In a city of 3 million humans, there are over 500,000 dogs as pets, making dog watching in Buenos Aires just as prolific as people watching, and equally entertaining. The only issue with having these wonderful and loyal animals is the amount of poop left on the sidewalks! Pick up your poop. It is sad to see a city so grand that has large portions obviously neglected. The infrastructure is not here, the sidewalks in many neighborhoods are missing large portions of concrete. The city has been overtaken with graffiti, nothing has been left untagged. Even the wonderful art murals have been tagged a million times over.
The political posters is overwhelming! If I were Argentine I would never vote for Scioli, the city is been blighted with his posters, graffiti everywhere with his name and agenda, in every inch of space imaginable, such an eye soar. Even the underpasses, is he going to remove all of that when the election is over?
In the Recoleta area with its grand via's and beautiful Jacaranda trees the streets are lined with stark apartment buildings and you are able to see much of the "old Europe" influence from time past. I can imagine how beautiful it must be when the Jacaranda's are in full bloom. The cemetery is world famous, and I love my cemetery. This one is the most opulent one I have ever seen. I did not find that surprising since most of the last names are from Italy and Spain two countries with wonderful resting places. I was surprised to see the amount of Basque last names from the early 1800's resting there. There are many many wonderful parks for kids, dogs, and even skateboard parks, which I would love to see in Hollywood for our kids.
We walked and walked for me it is a great way to listen to the conversations on the streets, get the feel of the people. In the at least 65 miles walked, I was told over and over to watched my camera, that it's dangerous to walk with a camera (and this is my little Sony)! All of the establishments, restaurants, stores have the doors locked, security guards or both! The feeling of being "unsafe" walking through the city was unsettling. At the same time I felt fine, only once did I feel uncomfortable walking from La Boca to San Telmo.
Yesterday we walked to el Puente de las Mujeres and then walked through a ecological reserve which at first I thought was a good idea, but was built on a landfill that has not been remediated. No Bueno, the amount of trash and plastics around the river was sad to see. The signs stating not to near the water because of toxicity and the color of the water was heartbreaking, I can't imagine the toxicity of the saline in these waters.
All in all my five day were nice, the weather was great, the sites were good, the museums were fair, all of them had at least one floor closed due to change of exhibition or remodeling and yet they charge the same price to admittance. The people were nice, willing to speak as to the political and economic situation. The best was our last cab driver from Peru that has lived here for 15 years, he said from the inquires that he has made about other countries that Argentina is the best country in the world. Free health care, free education and that the Argentines "care" about the people. He said if he was in his country and lying on the side of the road sick, they would let him die. He said Chile, a middle class level in Chile is a low class lever here. He said if you are begging and on the streets in Argentina it is because you enjoy it, because this country has all of its resources to offer. Unlike many of the natives speaking about politics, even going back to Menem's time to find blame. The problem is the same as the U.S. it is the people that do not do their homework, that do no go out and vote, that sit on the sidelines and watch life go by.
Che!
Elizabeth
