finding argentina

Living full-time in Buenos Aires

Well, it´s official.  I´ve sold my belongings and left a great group of friends to try living in Argentina full-time.  After living in San Francisco for over 10 years, things were just becoming too routine.   Not that there´s anything wrong with routine -- I´m sure I´ll have my daily coffee shop in no time.   Most likely the impetus of my departure was a stupid number -- 35.   I wanted to do something different while I still had some stamina in me.  So I spent one perfect last month in SF to say goodbye and alas, here I am.

After spending five months in BA last year not doing a whole hell of a lot, I get up each day with several things to accomplish.  Finding a long-term (and cheap) apartment, finding a space for a bar that some friends and I are going to open, and seriously learning spanish this time around.  I´m hoping that in the next year or so this place will really feel like home.   

To the "Jimmy's" back in SF - and they know who they are - you´ll always have a couch in BA. 

Back in San Francisco

Well folks, I'm happy to report I'm back in San Francisco, if only for a month.  I couldn't have picked a better time to come back home.  Apparently, the weather has been absolute crap here but my first full day couldn't have been any better (sunny and in the 60's).  I have much to tell about my last couple of months in Buenos Aires (December and January), but I'll leave that for this weekend, after I finish getting my bags unpacked and slip into my old routines, which is usually when boredom follows.   For now, I'm looking forward to catching up with my SF friends, getting some dancing in, and sorting out how I'm going to spend the next year or two in Buenos Aires. 

Christmas in Buenos Aires...

is only a week away.  It couldn´t feel less like Christmas though.  It has been been well into the mid-80´s for the last couple of weeks and I haven´t seen one Santa.  I did spend four days in Ponte del Este (Uruguay) with my friend Danny last week.  Apparently it´s the place to be in South America (at least for rich Argentines) come January and February.  Of course, it was mid-December when we were there and completely dead, albeit completely relaxing.  Warm sand, a nice pool, an ocean view, cold beer, and ping-pong... I love ping-pong. 

Ah yes, the holiday asado at my old apartment a couple of weeks ago was a success.  Danny and American-Lee (there´s a British Lee) were my co-hosts.  We ended up hiring a cooker and a dj for the entire night (not expensive), both of whom did a great job.  The sun rises about 5:30am here and I recall lying on the couch out on the terrace with the bar staff from the Restcate, drinking red wine and eating cereal till 8:30am.   Good times. 

Okay, two things you don´t want to hear from the opposite sex:

1) You´re choking me (figuratively, of course)

2) I need space

For a woman who´s English was just okay, she couldn´t have said these two things more fluently.  Women in Buenos Aires are beautiful, but as both Argentine and expat friends have told me, can be equally as crazy.  I´m sure this doesn´t apply to all of them, but tread carefully in the world of male-female relationships down here.  Less is more, apparently.  I thought I was the King of Space and don´t recall any sort of choking in my past.  Maybe all have more on this topic one day.

At the moment, I´m living in Recoleta for a few days until my next apartment in Palermo is ready.  Other than a cool crafts fair on Saturday and a giant movie cineplex, it´s full of tourists. Yes-yes, I know, I´m a tourist too, but let´s spread out a bit people. 

Just got a nice invitation from my Argentine friend, Jeremias, to spend Christmas with his family.  Damn, I was so looking foward to peking duck.

Ear Infections and Holiday Asados

November has been an interesting month here in Buenos Aires.  I moved into my third apartment, which is a great loft located above  a clothing store in the heart of Palermo Soho.   I only have the apartment through December 11th, so some friends and I are going to throw a "Christmas Asado" here this Saturday (the apartment has a terrace with a built-in asado/grill).   Apparently, an asado (or barbeque) is considered a big event here, so we've been inviting friends, acquintances, and complete strangers (i.e.  attractive women).  That's what to come, but here's some highlights of earlier this month....

"My head is going to explode," I thought, as I rocked back and forth in pain at 3:00am in the morning on November 2nd.  I had an ear-infection a few years back, so I knew what this was, but it hadn't been this bad.  I waited for couple of hours for the pain to go away, but by 5:00am, I couldn't take it anymore.  Fortunately, one of the things I had learned in Spanish class was the location of Hospital Britanica, a hospital with some English speaking staff.  After walking several blocks in the rain, I flagged down a cab and curled up in the back seat.  I think the cab driver noticed how much pain I was in, because we made it to hospital in no time.

So folks, if you have an illness in Buenos Aires, no worries.  I have to say, I was attended to in a matter of minutes by a on-call doctor.  He looked about fifteen, but gave me some pain killers on the spot and wrote me a prescription for antibiotics, which I was able to have filled immediately by a 24hr pharmacy two blocks away.  Doogie also referred me to a specialist, who I saw an hour later for two minutes and who confirmed that yes, I had one painful looking inner-ear.  Although the ear-infection lingered because my Spanish still sucks and I can't follow directions properly, I was impressed by the service and treatment I received -- and for only $50 pesos. 

So, medical ailments aside, the rest of November has been good.  I had a couple more weeks of Spanish classes (though only 2 hours per day), hosted a birthday party at my apartment for my friend Jeremias, celebrated Thanksgiving at my friend Danny's apartment with some other expats, and in between, have just been enjoying my freedom. 

My plans for the recent future include a quick trip to Uruguay tomorrow to get my passport stamped (required if staying in Argentina for over 3 months), an extended weekend trip to Punta de Este in Uruguay in two weeks, and some more Spanish classes.  And in between, well... I still haven't learned tango yet.

Damn, Another Month Down...

Time is flying by here (two months gone) and I´ve started to go through various stages of guilt associated with traveling and/or living in a foreing country. Obviously I´m not working, otherwise I´d be guilt-free. I am taking Spanish classes, but progress is slow. So this begs the question: What am I really doing with my days in Buenos Aires?

There´s a dirtly little secret in the Expat Community here, one I recently discovered at a friend´s cocktail party. I can´t think of any way to say it other than to just say it -- the tv here is SOOO good. There are at least seven channels that are dedicated to US tv and/or movies (i.e. SONY, Warner Brothers, Univeral, and TNT, to name a few). Every day you can find an old or fairly new episode of shows like the O.C., Alias, CSI (and all its spinoffs), 90210, Gillmore Girls, Mismatch, Cupid, NYPD Blue, Touched By an Angel, and many, many others. Now what´s scary are the shows that the expat community are becoming addicted to, myself inlcluded (random sampling was taken at said cockail party). I can´t say I EVER watched an episode of the Gillmore Girls before arriving in Buenos Aires. Now, two months later, I can´t tell you the last time I missed an episode. Even more sad, is that they air two different seasons at two different times each day. What does this mean? It means that I can tell you how Rory is fairing at Chilton and how Laura Lye is doing with Max. Or, if you prefer a more current update, I can tell you how Rory is doing at Yale and what, if anything, is going on with Luke and Laura Lye. I know this sounds pathetic, but once you´ve settled in here and gone out every single night for a month, you get into a routine, which includes watching American t.v. I won´t even mention the eight hour Alias mararthons they´ve been airing on the SONY channel for the last month. But alas, I´m not alone. As I mentioned, the secret is out. I have an expat friend who races home to catch episodes of Lyon´s Den, the Rob Lowe series that was cancelled before it´s first season even ended. Yikes.

Okay, so what´s my point? I have no idea, really. Maybe it´s that I feel guilty when pondering questions like: ¨How come people don´t freak out when Monica or Tess reveal themselves as Angels?¨ Or, how psyched I was to watch the baseball playoffs and World Series live on ESPN Latin America. Either way, for better of for worse, I´m finding Argentina while simultaneoulsy discovering the back episodes of the O.C. Is that so bad? I do read the subtitles....

Travel Advisory Warning for Argentina

To date, I love this place, but under no circumtances should you get your haircut in Argentina. The mullet is alive and well here, and Argentine barbers are doing very weird things with layering down here (insert future photo essay).

Many of you know, I´m not sensitive about my ¨hair,¨ just particular. For the past six years through August 2004, I was getting my haircut at the Shell Barbershop in San Francisco. Every two weeks, Bruno and I had a standing date. Over these six years, Bruno only gave me two bad haircuts. The first was in the beginning of our relationship, during the dotcom boom, when he gave me what I later discovered were ¨wagon wheels¨ (an unnecessary space between one´s ears and hair). The second bad cut came a year or so later - just a month before my sister´s wedding - when Bruno shaved my head nearly bald. In his defense, it was my dumb-ass idea and one he tried to talk me out of. So as you can see, Bruno has been my hair anchor, producing nearly 300 consistent and reliable cuts on my head, which is no small accomplishment.

Back in Argentina, there are some dangers an expat faces, but little did I know getting a haircut would be one of them. My name is Chris Burns and I had my first bad haircut in Buenos Aires three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I went to another barber for a reconstructive haircut, which failed miserably. And the other night, after a few drinks, I broke out the scissors in my bathroom and tried a little home repair. The ¨system,¨ as it is commonly referred to, has seen better days. Now, slightly deformed, I long for the touch of Bruno, his ability, and his compassion -- not just viewing you as another head of hair, but truly seeing you, the person, beneath that hair.

I should mention that some expat friends had shared their own bad haircut horror stories, but I failed to heed their warnings. Please, don´t make the same mistake.

The Miracle Worker: Learning Spanish All Over Again

I failed to mention that I started taking Spanish classes at an Institute last week, during the height of my illness. My first day, I was asked to take an exam, or a sort of placement test. Of course, the first thing you do when you receive an exam is flip through it to see how many pages it is. The exam was eight pages and I calculated, would take me about two hours to finish. About an hour into the exam, I realized I was on the verge of passing out. That´s it, I was done. I spent ten more mintures racing through the exam completing what I could. After turning in the exam, I was asked to come in the following day at 11:00am.

I never took the short bus to school when I was a kid, but I always wondered what it would be like. Supposedly, I was going to be in a class with three or four other students. But on my second day, I sat in the classroom alone. It seems that in my haste to finish the exam and get home, I had placed myself into some sort of remedial class, with just one person -- Jimmy. After a couple of classes though, I can already see some improvement. When the instructor placed my hands under running water, I splashed it all over my face and shouted "AGUA!"

I have a good feeling about this instructor and hope that one day, god willing, I will speak Spanish.

For Spanish classes in Buenos Aires, checkout: www.pil-ar.com.ar

Finally, a New Apartment

Being sick and homeless in a foreign country truly sucks. As September came to a close, I was displaced from my humble, little abode in Palermo Hollywood. I thought finding a place would be easy and in the back of my mind, I had this fantasy of finding an amazing place for next to nothing. Afterall, I had been in Buenos Aires for a month and had, I thought, some things figured out. In my attempt to find this amazing place for next to nothing, I started visiting Inmobilarias, which are basically real estate agencies. I finally found an Inmobilaria in my neighborhood which had a couple of very nice furnished properties in the same neigborhood. One of the properties was a loft in an old, renovated brick building. There were several other lofts in the building as well, in addition to an outdoor pool and a gym. This is paradise I thought.

As I began negotiating with the Inmobilaria, I moved into a hostel. The hostel, as it turned out, was a complete dive. Sleeping was impossible with all the street noise and after a couple of hours in bed, I started feeling itchy. Was it bed bugs, or me just being paranoid? I had flashbacks of my European travels some fourteen years ago. Finally, after falling asleep, I woke up an hour later in a cold sweat and a terrible sore throat. Where did this come from? Was it the bed bugs? At 9:00am and with one hour of sleep under my belt, I checked out of the hostel seeking a more hostpitable environment for a person with the flu. Afterall, I wasn´t twenty-one anymore. Luckily, right down the street was a very nice boutique hotel, the BoBo. If I was going to die, it was going to be in high-style.

If you need a hotel in Buenos Aires, I highly recommend the BoBo. Complete with AC, cable tv, wireless internet access, and an excellent restaraunt downstairs, I dug in for what would be six, pricey nights. Each day and night was basically the same. I would wake up several times a night to change my cold-sweat drenched t-shirt and to painfully drink several glasses of water. In the early afternoon, I would go the Inmolibaria and try to negotiate a better price for my fantasy loft. Later in the day, I would search for other apartments on the internet. After six days, I moved into my new place, and it wasn´t the loft. It´s a tiny but totally acceptable apartment on the 7th floor of a building on Thames and Soler (only one block away from the BoBo). I still dream of the loft though, and oh, that pool. Ah well, at least I´m healthy, bed-bug/flu free, and have a home.

P.S. If you´re looking for a short term apartment in BA, avoid a headache and stick with a company like www.bytargentina.com, which specializes in renting to foreigners. I´m sure there´s a way to rent an apartment through local landlords, but it involves much more time and energy than I´m willing to invest at the moment. If anyone out there has successfully rented a nice apartment at a good price through a local landlord or Inmobilaria, I would like to hear from you.

One Month Down

Amigos:

I can´t believe a month has gone by. The first few days were pretty rough, due to either a delayed hangover or a legitimate cold. I´d forgottten how much it sucks not to know the language of a country you´re visiting. Needless to say, I felt like an intruder that first week. My highschool Spanish that I thought would miracously return appears to be lost forever. So yes, a few weeks have gone by and I´ve survived, but not conquered. I can honestly say though, I´m happy to be here in Buenos Aires, just living each day as it comes without any specific plan. Maybe that´s what I was doing in San Francisco, but for some reason, it seems more legitimate here.

So Buenos Aires... what´s it like? I can´t even pretend that I´ve figured this country out. I can, for the moment, tell you what it´s like to live here on a daily basis. As of Septmeber 2004, Argentina is tourist´s paradise. After the devaulation of the peso a few years ago (which was pegged to the US dollar 1:1), the dollar now goes three times as far. Unfortunately, Argentines are the ones suffering financially, though you wouldn´t know it after meeting them or witnessing all the packed restaraunts every day of the week. A great dinner out at most restaraunts, including parrilla (a grilled meat of your choosing), a basketful full of fresh bread, a huge salad, a couple glasses of wine, and a cofee will run one around $10US, with tip. After arriving my first day in Buenos Aries and watching a parade of ants scurry across my kitchen counter, I´ve eaten out every single night. Not only have I eaten so well and so damn late each night (dinner at 10:30pm!?!), but I´ve also been able to experience an integral part of BA -- lingering the night away. After dinner, people head off to bars and cafes from about midnight till...??? If dancing is in the cards, the clubs get going around 2:30/3:00am, though you'll see long lines to get in at 4:00am. But if you opt to stay at a bar, they won't close until the last person has left. I've witnessed this a couple of times and it's a beautiful thing.

As I said, the first few days in BA were a bit of a culture shock. I expected - and this is extrememly ignorant on my part - that more people would speak English here. Well, from all my encounters with locals and conversations with other expats, Argentines don't speak (or in many cases, refuse) to speak English. So of course the best way to get along in BA is to speak Spanish, in particular, BA Spanish. When you hear a person from BA speak, you would swear it's a combination of Spanish and Italian. Although it's beautiful to hear, it's difficult to understand and speak. I did take some private Spanish lesssons my first couple of weeks here, but it wasn't cutting it. Next week, I start an intensive program at a language institute, which will subject me to four hours of Spanish five days a week for a month. We'll see how that goes. The other option is to find an Argentine girlfriend, which according to everyone I meet, is the best Spanish course you'll ever take. However, meeting local women requires having some proficiency in Spanish, so the language institute it is.

I´ve mentioned to a few people that I fall in love here at least 20 times a day. Yes, the people here are absolutely beautiful, which is something I´m still trying to sort out. But more than that, it´s the beauty of sitting over dinner for three hours, or meeting someone for coffee only to find out that they have a whole day reserved for you, or just having one of the moments as a traveler where everthing is synchronized: the people, the music, your mood... everything. I´ve had several of those. I´ve also met some really great people, both expats and porteños. Some moments and friends are fleeting, but I´m hoping many will stay with me. I suppose that´s one of the reasons I´m writing this and posting pictures.

The people:

Jermemias- a young and friendly bartender who works down the street from where I live. Lives with his girlfriend who coincidentally is a waitress at my favorite restaraunt.

Alejandro, Fredericko, Valerie, and Migre- the cast at the "Dubliner" Irish bar I frequent.

Joanna- an English girl who passed through BA and is now living in the country. I hear she has bought herself a horse for $300US. She´s coordinating some Family Planning efforts in Mendoza, or thereabouts.

Dyane- a friend of Joanna´s living in BA. She invited me out with a few of her expats friends last week. Two of them were Eglish guys who moved to BA six years ago, and here they remain. One is an editor for Timeout, a travel guidebook, and the other is a tv producer for a Latin American golf highlights show that airs on EPSN, Latin America. Strangely, that sounds like my dream job.

Daniel- expat from Texas taking his third year of law school here. Met him and his friends at Unico, a neighborhood bar that always seems to be open.

Well, as first month ends, I find myself in many places: searching for another apartment, struggling with my Spanish, in awe of these beautiful people, beffudled by their incessant smoking and reckless driving, lonley at times, yet completley content.

So Why Argentina You Ask?

That's a damn fine question and one I've answered several times. The stock answer has become: "It has the architecture of Paris and the nightlife of Spain at a third of the cost." To be honest, I don't know how much of that is true. I can tell you one thing definitively though. When I was a junior in highschool there was this foreign exchange student from Argentina in my Pre-calc class that was absolutely fine. I know what you're thinking and no, I'm not traveling thousands of miles to track down this girl who distracted me to a D+. But Latin America does have this allure. When we graduate from college we instinctually go to Europe. When we join the workforce and earn a few bucks, southeast Asia is our destination. So what happened to Latin America? I know people go there, but who? And when? Well, that's what I'm going to find out....