Things to note

The little things give a city its character:

The "Florerias" or flower stands...

Nearly every other block on the busy streets of Buenos Aires are little flower and incense vendors. They don't sell food, or newspapers, or cheap jewelry. Just wonderful smelling flowers.

These trees...

I think they're called jacarandas. I know I've mentioned these already, but they're just so beautiful. Even on a rainy day (which we've been having a lot of this spring) they still blanket the ground in a gorgeous lilac hue.

Speaking of rain...

Everything in this city DRIPS. More so than any other place I've been in life. It's a good thing it's happening here, a relatively clean place, and not India- or I might flip my shit every other step. Literally, every time I go on a walk - even if it's as sunny as can be -something drips on me. or multiple things drip on me. Sometimes it's clear, like water, but sometimes it's yellow... even when there are no birds around. Strange world.

The book stores...

Buenos Aires must be one of the most well read cities on earth, just judging by bookstores per capita. I know Borges and Cortazar are very much recognized as the city's own, and their literary legacy is still alive here. There are independent bookstores every other block or so (but rarely in English, so that's unfortunate for me), and each has their own little twist. One of the biggest stores down the street from me (not the photo- that's from nextdoor to where I live), is a converted theater. It's called El Ateneo, and the stage has been converted into a cafe, and each of the balconies holds bookshelves.

The architecure...

Always different, always fun to look at. Above, a church in Olivos.

The spirit...

I suppose this picture represents a bit more than just a "note" on the city, but it represents a visually apparent sense of social and political dialogue that goes on here. For a country that's not too distant from it's authoritarian past, the graffiti, the stencils, the banners, and the physical protests and strikes are everywhere. This banner is from a cultural group in a rural part of the metro area of BA, called Al Borde. They are a grassroots group sprung out of an informal settlement in the area, and this poster reads something along the lines of:

hope, dreams, happiness, life,

justice, truth, identity, ?,

dignity, ideals, health, work,

education, equality, freedom...

30 thousand reasons to continue fighting!

The stencils and graffiti around often imbued with political and social messages as well, and are always incredibly well crafted and impressive in their artistry. It make for interesting runs and walks around the city.

I like this city. I like that I can walk home with a friend at 4am on a Saturday night, and feel completely normal since everyone is outside - sitting at all night cafes or walking home as well. I like that I get to use my Spanish (although Argentinian Spanish is impossible to understand). I like spring weather and the increasingly long days. I like that the busses and the subways will get you anywhere you need to go for 1.10 pesos. And if they don't, the taxis are really cheap too.

We leave here on Friday morning for a 2 day retreat in Mar del Plata (on the ocean 5 hrs from BA), and then a week long final workshop in the planned city of La Plata (the capital of BA province and about an hour from BA).

Buenos Aires: The Paris of South America

The title of my post is quite problematic, but I don't have much time for that now.

This is just a lil' update to let you all know I'm back within two hours of EST, and I'm loving this city. Until I finish my essay for "culture and society" class and have a moment to breath, I'll just tempt you with some pictures.

The view from my bedroom window.

I am staying a beautiful apartment in Recoleta, a rather upscale neighborhood near the center of the city. In the north. That's important- people in the north don't really go to the south, which is the more working class half of town.

See, it looks like NYC or something- the taxis, the bars, the fancy apartments...

Facades of houses in La Boca.

La Boca is one of the earliest working class neighborhoods in the city, with many beautifully painted homes. The barrio was home to an old port on the river, and the workers in the area would use left over materials and paint from the shipyard to build their houses. So you see the corrugated metal was used for siding, wood for flooring in the interior, and paint from the ships on the outside. The small space between the two homes seen above is left in order to prevent fires, which were quite common.

We visited this house, the light blue one on the right, because Habitat for Humanity is funding a development project that will allow 7 single family apartments to exist on the lot. It's an initiative to address the simultaneous problems of too many vacant, dilapidated houses (such as this one), and too little housing for the poor.

The bridge to Puerto Mardero.

This bridge was built by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect famous for his bridges (he built the one in Milwaukee too), in 2001.

A taste of the colonial architecture. Check out the beautiful purple trees, they're everywhere in the spring.

Stellenbosch Vacation

Stellenbosch: Bikes & Wines Tours

Yes, it is what you think it is- Machaneh in South Africa!!

Muizenberg Beach - the snail shells

From Soccer to Kites

World Cup 2010 Stadium

The Bo-Kaap (view from my street!)

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Cape Town International Kite Festival - Muizenberg

KITES!

Nearing the tip of the world

A few touristy moments in Cape Town:

False Bay coast line, as seen from the train

African penguins at Boulder's Beach

The changing houses at St. James Bay

Simon's Town

View of Lion's Head after a long Table Mountain hike (Robben's Island in the distance)

I apologize for the lack of South Africa posts; I've been here for 5 weeks now and I'm leaving for Argentina tomorrow. It's been difficult to find cheap enough internet to justify spending the time to update, but I suppose it's better late than never. If I have time tonight or in the airport I plan to write about some of the amazing things we've learned and the places we've stayed, but for now I'll just give the basics:

2 weeks: Homestay in Langa, a black township

2 weeks: Homestay in Bo-Kaap, a coloured, Muslim neighborhood near the city center

1 week: Vacation!!! visited family friends in Stellenbosch, the beautiful, mountainous wine country of the Western Cape

What stood out:

- Gorgeous... South Africa is beautiful. The mountains, the ocean, the fynbos (the cape's flora and fauna), the vinyards, the animals, the people... it's an incredible country.

- Apartheid: still exists. Or rather, the legacy of apartheid is incredibly apparent everywhere I was these last five weeks. The country has an incredibly progressive constitution, but little has changed in terms of lessening inequality between races and spatially integrating the fragmented landscape.

- Crime. crime. crime. crime. We heard about it ALL the time. Essentially, we learned, no one feels safe anywhere in the Cape Town area. Or rather, no one feels we (the Americans) are safe anywhere. It becomes a euphomism for racial tensions, though, and everyone seems to put the blame somewhere else.

- Minibus Taxis. These are possibly the most interesting forms of transportation I've ever seen. How it works: you go to a minibus taxi rink, find your destination (much like a train station, but outdoors), and go get in line for the next bus. When the bus pulls into the rink, you get in and wait - however long it takes - for the minibus to fill up with passengers going to the same destination. If it takes an hour for 12-14 people to get in, then too bad- you're going to be waiting for an hour before moving. Once the driver gets enough passengers to leave, we all pass our fare up to the front seat. Occasionally someone associated with the driver is collecting the fares, but often this is a self regulated process. So the four people in the back seat give 5 rand to one person in their row, who passes it up a row while saying the number of people for whom the money is paying. Those people in the third row in turn do the same, collecting the money and passing it forward, saying "8." In this fashion everyone in taxi pays for their ride only once the bus starts moving. It's a very trusting system. Trusting that the passengers will pay once the bus has started moving, and trusting that the other passengers won't steal the fares from the people in the back of the taxi.

Don't misunderstand- the minibus taxi is no luxury ride. There may be 16 people in one van, and some will be sitting on crates or laps. The drivers might be crazy, and they may not stop exactly where you want, but the unbelievable part is that they work.

That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned for more notes on gentrification, violence and identity in the arts, HIV, and Coca-Cola.