The Day to Day

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Buenos Aires has kept us on our toes since we arrived. This city is constant energy, movement, sights and sounds. I’m told it rivals New York in terms of neighborhoods, variety of cultures, entertainment opportunities, and hustle and bustle. I wouldn’t really know, so I won’t attempt the comparison. What I can say is that I love it, daresay, we love it, in spite of the fact that we daily pay some form of the “stupid tax,” as I call it (which I pay on a monthly basis anyway in terms of washing/drying clothes I shouldn’t, parking my car where I shouldn’t, leaving the A/C on too long, etc.).

Our apartment, in the middle of the cushy Belgrano neighborhood, is entirely too big and nice for us. It’s one of two on the entire floor. Three bedrooms, something like five bathrooms, gigantic kitchen and sitting areas – occupied by we who showed up with a few suitcases in hand. We literally occupy one wing of the place, maybe a third of it overall. There’s an gelato store just around the corner we patronize nightly. Local fruit stands, flower shacks and restaurants selling everything from alfahores to empanadas to Armenian food surround us. People walk all kinds of dogs and sometimes neglect to pick up after them. It’s not uncommon to see someone surrounded by 15 randomly-selected dogs, his/her job to walk them all. The streets are tree lined, clustered with apartment buildings even nicer than ours and small businesses. Surprisingly, the local LDS church is a mere few blocks away. The subway station is on the next street over. Chinatown is a ten-minute walk, while chic Las Canitas and Palermo are a short walk or taxi drive in the direction of downtown, from which we’re 5-6 subway stops or a 20 minute drive. Just how I like it.

People are friendly to very friendly. I fool about half of them (probably those I speak with less) about my origins into thinking I’m Argentine, whereas the rest will guess either Puerto Rican, Spanish or “norteamericano.” I work hard at this accent, not so much for the vocabulary, some of which differs from the majority of Latin America (as does Argentina more generally), but for the soft-sounding, ear-pleasing “ll” and “y” sounds, pronounced as y’s elsewhere, sh’s here. Our security guys look out for us around here, for which they’re treated to the occasional ice cream. Of course, none of this is to say that one doesn’t constantly have to be on guard, which gets a little tiring. Before you go thinking of Mexico, or confirming a stereotype, it’s not too different than living and working in L.A. or D.C. Pedestrians are constantly reminded that the biggest object on the road rules them all. Some taxi drivers will provide you with a tour of the city if you don’t know where you’re going. Driving resembles Nascar (though in all my travels I’ve still yet to see an accident). A first for me in all my travels, I lost my wallet, a sickening feeling when all the way around the world (we’ve thankfully recovered nicely, and I was at least smart enough to not have too much or cards in the thing anyway). Food bought at the grocery store is actually delivered to one’s home free of charge – though as we found today, one of our pizzas and some medialunas con jamon y queso (croissants with ham and cheese) are probably being eaten right now for someone’s lunch. Certain neighborhoods are no-no’s. We had a flight canceled on us to get back to B.A. from 350 mile-away Cordoba, and were basically told “good luck.” Refreshingly, very few down here know how to drawl “spare a little chaaaange,” I haven’t missed that at all. The subways and buses are jammed – be anything less than ready and you can miss your stop by miles while trying to part the Red Sea of surrounding people. Taken together, I suppose I would say that it’s big-city living, Latin American style. Actually, nicer than almost all of Latin America that I’ve seen, while neither better nor worse than home, merely different. People make it work. Like anywhere else, it’s corrupt, slow, wearying, sometimes dangerous. On the other hand, it’s loaded with culture, pleasant parks and strolls, and adventure for those willing to take the bad with the good.

I can’t recall a time when I have eaten so well. While many prices are climbing, sometimes putting the city on par with the cost of DC or even a little beyond, food/drink isn’t there yet. I’ve eaten more red meat in the last three weeks than I have in the past five years combined. I’ve rediscovered “churipanes,” their version of bratwursts, that are accounting for a disproportionate number of calories in my diet. We’ve had superb Chinese sweet and sour chicken, savory pastas and lasagnas, Turkish cuisine (embassy function), scrumptious desserts, one too many alfajores (Argentine cookies filled with the caramel-like “dulce de leche”), too much ham and cheese, and the granddaddy of all Argentine cuisine – loads, heaps, heart-killing quantities of every kind of savory meat one can imagine. Pork, chicken, beef; ribs, flank steak, tenderloin, T-bone; liver, kidneys, intestines, even the highly-regarded blood sausage. All much better than the meat from home. I really can’t overstate the case here – it’s simply incredible. In sum, as I try to picture our culinary experience here visually, the Scrooge movie with Albert Finney comes to mind, specifically the scene where he beholds the Ghost of Christmas Present, surrounded by a roomful of what must be the world’s finest food and drink. Yes, I like life, Argentine life, and Argentine life likes me.

Weekdays are fairly standard, much like home, though I will say that I’m quite enjoying getting to work at 9:00 and leaving at 6:00. Capable, independent, trooper Shay leaves before I do, taking a bus to get to her Spanish school, which she’s enjoying, and learning more and more from every day. She finishes up at 1:00 or so, comes home, eats some lunch, does her “exercises,” and spends a few hours working remotely via her laptop here in the apartment. I take a short subway ride over to the Embassy, a somewhat forlorn looking structure, surrounded by fences and lines of people waiting for visas to take on the American dream. I won’t speak too much to my work, which deals generally with both the presidential elections due up here on October 28 and trip prep for the Ambassador. People I work with have been nice, very happy to have the extra set of hands to help out, and complimentary. I’m learning that while enjoy living abroad, I’m not convinced that the Foreign Service is for me – which was one of the reasons to come down here. I get home, we change clothes and usually head out on the town, stopping at the any number of dinner options that catch our attention. When we’re lazy, we’ve collected enough magnets and menus to be able to order in. EVERYTHING in this city is deliverable, minimum orders being almost nothing – a very nice convenience.