians, 2 to 3 red lights -or even more- to get to the other side. Compared to this, crossing the 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires feels like a breeze.

But I am not complaining. Today I will leave the car where it is, in the parking lot of our hotel just outside the old city center, and try out the public transport. And as a pedestrian, I am bad, I cross the streets when the light is red and there are no cars. What is normal in Buenos Aires, is not done in Switzerland, but well. If that is as bad as I will be today, we shouldn’t worry too much, should we?

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Too Little Time

06 Wednesday May 2015

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KTIM4833

Does it ever happen to you that you have so much to do but you feel like there is so little time? That you are working on your ‘to do list’ until it is way too late in the evening and you can’t keep your eyes open anymore? That you are dead tired and the only thing you wish for is to go bed and sleep in, but then the next morning you wake up way too early again, but all excited and full of energy to get started again?

It has been happening to me for the last 2 weeks, and as a consequence, at certain times of the day, all I want to do is sleep. Sleep. I am totally exhausted.

Not that I have this inhumanly, impossible to ever accomplish, long list of to do’s. Nothing like that. But next to this ‘list’, I have the inhumane desire to go out everyday, to walk around town for hours and hours, to just breathe in this beautiful city that Buenos Aires is. Mi Buenos Aires Querida. I have this probably insane feeling that if I breathe it in enough, I will do fine being separated from it for the longest time ever. Well at least, since I moved here 6 years ago. How will I ever manage?

My son tells me that your home is where your family (read : himself) is, which is probably true, but I have this unsound addiction to this town, a desire to emerge with it that seems insatiable. It is so lively, energetic, beautiful, loud, busy and so Latino, that the contrast with our -also beautiful- historic Belgian cities, the cold, the ‘northern’ people, the over organized society, is indescribable.

I am sure I will have a great time up north, nothing quite compares to a family reunion, especially if you only have one every 6 months, but still. I will miss this.

I am addicted to this place. I am so addicted.

photo Microcentro ©katti borré 2015

1001 churches…

09 Saturday Jun 2012

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If you are religious, and for some reason you want to enter a different church every -let’s say- 30 minutes, assuming you have a car, the Flanders would be the place to be. Where ever you are in the Northern part of Belgium, if you leave a town or a village and you look around, you see at least 1 but probably a lot more church towers on the horizon. Some of them are exceptionally nice like this one in Kanegem :

others are exceptionally ugly like this one in Nevele :

Mostly they are something in between. Just a church, one of many. But every little town has one, that is certain. There are a lot more churches then there are priests : that is a fact. Some churches only give one service a weekend as the priest has 3 or more churches to serve in 2 days.

In the cities the situation is quite similar, although mostly there the churches are bigger, nicer, richer then in many small town. Many cities have one or even more cathedrals. Hearing, or rather not hearing the church bells on a sunday is something that always struck me here, and I rather miss it. Although -even in Belgium- the bells don’t ring every (half an) hour as they used to; before high mass on sunday or when somebody gets married the bells ring as if there is a big party going on, and when there is a funeral, there is a slow, depressing, but still serene chiming to announce mourning.

In some places like in Antwerp they even give ‘beiaard’ concerts, (carillon) which is a kind of sophisticated church bell concert, every monday evening during summer.

(in case you are traveling to Belgium for this summer, check out the dates of the concerts in the different cities here)

(Cathedral of Antwerp)

Although Argentina is as catholic as Belgium (used to be), there are very few churches. At least that is what I thought at first. The churches are smaller, newer, and less grand, that’s for sure! Not many will give you the Whaw!-effect many Flemish medeavial ones will. Exept -for sure- the church of Pilar (Recoleta), which is my absolute favorite.

But the more I take the time to actually look around and stop by the churches, mostly stuck in-between the  buildings and houses, almost invisible, often closed, I am surprised. Today I took the time to check out this one in las Heras, the Parroquia de San Agustin… (see photo on top and below). You can see for yourself.

(natural sunlight through the colored glass window)

 

Taxi drivers protesting?

06 Sunday May 2012

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Today is dia del taxista. And if you think that they are all staying at home to be celebrated by friends and family, or maybe try to work harder and get some extra money or presents from their clients, you might be right, but it certainly wasn’t so for the hundreds of taxi drivers we saw today.

The road was blocked and traffic delayed, again. We are so used to this that we don’t even ask or even wonder why people are protesting. Only today it wasn’t a protest, it was a feast. Hundreds of taxis, full of people -probably family or friends- full of colorful balloons and garlands, making as much noise as possible, busses with people dressed up as cartoon characters, trucks with toys, trucks with music and clowns… all on their way to the hospital de los niños for a day of solidarity. It looked like a great feast, and it was!

books are back

19 Thursday Apr 2012

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On the 23th of April it is UNESCO’s World book and Copyright day. It is also the day that another city becomes World Book Capital City. From the 23th of  april 2011 to 22nd of april this year, it was Buenos Aires’ turn. Every year around this day there is also a large book fare in la Rural.

The 2011 year was inaugurated with a huge piece of art  on Plaza San Martin, and it ends with a little one in Teatro San Martin. Although not big and the location is not super -it is badly lighted as well-, the wall painting by the Argentine Georgina Clotti is really original. The surface of the painting -a red dragon- is a wall made of 5000 books. The idea is quite original and the result is worth a look.

The 29th of this month the painting will dismantled and the books will be given to several libraries in the city.

The book fare in La Rural starts today, and ends the 7th of may.

Next Years World capital of books is Erevàn, the capital of Armenia.

A Big Apple

10 Friday Feb 2012

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Although the majority of the Argentines love to spend the month of January and/or February on the Argentine, Uruguayan or Brazilian beaches, that is not really my cup of tea. I don’t like crowded beaches. And I don’t like to sunbathe. This year I got to pick out our holiday destination, and I decided to drag the boys to the Big Apple, trying to convince them that it really is a magnificent city.

New York is very similar to Buenos Aires, more than it resembles any place in Belgium. It is also a metropolitan city. It is also big and crowded. It has lots of museums and exhibitions, lots of shows and theatres, lots of restaurants and shops. The biggest difference is probably that New York is a top of the notch first world city. It is the place to be for artists and designers. If you’ve made it in New York, you’ve made it. It is a city where it is impossible to sit still. To me it is London plus Paris (both cities I love) raised to a square. I could come here again and again and not get tired of it.

My daughter agrees : as soon as we land here, we feel at home. But the boys don’t. Actually my son has never been here. He said he doesn’t need to. He has seen it on TV so often that he feels like he knows it. But then he hadn’t counted on the cars. He is born a terrible car freak -terrible in the sense of it dominating all his interests- and here he sees all the cars he loves. The American Escalade and the Dodge RAM ; all the latest models of the European (luxury) cars which, living in Buenos Aires, he only knew from magazines, all with the extra heavy powerful engines especially made for the US market ; and the ‘really’ luxury cars like Bentleys, Aston Martins, SLR’s etc. They are all not only present, but they are abundant. Not being able to turn your head when you see a fancy car, and follow it until it disappears behind the horizon (well, more like until it disappears in traffic) is probably one of the reasons why Buenos Aires will never really be ‘his’ town. It actually took him about 24 hours to finally look up and realise where he was. New York City, where many buildings have the size of a whole block, and are immensely high. Adding the beautiful girls to this and he decided he could actually live here…

My husband is harder to convince. Although he (as European) is very Europe-minded he has to agree that this is a city that can’t be ignored. It is a city that intrigues. A place where the cost of living is extremely high -rent, expenses, taxes- but still the restaurants, clothing and technology are so much cheaper then in Europe. A city that is not only beautiful, but where there is lots of art, fashion, and not to forget the huge offer of different restaurants with a seemingly unlimited variety of dishes and tastes.

My husband is worried about his wallet. And he probably should?

Just another day in spring

18 Friday Nov 2011

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I cannot help it but once again I must write about the most beautiful trees in the world, the Jacarandas. They are able to change the look of a city completely. This year their bloom seems to be endless, and a lot more abundant than the previous years. Three times a week I drive to Nuñez to play tennis, and every time for the last few weeks it feels like I am driving through a cloud of purple. And every time when I think that now they are at the top of their bloom, the next day I realize I was wrong. Or maybe it is that every time I drive through Libertador, I have forgotten how beautiful it is in this season?

This is definitely my favorite season; although it is still officially spring, summer is in the air. Their are more days of nice warm sultry weather in a row, and less days of rain or thunderstorms to cool the city off. Yes!! Buenos Aires is finally heating up. We are slowly getting ready for summer. And it is predicted to be a really hot one.

This is also the season of my favorite fruits. I buy strawberries by the kilos, blackberries, cherries, peaches… although prices have gone up a lot since last year, they are still scandalously cheap compared to European prices.

This is the time of year that I am so happy, happier then ever, to live in this fabulous city. Mi Buenos Aires Querida.

La Querencia

31 Monday Oct 2011

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How on earth did she find this, is what you would probably say when you follow this recommendation and go for lunch or dinner in La Querencia in Monasterio. Monasterio is not even a town. Only 8 families live here in just a few houses next to la Ruta 2, there is an “almacen” (a shop), a chapel and a few other houses, in the middle of rural Buenos Aires.

The Almacen, called La Querencia (means longing for home) is now a restaurant ‘de campo’ where they serve high quality, home made food.

They don’t have a menu, at least they didn’t show us one. The waitress just asked questions wanting a yes or a no for an answer. You want picadas? Yes. You want empanadas? Yes. Pasta, milanesa or asado? For the asado we were too early, it was ‘only’ 9 pm, so we chose the milanesas de pollo.

The food was delicious, the best sausage, home made empanadas de carne, home made potatoe chips (a lot better then Lays), home made milanesas… We were completely full, but when Ariel Rocha, the owner, tried to seduce us with their home made flan with dulce the leche “Hecho con amor” we could do nothing but try, and he was right. The flan was great, the dulce de leche the best.

So all I can do is recommend this place. Maybe a bit too far for a day trip from Capital, but you shouldn’t miss out on this when you drive south on la Ruta 2. Drive till km 144, take the 1stn U-turn and go right on the mud road. You pass the railway, then it is on your right. Make a reservation. Tel 02242-432601