Gracefully Crumbling and Reconditioning

People in Buenos Aires are very interesting. They stroll around slowly on the sidewalks, but get them to a street with a no walk image flashing, and they will speed up to get across it. The avid jaywalking is kind of fun though, it's a ncie way to observe and partake in the ebb and flow of life here. The city is so incredibly crowded, people and vehicles have to move together like waves. It's structures, and yet it's not at all. At first I had a hard time picking up the tempo of moving around town, but after a few days, I think I have it!

The cityscape is also very interesting. It’s a vivid mixture of old, decorative, and dignified European style buildings from the colonial era with detailed engravings. These grandiose buildings sit right next to modern high-rises and older dilapidated buildings from less fortunate times in Buenos Aires’ past. Buenos Aires is crowded with a little bit of everything and the jumbled and crumbling aesthetic of the city streets is fascinating. I tried to capture this in a variety of pictures.

So far one of my favorite things that I’ve experienced has been the lazy Sunday. Almost everything is closed and there is significantly less traffic. Most people seem to go to the park, and I saw multitudes of families just sitting around enjoying the shade, each others company, and sharing gourds of mate (a kind of tea here). They seem like a very laidback people as well, it seems very much an anything goes sort of culture…letting it all hang out…well, maybe that’s just the effect of a hot summer though. It was fun to share in the cultural experience of lounging in the park and taking slow walks along some of the less urban parts of the city. It helped me get ready for another coming week of sightseeing, navigating the streets, and beginning to look for teaching jobs.