Jesus is the man

According to this "church", Jesus Christ is the man.  This is such a strange, big white monument that takes up half a block and has about 10 security guards standing around it at all times (and I have no idea why).  I find the contrast with the abandonded building next door quite interesting.  People used to live in the old building but it was recently vacated, presumably by force, and now sits boarded up and empty.  I get a strange feeling everytime I walk past the big white building, standing like a beacon in the night.

Worms

 

Worms

Santa Fe-Paris...

The name of this department store in Santa Fe (also in Paris apparantly, as it tells us on the front of the building) is an interesting choice.  But aside from the name, it is in a great old building and has a fabulous sign and a big clock on the front of the building.  It makes me think of shopping in the 1950s, when people dressed up and made an occassion out of it.

Weddings

Last weekend I attended my first Argentine wedding (as a guest).  It was non-stop party action and more like being at a very up-scale club, although the 500 guests probably had something to do with that vibe.  There are lots of similarities to a wedding in Australia: the church service was first, followed by the reception, there was food and alcohol in copious amounts, and people dress up because it is a formal occasion.  The differences however are that the church service begins at 7.30pm, and the whole evening ends about 12 hours later, at 7.30am.  They bring out a HUGE dessert bar at 3am, which is actually the second serving of dessert as you have already eaten sweets after the main meal.

The bride and groom make their big entrance just as everyone has been seated at their table, and they charge onto the dance floor where they are mobbed and thrown up into the air, such as at a Jewish wedding (minus the chair) or a rock concert.  Everyone dances to a couple of songs, and then they take their seats again.  I did get stepped on and thrown around more than when I went to see Jamiroquai a few weeks ago.

At about 3am when everyone has had enough booze, they bring out costumes that are a mix between clothing from the Moulin Rouge and a Brazilian carnaval.  And if you make it that far and keep on until dawn they serve you breakfast before you stumble home the next day.  All in all, it´s one hell of a fiesta.

I was going through some photos from my own recent wedding (which incidentally was not at all like a typical Argentine wedding) and found a few that are rather abstract and not wedding-like at all, but rather just interesting photos

The Blue House, The Green House

I came across these cute and colourful houses yesterday while walking between apartment viewings in Boedo.  Boedo is a very old, traditional neighbourhood that is known for its Tango bars and cafes.  I like it because it´s quiet, not overly expensive, has some lovely streets and is still reasonably central.

Apartments

Apartment hunting in Buenos Aires is tough, just as I imagine it is in any other big city.  And there are all kinds of apartments out there, from dark and scary to tiny and sun-filled, old with character and an amazing entrance, and even cheap-looking but still expensive.  The winners in the property stakes here are the real estate agents, who upon signing or renewing a 2 year lease demand up to 3 MONTHS OF THE RENT AS THEIR COMMISSION.  I don´t know who first thought up this brilliant scheme or how it caught on, but it has to be one of the biggest scams in the country.  

So the biggest tip when it comes to searching for your own place is to rent directly from the owner of the property, thus cutting out the middle-man who takes the commission.  Finding the perfect apartment from an owner is a delicate process which involves scouring the weekend papers and the internet.  Here are a couple that tickled my fancy on the soloduenos.com.ar website, but unfortunately were a little out of the budget...

This apartment is a big loft in an old factory, on the edge of the San Telmo and La Boca neighbourhoods.  It´s  pretty old and industrial with a big wall of windows, faded carpet and unpainted walls, and just the sort of hip dwelling you want to live in for a year or two to cross it off the to-do list.

 

This lovely little 2 storey apartment in Colegiales has a balcony AND a terrace (a luxury) and is only 2 years old.  I love the exposed brick wall mixed with the modern interior.  It also looks full of light or luminoso in Spanish.

 

And the hunt continues...

The Men´s Store

 

The windows of this men´s store in the centre of Buenos Aires always catch my attention.  The shop has a 1970s feel to it but somehow retains an elegant edge.  The pictures of the gentlemen, the gold lettering on the windows and the extensiveness of the window displays remind me of a department store where quality, service and style are what it´s all about.  These three factors are not exactly how I would describe shopping in Argentina, so perhaps the idea of these things is what is so appealing.  Now if only I needed some men´s clothes I could shop here and test my theory...

Locro

Locro is a thick soupy-stew that is considered to be probably the national dish of Argentina (if we can discount the Argentine asado for a minute).  It typically consists of ingredients such as corn, meat, chorizo, beans and pumpkin, but can include anything and everything in between.  Locro has been eaten in some form or other since Incan times in many South American countries, with different varieties of the stew to be found across the continent. 

Today is the 25th of May, a public holiday for the May Revolution of 1810 that celebrates the country´s first national government, and locro is the traditional food that is eaten on this day.  The photo here is from a website called Planeta Joy, which features great food, drink and style roundups in Buenos Aires, and this particular article talks about the best places in the city to eat locro.  Prices and quality vary markedly so it´s often a good idea to go by someone´s recommendation to get the best locro experience.  When I was recently in the north of the country I had a ripper locro as it is a traditional dish in this area.  In fact all this talk of locro is making me hungry, I may just pop over to Planeta Joy to check out where I can get my hands on some...