Buenos Aires -- City of (VERY) Friendly People**+

This young woman kisses a man (in fact, really 'works him over' if

truth be told) in front of a kiosk newsstand with a conveniently

placed 'street' map of Buenos Aires behind them (naturally included

completely in the frame for context.) Your comments and critiques

are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly or very

critically, please submit a helpful and constructive comment/Please

share your superior photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

John, Another great shot. The couple looks so happy and carefree...and the background is perfect. Your photos always make me want to go out people watching. Thanks for sharing. Ron

I didn't know I had an 'admirer' in you.

 

I saw this 'couple' engaged in intimacy right there in the middle of Calle Florida (pronounced Cazhe Florida) (it's Castillian Spanish -- pronounced Castizhan) there in Ar Hentina -- local accent. (It's the largest pedestrian walkway -- commercial in Buenos Aires -- possibly in Latin America, and one of the largest outdoor malls in the world, and intersects with Calle Lavalle (Cazhay Lavazhay)

 

I stepped behind a local pole to set my camera and stayed there as I took a total of about 38 photos, some of which might be even better than this.

 

Finally, as they came up for breath, she spied me, I slunk off the other way, their view blocked by the pole and another kiosk, I think, and they started up again, and a little later, so did I. But, later, she saw me again, and we all stopped. I think they went on to a happier evening than I had.

 

(But I had a number of very happy evenings in Buenos Aires once I made contact with the locals -- I'm going back again and again and again . . . .)

 

How's that for an endorsement? And from a guy on a very small budget.

 

John (Crosley)

Nice photo, it really captures the heart and soul of BA. BA is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. I had the pleasure of visiting over 30 times during the early 1990's. You should visit the area known as La Recoleta.

Cheers,

Robert

Not only did I visit La Recoleta, home of he famous cemetery in which Evita is interred with its famous 3 and 4 story crypts and mausoleums, surrounded on twoand three sides by restaurants and clubs and a Fifth-Avenue type neighborhood --- I ate dinner there every night at a cost of about $10 USD and became a familiar sight.

 

I passed one beautiful restaurant hostess nightly, and in tribute, walked up to her and told her, to her ear, 'you are the most beautiful woman in Buenos Aires'.

 

And she smiled every time I passed by thereafter, night after night.

 

One night I passed without regard to the restaurant or her and heard myself called. This young woman wanted her complimnent; she called me over, and kissed me on the cheek; we were 'old friends'. I could be her grandfather, but she indeed was the most beautiful woman in Buenos Aires, and I only said it once.

 

That story tells the entire story, I think, at least about La Recoleta, and also about Buenos Aires and its friendly people.

 

I know when I go back (notice I said 'when' not 'if') that I will be similarly greeted, and not just by her, but by others who noticed my comings and goings.

 

Quite extraordinary for a very large metropolis.

 

You hit the nail on the head.

 

The above photo is emblematic of my feelings toward B.A.

 

(Would that I were the guy, though, as she WAS working him over somewhat thoroughly as noted above, and at the time I was feeling a little lonely.)

 

John (Crosley)

I have experienced the same while in BA. The people were very friendly, to the point where they have become like family. When I ended my work in BA and visited the last time, I was kissed on each cheek by people I had developed a working relationship with over the course of a few years. I still think of them from time to time.

 

When I mentioned La Recoleta, I failed to specifically include La Recoleta cemetary. I too, walked through the cemetary for hours in amazement of the beauty of it. Very solemn and serene. Email me privately and I will relate a story about Eva Perone.

 

Once, while staying at the Park Hyatt, a very beautiful receptionist at the front desk told me she was employed at one time as a tour guide in Tierra del Fuego. I told her that that was a very dangerous job, she asked why. I told her that her beauty could melt away all those icebergs...she was my friend from then on.

 

I miss BA.....

I very much appreciate your personal stories.

 

;-))

 

John

Well, you go now and I'll be right behind you (though not uncomfortably close, if you get my meaning).

 

Yes, B.A. is VERY friendly, and as my 38 frames show, this young man certainly was going to get even friendlier with this fair-haired young damsel a little later in the evening, or I miss my guess.

 

And, as I found in common with some other Eastern European cities, there is less (far less) of the 'age discrimination' of the sort that's rampant in the United States (the man has to be two years older than the woman, no less and no more) and there, age is respected, not something for a young woman to say 'oooohhhh GROSSSSSS!!!!!) which is an American way of stating such things.

 

American women miss out on some interesting things because they're pretty narrow-minded; their sisters in other countries just simply have it better, and the American women haven't got a clue -- and even are resentful of such women, often hating them for no reason -- case in point -- hating 'Russian' women because (as all American women know -- no Russian woman ever married for love -- only for a Green Card -- or so they want to think and not because almost every American man I ever met on my travels in the East gave his reason as going East, said he didn't want to 'play games' with American women.

 

Yesterday, I walked out of my 'flat' in Ukraine.

 

I young woman walked up to me, said hello, and invited me to a restaurant for lunch. I accepted. She didn't know what restaurant. She just wanted to have lunch with me. She was young, bright and intelligent and NOT looking for a

'green card'. We had a nice time and are friends.

 

Tonight I met a photographer with a D70s photographing 'football' in Ukraine, we exchanged views -- saw similarity in our 'shooting' and went to dinner together -- despite very large age difference. It just isn't an issue in Ukraine (or Argentina).

 

The US has many wonderful parts; some not so wonderful.

 

Checked your e-mail lately into/from/in the US? The FBI/CIA/DIA has.

 

John (Crosley)

I don't like so much 'truth' to my humour.

 

John (Crosley)

You will NOT be disappointed. After a short (no more than one week) stay in a hotel (probably expensive since they're packed), I suggest that you make accommodations with one of many, many apartments for rent by the week, two weeks or month, fully furnished in the finest of neighborhoods, (even where the hotels are not) with safe streets and the finest of restaurants -- kinda like Park Avenue in New York, etc., all for low prices -- sometimes less than $1,000 a month for the finest neighborhood. Just Google. apartments rental Buenos Aires and see the multiple listings and watch for duplications and 'referrers' -- agents who get a fee for passing you along to high-priced originators who actually have the flats.

 

You'll be very happy you went. Heed the warnings about 'neighborhoods', but nobody looked 'askance' at my cameras, though I was continually warned to the point of my being a little paranoid, and ended up in a parade/celebration of 1/2 million people walking and marching with them, with no fear whatsoever -- all very orderly --- nice people. Just use your 'street smarts' which thankfully I earned while I atttended Columbia College, Columbia Univ. in upper Manhattan and while tutoring in Harlem -- prepared me for a lifetime of 'street wisdom' and I can 'feel' danger, generally.

 

There are areas where you'd swear you were in Spanish-speaking Lexington Ave., N.Y.C. or Park Ave., or any other Mainline area, all availiable for the casual tourist to rent (speculators have moved in, but without those to rent from them as nobody can afford even minimally high prices -- especially in winter).

 

Meals are not always high gastronomy, (though there are some very famous restaurants with excellent service/cuisine) as Argentines consider the value of a meal by the poundage/kilo-age -- even their 'tenderloin' steaks and their carne asada, but the fish (salmon) is always extremely fresh if you tire of the ever-present beef. Many are of Italian extraction and pasta is always a favorite. (By the way, the beef is not full of fat, though tender, and tastes more of the grass it's raised on than American beef, fattened on grain -- a distinct difference that takes some getting used to.) Sauces are everpresent -- such as my favorite, Sauce Roquefort, for pennies more.

 

Get thee hence!

 

John (Crosley)

I went there in the early-mid 90s, and had to leave after three days because the government artificially propped the peso at par with the dollar.

 

One day in 2001 it fell (see photo of bus with 'mad' driver about to hit pedestrian woman, with destination marker reading '2001'). Argentina just defaulted on its debts; it ran out of gold and other 'hard' currency trying to prop up its peso, which had no place being propped up to par with the dollar; Argentines had been spending freely and traveling the world with their 'strong' peso, but one day they had 'no' currency at all, literally it fell apart and they were a currencyless nation reduced literally to a barter economy, then trading 'chits' organized by neighborhood people, then bigger business people -- I give you a coffeepot and you give me a 'chit' for value and that goes to somebody else who trades it for necessary plumbing services -- an alternate currency of sorts.

 

Now the peso has settled to three to the dollar and doesn't look to be rising or falling and the President, Nestor Kirchner says the country will be in 'hell' until the end of his term at the end of 2007 (at which time it will enter 'purgatory' (and he will someday announce whether he will preside over purgatory, as he seldom speaks to the press to their dismay, but he's a Peronist of sorts and popular -- moreso because I think he doesn't talk to the press, as it makes him more 'Godlike' in his inaccessability, which the press carps about. (But that's the way he plays the game - perhaps it's his personal style, who knows?)

 

So, investors from America and elsewhere have bought up lots of real estate and there has been some sort of run-up of minor proportions in real property, but it's really capped by lack of rentals except to tourists, and do run the Google.com search for vacation apartments I recommended, and stick to the sources, not the agencies in say, Lake Tahoe, or Como, Italy which also refer you to a master agency in Buenos Aires, for they will surely inflate the price -- stick to Buenos Aires owners or Buenos Aires Agencies (do your homework and you'll be surprised. Try Recoleta, for one, and the prices in that wonderful neighborhood (check it against a map though to make sure your rental is IN Recoleta) are well within reason even for monthly rentals -- almost giveaway prices, uniformly.

 

And meals in tablecloth restaurants are at giveaway prices -- prices not seen in the US since the mid '80s or earlier, but in a setting modeled after Paris with modern restaurants (for the more exprensive ones -- say $8-12 a main to older with $3-$6 a main or less, sometimes far less, and good edible food, though sometimes lacking in subtlety as the argentines are big on tonnage.

 

It's not a place to go for a diet. Slab is the term used most often for 'beef'. Fish -- salmon in particular, is a very good bet, as it's fished there and in neighboring Chile (Atlantic Salmon from the Atlantic and from the Pacific off Chile). Wonderful fish, called Bluefish in New York City and not farmed, I don't think -- with huge cuts everywhere I went.

 

For a litle more you get the equivalent of a $100 New York dinner for $15.00 USD per person, and wines are absolutely super and you can buy a bottle of first class wine or a half bottle for a very small budget as they're from local bodegas usually (home grown Argentine wine is among the world's best -- Chandon grows 'sparkling wine' -- like Champagne there -- and it's nearly the equal of California's best from Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino for whites which I drink only (can't say about reds but I hear they're wonderful.) And restaurants don't mark them up much at all, just a few bucks.

 

After a week of being pretty lonely, I found the women like men who are older, which surprised and gratified me, and I made some new friends. Not like the US where an older man (unless he's Donald Trump or the late Ari Onassis is treated with 'OH, Gross!!!), but genuine respect.

 

It's not like Ukraine where I am stopped every 20 feet by males and females alike with questions as Argentinians (from Buenos Aires at least are more cosmopolitan people, but they're VERY FRIENDLY PEOPLE, and without regard to any presumptions, they're also somewhat inclusive -- early gauchos were said to include a substantial number of Russian exile Jews, and early cow towns are said to include synagogues and residents still use 'Jewish' (read Yiddish) phrases (an old girlfriend, Shirley, always called Yiddish -- 'Jewish' and I have kept her way). Some 350,000 Argentines are Jewish, and the state protects its Jews. There have been some international terrorist incidents, which the state reacted against (You can research those separately as they garnered international attention and were not homegrown but part of the Middle East Muslim diaspora.)

 

Again, I make no presumptions about you, and only repeat what the guidebooks say is interesting, and which I also find interesting (and many Argentines do NOT know about their own country.)

 

It's fertile ground for a guy with a camera, too, of course, and much, much land for a nature photographer, from the Atlantic to the Andes, and from Tierra del Fuego (south across from Antarctica, to the great waterfalls that are shared with Brazil which I won't name for fear of misspelling, a must-see I am told.)

 

Is it any wonder that Ted Turner bought a huge portion of Argentine and when he reconciled as a 'lover' with Jane Fonda, they went back to Argentina (as lovers only despite their divorce?)

 

Go.

 

You'll like it already.

 

John (Crosley)

Go to Barnes and Nobles or another reputable bookstore and spend $100 on Argentine guidebooks and include at least one or two comprehensive guidebooks on Buenos Aires, and read them thoroughly before you plan your trip/you'll thank me for recommending that. I did just before I went and thanked my lucky stars for them/they're worth their weight in gold and every one's different.

 

Have good travels.

 

John (Crosley)

Nothing's 'off topic' here if it remotely relates to the capture or a comment that relates to a capture or a comment that relates to a comment that relates to a comment that relates to a . . . and well . . . you get the point.

 

You're always welcome here.

 

John (Crosley)

A fine capture, excellent framing and background. It really is the background that makes a shot like this work. I've got a few of interesting embraces, sometimes even with one member of the couple noticing the camera, but I usually trash them because the bg doesn't fill out the image well.

This 'girl' was really working this guy over, to say it mildly, as I took my 38 frames or so, got noticed once, backed off, and she worked him over some more as I photographed some more, before they moved on.

 

This was the heart of Central (Calle pronounced 'cazhe' in Castillian 'Castizhian' Spanish) Florida) the main shopping street in all of Buenos Aires, which in turn means all of Argentina, and so a tourist map of Buenos Aires on a kiosk was not at all out of place -- how conveniently placed it was for me, I just couldn't stop taking photos. heh heh heh

 

Some photo were 'meant' to be taken. (These all were taken 'after dark' with an f 2.8 lens).

 

John (Crosley)