I wanted to approvechar (in english: taking advantage off) the arrival of my dearest granmother to Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport instead of Montevideo on the eve of my 28th birthday (I know it is very hard to believe I am THAT old, I cannot believe it myself), took friday off and went to Buenos Aires.
You might be aware of this, but I am going to explain anyways, it takes 3 to 8 hour boat ride to get to Buenos Aires from Montevideo, and it is a wonderful trip. The trip could cost anywhere between $28- $55 dollars, but for Uruguayans it only costs $20 roundtrip, travelling all night and arriving at the early hours of the next day. Thanks to a certain letter from my dear boss to Buquebus, I was able to qualify for the deal and arrived Buenos Airesearly Friday morning.
I love Buenos Aires. It is a great city, not only architecturally; it has a great vibe and a very positive attitude. Most people in Latin America say porteños (that is what residents of Bs As call themselves, comes from the fact that Bs As is and always has been an important port city) have an "attitude" and that they are arrogant and mean. Don't believe them. Since my first visit last year, I have never witnessed this urban myth. As most big city people do, they are busy or they have no time to chitchat as the suburboners--yet they always have time to sit down and have an expresso with a side of medialuna (small croissants, appopriatly designed to kill your carb craving and small enough to save your from guilt) or two, reading the paper or gossiping with friends, a Bs As morning classic.
I surpised my friend Cori, who was expecting me a day later by showing up at the hostel where she works (called Milonga and it is a great place to stay if you are young and looking for a cute place to stay right at the center, with Birkenstocks, as my dear mentor Michael would call this crowd). We shared a Bs As morning classic with a lot of gossip on the side. It has been a month since I saw her last and had to tell her all about my new life and people involved. She is my closest friend down here, smart and funny.
I left her working and call the turkish dude who emailed me sometime ago, telling me I am not the only loca turca in South Cone. He showed up and we met for lunch, after five minute I decided he is crazier than I thought: he is a vegeterian living in Argentina! Fun kid, he told me a lot about Argentina and Bs As, he is a good observer and a writer like I am. Thinks people from my highschool are like this big mafia and very arrogant. Who can blame him, we are!
I had to leave him and go on with my research, for the article I am writing about "dining and wining in Bs As." This city looks a lot like NYC has tons of restaurants and they serve good food and great wine and there are many different cuisines available. As I was finishing my day, it strated raining like cats and dogs and by the time I was in a collectivo (bus) I looked like a chuppy version of Bo Derek in "10" minus the braids!
Cori and I decided to meet up after she finishes packing for the big day. She found an incredibly cute apartment in Boedo (the famous tanguero neighborhood) and saturday was the big moving day. I had sushi in a small restaurant by myself, enjoying every bite. Then got dressed up, heels and all and went to hip Palermo SoHo 'hood of Bs As to have drinks with Cori.
Palermo SoHo, also known as Palermo Viejo, as you can understand from its name, looks a lot like SoHo in NYC, with its boutiques and cute restaurants and bars. The crowd is as Yuppy as it gets, hence the high rents. It was packed around 2 am and it seemed like they were never going home. Streets were filled with people, enjoying the last warm nights of summer. Around 4 am we decided to go home and rest. After all saturday was going to be a long day for Cori, who was moving out of her parents house to her new casa en Boedo, a tanguero neighborhood around San Telmo.
I worked pretty much all morning in search of best italian food in Buenos Aires, and went wine tasting--it was too early to drink as much as I wanted to, I remembered my dear friend Jason, when we wine tasted in NYC! I went over to Cori's in the afternoon, helped her a bit then I went back to Palermo SoHo to check out the latest designs of talented porteños.
Argentinian designers has many tendencies, including indian themes and bright artdeco colors. Almost everybody is "stylish" in Bs As: women and men take care of themselves, seems to me that they work out to compensate the big late dinners. The fasion at the moment is big hair for men, and layered cuts for women. Halter tops, bright green and yellow, pink, and jeans for all occasions. Men tend to wear sneakers, All Stars are big at the moment, and women wear flats or stillettos, and as the season is changing, boots of all lengths and styles were appering on their feet.
After window shopping and people watching for a while, I went back and had dinner with Cori and her roommate, and by the time we were done we went home and slept. Though it was pretty hard to sleep, I was anxious to pick up granma and go back to Montevideo for my birthday party!
The next day, as planned, Annemo arrived on time, we had brunch at Puerto Madero by the Rio Plata together, jumped in first Buque and arrived Montevideo just in time to catch a phenomenal sunset at the port...
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