Argentina Adventures: Welcome to the Neighborhood

Living for a month in my own Buenos Aires apartment made it easy for me to feel like a Porteña (residents of capital are called Porteños or Porteñas) rather than a tourist. My neighborhood was part of Palermo.  Since Palermo is so large, it’s divided into sub-areas. Mine was referred to as Palermo Botanico since it was near the Botanical Gardens, in the northern part of Palermo.  By the way, the city of Buenos Aires covers a huge area.  The population of the metropolitan area is over 15 million. 

The cozy one bedroom apartment I rented through Airbnb was a perfect pied-a-terre (I’m not sure how to say that in Spanish).  I chose it primarily because of its proximity to Elisa and Christian’s place.  It was also very convenient for sightseeing throughout the city.  When I wanted to visit museums, I could find several within a reasonable walking distance on the main boulevard, Avenida del Libertador.   A ten-minute walk brought me to a Subte (subway) station, where I could hop on a train and be in the center of the city in 15-20 minutes.  And a ride cost the equivalent of 40 cents.

Palermo Botanico is a well-established residential and commercial area, filled with beautiful parks.  Most residents of the neighborhood live in modern medium- to high-rise apartment buildings.  Interspersed with the modern structures are some older buildings that reflect European architectural styles.  The apartments often feature balconies looking out onto the tree-lined streets. 

On the balcony of the Cheslaks' apartment

Despite all the tall buildings, the area was quite green, even in winter.  The trees were quite different than the ones I’m used to seeing in the Washington, DC area.  In the Botanical Gardens, there were several unfamiliar trees, including the palo borracho, a South American tree, which has sharp spikes growing on its trunk and limbs.  Many of the trees that lined the streets were jacarandas, which will erupt into a sea of purple blossoms when spring arrives in October or November.  

In the Botanical Gardens

Everything I needed for daily living could be found within a few blocks of my building: supermarkets, a health food store, bakeries, numerous cafés, restaurants of all sorts (pizza, seafood, and more), parks, laundry, plus various boutiques selling clothing, housewares, jewelry, etc.  After spending the past thirty years living in the car-oriented suburbs, I was thrilled to be able to rely on walking rather than driving. 

My apartment building (but I didn't have a balcony)

Avenida del Libertador, a major thoroughfare 

While the more formal restaurants generally closed between lunchtime and the dinner hour (not re-opening until 7:30 or 8 pm), several cafes and casual restaurants remained open throughout the day.  One such restaurant was Squzi (pronounced "skoozi") where Elisa and I stopped in for coffee and medialunas (the sweet Argentine pastry that resembles a half moon) while Sylvie entertained herself in the children’s play area.  In general, I found Palermo to be a very family-friendly neighborhood.  

The kids' corner in Squzi, a neighborhood restaurant

In the playground with Sylvie on her birthday

Since the neighborhood was very densely populated, there were usually a lot of pedestrians, except on Sunday morning.  There was also quite a bit of traffic on the roads.  There were plenty of cars and trucks, often double-parked.  Buses and taxis were constantly zooming down the streets.  In fact, the level of activity reminded me of New York City.  Also like New York, Palermo Botanico was lively even late at night.  When I walked back to my apartment at 1:30 a.m. after babysitting Sylvie, there was still plenty of activity in the neighborhood. 

One warning I was immediately given by Christian and Elisa was that vehicles do not stop for pedestrians, so I always used caution when crossing streets.  I also quickly learned to watch carefully where I stepped since picking up after dogs isn’t common practice – and there are a lot of dogs in Buenos Aires.  Everyday, I’d see professional dog walkers leading a pack of 6, 8, 10 or more dogs down the street. 

In addition, I learned that Buenos Aires is a very security conscious city.  Of course, you needed a key to enter your apartment building; but you also needed a key to get out the building!  I hate to think what would happen in case of an emergency such as a fire.

From the very beginning, I felt that I fit in to my Buenos Aires neighborhood.  On my first afternoon, in fact, when I was walking back from the supermarket with my grocery bags, someone asked me for directions in Spanish.  It wasn’t all that surprising.  The population of Buenos Aires is almost exclusively of European descent.  In our neighborhood, I never saw anyone who seemed to be Native American, African or Asian.  That lack of diversity is one of the ways in which Buenos Aires differs greatly from New York and Washington.

One very attractive feature of Palermo Botanico was the abundance of parks, both tiny and enormous.  And with so many people living in apartment buildings, the parks are very well utilized.  We’d often take Sylvie to one of the parks, where she’d search for animals.  We usually found dogs, pigeons, ants, and ducks.  Strangely, though, we never saw a squirrel in Buenos Aires.  I wonder if they only live in the northern hemisphere.  

A weekend visit to parque 3 de febrero

Parque 3 de febrero is the largest of Palermo’s parks and it attracts big crowds, especially  on the weekends.  The four of us spent several hours in the park one beautiful Sunday.  Sylvie kept busy smelling the roses (not at peak bloom in the winter, of course), running after the dogs, and trying to pet the ducks.  Then we all enjoyed brunch at one of the park’s many restaurants, which are situated in a row under an old railway bridge.  

Please don't eat the roses.

Choosing a restaurant in parque 3 de febrero

This girl knows how to brunch!

The Buenos Aires Zoo was also in our part of Palermo.  The zoo itself was a bit shabby.  Many of the animals have already been sent away as the zoo is being transformed into an eco-park.  But Sylvie is an animal-lover, so we made sure to visit the zoo during my stay. The most interesting animal in the zoo, from my perspective, wasn’t even in a cage.  It was the mara, a very large South American rodent that roams freely through the property.    

No squirrels, but plenty of maras

Just south of Palermo Botanico was an area called Palermo Soho.  When Elisa and Christian go out to eat, they often walk down to one of the interesting ethnic restaurants in this picturesque neighborhood.  I took a stroll down one afternoon to see the colorful low-rise buildings and hip boutiques, and stopped for a bite to eat at La Panera Rosa.  Palermo Soho is relatively quiet during the day, but with its large number of restaurants and bars, it attracts big crowds in the evening and late at night. 

La Panera Rosa in Palermo Soho

Now that I’m back in Virginia, I must admit that I’m a bit homesick for Palermo.  All in all, it proved to be an ideal base for my month in Buenos Aires.