one more day in BA

I had to start the day by going to El Ateneo Grand Splendid: indeed, a wonderfully situated bookstore, in an old theater (and with a very good selection of books, too) - and then went to La Boca, the touted-up part of which makes a great thing out of what were once immigrant houses down by the old port - largely tenements housing newly arrived, made of corrugated iron, and painted with colors left over from painting ships.  El Caminito was actually unbearably touristy (and remember, it's May! the equivalent of November) - not so much in terms of crowds, but because of hard-on sell (and this doubtless was intensified for me by passing a food pantry just before I got there).

It had something of the would-be cheerful air of modular housing in LA made from shipping containers ...

even if, yes, it was striking.

Even half a street away, however, it felt less ... freshly painted.

As you'd anticipate, I found the 1950s bas relief panels a fascinating carry-over from C19th Italian socialist art traditions: this, La sirga, is by Julio César Vergottini.

I got off the colectivo (#152, this time) at the very beginning of La Boca, however - about twenty five minute's walk north of here, which gave me a much better sense of the decaying nature of the district as a whole - with some lovely examples of early twentieth century/late nineteenth century architecture, all the same - including some houses that could have come straight out of London dockland; and also brought home that this is a barrio completely dominated by soccer.  Deep blue and yellow - the colors of the La Boca team - were everywhere.

Why the side of the La Boca stadium should include a mural of some firefighters rescuing a mermaid rather baffled me.

I was left hoping, at the end of this, that Argentina will win the World Cup: I know the history involving England is a long one (and yes, I did see a Maradona-themed bus painted with the legend "La Mano de Dios")

There was, of course, some non-football-themed wall art, too.

Then there were houses that gave one, I think, a much better idea of what the neighborhood probably looked like.

And the pièce de resistance, waiting, surely, for their lunch.

 

a day in Uruguay

Today, I caught the Buquebus - one of the ferries - over to Uruguay for a peaceful day in Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and utterly deserving of it.  It was founded by the Portuguese in the late C17th, and then in 1777 captured by the Spanish.  The ruins in the picture below are where the original governor's mansion stood.

So this is what they assume visitors might want to read?  Orwell and Kafka?  It's more of a Joseph Conrad location.

The simple 1810 church is being restored, hopefully to the same quiet elegance as the alcove behind the altar.

Down by the Rio de la Plata, a very pro vegan, or at least pro vegetarian stencil.  Given all the steaks (or maybe because of them), there's a surprising amount of vegetarianism in both Argentina and, evidently, Uruguay.

The lighthouse.

Calle de los Suspiros, supposedly the most photographed street in Uruguay, and it was lovely - the kind of place - the whole little old town was - that makes you vow that next time, you'll spend a night here.  (next time??).

 By the same token, this is probably the most photographed car in Uruguay.

It sits outside a very friendly cafe/restaurant, where I had a wonderful plate of lentil stew, that warmed me up and served as both lunch and dinner.

Walking back to the ferry terminal, an autumnal avenue with the Rio de la Plata at the bottom.

Heading back to the hotel on the bus (one of the beauties of BA is that there are buses - colectivos - everywhere, which makes transportation when one's not walking a dream.  Only there are many competing companies, so somehow I never seem to get the same number bus twice, even on what's more or less the same route ...) - heading back, and not for the first time, I was reminded that this issue is still very much alive ... (maybe not a bad thing to have a US passport ...)

and here's a nighttime view of the Gallerias Pacifo (alas, the Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes isn't illuminated.  It should be).

 

more bits of BA

He gets everywhere ... glad to encounter his bearded face on my walk south from the hotel this morning, down Gascon, to the amazing Basilica Maria Auxiliadora y San Carlos (I might not have known about this if Véronique hadn't posted some photos of it earlier this year - why don't guidebooks make more of it?  But many thanks to her!!).  Pope Francis was baptized here.  And it wasn't just beautiful - it was packed and cheerful; and having a very energetic service for children and their families (which of course provided the opportunity to sit and immerse oneself).  The blue ceiling with gold stars is like the wallpaper on my room when I was little - when I stood in my cot and pulled a little bit that was loose, and pulled, and pulled some more.  The Basilica was built between 1900-1910, by an Italian architect José Vespignani - this was very much at the instigation of a bunch of immigrants from Genova.

How to follow that?  Luckily, Argentinian café culture is strong, and no one seems to mind if one sits with a large cup of coffee and hops onto a Zoom meeting for an hour.

Then to the Ecoparque, a totally surreal place.  To be sure, there was lots of eco information, and I absorbed a lot about Argentinian bees.

There were little lakes, and turtles, and ducks.

But there were also abandoned, decaying structures everywhere, for this had been the city's zoo since the end of the nineteenth century, and there are 40-odd structures scattered through it, from Greek temples to a Russian Orthodox church to rustic cottages to a fortress ... it's like visiting a Worlds Fair site.  And it's also overgrown - and many of the enclosures and cages have creeper growing through them.  The animals who were fit to travel were moved out and into somewhere bigger and kinder by 2016, and only a few are left ...

apart from the mara, who are everywhere,  These are the strangest animals - I've met them somewhere (but where??) before: technically rodents, they're like goats crossed with rabbits, and about the size of a pygmy goat, and usually hang out in Patagonia.

These giraffes din't look elderly (I couldn't tell with the hippo, who was 7/8 submerged), and were happily having tea.

And then, wondrously, a puma/mountain lion, sunbathing.  P-22's Argentinian cousin!

She was incredibly beautiful, self-contained, and had a very good sized enclosure - and then there was a notice explaining that she's been rescued from being a pet - too imprinted on humans to be released - and she is a warning about how Wild Animals are emphatically not pets.

The whole ecoparque is educational, in a quiet way; useful (there's a hospital for injured wildlife); and includes dinosaur models - very Crystal Palace, but bringing home to the young that extinction can happen, and shouldn't ever be allowed to.  And yes, that is a very far from extinct mara just trotting round the corner ...

 

architectural

This is so wonderful.  It's the Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes, a truly romantic name that used to house ... a water pumping and purification station (cholera was really bad in the 1860s). The engineering work was English; the architect was Norwegian (Olaf Boye) and the engineering design was by the Swiss civil engineer Carlos Nyströmer.  The outside boasts 300,000 glazed terracotta tiles made in ... Leeds.  It must have been an amazing building in the city when it was built: 1887.  Here are some early postcards and photos that show this...   Anyway, I've been obsessed with seeing it for a while ...

But first, I had to walk there, past some other small architectural gems;

and attempts to brighten the ugliness of the main (civic) hospital.

and then, the magnificent Palacio itself.  I found out yesterday that its museum has been closed for restoration since ... last Monday, but since it still is full of offices where people do things like going and paying their water bills, I was hoping at least to step inside.  No.  It was closed for Sanitation Workers Day (and there were lots of cross people who couldn't get to pay their bills, too).  But maybe the outside is the main thing?  There are many, many more photos where these came from: I've restrained myself ...

And then I carried on walking.  And yes, I was grateful to AI.  I had a list of buildings I wanted to see, and I asked it to construct a walking route that joined them all together, and that was a godsend.

So next, a fine piece of Art Nouveau architecture, whose first plans were drawn up in 1905: the Confitería del Molino has been empty since 1997, but it's been being restored since 2019 ...

The 22 floor Palacio Barolo is quite extraordinary: built by a cotton baron in the early 1920s, with one floor for each of Dante's cantos; some monster on the ground floor (which is Hell, of course), and a lighthouse on top.  He wanted to move Dante's ashes here, because he thought Europe was disintegrating and they wouldn't be safe in Italy.

A necessary stop for some excellent coffee in the Gran Cafe Tortoni - the oldest cafe in BA, which has been here since 1858 and is very - well, the guidebooks all say French, and yes, but it seemed much more like an old Italian cafe to me: a long ago haunt of writers, artists etc, in any case,

The former Banco de Boston, now offices, built in 1924.

Next, the Galerias Pacifico - with a rich and complex history: the original idea, in the 1880s, was to create an Argentinian version of Au Bon Marché (the Paris department store), with the architectural influence of the Galeria Vittorio Emanuale in Milan playing a part, too.  But - despite adding a hotel, and some very early escalators, and indoor central heating, it was ... rather large for a department store at the time, and, I suspect, wildly unprofitable.  The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes moved here in the 1890s; the department store didn't make it past 1905; in 1908 it was taken over by a railroad company; then in the late 40s another stab at a department store was made; then offices again; then decay ... but it was resuscitated in the 1990s, and now holds a whole lot of upmarket stores.

Eat your heart out, Rick Caruso - the Americana and The Grove will never have this real department store heritage - with frescos (from the late 1940s).

Not all department store ventures succeed, however ... this was the only overseas branch of Harrods: it opened in 1914, and was a - I can't better the city's description on its own website - "Edificio de estilo Eduardiano -fue popular en el Imperio Británico durante la era eduardiana de 1901 a 1910 y se caracteriza por su escasa ornamentación."  It closed in 1998, and has been empty since then, and is a rather sad sight.

and finally, and very autumnally, back at the street corner before my hotel.  I should say that all this walking wouldn't be nearly so doable if it was high summer - with temperatures ranging between the low 40s (I wore a hat this morning) and the mid 60s, it's really pleasant weather for city exploration.