Some early observations from our experience so far in Buenos Aires – to be added to periodically:
- They love their dogs. We’ve never seen a major city with so many dogs (as pets, not strays), especially so many big dogs. Seems that the favorite breeds here are golden retrievers, boxers, labs. There are some small dogs, but not nearly as many as in San Francisco (thankfully). They’re all exceptionally well-behaved – many aren’t even on leashes and just trot along right next to their owners. They don’t chase after other dogs or even seem to have interest in people other than their owners (for example, me – who wants to pet every single one of them). Very impressive obedience training. And the dog walkers are all power-walkers with 8-10 dogs on average.
- A consequence of the plethora of dogs is the “dogpiles” on the sidewalks – everywhere. Apparently it’s not a norm to pick up after your dog . . .
- Everything starts late here. Tonight (Sunday) we went out to grab a quick dinner and get to bed early before getting up at an ungodly hour (read: before 11am) to start Spanish classes tomorrow. The Mexican restaurant we wanted to go to was empty when we walked by – we thought maybe they were closing, until we overheard them telling another couple that they didn’t open for another half hour. At 8:30 on Sunday night. Wow.
- There’s graffiti everywhere. Everywhere. On the sides of buildings in our (quite upscale) neighborhood. On the walls of the cafe where we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast the other day. On the bases of statues in the city parks. They’ve had to fence in some of important monuments and statues to prevent them from being graffitied.
- Perhaps offsetting the last observation, there are trees everywhere. We are currently living in Palermo Soho, right near a number of the city’s parks, which are all wonderfully green. But even walking around exploring different neighborhoods and wandering down random streets, they’re all lined with trees (see our pics).
- Most of the aforementioned city parks are fenced in. For example, the park that was the site of the attempted purse snatching is completely fenced in, with only two entrances/exits. Seems like that might make it less than ideal for an illegal grab-and-run operation . . . We’ve come across one park so far that’s not surrounded by a fence – beautiful Las Heras Park. Haven’t yet figured out what necessitates the fences at all the other parks – let us know if you have insights here.
- Cheap wine can be good wine. We ordered a half bottle of Malbec at dinner tonight and paid ~$4 . . . at a restaurant . . . and it was good. Seriously. Given the amount of wine we drink, we may well save a few hundred dollars a month on wine alone vs. what we would be paying at home!
Mr. Fuller,
I am not averse to you sending me many bottles of cheap tasty malbec. In fact, I would view it as a sign of good faith for the chicken calendar I am holding in my possession to be given to you upon your return.
Seriously,
Joe