'Settling' in Buenos Aires

Alquilando

Hi up there,

Alquilando! Rented!

Yes I've finally relocated from my hostel and am now officially a resident of Barrio Norte (or north section) --known to real-estate agents by the name of it's old Franciscan church: Recoleta. The Franciscans set up shop about seven blocks from here in what was then a field near the nascent village of Buenos Aires. The priests had been uprooted from their jungle home of Ascuncion, (lucky them!), now the capital city of Paraguay. They had been sent to Buenos Aires to get things started. Being priests they did the sacrament thing, and ended up populating (if that is the right word), what was to become one of the most famous cemeteries in the southern hemisphere. the indians and slaves buried by the monks and priests have long since been dug up and replaced by some of Argentine's greatest heroes and villains alike.

I now have a six-month rental on a "Racionalista" building on Callao Avenue built in the 1950's. The place is an enormous two bedroom and I really don't know what to do with all the space, so I've been unpacking and trying to spread myself around a bit. If you know Buenos Aires I'm on the block between Juncal and Las Heras. It is quite quiet here on the 6th. floor as I have rented a 'contrafrente' or rear-facing, semi-piso (half-floor) flat, with the uninviting name of 'B'. Behind me is Rodriguez Peña street, a very fancy supermarket (with the unlikely name of Disco), and a pretty little fountain. People are very posh round here so, come the revolution, I'm moving back to the hostel.

Last night I bought some wine to celebrate my first night in my new home but to my horror, my new flat lacked a corkscrew. The poor girls in the shop nearly lost it when I swung by to buy one, so I could enjoy my glass of "El Portillo, 2004, Tempranillo" with dinner. I left one girl severely disabled by a giggling fit when I mispronounced sacarcorchos as 'sacarconchas'. Sacar is the verb to extract, so I had begun the word correctly, but when I looked up in concha my 'Practico' dictionary from Spain, it turned out to have nothing whatsoever to do with cork. Instead, it seems, I had used Latin American slang for a rather ugly word (used with unfortunate regularity in Dublin), but known in the United-States-of-Prudisnesss by the risque euphemism "The 'C' word".

Oh well! We live and learn :)

As I strolled out to check out my new neighborhood today, (my first day) -- all seemed very smart, very upper middle class and distinctly well healed. I bought some towels and visited the Pueyrredon art school on my block when I spotted a lovely confectionary and bakery store built at least a half century ago. I was quite excited for a moment as I perused the window but I did feel a little stupid as I almost tripped over the body of a dead man lying right there in front of the window. Details were scarce as to why a fully grown, but relatively young man, a professional painter if I am to judge by his white paint-stained trousers, had just up-and-died on the sidewalk on my block. Someone mentioned cardiac arrest (verified with a member of staff a week later). The cops didn't look like they wanted to answer any questions from no gringo, so I stopped by the paint shop a half block away, they knew about the incident but hadn't seen him either. I guess I shall never know who he was. The police had emptied his pockets and located some form of ID so I guess his family will come by and give him a Christian burial but who is to know, maybe he's a stranger in town like me?