First thing I noticed coming back to Argentina is how people tip the baggage handlers on the bus. It's only like equivalent of 25 cents or so, but it is a nice gesture, and most people do it. The other thing that became even more evident after traveling around Brazil, is how respectful the people are in Buenos Aires. The people that are next to invisible in the US; bus drivers, taxi drivers, vendors, etc., are not in Buenos Aires. When you get into a cab with a local in Buenos Aires, they always say hi and bye and good afternoon, etc., and usually mean it. It is a small thing that they do, but I think it says loads about a group of people. They respect the working class which I don't see in the US. It's kind of like that interview trick to take a person to a restaurant and see how they treat the waitstaff to see what their true colors are.
The biggest thing I missed about Argentina is the food. Brazilian food is often greasy and not so appetizing. They also serve most of their food at restaurants by the pound, which says a lot. The first thing I did back in BA is to go to a nice steak restaurant. I love eating out in Buenos Aires since the food is so good and so cheap. I have found a few phenomenal restaurants. I have found good Japanese and Mexican, but am still searching for good Thai and Indian.
I am now living in an area of BA called Palermo SOHO. It is a really cool and modern area and much different to Retiro, or the area I was staying at before. Where Retiro was very touristic, Palermo sees few tourists and is full of great shops and bars and restaurants. I can pretty much find great food and shopping and nightlife within the small radius of Palermo. The closest thing I could compare Palermo too is Greenwich Village in NY (G.Village now that is). Very hip, young, and expensive (for Buenos Aires standards).
The first hotel I stayed in coming back to Buenos Aires was pretty interesting for a couple of reasons. First it was run by one very nutty, scatter-brained woman and 4 very camp gay guys. It would have made a great sitcom. The place was clean and had great style, of course.
The very interesting thing about the location of the hotel in Palermo, was that it is located in an area called "Zona Roja", or "Red Zone or District". It is known for it's many transvestite hookers. The strange thing is that this is a very nice neighborhood, so the fact that the hookers are there is bizzare and random. I've seen transvestites in San Francisciso, and of course Thailand, but I'd had never seen anything like them. One of these nights I need to take a camera. Seriously. It has to be seen to be believed. They transvestites all look like Wonder Woman. They have a lot of surgery in every conceivable (well, relevant) place. There was a medical student from Harvard who planned to go into plastic surgery at the hotel, and we had a few really interesting conversations about the elective surgeries. I'll stop there, allthough I could go on about this much more. I found it interesting and I'll let it at that. Don't want to give you all the wrong idea.
Interesting developments lately in Buenos Aires. A young kid named Axel Blumberg was kidnapped and killed by criminals. Blumberg came from a rich family and he was supposedly a really good kid. The kidnapping was not out of the ordinary, unfortunately, but the killing was. There are many kidnappings of children and older parents of rich families for ransom money. The criminals in many of these cases are working in cahoots with the local corrupt police. Most of these go unreported, as the families are frightened that the kidnappers will seek retribution, and even worse, many times the police themselves have been directly involved. The killing of the 23 year-old Axel Blumberg sparked a huge outrage in the city, and 300,000 some odd people marched in the city last week to demand justice and demand that the government root out corruption. Even more impressive is the legislature met shortly after and passed a sweeping number of measures to be more tough on crime and to reform the justice system.
This is pretty random (As are a lot of the things I put on here, I guess), but I have a funny story I was telling a couple friends the other day. I thought the rest of you might enjoy as well and get some insight into my life here. Anyway, I was in a cafe this morning in my neighborhood, where I usually go for coffee. It's a bit pretentious, but one of the waitresses is very friendly and the food is great. I'm sitting and planning out my day, and in walks a group of people. I instantly recognize the woman, since she is an Argentine supermodel (Nicole Neumann) and a celebrity. She's like on 5 magazine covers at the moment. They sit right next to me and are conducting a meeting, which I discover is about publicity for her. The guys with her I assume are her "creative team". They are so funny since if you had a movie you couldn't cast them any better. One of the guys is a dead-ringer for Moby, and the others have mullets. The model has an idea (and I can't be completely positive, since it is all in Spanish, but I'm 90% sure of this). to do a photoshoot with her Peruvian maid. She says that the shots will give great contrast and appeal to her "ethnic" audience. The hangers-on (both with and sin mullets), LOVE this idea and are going nuts. I am really having a hard time holding it in. I can just picture her poor maid having to go with her to the photoshoot. She will absolutely die.. If I see these shots in a magazine, it will be too much. Anyway, slice of life in Buenos Aires.