Part I: Buenos Aires

Arriving in Argentina

Mid-afternoon on my first day in Buenos Aires. I'm foggy and exhausted after an all-night flight from Miami, which came right after a five-hour flight from San Francisco. I arrived here in the morning, and after the arduous task of going through customs, took a taxi into the city.

You can always tell a great city by the quality of their taxi drivers, and this one gave me a fascinating introduction to Buenos Aires. We talked about the weather, which had been rainy and gloomy, politics (as we drove by a shantytown inhabited by Bolivian immigrants), and the sprawling wonder of Buenos Aires as the city passed by outside the window.

As I spoke with the cab driver, I began to hear in his accent some of the distinctive tones of Argentine Spanish. The most prominent of these sounds is the che, the pronunciation of the "y" sound as a hard "dj", "ch," or "sh," so that me llamo becomes me shamo.

Tango dancers in the Plaza Dorrego

When we got into the city, it was a little too early to check into my apartment, so I dropped off my luggage and spent a couple of hours wandering around the barrio of San Telmo. My first stop of course was the Plaza Dorrego, which is just a block away from my apartment. This historic square forms the heart and soul of tango music in Buenos Aires and is a great place to sit and drink a beer, watch the dancers, and listen to the music. The tango music is blaring from the boom boxes set up by the dancers, but above and beyond that is the music of the city in motion.

San Telmo is a neighborhood of colonial architecture, narrow cobblestone streets, small cafés, and wrought iron balconies that look out over the energetic scene below. I'm reminded of some of my favorite streets in Madrid, streets with a crumbling charm that hides stories only the imagination can reveal.

The view from my balcony, in the Calle Humberto Primo

My apartment is on the second floor of a 100-year old building in the Calle Humberto Primo. From my balcony, I look out at the neocolonial towers of the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Belén - Parroquia de San Pedro Telmo. It's an idyllic view, with the church surrounded by the tall green leafy trees that make this neighborhood so attractive. I love sitting on the balcony and watching the theater playing out in the street below.

Next up: The Argentine Peso

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