carlos

san telmo, buenos aires

yesterday afternoon was our fourth encounter with local architect carlos levinton, the direct supervisor for my group of three. yesterday´s reunion was distinct because it was the first in which we heard specifics about what we may actually do. still, it may not have been completely claro.

we will be working out of estudio levinton, a comfortable space attached to the second floor of his home in the belgrano district of town. the home is what you would think of an architects home: everything is circular, modern, and has a steely comfort. the studio, especially, is what you would imagine to be an architects working space. it is organized chaos. there have to be thousands of free floating papers containing sketches and proposals. these are sometimes stuffed into folders, other times sitting in somewhat neatly stacked piles on one of his desks. the studio has plenty of books as well, though many are haphazardly stacked without spines displayed on high shelves. still, there are large windows and the studio feels modern, but the appearance of the studio bears close resemblance to its occupants mind.

el profesor loco, as he can appropriately be labeled, is exceptionally smart. through glimpses of his work, his models, and his introduction, it is obvious that he is accomplished and deserving. but he´s also a bit crazy. he told us to translate a document while he worked, then proceded to translate it for us in a sort of socratic method. he drew elaborate designs of a sustainable house for pobrezas that we are going to be designing (will fill you in on this later) then somehow we segued into talking about tsunami shelters. we all came away from the meeting with two impressions:

! and ?

for added effect, he showed us a bit of his home before we left and we saw his son, a slovenly teenager engrossed in some sort of computer deejay simulation. it just seems so appropriate.

besos y mejillas

la boca, buenos aires

while i was preparing for my trip down here, i had been in contact with a number of people affiliated with fadu and my housing situation through email. these were always done in spanish and i noticed that my counterparts, whom i´d yet to meet, signed off with un beso (a kiss). while i realized upon arrival that this was more than just a salutatory remark, i can now see that a kiss may be just a kiss.

upon seeing a familiar, or even a new face, it is custom to lean in and give them an innocent peck on the cheek. acceptable and possibly more common, is to connect cheeks and peck the air. i could not say how much time between encounters needs to elapse to make a beso a required greeting. definitely a day, but my guess would be that it would be that an absense long enough for both parties to change clothes would be sufficient.

what´s so amusing about this greeting is about how it has permeated within our group of gringos. in the first large group meetings, we would stand awkwardly and kiss one another´s cheeks when we made the rounds that included some of our hosts. now, with or without locals, we give and receive confidently as if we were lifelong porteños.

the final beso adoption, which is coming slowly, is to give this kiss to men as the locals do. adopting the ´when in rome´ mantra, i ventured to peck my supervisor´s cheek a week ago. it was received without protest, but don´t know if that´s attributable to the custom or the fact that a towering 6´6 bearded freak of nature descended onto an unsuspecting architect. still, it´s nice to do as the locals do and try to shed the residual homophobia so ingrained in the american psyche.

maybe it is the atmosphere that lets us drop some of our american pretensions, or to assume those of buenos aires. it is nice to add a little formality when greeting someone, even if you see them every day or happen to be of the same gender. a gentle brush of mejillas and a kind word are welcome in the age of globalization and i wouldn´t mind seeing more of this custom back in the states. still, the mullet´s not making the flight home.

ama de casa

la boca, buenos aires

rumor has it that nora, our host in la boca, is 64 years old. she has a couple (few?) grown children, at least three tow-headed grandchildren in their terrible 2´s, and continues to support herself as a full-time artist. she also just bid me adios to go out tango dancing for the night.

while home-stays can be iffy propositions, i could not be more pleased with the arrangment we have. in nora´s three-storey home, we gringos occupy consecutive small bedrooms with windows facing the street on the second floor. our space is slightly separated from the rest of the house by beaded curtains and contains two bathrooms with one hot water shower. this floor is the main floor of the house with a spacious living room, small salon, dining table, and a kitchen in back we all share this space, including our provision of refrigerator and pantry shelving and freedom to move about however we please. the first floor serves as an entrance and for storage and the stairs to nora´s space on the third floor possess an aura of mystery, the passageway to forbidden territory.

we all operate according to the golden rule and without obligation. through tacit agreement, we clean our dishes and throw away all our trash just as we can put our feet up on the coffee table and come home in the wee hours of the morning. we greet each other and say goodbye to one another, but there is never the feeling that conversation must be forced. while respectful distances have been maintained, she has also invited us tomorrow to walk about ten feet from our bedrooms to join her family for almuerzo.

it is nice to know that the coming weeks will be comfortable and respectful at a minimum. if invited to more almuerzos, or even to a night of tango dancing with her, i know it will be because she values our, or even, my company and not because of any hostess-tour guide compulsions. until then, i´ll just go on keeping the plates clean and let my bare feet go wherever they please (except the third floor, of course).


post script. have taken a lot of pictures and a handful of videos, but have yet to find a friendly computer to upload. will look forward to providing visuals when the opportunity presents itself.

el precio es correcto

san telmo, buenos aires

for those who believe a dollar can´t buy anything anymore, i present to them buenos aires. well, after they paid for the thousand dollar flight, then i would present it to them. after that, moving around is not only cheap, it´s pretty easy too.

¿got 1 peso (33 cents)? you can take the bus to more or less any destination in the city. intimidating at first, all you need is the pocket sized guia´t´, 192 mini-pages composed of maps/grids/potpourri that shows which buses go where. this is helpful as bus service is available frequently, around-the-clock, and will stop like taxis just by flagging them down.

¿got 90 centavos (30 cents)? you can take the subte. it offers a handful of lines radiating from the center, like chicago´s ell, through underground tunnels, like new york´s mta. there are television´s for your wait on the platform, all the tunnels are wired for cellular use, the seats are occasionally velvet, and the smell of urine has yet to be detected.

¿got 4 pesos ($1.33)? get yourself a media luna (croissant) sandwich. with ham and cheese, they are the perfect way to start your day. i felt like i had a breakthrough today when i went to the local panaderia and the lady pointed me directly to them, the universal sign of recognition (and respect, of course).

¿got 5 pesos ($1.66)? get yourself a bottle of vinto tinto. not only will you be surprised by the fact that such a cheap bottle can taste so good, you´ll be amazed that your local supermercado sells bottles that are almost as good for slightly more than half of this price.

¿got 15 pesos ($5) mas o menos? take a taxi. they are everywhere, like new york, and the drivers are some of the nicest people you can meet, unlike new york. there are few better ways to practice your spanish, or to learn coarse local colloquialisms.

but, like life, the best things in this city are free. to walk past children playing soccer, old men playing cards, to ponder local graffiti, admire local balconies, or to walk in and out of various galleries costs nothing. a pair of comfortable zapatos may be your best ticket.

post script: empanaderia wisdom (sign at empanada place)
felices son los que dan sin recordar y reciben sin olvidar

fadu

san telmo, buenos aires

FADU, or facultad de arquitectura, diseño y urbanismo, will be the host for my experience here and the past couple of days has consisted of introductory meetings. i will be on a team with fellow gringos kristing and shriya, under the supervision of architect carlos levinton, and the exact nature of our work is not completely clear. my parallels to james bond begin there.

yesterday morning, we met carlos at his basement studio and it felt like the seen where bond meets q. rather than introductions to rocket propelled porsches, stun-gun watches, or shoes with lazers, prof. levinton showed us some of the innovations that he has been developing and delivering for the past couple decades (if not more). these include:

• a paper-machete type mash of newspaper, consolidated into a dense brick the size of an expensive calculator, that can burn and provide fuel for two hours.
• insulation for homes comprised of used orange juice containers, ironed together with a thin blended coat of aluminum.
• a network of the top halves of 2-litre soda bottles used to capture rain water for reuse.
• tying together thin strips of 2-litre bottles to create 30 meters (from 1 bottle) of strong rope.
• paper cartons, with a layer of styrofoam, fused together with a coating of aluminum to serve as a solar panel. the panel is folded into a funnel where a pot can be placed at the center. levinton says that it would take 7 minutes to boil a quart of water.

we returned in the evening to rehash the glory days that were shop class from 6th grade. with blocks of wood the size of chalkboard erasers, we sawed ourselves little forklike devises, complete with razor blade, used to strip two litre bottles. the possibilities for this include the rope mentioned earlier, but also the ability to weave the strips into bags, storage pockets, or whatever use someone may be able to think of. such a small devise could be of such great use to someone living in the poor villas throughout this city. while i don´t know much about our day-to-day, we may be devising a plan to better distribute such innovations throughout the villas and/or study their effectiveness. i´m cool with that. hasta luego.....

almorzar

la boca, buenos aires

take any guy between the ages of 14-75 (old enough for wallet, young enough for teeth), put him in buenos aires for a few days and ask him to provide a few words to summarize his experience. while i will not claim to know every impression, i do know that you will hear the following barring major mental illness:

steak. delicious. cheap.

such was my experience today, although the full analysis is not complete. the deal was that we had a few hours to kill in between workshops and rachel and shriya knew of a place with a set menu with plato, bebida, ensalada o papas fritas, postre o cafe for 18 pesos ($6). great. sounds good.

so, we proceed to order, but the waitress tells us that a few of our choices are not available with this option, but my bistec de chorizo is ordered without a problem. i ordered it jugoso, or juicy, and this had to be the best steak i've had in years: big, thick, tender, and, yes, juicy. it was enough, but since i was getting the special, i had to accept the tiramisu on the postre menu and a cafe for good measure. then came la cuenta.

apparently, the bistec de chorizo was not an option on the menu ejecutivo, even though every procedure for restaurantal tacit agreement had been followed to the letter. therefore, the agua sin gas that i ordered had to be paid for, as did the papas fritas, the tiramisu, and the cafe. my 18 peso lunch, comfortable with my pocket stash of 50, was all of a sudden a 60 peso lunch. though i borrowed 100 from kristin, i had been deceived, tricked, mocked, and, yes, made to feel like a downright tourist.

but, it was still the most amazing meal i've had in weeks, maybe months, and it was only lunch. deceit never tasted so good. my mild manner afterwards, while arguably attributable to a pleasant food coma, may mean that the charm of this place is still enough to compensate for its other half. still, i'd say its another week before 60 pesos feels less like 20 bucks and more like 60 pesos. that's when heads will roll, jugoso o no.

anoche

la boca, buenos aires

certain things require no translation. our evening began with an off-curcuito play, Sucio (dirty), featuring my professors son. true to buenos aires form, the play started shortly after the advertised 11 pm hour and i can claim to have had a complete understanding of the play. before you overestimate my ability in the spanish language, i figure it may be worthwhile to note that the play featured a rendition of whitney houston's 'i will always love you', a portly man wearing a television on his head, and a 3-minute sex scene between a 25-year old man and a 4-foot tall stuffed bunny. it was odd, zany, and to label it as brilliant does not do it enough justice.

after the play was over, it was off to avenida 9 de julio for some drinks before we went to a massive club. we made sure not to get there too early, and were glad the place was half-full when we walked in at 2:30. got a taxi back to la boca around 5, though we would have returned sooner if the headlining deejay would have gone on before 4. while few have labeled me as a club-hopper, the house music was good and definitely enjoyed myself (as did the rest of the gringos).

one thing to note, and to note respectfully, is a certain style that is quite apparent. it didn't take much of a survey to conclude that people care about the way they look: their clothes are quite fashionable, their jewelry and accessories are de moda, and many appear to see the gym quite a bit more than yours truly. that is why it is all the more perplexing to look at the top of many of the young men and see a little something trickly down their necks: the mullet.

that's right, mullets are here and they are plentiful. not quite as aggressive as the appalachian variety, they take many forms including the rat tail, the mohawk mullet, small descending lobster claws, and just full-on mullitude. you can't claim to have seen it all until you've stared at the same head and seen dolce gabbana sunglasses and a mullet. but still, to be fair, if anyone can pull it off, it is the porteno (someone from buenos aires). i anticipate a return to the states with an appreciation for argentine beef, wine, and custom, but you're all free to shoot me if you see me donning the iguazu falls on my dome.

until then, buenas noches y buena suerte

p.s. BA architectural fun fact: not sure exactly when, but recent legislation said that for apartment construction all residency units must be provided with a balcony. me alegra, giving me the impression that this not only makes the city more aesthetically pleasing, but perhaps translates into a more open and outward orientation in the citizenry.