Buenos Aires - City of Contrasts
The phrase from Gaidai's "The Diamond Arm" is quite applicable to the capital of Argentina. Its full name sounds like this: Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Nuestra Señora de Santa María y de Buenos Aires. To everyone's relief, only the last part has survived to our time, which translates as "fresh air".
Buenos Aires was founded twice. The first time was in 1535, but then the Spaniards had to leave the city under the onslaught of warlike Indians, and the second time, more successfully, in 1580. At first it was an ordinary colonial town, but when Buenos Aires received the right to free trade, first with Spain, and then with other countries, it began to grow with incredible speed.
Now Buenos Aires is called one of the most cosmopolitan and multinational cities in the world. Most of the people here are from Spain and Italy, although you cannot list all the nationalities that inhabit Argentina. In Argentina they joke: "When a Spaniard speaks like an Italian, dresses like a Frenchman, and considers himself an Englishman - that is an Argentine."
At first, finding yourself in the whirlwind of pedestrians and cars scurrying, as it seems, without purpose, with the deafening noise, you think you have ended up in a cheap sideshow. Numerous slums, which you come upon as soon as you drive away from the center, can also support such an assumption. But then, having gotten a little used to it and settled in, you can also notice some interesting beauties. However, the huge number of cafes and small restaurants, each of which has visitors at almost any time of day, does not allow you to focus on viewing the architectural ensembles. And this is not surprising - food in Argentina is elevated to a cult. But more on that below.
If you have been to Argentina but have not visited Buenos Aires, consider that you went in vain. The city, located on the Río de la Plata, is not without reason called the "Paris of South America". The inhabitants of the capital differ radically from the provincials; they even have their own name - "porteños" (residents of the port). And although the porteños themselves say that their identity lies in the absence of one, this is not entirely true. Most often, the residents of the capital (usually second and third generation immigrants) speak a peculiar "surzhyk", oscillating between the Spanish-Italian dialect and the Spanish language, and spend their leisure time in various cafes, where they amuse themselves by playing dice or billiards.
The porteños themselves tease each other about the nationality of their ancestors: Spaniards are called "gallegos", Italians - "tanos", and Jews - "rusos". Most often they work as shopkeepers, small industrialists, and clerks. Although recently there are more and more unemployed among them. But still, the main passions of the porteños remain tango, mate (Latin American tea), asado (roasted meat), and football. In the evening, locals like to stroll through the streets of the city, putting on a kind of fashion show, and visit theaters.
On the streets of Buenos Aires you will never see any porteño walking in shorts, and if you do, that person can only be a tourist. Both women and men are extremely particular about their appearance; much attention is paid to hairstyle, and women very carefully select cosmetics and, by the way, skillfully use them. And the presence of hair on exposed parts of the body is considered here not just the height of indecency, but almost a crime.
For most Argentines, the main thing in life is family. At the same time, the roles of men and women are strictly divided. The husband plays a decisive role in political and economic matters, while all internal family affairs are in the hands of the woman. Although recently more and more female residents of the capital prefer not to do housework, but to have lunch and dinner in cafes or restaurants and have a housekeeper. The main goal of a man is to be a good husband (buen macho, where macho literally translates as "male"), and this implies not only strength and courage, but also an excessive sexual appetite.
Due to their waywardness, porteños quite often suffer from various mental disorders (there are even more psychiatrists per capita here than in Manhattan) - either they throw hysterics for no reason, or they fall into melancholy and sit for hours in cozy cafes, watching passersby and dreaming of distant countries.
The main pleasure for tourists here is not visiting museums, but walking around the city, in which everything speaks of former glory. The most suitable streets for this: Florida, Lavalle (both are pedestrian), Avenida Santa Fe, as well as Plaza San Martín and Plaza de Mayo, on which Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, is located. Nearby is the City Hall building, one of the few surviving colonial structures. The artistic quarter of San Telmo is also interesting.
The city has a large amount of public transport - commuter trains, metro, buses. Like all porteños, bus drivers are very expressive, so try to hold on to the handrails tightly, because you simply will not have time to grab them when braking, although local residents do not care about such troubles - they can calmly stand and sip mate while you try with all your might to stay on your feet.
Drink mate - and you will become an Argentine
On the streets, in transport, and indeed everywhere, you can see porteños with unusually shaped cups in their hands. They all sip their favorite drink - mate. In taste, it is most similar to green tea; this bitter and astringent liquid has a refreshing and invigorating effect. Mate can be drunk with sugar or honey and without, hot and cold.
Since ancient times, mate began to be prepared by the Guarani Indians, who turned drinking mate into a ritual ceremony. Then the gauchos (shepherds) became addicted to the drink, first in Paraguay, and only then this drink moved to Argentina. Mate turned out to be an indispensable means for quenching thirst and relieving fatigue. In terms of the subtlety and obligation of observing a whole set of rules, the preparation and slow sipping of mate could compete with the famous Japanese tea ceremony. And to this day, mate in Argentina is considered a drink of plebeians, but everyone drinks it, regardless of gender, age, and social status. Although people at the top of the hierarchy do it secretly. Given the food that Argentines prefer, mate is also necessary for improving digestion.
Asado as a gastronomic ritual
As we have already noted, food in Argentina is also a cult. The favorite food of Argentines is, of course, grilled meat, and a rare porteño can imagine a day without meat. Do not be surprised if, before a trip to Buenos Aires, you are told that this is a real paradise for meat eaters and hell for vegetarians.
And although Argentina exports meat to many countries of the world, its best cuts still remain in the country and are consumed with almost religious reverence. The main part of a porteño's lunch is asado or churrasco and red wine. Only men can cook asado; they skewer pieces of meat fillet onto metal crosses and watch over its cooking on coals - that is asado. Churrasco is beef roasted on a spit.
In Argentina there is even a holiday of asado. The ceremonial dinner consists of a strictly established sequence of dishes. First, sausages and hot dogs (chorizos), blood sausage, veal intestines and kidneys, which are a delicacy, are served on a festively set table. Then various parts of the cooked meat are presented, with salad and bread as a side dish, and red wine as a drink.
Interestingly, unlike us, Argentines consider veal intestines and bull testicles a delicacy, but practically do not eat, for example, beef liver. And meat sold in local stores is always of high quality and very fresh (there is no question of any freezing), and it is not very expensive.
If you are going to eat in any of the numerous small restaurants in Buenos Aires, you should remember a few words: "jugoso" - if you want your meat rare (with blood), "punto" - medium rare, and "bien hecho" - well done. After visiting any of the local establishments with the aim of eating meat and drinking wine, you will certainly be satisfied, because if anything, Argentines cherish the traditions of national cuisine like the apple of their eye. In the most extravagant grill bars, meat is cooked right in the shop windows, while in others there are stuffed cows by the doors, and on the dining tables there are posters with images of animals and precise indications of where each cut of beef comes from.
If you have a sweet tooth, you should try dulce de leche - a very sweet caramel cream that tastes like the boiled condensed milk familiar to all of us since childhood. This cream is also used to fill sweet sticks - facturas. Another dessert - queso con dulce - is cheese under a "coat" of quince or pumpkin jelly.
Argentina's calling card
The music of Argentine tango, unlike, for example, Brazilian samba, can be anything but cheerful. The themes of tango are loneliness and nostalgia, despair and jealousy. The famous dance performed to this music is a vivid demonstration of the masculine energy of Latin Americans; its fundamental elements are passion, eroticism, and temperament.
There are many versions of the origin of this dance, but the most likely assumption is that tango originated in the late 19th century in the slums of Buenos Aires. At that time, a flow of immigrants from different parts of the world poured in here, mostly men, who spent their free time in bars and brothels. National melodies mixed, creating the distinctive sounds of tango. The dance was invented before the lyrics to the music were written; usually it was performed by two men to brighten up the waiting in line at the brothel.
Then tango began to gradually gain more and more popularity among other segments of the population. For the longest time, high society did not want to recognize the melody and the dance, considering tango a symbol of provincial decadence and continuing to dance the European waltz and polka. But after tango became a passion of almost all of Europe's high society, Argentine high society also embraced it wholeheartedly, agreeing with the Parisians that the essence of the Latin American style lies in tango.
And the invention of sound recording allowed tango to win an even larger audience. To this day, all of Argentina worships the "Boy from Abasto" - the singer Carlos Gardel, who performed tango and died in the prime of his career in a plane crash. Having recorded the tango "Mi noche triste" on a record back in 1917, the next morning he woke up popular not only in Argentina but all over the world.
Other shores
Tourists always gladly go to the island of Tierra del Fuego. First of all, because of its terrifying name, but not only. There is the southernmost city on Earth - Ushuaia - and one of the most remote wildlife reserves in the world. The city's past is quite rich - at first it served as a haven for whaling ships, then turned into a penal colony where Russian anarchists served their sentences. Now Ushuaia has become a modern tourist center, most of all resembling the Klondike during the gold rush.
In the north of the country you will be able to get acquainted with its colonial past - there are the largest Indian settlements in Argentina. The cities located here have European names, and their inhabitants often have European roots.
Having decided to visit Argentina, you won't go wrong. Here you will be able to see absolutely opposite landscapes, cultures and cities. Everyone will be able to choose what they like - transformed European culture, sparkling Argentine football, passionate tango or the wild world of the Tierra del Fuego reserve.