Mental Manuelita: Buenos Aires, Mi Amore

In the streets of San Telmo

19/3/09

In the Lonely Planet guide to South America, PorteÑos (those from Buenos Aires) are avid fans of 3 activities: walking, shopping, and dancing Tango. That description is enough to chase away any true backpacker, whose budget woes generate tough questions such as: "can you make an all-you-can-it session last for 2 meals?", or "does a night-time flight = no paying for a bed at a hostel?" Needless to say, always heed the following tip: "don't follow the book!" Why? because doing so will land you at tourist traps where the only Spanish you will hear is Graci-as in the traditional dialect known as angloese.

The Said, onto Buenos Aires...though it is nicknamed the Paris of South America, Parisians would be verde with jealousy after spending a day walking the streets of this 12 million people strong center of arts, fashion, sports, food, and all-around good times. This week I stayed in neighborhood of Palermo, which can loosely be compared to the village + SoHo back in New York City. The streets are lined with boutiques (3.5 pesos to the dollar helps!) and and a cafe culture rivaling that of Rome, Tel Aviv and any other Coffee-lovers` havens. Meal times : Breakfast - whenever you wake up. Lunch - 3 pm, Dinner - 10 pm, night starts at a relatively early 2 am. That is standard. Why? no clue. Iu actually asked some locals I spent time with. They had no idea either...ADAPT!

Revolutionary left overs, my favorite!

Every day the various (and there are many) plazas are filled with artisanal fairs, the highlight of which can be found in San Telmo, BA`s Williamsburg (bear with me). The city's oldest neighberhood is now home to the art-world`s avant garde. The bars are full, though it seems as though there are as many people gathered at street corners with bottles of wine and guitar.

Culture: currently over 150 works being put on Corrientes (BA`s Broadway), Off-Corrientes, and off-off Corrientes. As I write this, my pocket is burning from the golden ticket, AKA, my ticket for Radiohead and Kraftwerk. Argentina´s Electro/hip hop/native Indian music crew ZZK is set to conquer North America starting with Coachella. Oh yea, there´s Tango too. The graff is, as covered earlier is, well amazing. I could keep typing for hours, but i´m sure your attention span is not much longer than mine.

In conclusion: Buenos Aires is still under theradar, for some incomprehendable reason. Go there, dig it, and revel in the fact that you got here before it commercialized...Yes, you too can be a trend-setter!

Germans in the house! (lager + minimalist house music = anchluss!)