Caminito

I`ve seen a claim elsewhere on the web that Caminito deserves respect as the worlds first outdoor pedestrian museum. Maybe the claim has some merit.

Maybe.

Regardless of the verdict, in terms of photo opportunities, the faux-tango-clinch-with-tango-busker-on-Caminito is up there with holiday snaps of folk standing in front of the Big Pineapple.

 

The view looking away from Caminito.

 

Monkeys in La Boca

 

Bicycles

It`s a heavily polluted city, the traffic is fast and crazy, and still there are cyclists; invariably without helmets! I`ve only seen one cyclist with a helmet on since I`ve been here, and that was a (were talking singular) guy with a slick racing bike and lycra jammies.

 

Avenida del Libertador

A small, unassuming monument by Buenos Aires standards.

Yep, that´s a ten lane road going one way, into the centre of the city.  Eight lanes for cars, two for buses.

 

Security

While it´s possible during business hours to walk into the ´milk bars´(which don´t actually sell milk) that are on main streets, most corner stores provide service from behind bars.

Many of the more up-market stores that are off the main drag also have a kind of security; you need to ring to get them to unlock the door and let you in.

 

A ten minute stroll along the street

 

Nuevo en la Argentina

No wonder they had no idea what I was talking about at the supermarket when I asked for tofu. 

 

Siempre Verde is one of the few vegetarian restaurants in all of Buenos Aires.

 

Domingos en Buenos Aries, one week on

Apologies. I won´t be able to get to an internet cafe where I can upload photos until Tuesday, so we´re stuck with words for a bit longer.

A couple of people have commented that from my photos, Buenos Aires looks very like Melbourne.  Perhaps it´s more accurate to say that Belgrano/Palermo area looks similar.  This is where I´ve taken most photos because it´s the area I´m staying in, and because ít´s an area where I feel safe brandishing a camera around in public.

That said, I do have a few photos that I´ll try to post soon that give a broader sense of what BA is like.

Yes, BA has lots of tree lined avenues. The trees are a similar age to those in inner city Melbourne, however they haven´t been copiced like Melbourne´s trees, and are mostly enourmous. Some of the trees are Eurpopen varieties we have in Melbourne, some are natives; jacaranda, and two types of native acacia in particular. When I arrived in BA, almost all the trees looked dead. Not only were they still in hibernation from winter, their trunks were also black. It´s not only people that get smog-embalmed in Buenos Aries.

One week on, and spring has arrived. The trees look more alive with their new leaves, although the black trunks are still a slightly strange look.

The two ways (to my eyes) that the city of Buenos Aires is utterly distinct from Melbourne are the monumentality of the place, and the very visible poverty.

When I say monumentality, I´m not just talking about size in general. I´m also talking actual monuments. Humungous, prolific, and more than occasionally phallic. The scale of it all has a hyperreal quality, and is something I don´t think I can convey through photographs. My camera´s not up to it, nor are my photography skills.

The poverty is something else I don´t think I can show through the camera. It seems innapporiate to photograph people who are trying to make a living by begging, by flogging hair-elastics on the subte, or as cartoneros. And of course there´s the pickpocketing. I haven´t seen it in action, but there´s areas where it´s obvious that you need to keep your wits about you.

 

Just down the road from Salon Canning

Pugliese is a legendary tango composer/orquestra leader.

 

More street art

Most of the stenciling in BA seems to be either political, or includes wordplay on popular culture or advertising.

Mate is a traditional Argentine drink that´s served in a hollowed out gourd about the size of a cappucino cup.  It´s and drunk through a special metal straw and is prepared by stuffing the mate leaves into the gourd, and covering with hotwater.  Mate gives a caffiene kind of buzz, and tastes very bitter. Argentines love it.
 

San Cor is a manufacturor of dairy goods.