City’s inhabitants would love to enjoy lunchtime as Parisians do: sitting at a restaurant to devote a couple of hours to a meal, with enough time for the starter, the main course, dessert and a cup of coffee after lunch.  However, in Buenos Aires, most people always are in hurry, without time to sit down, and most office workers eat standing up with theirs elbows on the bar of a restaurant.

The archetype of fast food is the hot dog. People can eat it by using just one hand and even walking. The sandwich of breaded escalope, a classic in the city, is found at a higher step of the ranking due to its gastronomic and nutritious complexity.  The list also included pies, empanadas and slices of pizza. The office worker usually drinks water or soda at lunchtime. The bravest ones prefer beer or wine, so challenging the after eating torpor.

One of the typical eateries of this kind of food is located at the subway station Plaza de Mayo of the A Line. This shop, which has been opened for 35 years, sells a variety of fast food: the famous pebete with ham and cheese, but also the more unknown sandwich of cantimpalo and cheese; empanadas and fried pies filled with quince or sweet potato jelly; sandwiches of breaded escalopes; a cup or bottle of wine, beer and soda, among other delicatessen.

How much time do you take for lunch? What’s your favourite fast food?

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Fast food restaurants

Buenos Aires has no beach, nor mountain, nor ten centuries old cathedrals, nor ancient ruins from lost civilizations. But, whit that je ne sais quoi so hard to define and sung by the poets, Buenos Aires makes you in love.

For visitors, it can be the tango, or the football, the beef or Porteño sociability; for us that inhabit the city, it is hard to know what makes it so lovable, despite the humidity, or maybe thanks to it. But we know there is something.

Buenos Aires has a history, even when it is not millennia old. It is the history of the people that lived, that dreamt, that, brick by brick, word by word and tree by tree, turned the city in what it is today. That mixed relation of an imagined territory–which received, as still does, internal and external migrations, which grew from the Center towards the neighbourhoods, adopting in the way different architecture and urban styles, which is scenario for conflicts and joy, with a thousand tunes and a thousand tastes– carries undoubtedly a complex identity.

It is not easy to tell where that identity lies or where to find it. Is it in the museums? Yes, for sure. In the monuments? Also. In the squares, fundamental in all neighbourhoods? In the malls, where people gather? Of course. And in the buildings, theatres, schools, baker shops, hospitals, Neighbours Associations, libraries, transport stations, factories, bridges, carousels… Actually, what is hard is to find something not related to the identity. We all make our cities every day; the places we inhabit, in the past or the present, are impregnated of the stuff that we are made on.

For all these causes, because Buenos Aires is all of us, and it is up to us to love it and care for it, Mi Buenos Aires Querible is launched. It is a website, an event, a game, a meeting place, a proposal and a compromise. Mi Buenos Aires Querible invites you to know our city more deeply, to suggest new important icons of the city, to get involved and protect the patrimony that belongs to all of us.

Also, Mi Buenos Aires Querible has a blog: Queré Buenos Aires. You are all invited to use it as a place for ideas exchange and debate.

Mi Buenos Aires Querible (in Spanish) — Queré Buenos Aires (in Spanish)

Many people declare their love towards the cities. There is a mass of people in love with  Paris, New York, Rio de Janeiro, and, of course, Buenos Aires. People, thousands of kilometres away, yearns for that metropolis located at another latitude which makes their heart beat in other language.

But love, the real passionate one, usually means something more carnal.  If we delve into the love towards cities, we could find some romance, occasional or not,  which has made  the visitors` stays more interesting

Love has always been a powerful reason for travelling,  those people who fall in love while holidays are predestined to go back the premises looking for that indescribable sensation.  However, for the last decade, internet has got the record of  love stories at distance.  Thanks to the e-mail, blogs, forum and chat, day by day thousands of people from any part of the world meet each other, like each other and even fall in love with a person without asking “Where are you from?”. The question appears later, and then the air tickets and pocket dictionaries with forty basic phrases in order to survive in another language country.

In Buenos Aires, we boast about having the most attractive women and men of the world, women or men.  Besides, tango makes people breath romanticism. Not so many foreigners have had this experience. The list is endless, it includes the singer Joaquin Sabina who fell in love with a young lady to whom he dedicated a song: “Dieguitos y Mafaldas”, the American actor Robert Duvall, who came with his wife from Salta in order to make a film about  tango, the Puerto Rican singer Mimi Maura, who has lived here for a decade together with the musician Sergio Rotman, the Slovak philosopher who met his future wife during a lesson in the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, the rock star Dee Dee Ramone, who lived  in La Plata for a while with his Argentine girlfriend…and thousands and thousands of strangers in love.

Have you ever fallen in love while holidays? Would you travel due to love? Do you think that Buenos Aires is a romantic city?

In 1984, two years before his death, Borges published Atlas, a book of journeys. It is composed by memories, brief stories and essays, dreams and even a love declaration to María Kodama (who accompanied him during his last trips) but the book is unique due to the photos of Borges as tourist: at the pyramids, in Madrid, in Athens, in an air balloon in California.

The texts, some old and some written for this book, are inspired or based on cities, places and objects which Borges knew as traveller or inhabitant. For him, Geneva –where he lived as teenager and where is nor buried– is “the most suitable place for happiness” and the city where he found the revelation of love and friendship.
But Buenos Aires is the most mentioned city in this book.

In Atlas, Borges visits the Canadian totem of Retiro, the house of his friend Xul Solar at Laprida 1214, the Bollini alley, the cemetery of Recoleta. He also discusses about the corners of the city, remembers a dinner at a Japanese restaurant in downtown and the islands of El Tigre.

In one of the texts, he tells that his body can travel around the world but his dreams always take place in Buenos Aires. And, in spite of the fabulous of the geography (”mountain chains, fens with scaffolds, spiral stairs immersed in cellars”) in his dream he knows it is a real corner of Palermo or the South. The note about the dreams, a paragraph of fourteen lines, ends with a question: “Does all this mean that, beyond my conscience and will, I am irremediably and incomprehensibly porteño?”

Which places of Buenos Aires mentioned in Atlas do you know?

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Borges’ circuit at www.bue.gov.ar

The multiculturality is almost a registered trademark of Buenos Aires. Not many neighborhoods show this special feature as well as Villa Crespo, which celebrates its 120th birthday in the heart of the city. More than a century full of Yiddish tango, clothes and leathers, parks and billiards and goals by Atlanta, strudel and falafel and pizza orders with different accents. Twelve decades of tolerance.

The date chosen in order to establish the birth of the neighbourhood is the 3rd of June of 1888, due to the creation of the Fábrica Nacional de Calzado (National Factory of Shoes) in the current block surrounded by Padilla, Acevedo, Murillo and Gurruchaga streets. Such place was only a huge area of country houses near the Maldonado stream; these lands were ideal for tanneries and factories since effluents could be released into water. This neighborhood was thusly named due to the mayor Antonio F. Crespo who took part in the foundation ceremony of said factory and stimulated the constructions of companies in these lands.

The same workers began to construct their houses with the bricks given by the factory. In the beginning of the XX century, a building with 112 rooms was constructed between the current streets Thames and Serrano. It was soon inhabited by Spanish, Italian, Jewish, Arabian and Creole people. It was called “La Nacional” but it became famous under the name “El conventillo de la Paloma, thanks to the renowned one-act farce by Alverto Vacarezza. Thus, with great influence of immigrants, its multiple identity was born. This neighborhood is also called “Villa Kreplaj” due to its important Jewish community.

The sociable and cooperative spirit of neighbours caused the foundation of a great number of cafés, billiards houses such as the historical San Bernardo, political associations, sports clubs such as Atlanta and tango orchestras such as the la Orquesta Cooperativa de Osvaldo Pugliese, one of the outstanding neighbours. The great bandoneon player Paquita De Bernardo, the poet Juan Gelman and the writer Leopoldo Marechal, who located his emblematic Adán Buenosayres at a conventillo of this neighborhood are other important neighbours.

After 120 years of its foundation, neighbors celebrate the birthday with a complete course of activities. On Saturday 7th June, there will be murgas, a parade of firemen, shows of tango and folklore next to the monument to the orchestra of Pugiese, at Corrientes and Luis María Drago. On Thursday 19th: homage to the tango singer Julio Sosa in the 4 kilometers bycicle ride along streets of the neighbourhood, from the Centro Cultural Los Bohemios, at Humboldt 540.

All that means Villa Crespo. And also the pizza of Imperio, the pletzelej of the bakers shops, the old chemist shop Del Aguila, the automobile repair shops along Warnes street…characteristics of the daily life of a city made for its inhabitants.

Do you know Villa Crespo? What do you like about this neighbourhood?

In 1998, an artist of the neighbourhood of Barracas painted the front of his house in the Lanín street as if it was one of his paintings. Three years later, and at request of neighbours, the painted facades were 40. Now, from June the 3rd to December the 30th, the same artist performs a new urban intervention along the same street.

In “Museo”, Marino Santa María, the painter who grew up and now lives at Lanín street, exhibits his works as well as those by 33 contemporary plastic artists. The intervention includes pieces by Santa María, Carlos Alonso, Luis Felipe Noé, Carlos Gorriarena and Josefina Robirosa, among others, on the wall of the railways.

Barracas is a neighbourhood closely related to Porteño culture and identity. Old football fans, when they discover a skilful and classy player, still say “This guy is from Barracas.” Just like all the other southern quarters, Barracas is also linked to the birth of tango music.
The name (“Barracks”) comes from the port buildings, used during the colony as warehouses and lodging for the newly arrived slaves.

Lanin, a typical street of a typical neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, became in a nice walking path for neighbours and tourists, and one of the must-see places of Barracas. This street becomes pedestrian at weekends.

Do you know Barracas and the Lanín street? Do you know Argentine plastic artists?

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Barracas at www.bue.gov.ar — Agenda –Marino Santa María’s Website

In autumn, Buenos Aires does not stop. We have just recovered from the consecutive events called Bafici and the Book’s Fair, when the art attacks. Arteba starts in the Rural of Palermo with a hurricane strength because it lasts only five days – from May 29th to June 2nd to show the new trend of the Latin American art. Prepare the walls, point the lights, art.

This fair has grown up year by year since its first edition in 1991, thanks to an ambitious spirit. Today, this event is the meeting point of art in Latin America. Directors of art galleries, collectors, artists and curator meet together and exchange experiences. This is a fair with all its words: that place in which people look, buy, sell pieces of art and of course, make friends.

The growth of ArteBA reflects the development of the Art market in Argentina. For the last years, a great number of new galleries and places for exhibitions have appeared providing
spaces for emergent artists. Luckily, new collectors have also appeared with very good criteria and awards which stimulate the creation. ArteBA represents completely the meaning of fair: that place in which people look, buy, sell pieces of art and of course, make friends.

The Argentine art, according to its main characters, is going through a wonderful moment. A great number of young artists represents a market return to the painting; on the other side, sculptures made of different materials and installations enjoy good health. Digital art is appearing and photography is getting the status it deserves and is not considered as the ugly duckling of art. In this edition, the fair pays homage to three renowned artists: Gyula Kosice, Clorindo Testa and Ennio Iommi. Their works coexist with those by the new generations, which are shown in the Barrio Joven, the area of the fair devoted to the new galleries.

In parallel, everyday from 1pm, there is a forum in the auditorium in which the most burning current issues of art are discussed. The main activity takes place at 6pm: round tables with special guests, such as Cuauhtémoc Medina, the Mexican curator of the Tate Gallery of Londres.

Everything is ready. Open your eyes, because like all good things, ArteBA lasts a short time.

Have you ever been to ArteBA? What do you like about the fair? Which are your expectations for this edition in 2008?

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ArteBA Website

Being a champion is one of those dreams and expectations we have when we are children. A champion of almost anything and for that purpose, if necessary, we can create a game in order to be the only winners. However, we are not children for ever, and when we grow up, we suddenly realize: What can be better for a Porteño than being a Tango Champion?

The sixth Metropolitan Championship of Tango begins on May the 29th. The couple which wins the final on July the 6th in the Salón Sur (Av. Sáenz 459, at 6.30pm) represents Buenos Aires in the World Championship in August.

The Championship allows people to watch and learn techniques of the best local and foreign dancers of tango. Furthermore, this event is the ideal place to become acquainted with the milonga world, almost as mysterious for most of the city’s inhabitants as for tourists.

For milongueros, those people who go to milongas at least once a week, this championship is a party which lasts a month.

In order to register for this event, people must go to one of the 31 milongas that take part this year, the same day of the contest and with identity document.

Do you know some milonga? Do you dance tango?

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Agenda — Website of Tango of the City of Buenos Aires — Qualifying rounds — Tango Photogallery — Tango World Cup 2007 — Tango Festival 2007

What is a museum used for? For many things. Museum are like memories` boxes of the   city; there, the collective memory is kept there but also it is built there too. The idea about what culture, art and history means for a society is discussed and takes shape in the museums.

Traditionally,  they are places to visit, to walk through quietly, in the middle of a mass silence and with the hands behind the back. In its more prototypical version, they are places to look, which means a lot. Undoubtedly, museums are places to learn, know and also recognize. But also, they have become participatory spaces, with own perspective and sense of humour, which invite people to get involved with and watch other unknown realities. Thus, beside the traditional exhibitions, people can appreciate theatre performances and musical shows but also they can take guided tours which help to learn the meaning of what people see – and, even, to think new meanings. 

The city’s museums present a great variety. There are more than ninety museums, between public and private, which go from  the huge and wonderful ones such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, with the biggest collection of Argentine paintings, up to the Museo de la Caricatura Severo Vaccaro, a small and modest museum but very active and funny for people fond of  the graphic humour. There are some ideal for children, such as the Museo Participativo de Ciencias, where there is a sign that reads “It`s forbidden not to touch” or that one of Natural Sciences, which proudly exhibits reconstructed skeletons of dinosaurs. Some museums make people have painful reflections ; such as Museo del Holocausto or the Penitenciario and other aimed at the recreational enjoyment, such as the Museo de la Pasión Boquense or the Museo del Cine.

On this Sunday 18th May, museums celebrate their day, in commemoration to the
Crusade for Museums, an information campaign organized in 1951 by the Unesco and International Council of Museums (ICOM), with the purpose to raise awareness about the roles that museums take in the society. And if there is a party, Buenos Aires will not go to without this opportunity to celebrate.  Museums dependent on the Minisjtry of Culture of the Government of the City will add to the celebration with tens of free activities: guided tours, exhibitions, plays and musical shows and contests. For instance, the Museo de Arte Español Enrigue Larreta invites to pay homage to the singer Miguel de Molina, “the king of the couplet”; the Museo de la Ciudad presents a homage to the tango singer Ignacio Corsini; at the Museo de Arte Criollo José Hernández, people will be able to appreciate a live show of fillet art.   At the “Casa de Carlos Gardel”, there will be an exhibition of films and tango. What it is more, the one-person performance “Espantapájaros”, based on the book of homonym poems of Oliverio Girondo; the “Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori” presents activities for children. And more…

Of course, only one day is not enough to visit all the museums, know all the patrimony and enjoy all the activities. But every cloud has a silver lining: museums are still open everyday, available for the public. The party of this Sunday , then,  will be a promising first date.

Do you know the city’s museums? Which is your favourite one? Why?

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Buenos Aires’ museums search — Sunday 18th program

If the Legislative House of the City of Buenos Aires passes the law draft by the member of the Parliament, Marta Varela, the Callao avenue, along its twenty blocks, will be declared “Area de protección histórica” (APH: Area of historical protection).

Callao was, at a moment, the boundary of the city. When the high class families left the southern part of Buenos Aires–due to the yellow fever, in 1871–and they moved to the highest neighbourhood of the city’s northern part, Callao, from Recoleta to Downtown, many mansions in French and Italian styles were built.
85 of these constructions are included in the law draft by Varela, who intends to protect their demolition–an increasing danger because of the real estate industry–and modifications of their facades.

The APH category also regulates the building materials and measures of streets and sidewalks, shelters, awnings and advertising signals. Among the 85 buildings included in the law, we can enumerate the building Banco Nación (Callao 101), the bookstore Clásica y Moderna (Callao 892) and a work by the architect Alejandro Virasoro, one of the art decó pioneers in Buenos Aires, at Callao 1405.

Furthermore, there are people who are against these laws which protect the architectural patrimony. They think that these norms stop the development of the city and make Buenos Aires seem artificially old-fashioned.
What do you think about the idea of protecting Callao? Do you know other buildings along this avenue?