San Telmo, Buenos Aires
September 21, 2009
September 19, 2009
September 17, 2009
Light and Dark
Buenos Aires is starting to feel a bit like home. The broken sidewalks are easier to navigate. The melancholy eyes seem to brighten as it gets closer to spring. There is a certain hope in the air, the empanadas taste better and the black jackets make way for an occasional purple sweater. I’ve rested my head on this city’s soil for one month now. It’s not a place that's easy to fully embrace but I’m still into you, BA. You’ve still got me hooked.
The Spanish is slowly sinking into my skin and with each passing day I sound less and less like a drunk two-year-old. I try everyday. Look foolish everyday. Yet feel elated everyday when I can understand a conversation. The universe opens up and goes "Si". The nights continue to offer a treasure chest of musical gems: milongas, swing, zouk lombada, jazz, international DJs and drum shows. Something for everyone to shake their assets to.
I went to a tango bar last night, La Catedral, that was part Pablo Neruda sultry dream and part David Lynch eerie nightmare. A beautiful hybrid of light and dark. Just like the Argentine people. Just like the onda aca. Just like the city itself.
September 13, 2009
September 10, 2009
September 6, 2009
September 3, 2009
Baptism by Fire
Buenos Aires never sleeps. I’m two weeks into my trip and I’ve finally landed on my feet. I’ve been living days and nights that can only be compared to college era times. Dinner at 11PM, bar arrival at 1AM, dance floor packed at 5AM, breakfast at 1PM.
BA is complex. It’s dirty and cheap and artsy and mysterious and huge. It is birthed from a drunken one-night stand between Paris and Mexico City. A hybrid of European and Latin cultures. The youth sports mullets and rat-tails, so much so that I am starting to question what decade it is.
Buenos Aires is unapologetic; you will get run over by a car if you don’t yield to it. It can be trying and yet you begin to feel yourself falling for it. BA isn’t the hot quarterback, it’s the sulky art student – you want to know it’s secrets, it’s hidden pathways.
The first few days, this city said to me “I could care less that you’re here – big deal, another post Eat Pray Love American expat exploiting my peso with cheap Malbec consumption”. I felt a bit hurt, a bit humbled. But now I’m starting to accept it for what it is, with all its broken sidewalks, black jackets and melancholy eyes. I’m starting to crush on you, BA, even though you can be difficult.
This ciudad has so much to explore, I’ve been here 14 days and have yet to walk by a tango show – there's so much more to be revealed. I'm happy that I took this plunge into the unknown and that I started here. Each day is new and each day is full. of. life.
August 23, 2009
August 22, 2009
August 18, 2009
August 14, 2009
Leap of Faith (Day 1)
"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power". - Alan CohenI am about to leap from my nest. It is scary but it is time.
After much gathering of courage I have quit my job, relationship, apartment and city. My life now fits into a suitcase and that suitcase is-a-movin.
Today is the first day of my year into the unknown. Argentina for language, Africa for giving, India for listening and Thailand for playing.
So what do you have when you let go of how you define yourself? I suppose I’m about to find out and see what life is like without a safety net.
So here I go, eyes closed, wings spread ... 3 2 1 Go.
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