I returned to BA about two weeks ago after some three months on the road. Left for Chile in early January, from Chile to Peru (meeting Pamela in Peru), Peru to Ecuador and then we free fell all the way back through Peru, Bolivia and northern Argentina. An amazing trip, incredible places, cultures, history, people, wonders; a whirlwind tour of Latin America. There still remains so much more to see! Another time...
My return to Bs As has made me realise that I really enjoy living here and that it is a great city. It has it's ups and it's downs but every city does. There is so much going on here, so much culture, life, productivity, style etc. All right most Portenos place themselves on a pedestal and are obsessed by their appearance but pinch of salt n all that. I have moved barrios from the trendy, leafy streets of Palermo to the noisy, community-less streets of the centre; I now live just a few blocks from the famous Obelisco and the widest avenue in the world: 9 de Julio. However, it does mean I am within walking distance of university, Recoleta, San Telmo, Puerto Madero, Abasto and served by a huge number of buses and Subtes. Equally I am paying half the price of my former place.
I have a chip on my shoulder: it goes a little something like this: it is well known and accepted that a fair number of foreigners come to Bs As to enjoy themselves (their dollars/pounds/euros stretch further here), thus some locals feel justified to charge them for their comparative wealth, renting rooms in dollars at comparatively (in Buenos Aires) extortionate prices, these people begin to make large amounts of money (at times in dollars), the foreigners don't complain (it is still cheaper than "back home") and the exploitation continues. It could be argued, yes foreigners have more money, it is only fair to charge them more, and I would be in facour of it if were doing any good for your average Argentine, but all it does is make the people who rent these places richer and richer. My flats monthly rent was around $3000 (my room was $480 a month!), there is no way this was just covering the costs. My new flat is 800pesos ($240) a month...and it is more well kept. Palermo and Recoleta are the places to beware of.
In other news, school is back and life is back. Last night a jazzzzz concert in someones house converted into a bar then a prog rock parrrty, though not sure if the two can go together? I enrolled in a Brazilian Portuguese class, the accent is soo much better than in Portugal (woo!) also planning to take some sort of electronic music course at a school of electronic music (yes, tis unbelievable: a school dedicated to electronic music: nothing more nothing less!) Lastly I have decided I am going to get on that graffiti shit and get snap-map-happy. Discovered google maps now offers some sort of user made maps, i.e. customised with photos, notes: whatever!
