La Señorita

SUTERH - The Union for the Doormen of Buenos Aires

This building on the corner of Venezuela and Balcarce in San Telmo is a sports and leisure centre for the doormen of Buenos Aires and their families.  The porteros as they are called, have a union that was founded in 1942 by the government of Peron, who established many rights and unions for the working-class in Argentina. 

I always passed by this old building and thought it was a factory with those huge windows and high ceilings. Perhaps it was before being converted into the sports centre. Now when I pass by I imagine all the little porteros with their families being sporty and recreational.

Mural, Parque Centenario

 

This mural surrounds Parque Centenario and is just next to the Museum of Natural Science. There used to be dinosaurs painted here, but the other day I passed by on the bus and noticed that they had redone it. The colours and the faces are amazing! I think this is my favourite street art discovery since I´ve been living in Buenos Aires.

The President and Patio del Liceo

My favourite new discovery in the city is Patio del Liceo and the little design, art and book stores within. I went to this place in search of the new store The President (photo above is the outside of the shop, the two photos below are from the inside and taken from their facebook page because they were not open when I went back for a second visit!).

The President is a tiny store that stocks basically a cool range of the owner´s favourite things from their native South Africa as well as Europe, including magazines, perfumes, fabrics and clothing. The interior of the store is entirely covered in paper leaves hanging from the ceiling and walls and printed paper covers the rest and the floor. I was rather excited because they stock some English language magazines like The Gentlewoman, my personal favourite that is not available anywhere else in Buenos Aires. You can read more about The President on this great write up by a local journalist here.

I also found an uber-cool little art bookstore called Purr that stocks lots of indie publications and I finally got my hands on the beautiful little locally made but internationally sold Correspondencia magazine.  It is hand-bound and published in both Spanish and English (finally a local mag with an international voice!) and features some great photography and artists.

It´s refreshing to find some independent boutiques that I can actually afford to shop at and that are not only for the USD-carrying tourists, yipee!

Balcarce Street, San Telmo

Blue guys on a wall in San Telmo.

The Fluro Palace

 

The Casa Rosada, fluro style, just before dark.

Women´s Help Line

After an exhausting stint of Christmas shopping around the Plaza Serrano market in Palermo, I found this advertisement for a women´s help line run by the government. Brilliant.