Buenos Aires – Page 5 – Barefoot in the Pampas

Leggi in italiano

It’s incredible how the weeks fly by. I have now been here nearly a month, and at times it feels like much more than that.

Having finally recovered from the triple-virus whammy that crossed my body somewhere in between London and Buenos Aires, I started getting more into “normal life” (like going to the hairdresser and stuff). I’m working quite a bit at the moment, so sightseeing and social life are relegated to short spurts here and there.

I had an amazing weekend, being looked after by three lovely locals. First D. took me to see a bit of the Rio de la Plata riverbank (which is where portenos go to escape the city heat and chillax with a beer and a spot of kite surfing). The river water is reddish brown (a bit like the Thames) and although you know that Uruguay is nearby, on the other side of the river, the river itself is so wide that, to my initiated eye, it looked like the sea (with less waves and no salty air). We ended our day bonding over our shared love of sushi (usual Argentinian restaurants only seem to serve cod and not much else in terms of fish) in Palermo, chatting away like friends who’ve known each other a long time.

Then on the Sunday, M. and her brother were my personal guides to historic BA: Plaza de Mayo and the pink house, San Telmo market, Puerto Madero. The day was very hot and humid and we walked a lot, mixing our Spanish and Italian, gossiping about our mutual acquaintances and discovering bits of Argentine history (I loved that they were both eager to tell me a lot about it).

Before sushi dinner with D., she took me to La Glorieta, a pavilion where every night people gather for Tango lessons first and general Tango dancing afterwards. It was quite interesting to see the mix of locals and foreigners attempting to dance in the very crowded pavilion. There was also an array of older, incredibly sweaty guys who approach women with the offer of teaching you how to Tango. I have to say the sweatiness was particularly off-putting (nevermind that we had the wrong shoes on!).

I remember that I mentioned J. before, my friend and flatmate. Staying with her has made this experience great on so many levels. First of all, it allowed me to just decide to come to BA without really needing to do any research or worrying over where to stay (is it the right area? Am I paying too much? Should I move around?) as she had done it all herself, so it was a nice safety net to have. And also, her being a Virgo just like me, I knew that her research would be good.

But most importantly, J. and I fit together so well as housemates! We both are easygoing when it is important to be, and we also like our own space, but will have long, beautiful chats when in the mood. So, for example, we’ve been out for dinner or brunch where we bring our respective Kindles, and just eat together, read, chill out. This is less common than you may think. We both talked about friends who said they would be happy to take a book to a restaurant, and then they invariably talk to you all the time (each time waiting that you’ve resumed your reading, for their part trying to be inconspicuous, for your part seeming to maximise the disruption, making you read the same line about 50 times!). It is effortless and I love it.

The other great thing in general, is that being here has brought about a huge drop in my stress levels. My 2 phones are almost always on silent (only audible when I actually need them), the volume of emails has dropped, no one is calling, problems don’t keep cropping up left right and center. People DO call on Skype but usually when we’ve agreed to and also to have a proper conversation, which is lovely. And I can see them. My hate for talking on the phone has come back with a vengeance. Today, the UK mobile rang – I startled, proving how rare this has now become. I did not answer, and the telephone system here is different, so the number that comes up is not recognised by the phone. No idea who called and it’s wonderful!

So, I am quite unused to this level of no-stress, and it’s taking some time to adjust to it. But it is soooooooo good and it has reinforced my reason for embarking on this endeavour. And I found out this week that this, whatever THIS is that I am doing, it has a name: I am a digital nomad. I like it.

This week I am missing: niece&newphews, Asian restaurants, girly chats in pyjamas

This week I am enjoying: the fact that Argentinians use bidets (hurrah for civilisation!), the hot weather, water circling anti-clockwise

Leggi in italiano

“Between the funeral services with a flashing sign and the agricultural bookshop, that’s where you’ll find us.”

So the plane was cramped, but somehow I managed to sleep for most of the flight and only get up once to use the toilet.

Buenos Aires greeted me with a hot breath of an embrace, and scrambled my head with memories of Rome, Tel Aviv and imaginary places. The interesting thing is that there has been no culture shock for me. Everything feels very, not just European, but Italian, even Roman in some respects (minus the ruins). People look the same to a very large extent, the smells are the same. The avenues are wider, the buildings a little taller, the cars a little more American, there is less fresh produce on sale at the shops, but overall, this could be Rome in an alternate universe (Fringe-Rome?) where some things are better organised/laid out, but the same attitude prevails, of lassitude, world-weariness, of stumbling over broken concrete and dog shit without a second thought because, well, it isn’t my problem.

The little sting in the tail has been the illness that I thought defeated on departure. After the first couple of days, where I thought it was the huge change in weather/humidity and jet lag that was making me feel crap, I started to notice other symptoms. Coughing, sore throat. Today, spurred by my ever anxious mother, I decided to get checked out by a doctor in case I had something more sinister like tonsillitis.

Destiny works in mysterious ways, I think we’ve established that, so I remembered noticing that right in front of our building there was a sign about “ear/nose/throat institute”; that isn’t odd: we are very near the big medical school, so all around us there are many specialised medical supply stores and medical practices of all kinds. When I pop out for a coffee or lunch, I always notice I am surrounded by a strange mix of people in hospital scrubs and very very old people, either shouting loudly at each other or carrying oxygen tanks…

Anyway, I went into the earnosethingy place, and with my rudimentary Spanish I managed to be seen in about 15 minutes altogether, at a cost of 300 pesos (which apparently it is quite high for here but being around £23 I wasn’t about to complain). The doctor spoke perfect English, visited me and the verdict is it’s just a viral flu that is struggling to budge. I just have to be patient (don’t I know this!). In this respect, Buenos Aires is millennia ahead of Rome.

So far then I have been keeping quite a low profile, getting to know my neighbourhood, working, sleeping (trying to get better), hanging out with my friend J with whom I am staying (more on this later), and seeing the lovely Palermo with M, a friend’s relative, who kindly babysat me yesterday and showed me where the young people go to hang out. So here’s a pic from Palermo. A groovy, if manicured place, that reminded me a lot of an area of Tel Aviv of which I’ve forgotten the name. The kind of area that feels good but that, underneath it all, I don’t feel entitled to inhabit.

Gotta go now, another big thunderstorm is threatening to break, and I have a prime, sixth floor spot to watch it from.

Tag: Buenos Aires

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