AMO the ARG: when it rains and pours

if you were in palermo or recoleta last weekend and you spied a girl in a summer dress and sandals, positively soaked through, skipping between awnings, occasionally stopping to take a photo and wring out the sweater that she was using to shield herself and her camera from a direct downpour, that was me.

there were a few of us out.
they were a little better prepared, with umbrellas.
but maybe i had more fun?

she one upped me with the heels, i think.

this is actually what new york looked like the weekend i left...

all photos © anita aguilar

pretty city: ba, recoleta and palermo

on avenida pueyrredon

on avenida vicente lopez/junin

on avenida vicente lopez/junin

at a cafe, across from la recoleta

in the park, la recoleta

the courtyard, in front of the basilica

under the trees at the feria plaza francia

take 2. under the canopy, near the trees where the boys were playing in the feria plaza francia

at the feria plaza francia

at the feria plaza francia

at the feria plaza francia

real hippie hair, at the feria plaza francia

and a guy on stilts. where else but the feria plaza francia...

***

on avenida presidente figueroa alcorta

on avenida presidente figueroa alcorta

avenida del libertador

at the plaza del lector...

all photos ©anita aguilar

AMO the ARG: alto palermo pit-stop (day 5-parte uno)

the weather on day 5 was beautiful (they are transitioning from summer to fall in BA, but the day felt and looked remarkably like spring)...

loving the sky on day 5...

we decided to spend it at the mall. (?!!!) (z had to return her new camera and buy a new luggage. i went along to offer translation services and took photos while i waited. i eventally hit a few stores myself.)

we were there for a couple of hours, and it confirmed that a mall is a mall is a mall...it's is not vastly different than any we have here (all kinds of retail, electronics, plus a movie theater).

though, unlike the scene in my hometown, where we have 7 malls (maybe more?) and traffic is heavy year round (and crazies get up at 4am on winter holiday weekends to get to the big sale right when the doors unlock), this place wasn't terribly crowded on that saturday morning...




but things were swinging at the food court. on a sensory level, BA wins the battle: no stale grill/fry/cinnabon smell, and it's appealingly bright and clean. food court fare looks good, but i can only properly speak to the pizza, which was...delicious.

really fresh cheese, with a long tail. a well-baked crust. they don't pit their olives, but i won't hold that against them.

jamon chica... "ham girl," that's me.

all photos ©anita aguilar

AMO the ARG: the spectacle (day 4, recoleta, palermo)

when i look at the photos from day 4 of our trip, the common theme seems to be "spectacle." this was the day we walked from recoleta, down the long, wide avenues to palermo and back again.

there were monuments:

florales generica in the plaza de las naciones, in recoleta.

this aluminum and stainless steel flower sculpture stands roughly 82 feet high, and it blooms every day: a system of light sensors and hydraulics draws the "petals" to close at sunset and opens them at 8am every day, except on may 25th ("may revolution day"), september 21 (the first day of spring), christmas eve and new years eve. i wish i'd caught it "sleeping."
the sculpture was donated by the argentine architect eduardo catalano one year after the 2001 financial crisis.
it's meant to represent hope for a "new spring."

this one, honoring 19th century president bartolome mitre, stands in the plaza mitre along avenida del liberator, in recoleta.

this statue of eva peron, which stands in...the plaza evita, was dedicated 1999.
i love the simplicity and the proportions of this one.
it is the only full-sized statue of a woman in all of buenos aires.

and majestic trees...

i read that there are around half a million deciduous and evergreen trees in buenos aires

and around 1500 palm-type trees.

i have a lot of photos of trees (not quite half a mil but) surely enough to merit a stand-alone post, as soon as i can attach a few names to them.

we admired art:

o magico, 2001, by beatriz milhazes. at MALBA. (more on MALBA later)

(and cooed over our equally artful lunch plates)

lomo (beef) salad at the cafe des arts at MALBA.

and finally, in the evening, we enjoyed a live music and tango show...

the accordion of astor piazzolla! at the piazzolla theater...

***
early in the week, i started to contemplate themes for photo sets devoted to the recurring sights and experiences that already seemed to be defining the trip for me (the spectacular on a smaller scale). one would be all about the buses. i just love those buses. another would be about all the people who hammed it up for me--the "foto!" collection.

day 4 offered abundant opportunity to build on those themes. if i had a faster lens or carried a tripod with me all day, i might have been able to build a third set called "foto! from the buses" because all afternoon i was greeted in this fashion:

can you see the wave here?
(how did these folks have time to see me?)

but my favorite story and shots of the day will be for the "foto!" collection. it occurred before noon, as z and i made our way up avenida figueroa alcorta, snapping away at all the charming homes and consulate offices.

i think this is a private residence

the embassy of haiti.

we stopped for a few minutes in front of the spanish embassy (you, my friends, know why). as i waited for the flag to unfurl for the shot i wanted, i heard zovig say "uh oh...i think we're getting in trouble..." i peeked out from behind the camera.

and the next 2 minutes were a whirlwind. it took us a few seconds, but we came to understand that this red-faced, well-suited older gentleman wasn't actually waving us away with loud admonishment--he was just waving. he was saying hi! he wanted his picture taken. he wanted his picture taken with us! he wanted to chat--all the usual pleasantries, where are you visiting from, how long will you be here, where are you going now? he's so happy to see us at the embassy--and he showered us with little compliments and bear hugs. then he hopped into his nice car and sped away. who was he? in all the fuss, i forgot to ask! zovig and i spent the rest of the day imagining he was a super-famous-honorary-big-time-ambassador-something-or-other...we may never know. but we will remember.

señor, with señorita z.

señor, with me.
i look like i'm 12 years old in this picture, but still-- it makes me smile.
it was like a bugs bunny cartoon, he hugged me and squeezed me...
and then he went on and on about how pretty i was, china girl! so pretty, china! pretty, pretty face should be in the movies--
did he say i should been in the chinese movies? ha! i'm not sure. whatever he said, i know he meant it well.

all photos © anita aguilar

read a good poem: happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length

though, sometimes you see pretty things in the rain...
caught in the storm, palermo. buenos aires, march 19, 2010.

photo © anita aguilar

Oh, stormy stormy world,
The days you were not swirled
Around with mist and cloud,
Or wrapped as in a shroud,
And the sun's brilliant ball
Was not in part or all
Obscured from mortal view—
Were days so very few
I can but wonder whence
I get the lasting sense
Of so much warmth and light.
If my mistrust is right
It may be altogether
From one day's perfect weather,
When starting clear at dawn,
The day swept clearly on
To finish clear at eve.
I verily believe
My fair impression may
Be all from that one day
No shadow crossed but ours
As through its blazing flowers
We went from house to wood
For change of solitude.
--by Robert Frost, via The Writer's Almanac.

AMO the ARG: food (mark's deli, palermo soho)

this "deli" at el salvador 4701 has a beautiful side courtyard...

mantecado...a butter cake with snowdrifts of confectioner's sugar...

little girl likes big coffee