Postcards from a Porteño

Back by popular request.... Well, one or two people have asked once or twice if I would write something for the newsletter from Buenos Aires. The last of my `Jottings from Jakarta' was nearly two years ago. How time flies. As with `Jottings' I hope to portray what it's like (for me) to live in another of the world's largest cities. But being large is about the only thing that Jakarta and Buenos Aires have in common. The contrasts between the two are quite remarkable. They are worlds apart, in more than one sense. Whereas Buenos Aires is a very European city, Jakarta is unmistakably Asian. So....

Buenos Aires is laid out in an almost unbroken grid pattern. Diagonal roads are uncommon. Curves in roads are almost non-existent. Virtually everywhere you go you go in a straight line (if you don't include the erratic high-speed swerving of the taxi driver as he maximises the potential of every tiny gap in moving traffic). Though somewhat boring, this does make finding your way round very easy, especially as every parallel block has the same property numbers in hundreds. If someone lives at Libertador 2600 you can quickly work out where they are... 26 blocks from the city centre. Getting around is made even easier by the frequent suburban-city centre trains until at least 1am, the extensive city centre `Subte', the dense network of bus routes operating through the night, the relatively wide roads and light traffic. Locals - `Porteños' - think the traffic is bad. Hah! What do they know!? Like I said, quite a contrast to Jakarta.

Unlike Jakarta, one can also walk from A to B and enjoy doing so. In the wealthy northern suburbs in which I live, near the riverside, the gardens are festooned with a myriad of flowering plants. In some places the air is heavy with the fragrance of jasmine and honeysuckle. There are local well-stocked shops and bars, places to eat, railway stations, newsagents and all the other paraphernalia of everyday life within a couple of blocks. The roads are in good condition - no gaping holes through which the unwary can fall into the sewers - and the sidewalks are maintained by the adjacent property owners who sweep them, hose them and plant little gardens outside their own walls on them.

Jakarta has an `early night' culture. Most people went to bed early and rose before dawn. At weekends it seems that most Porteños don't go to bed until after dawn. The last train into the city at 1am is packed with revellers who return after the trains resume at 6am. Arrive at a popular restaurant any night by 9pm and you will be guaranteed a seat. By 9.30 it will be full. Dinner starts at 10pm and is a very noisy affair as the lively, demonstrative Argentines try to hold four different conversations simultaneously (and succeed). They seem to be able to do this without pausing to order food, eat, drink or even breathe.

Unlike Jakarta Buenos Aires is a city of contrasting seasons. Autumn is glorious. Buenos Aires is a city of many trees and trees of many types, and they display their full splendour in April when they turn the city gold, red, yellow and brown. In the spring jacaranda trees tint the city with clouds of lilac blossoms against sharp, blue, clear skies. Winter is cool and sharp, when the sunrises over the river are stunning. In summer it is hot and humid and the lively chatter and the eating spill out onto the streets, imbuing them with an atmosphere all of their own. The climate all year is enviable, only occasionally getting too cold, too hot or too humid for comfort, and annual rainfall is low. If there is a place in the world with a near-perfect climate then Buenos Aires may be it.

It is also a city of glorious buildings from a glorious past, parks and street fairs, laughing children and indulgent adults, good wines and better beef, angst and analysts, football and fitness freaks, art and culture and friendliness and kindliness. But, enough. I've limited myself to one side of A4. Maybe I can pick up on some of these things next time if, by popular demand (!?) there is a second edition of...

Postcards from a Porteño

Frank.

P.S. A `Porteño is, strictly, a resident of the port but is now a common name for anyone living in Buenos Aires.