BUENOS AIRES -- There's a high beauty quotient
among the people of Argentina, and they dress with flair. Even women in jeans
have that ability to throw on an ordinary scarf or shawl in such a way that they
end up looking elegant.
My friend Pam and I look at each other immediately after arriving on the
streets of Buenos Aires. We've been friends since college days -- so long we can
sometimes read each other's minds. She says it first: "Haircuts."
We stop in the first salon we pass. A wash, cut, highlights and blow-dry
costs 37 pesos each -- about $13.
Try doing that in Paris, which I've come to think of as the Buenos Aires of
Europe.
I came to Argentina last summer, hoping to find an alternative to Europe,
where the almighty euro was still giving the U.S. dollar a firm beating. I
happily anticipated that I would find things cheaper here -- after all, the
Argentine peso went into free fall back in 2002. But how exceptional would the
bargains be, and would it really be a true substitute -- close enough to the
original to satisfy the traveler yearning for a European-style experience?
Matter of fact, during my days and nights in Buenos Aires, I had to keep
reminding myself that I was in South America. Walking wide boulevards lined with
fine, European-style architecture, past chic restaurants and bistros where
people linger over meals, you sometimes feel as if you are in Paris. Late at
night, though, the bright lights and indefinable sense of energy in the streets
reminded me more of New York -- although New York is much more ethnically
diverse. Portenos, as residents of Buenos Aires are called, are predominantly of
European extraction.
Basically, visiting Buenos Aires is like going to Europe and finding that
everything is half-off American prices.
Granted, you still have to get there. But our package price of $900 each --
about the cost of airfare to Europe, or to Argentina, for that matter --
included airfare direct from Washington Dulles International airport, six nights
in a very nice, centrally located hotel with breakfasts, airport transfers in a
private car with a tour guide to greet us, and a half-day bus tour of the city.
If we'd been extremely frugal -- eating in the cheapest restaurants and
taking public buses for 30 cents -- we could have gotten by on less than $200
for all other expenses that week. We chose instead to enjoy a few affordable
luxuries. This included taking cabs (after all, the meters start at 55 cents),
great meals in beautiful settings, a day trip out of the city and an overnight
trip to an estancia, one of the many former estates where the wealthiest
aristocrats of Argentine society once lived and trained their polo ponies during
the months they were not vacationing in Europe.
Unfortunately, we couldn't ignore the bargains in shop windows. After all,
our salon "savings" alone could buy us three or four pairs of
fashionable leather shoes, or four or five stylish woolen sweaters, or maybe a
pair of those boots of buttery soft pigskin, with a purse to match.
Of course, this tourist windfall comes at the expense of the Argentine people
who, despite a stable government at the moment, still struggle with the fallout
of many years of inept and corrupt leadership. Just a few years ago, the
Argentine peso was pegged to the American dollar, one for one. During our trip,
banks were giving about 2.8 pesos for one dollar. Even that apparently did not
reflect the true state of the peso: Most shops and restaurants were happy to
take American dollars and give a flat three-to-one exchange.
Yet the city -- or at least the central areas that tourists frequent -- shows
few, if any, signs of the financial collapse that the country endured.
Restaurants, bars and tango venues are filled with locals. Parks and buildings
both public and private seem well-kept. You see fewer obviously destitute people
than you would in similar neighborhoods in cities in the United States. Although
the U.S. State Department warned of petty crime, I felt safe walking in busy
downtown neighborhoods day and night.
I repeatedly wonder aloud how the city and so many of its inhabitants can
continue to look so good. The answer that keeps coming back boils down to this:
Looking good is a central tenet of the culture in this country that was once one
of the richest on Earth. When Argentine actor Fernando Lamas would repeat his
familiar phrase, "You look mahvelous, darling" -- a phrase famously
vamped by comedian Billy Crystal -- he was summing up the ethos of his country.
European touches
The Spanish were the first European settlers to arrive and conquer here, and
some of the churches built by Jesuit missionaries remain in Buenos Aires. But
subsequent waves of European immigrants have left their marks. There are about
as many Italian restaurants in the city as there are steakhouses, and you can
raise a glass in an Irish tavern with a Spanish-speaking O'Donnell or Flaherty,
or have a German strudel in a cafe in an old French mansion.
About 9 million of Argentina's 37 million people live in and near the port
city, which boasts 47 separate and distinct neighborhoods.
When I learn that our hotel is in the central business district, I assume it
will be a long walk from anything other than canyons of office buildings. But it
turns out Buenos Aires doesn't have soulless high-rise neighborhoods. The ground
floors of office buildings are used for retail, so our hotel on Reconquista is
surrounded with chic stores and restaurants, the streets lively with pedestrians
from early morning until late at night.
As long as we stash our cameras and keep our mouths shut, Pam and I are
mistaken for locals. When it becomes clear we're from the United States, we get
an enthusiastic greeting. Argentines, we're told, still remember with gratitude
Jimmy Carter's call for human rights at a time they were under the thumbs of a
right-wing military dictatorship. They still fondly recall that then-first lady
Hillary Clinton met with the mothers and grandmothers of "the
disappeared."
(Amnesty International has documented the disappearance of 9,000 people at
the hands of the military dictatorship that ruled from 1976 to 1983. Estimates
of disappearances range up to 40,000. Each Thursday, mothers of the disappeared
were still rallying at the Plaza de Maya, reminding the current government that
they still seek answers to the fate of family members who vanished.)
Although we've taken an 11-hour, overnight flight, the one-hour time
difference means no jet lag, and we hit the streets immediately upon arrival.
We quickly realize we don't have to plan our days. Like a handful of great
cities around the world, Buenos Aires is a place where you can walk aimlessly
and be assured of finding numerous things of interest. It's got that palpable
sense of energy: Street performers pop up all over the city, and dozens of
museums and other attractions are concentrated in several downtown
neighborhoods.
Our meandering path on our first day through the Centro and Retiro
neighborhoods leads past museums dedicated to art, crime and forensics,
photography, city history, currency, ethnography. Given that entrance fees range
from 30 cents to a couple of dollars, you can pop in and out without feeling
obligated to absorb every detail of every exhibit.
We've planned our trip so that we'll be free on a Sunday, to take in the San
Telmo market. The neighborhood is considered slightly dicey at night, but on
Sundays, it feels as if all of Buenos Aires has gathered for a massive street
fair.
Dancing in the streets
A brochure we've picked up at a downtown information kiosk lists the
addresses of 92 clubs for dancing tango, the most internationally recognized
symbol of Buenos Aires. But if your interest in tango is casual and you just
want to see a few couples perform, you'll find them here on the streets, dancing
for tips.
Classical guitarists are also playing for tips. Miming is a popular art form
here, and costumes are elaborate. I didn't know there were so many mimes in the
entire world. It's as if they had an international convention here, and everyone
stayed.
And of course the main attraction: stuff. The market offers new, used and
antique goods of every conceivable variety. I settle on some easily packed
handmade jewelry, and vow to return some day for the huge copper pots and pans.
For four days and four nights, we walk. Most of the time we have no specific
destination in mind but simply explore neighborhoods. The most elegant and most
unabashedly European: the adjoining neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo.
The French-style mansions in Recoleta date from the early 19th century,
testimony to the vast wealth that once poured into Buenos Aires from the nearby
pampas, or fertile grasslands. The neighborhood is perhaps most famous abroad
for being home to the historic Recoleta Cemetery. With the help of a cemetery
groundskeeper, we find the gravesite of Eva Peron. Fifty years after her death,
she remains a controversial national figure, but she clearly has her
long-enduring fans, judging from the flowers they place in the iron filigree of
the mausoleum doors.
Famed opera house
Perhaps the greatest testament to the fabled wealth and cultural stature of
Buenos Aires: Teatro Colon, the world-renowned, 2,500-seat opera house opened in
1908. Its auditorium, in French baroque style, is lauded by opera and symphony
buffs for superb acoustics. The walls of the foyer are made with three kinds of
European marble; the floors are mosaics of Venetian tiles; overhead is a
Parisian-style stained-glass dome.
The great stars of the opera have all sung here: Maria Callas, Enrico Caruso,
Luciano Pavarotti. Mikhail Baryshnikov called it "the most beautiful of the
theaters I know," and Baryshnikov knows some theaters.
Open for guided tours, the opera house is also home to the city's ballet and
opera companies and three orchestras. A good seat for the opera costs about $35,
or you can buy a cheap seat for little more than a dollar.
My favorite spot in the city: the riverside promenade in Puerto Madero, an
old warehouse district turned into a modern, hip neighborhood. Hovering over the
neighborhood like a giant bird about to take flight is a gleaming white
footbridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, the highly lauded Spanish architect
whose awards include the 2005 Gold Medal from the American Institute of
Architects.
Handmade jacket
On our last day in the city, before an evening flight, I return to a shop
near my hotel to try on a leather jacket I've been admiring all week. Turns out
it doesn't fit. No problem, says the saleswoman. A seamstress appears, takes my
measurements, offers me a selection of leather to choose from and heads to the
factory. She promises me a tailored, handmade jacket, for $140, by 4 p.m.
While Pam goes off for a manicure, I settle in for a proper English tea in an
elegant tearoom in the Carlton Hotel. The world passes by the window outside my
table in the room with mahogany wainscoting as I eat finger sandwiches, scones
with cream, and jam and pastries from a tiered silver platter. It costs me about
$7. Those on less forgiving budgets are welcome to linger at the table and share
the food; the second person simply orders tea. That way, it's tea for two for
about $8.50 -- an economy measure that Argentines are enjoying at tables all
around me.
Normal life will soon overtake me when I head back home. But at the moment, I
am feeling, and perhaps even looking, mahvelous.
If you go
GETTING AROUND: An extensive bus and subway network offers cheap transport,
with tickets starting at about 25 cents. Taxis are also a relative bargain: the
meter starts at just over 50 cents. But because of safety concerns, don't flag
down street taxis; call or hail radio cabs from reputable companies
WHEN TO GO: Buenos Aires has a mild climate. Average temperatures in January,
the hottest month: about 74 degrees. June, July and August are the coldest;
average temperatures all three months are about 50 degrees. The shoulder seasons
-- spring and fall -- are perhaps the best time to visit the city. Of course, if
you plan to use the city as a springboard for visiting other parts of the
country, plan for temperature variations as drastic as those in the United
States.
