Getting my head around BA

Aren’t planes amazing? Seriously, in 20 hours including layovers I had gone from cosy Tullamarine, Melbourne to José Newbery Aeropuerto, Buenos Aires. That enclosed environment of an aircraft and the sameness of airports gives that illusion that really aren’t going anywhere. Paul Kelly was nearly right with his song, “Every Fucking City (feels the same)”, I think he really meant; “Every Fucking Airport (is the fucking same)”. Excuse my French.

In a way it is comforting, as once you have dealt with one or two airports you work out the due processes needed to succeed at killing eight hours of meaningless time, and you will always have that skill set. “There’s the duty free alcohol shop, alright, that will be 30 minutes I can spend there feeling moderately productive”, “Oh look, those three seats in a row with an attached side table is spare, here comes a 3 hour nap while I spoon my hand luggage” etc.

As I write this I am in the kitchen of my four bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires in the suburb of Recoleta. The apartment is great, exactly what I was hoping for for the next ten weeks. It is pretty ancient; the elevator (I am on level eight), has two pull-open doors, fits a maximum of three people and doesn’t slow to a halt but jerks to a stand-still. I love it. The only inconvenience is if someone has got out on say level three, but neglected to close the door behind them. If that is the case, the elevator will not ‘come when it is called’ and a search of all fifteen levels will be required in order to locate the lift, close the doors and send it on it’s way. Touch wood, it hasn’t happened yet.

Yesterday I worked out the city a bit with a bus ride into the center (about 3km) to find where my Spanish classes will be next week. Most of the ‘microcentro’, business center, is off limits to traffic, which is a nice relief from the hectic traffic in most other parts of the city. Most notably, the widest avenue in the world is Avenida de 9 de Julio, which I successfully negotiated yesterday. It is bloody wide. I reckon it has a total of about 30 lanes, divided into four uneven sections, easily 150 metres in total, so it needs to be crossed in two sections. The countdown until the terrifying ‘red-man, green-light combo’ began at 60 seconds for each, of which, all was needed to safely cross.

Very sneaky park

Other landmark events I bore witness to was the cheekiest car park spot I have ever seen (photo attached), a bloke hammering down Ave. 9 de Julio on a motor bike whilst smoking a cigar, as well as seeing a bunch of signs calling for street protests against the government this Sunday. I might have to check it out and begin my activist career. At some stage I will write a post about the current economic woes in Argentina and possible reasons (according to the experts) about why the country is battling.

One of the reasons however is the disparity in the dual-exchange rate of the Argentine Peso. For example, at the airport when I arrived, I used an official ‘cambio’ (exchange) to change US$100 to $650 Argentine Pesos (6.5:1). However, with my program coordinator yesterday, I used a black-market, VERY widely used cambio where, for my US$200, I received $2100 Pesos at 10.5:1! Basically this shows that locals do not have faith in the stability of the Peso and will do what they can to get more reliable $US.

This makes a huge difference for me, especially when you consider that a litre of beer (the standard communal bottle) is $25 Pesos. Basically, through using the less official means of cambio, I get the equivalent of 16 litres of free beer for every US$100 I exchange. That is a win. It also means that I will be putting more pesos back into the local economy as I literally have more to spend. The only downfall of it is if the Peso were to crash. Which isn’t entirely out of the question.

Anyway, onto the reason I am actually here; my internship. I had an interview, in Spanish, with my organization, RACI, yesterday and it sounds great. Basically I will be working 12-16 hours a week, Monday to Thursday, on research projects that are allocated to me. These could be on certain organizations that may be interested in contributing aid to Argentine NGOs, or researching UN policy in regards to development etc. It may sound boring to some, but it is straight up the career path that I envision for myself in the future. Next week will be packed, with Spanish class from 9-1 from Monday to Friday, then RACI from 2-6 in the afternoon. I’m legitimately excited to get on with it.

In terms of socialising, I’ve managed to squeeze some in. Tonight, Saturday, I am going to a party with a friend I met when I was in New York two years ago, my name is on a guest list at a certain nightclub, so hopefully it will be shit hot! Who knows though. That’s probably the best thing about it.

Thus far, I am the only person in my apartment at the moment but apparently a Belgian girl is moving in later today, so hopefully she is cool. The other two rooms are going to be filled within the next week.

Again, feel free to share this blog around with friends and family who may be interested in seeing what I have been up to.

There are loads of parks throughout the city, a few dogs as well

Yours,

Hugh

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. A perfect traveler just gets lost.” – Lao Tzu & Hugh Fitzpatrick