After five months, the final leg of this travel starts in Buenos Aires with a 36 hour sprint spread over bits of 3 days, and ends the same way after the Antarctic.
It'd be easy to mistake the capital of Argentina for continental Europe. After two walking tours led by opinionated and highly politicized locals (are there any other kind in Buenos Aires?), they leave me with the impression and facts that portenos (locals) are arrogant, passionate, hot blooded and dream of past glories. Oh yea, the city is magnificiently beautiful. The fact is, the country was once among the world's wealthiest, is the size of India, and until the millenium, had a peso almost on par with the yankee greenback (now at 3.8 pesos to the dollar).
The pampas/plains of Argentina fed the world and lined the pockets of arsitocratic European migrants. Hungry for that home feeling and a European identity, the portenos imported European architects, materials and built Paris of the south with heavy Spanish, and Italian flourishes. Throw in some South American flavours, exterminate all the indigenous populations, and you get perfect belle epoque, and art deco settings. The copious amounts of graffiti give it a unique, "pissed off, I'm on strike," porteno touch (200 often paralyzing strikes per year).
(Dante's mausoleum--typical attempt at emulating that warm, Italian feeling)
(La Casa Rosa--Evita and then Madonna in the movie did their thing from balcony below dome on left)
(looking out from Plaza de Mayo--black domes are French design, the others are Italian)
(Retiro, neighbourhood for old money)
While in Asia and Cairo, it was easy to play, spot the gringo. But here most locals (85%) look, act and revel in their old-European heritage. This all makes for an abundance of continental cuisine mixed in with loads of Argentinian beef. In fact the average Argentinian eats 70kg of beef a year. That kind of works out to a 12 ounce steak better than every other day. On those off days, I imagine they slum it with chicken or pork. By the way, the steaks are superb (altho a bit more seasoning wouldn't hurt) and come in sizes resembling Volkswagens.
Our guides also told us how vanity and a decided alternate reality frames their lives. Many still pine for the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands (below-memorial for the fallen from that war).
Eighty per cent insist they are middle class though statistically this is impossible. Many will spit you in the face if you argue that Maradona is not the greatest footballer ever. And many are into the nip and tuck. Apparently every week, 100 boob jobs are performed locally. That's 200 new breasts for the statistically minded. Ro-bust (pun intended) health care plans fund cosmetic surgery, but ONLY every other year. No wonder the locals are always so pissed.
Argentina By the Numbers:
80 million....population
8th....largest country in the world
5...the number of countries it borders
23...world rank in GDP, well behind Brazil at 9, Mexico at 11, but ahead of those dastardly Chileans at 43. EU is #1, US is 2, Canada 14
10...percentage of locals who are Jewish, making it the 3rd largest Jewish city after Tel Aviv and New York
Next: Ushuaia, del fin del mundo---the end of the world
