I write this after our first day in Ushuaia. Sitting in the hotel after walking up a great mountain to a glacier called Glaciar Martial. But more on that in a later post. The last six days have been a culture shock while staying in Buenos Aires. The enormity of the city and the amount of people living their daily lives was impressive. I’ve seen some metropolis in Europe but this was on a completely different level.
We were mostly lucky with the weather. Only one day was very rainy, the other days only cloudy. This did mean that the temperature was nice and temperated instead of humid and over 30 degrees Celsius. This meant we could go on many walks through the city. And that is how we mostly explored around the neighborhood. We stayed in a nice apartment in Recoleta. This is one of the better neighborhoods in Buenos Aires and is right next to Palermo, Microcentro and Puerta Madera. So there was a lot to see and do around there.
Some things that really stood out to me were:
Cars and avenues
To reach the city center by car there are Avenues of 12 lanes wide. As pedestrian, you need to cross those to reach other neighborhoods. This is daunting when you first get there. Luckily they have a system where after the light turns white (yes, not green) after a few seconds a countdown timer starts that will show you how much time you have left to cross. This is enough time mostly, but you are still facing 12 lanes of cars that are ready to burnout when the light turns green (yes, cars do get green).
Great meat
There is food available everywhere. And it is mostly delicious. As Argentina is known for its meat we had some fantastic dinners with very tender steaks of different kinds. Some notable highlights were Ojo de bife at El Mirasol and Asado (spareribs) at Parrilla Pena . And of course there are empanada’s everywhere for breakfast, lunch dinner or entradas.
No hablo Inglesis
English is spoken by only a few people, mostly younger ones. Even in touristy areas you will be talked to in Spanish, and maybe if you are looking confused enough they’ll try to switch over. This is not very surprising as most tourists we encountered were Spanish-speaking.
Big City
The city is big… so incomprehensible big. While driving to and from the airport you go through area after area of big highrise apartment buildings. They’re in different states of completion and clearly different wealth classes. From the center of Buenos Aires you can drive over 30 minutes each way (not into the sea) and not leave the city (although this is no longer the city of Buenos Aires but the state of Buenos Aires).
Poverty
There was a lot of poverty. Almost all the parks had homeless people sleeping in them. Whole families were sitting on corners sheltering from the weather and asking for money. It is very sad to see. In some recent statistics the rate of poverty was estimated at 49% in Argentina. And this is obvious in the city. This also has an effect on the feeling of safety.
This was also visible in a lot of the buildings and malls. They seem like being build with care but have degraded since then. And these were the more luxurious buildings. In the outer parts of the city the buildings were only half-finished or very run-down. What surprised me most was the state of the public schools. The buildings were physically rusting and some of the most deteriorated buildings we’ve encountered.
Safety
Luckily had an apartment in one of the richest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires: Recoleta. We were surrounded by embassies and other expensive buildings. This made the area feel safe enough. But as soon as you went south the more you felt people eyeballing you as tourists and potential targets. Especially in the evenings when going out for dinner.
So much noise!
The city was LOUD. There were sounds coming from everywhere. The cars in the street use honking as their primary form of communication. Then there are the base-level garages that (need, want, should?) sound an alarm when the garage-door is opening. So, since it is a busy city there are alarms sounding all the time. And of course the people talk enthusiastically over this all.
El trafico es de locos
The traffic is insane. I’m surprised not more accidents happen all the time. Traffic lanes are mere suggestions and just ignored. Using at least two lanes while driving is normal and I guess honking gets you to where you want to go. It is hilarious to see that the public buses are the worst offenders. They drive at insane speeds around corners and force their way into small streets. We haven’t taken the bus, but I bet I would have gotten sea-sick on board.
All in all…
All in all six days was way too short to fully experience the city. We’ve had great fun, good dinners and very nice views. Then again it is also a city that might be a little too much city for me.