Buenos Aires is Beautiful

[keech]

Hey All,

I think it was Peri that started this topic and my God was he right,when the sun is shining,the breeze is blowing, the street your on has just the right amount of foliage, and there aint a stink of doggy doo do ,BA is perfect.More perfect that any other Oasis we have ever dreamt of.

I deplore the begrudgers here that bitch and moan about BA,as one poster pointed out why the hell are you still here?

But the fact of the matter is I have become one,I have a list longer than my arm as to why BA now annoys me,but its all personal.

After 12 3 month trips over 8 year sand living here for almost 4 years we are splitting,leaving,searching for new pastures,forgive my spelling,a couple of Quilmes and a Spanish keyboard usually leave me out of key.I still haven't found out how to put in brackets so leave my punctuation out of the rebuttals .

Anyhow as much as I clench over BA at the moment I wish to tell newcomers that it is indeed a paradise.Fantastic vibes and scents to be found on all street corners,little happenings to be found on all avenues, interesting people to begin or finish conversations with, a real oasis, but not for all.........

If you want no Dog Shit go to San Francisco,if you want Fast service in a restaurant go to Germany,If you want better coffee go to Paris,Perfect paths go to Norway,If you don't want to get shot go to Ireland,if you dont want rights for gays go to south africa...etc..etc...

Fter all this time, we have found out..my wife child and I ,that BA is not right for us,we have friends and family here, but sun and Nuestra Gente aca is not enough.


Anyhow

So I 'd like to put a big thank you to this forum for letting me vent and a big cheers to Peri for starting this thread,BA is beautiful but its also terrible, the paradox we choose to live in..

Well thats me and alcohol induced rant finished with....

I wish all the best for Christmas and the new year

LOL

K

 

[perry]

Keech I wish you and your family a very merry xmas.

 

[katti]

The last few days have been heavenly with that perfect weather and breeze. Its days like these that you believe that you are living in one of the worlds most beautiful cities. I live in Palermo close to the bosques and the incredible parks which make this all the more enjoyable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zD9W9SZj9w

I cannot believe that a nice post like this gets so many negative reactions. Are you guys always so negative??? Maybe you should focus on the good things in life (and BA) and you will be a lot happier and less frustrated.
If you are not happy here, then move or just shut up.

Sorry, I felt like someone had to say this.

Merry christmas to everyone!!

 

[sergio]

Keech, just WHY are you dissatisfied with BA? Please explain.
BTW, people who who oppose gay rights shouldn't go to South Africa. They have legal same-sex marriage there.

 

[sergio]

I don't know how anyone can deny that the city is extremely dirty. Some of the better streets in Recoleta (Posadas, Avenida Alvear, Qunitana...) are kept fairly clean but on the whole the trash situation is a very serious problem. Soon after trash is placed on the streets cartoneros come along and tear it to shreads. Trash flies all over the place. Have you ever noticed how porteros sweep clean their building's little plot of land by depositing the trash into the street? I guess it never occurred to them to put it in a trash bag!

 

[ghost]

I don't know how anyone can deny that the city is extremely dirty. Some of the better streets in Recoleta (Posadas, Avenida Alvear, Qunitana...) are kept fairly clean but on the whole the trash situation is a very serious problem. Soon after trash is placed on the streets cartoneros come along and tear it to shreads. Trash flies all over the place. Have you ever noticed how porteros sweep clean their building's little plot of land by depositing the trash into the street? I guess it never occurred to them to put it in a trash bag!

It's not a matter of realization. It's a matter of attitude.

 

[markbsas]

I cannot believe that a nice post like this gets so many negative reactions. Are you guys always so negative??? Maybe you should focus on the good things in life (and BA) and you will be a lot happier and less frustrated.

If you are not happy here, then move or just shut up.

Sorry, I felt like someone had to say this.

Because it IS beautiful AND it is NOT.

There is beautiful and ugly here. There is good and bad - sort of like you speak about on your blog.

 

[sergio]

I don't believe that the porteros have any consciousness that they are doing something wrong. In general the attitude in BA, even among many of the educated, is to treat the outdoors as one big trash can. People freely throw papers all over the place with total indifference. It's part of the 'individualistic' attitude of Porteños.

 

[malbec]

Name any city in the World and there will always 1000 things to complain about. What it's good for you it my be bad for your neighbour.

But what it's kind of annoying is that a post intended to praise one of the nice aspects of BA is 'misused' to whinge and complain about the bad things.

Why not start another thread to complain about the rubbish on the streets?

 

[syngirl]

lol - iStar, I think you've definitely got the rose-tinted glasses on about TO as well though, c'mon admit it. I have been there many a day when driving in from Oakville and you can't see the CN Tower until it practically smacks you in the face. And when I was there in July (or was it the visit in September?) when it STANK thanks to the garbage strike going on. TO may be cleaner and smoother-functioning than here but it isn't paradise... although let me admit I'm from Vancouver so you'll never fully convince me on TO, haha.

Anyway the whole "Repair the sidewalks!" "Clean up the garbage!" "Fine everyone that breaks the law!" are all reactions of newcomers that have made the mistake to think that it's easy to change things. Believe me, more than a few of those sentiments have come out of my mouth over the years as well. But things are SLLLOOOOWWWWW here... change may, may, May come but it moves incredibly slow. Yet again in the news last month was the declaration that the Riachuelo will be cleaned up in the next year... this is probably the 25th announcement in as many years that THIS will be the year that they clean it up.

As I write this, I can hear my husband downstairs arguing with his insurance company on the phone about that more than one month ago his car was robbed outright and no one has even attempted resolve the claim. In fact they gave him numbers to call, and he called the numbers and they didn't even exist... this is typical here. The bronca in his voice almost makes me laugh because it is just something that every citizen of this city experiences at least once a day -- I've gone through a bad spell where I've spent the past 4 dias habiles wasting for the minimum of the day on some sort of tramite or another.

This city is sink or swim... love it or hate it... it is beautiful, but don't they always say you can't appreciate the beauty unless you know the ugliness? Well that could be the definition of Buenos Aires. Right now outside I've got beautiful green trees out my window up to the 6th storey, birds chirping away, tomatoes ripening on my balcony, geraniums in bloom, and camelia flowers perfuming the air. Inside I've got my husband yelling at the top of his lungs at the insurance company with a passionate anger that I certainly wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of... so there you go -- beauty and ugliness living side by side in city... lol, but when he hung up the phone just now he still said "te agradezco much, hasta luego, felicidades" -- hahaha