Buenos Aires is overwhelming. Not in a bad way. More in the sense that we’re only here for a month (yes, I realize most people visit for a much shorter period of time) and I still don’t feel like I can do all the things, visit all the cute cafés, eat at all the great restaurants and really take in all the different areas of the city. I’ve made some headway in the last week and a half since we’ve been here, but unlike Montevideo, BA is definitely a city that I’ll return to.
We’re staying in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, which is a pretty trendy part of town and itself is composed of smaller areas like Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. This month, our group is spread across five different apartment buildings rather than two hotels right next to one another, so we no longer see everyone all the time. A lot of us rarely go into our co-working space, La Maquinita, because we have so many cafés to choose from and it takes some of us longer than we'd like to walk there, which further cuts down on our facetime. To be honest, it’s a little refreshing to not travel in huge packs all the time like we tended to do during our first month in Montevideo.
Highlights of our time in BA so far include a bike tour around the city and two very different live performances.
The bike tour was organized by Remote Year’s local contact in BA, Gon. He and his girlfriend led a group of about 15 of us around all afternoon. I gained an even greater appreciation for just how big the city is and how varied its barrios (aka neighborhoods) are. We started in the Recoleta neighborhood where we rented our bikes and then rode through the more industrial port area of Puerto Madero. From Puerto Madero we took a break from the city streets to ride through the Reserva Ecológica that borders Rio de la Plata (the same river that runs to Montevideo).
After enjoying the greenery in the ecological reserve and almost running over two snakes that were crossing the road as we cycled past, we continued our ride to La Boca, where we stopped for lunch and walked around a bit admiring the colorful old buildings. After lunch in La Boca we struggled a bit to get back on our bikes, but we had one more stop to make before heading back to Recoleta: San Telmo, which is known for its Sunday flea market, and definitely not the best place to try and squeeze through the crowds with so many bikes! I'll have to go back another weekend to really enjoy the experience.
The performances we saw gave us a glimpse at the creative culture in Buenos Aires. The first performance we saw last Friday, Fuerza Bruta, is an incredible hour-long show that I can’t really describe in words -- I didn’t even attempt to take photos during the show. One of the other Remotes advised us in advance not to Google the show or look up anything about it because part of the experience comes from not knowing what is going to happen when you walk into the room. You remain standing the whole time as the show takes place all around you and I couldn't help but stare in awe at the intricate choreography and planning that went into creating the performance. The show originated in Buenos Aires but it also plays in New York, so I highly recommend you go see it next time you’re in either city! (Fair warning, if you’re claustrophobic, a few moments during the show may freak you out a bit.) Last night, we went to see La Bomba de Tiempo, a great improvisational percussion drum performance. No performance is the same because the director signals to the ensemble what to play based on different combinations of hand signals. The audience packed the outdoor venue to watch the show, dancing and moving along to the beat of the drums that filled the night air.
I’m really looking forward to exploring more of this amazing city, and even more excited that I’ll get to do so with my first official visitor this weekend!