By Narbeh Minassian
Buenos Aires has always been something of a mystery. As the much maligned capital city of a historically troubled country, the city has such a recognizable name with such an unrecognizable identity. The name was given by the Spanish in 1324, meaning ‘fair winds’, which is on balance a fair indication of the area’s obvious potential that had remained untapped for so long. Recent statistics, however, suggest that Buenos Aires is addressing this eternal stigma, with the influx of international tourism in Argentina increasing by 27% in 2010, and with visitors to Buenos Aires rising by over a million in three years, its capital deserves the lion’s share of credit. Indeed, Buenos Aires is undergoing a process of reinvention.
The best way to get there is on American Airlines. With flights leaving JFK and flying directly into Buenos Aires, the flight is convenient and pleasant. Check aa.com for flight details. But back to the city, which was officially founded by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza in 1536 and was christened Puerto de Nuestro Senora Santa Maria de los Buenos Ayres. Since then, its history has been dominated by consistent colonial presence. After the Spanish came the British, who, as lately as the 1920s, held the city as a virtual outpost of their empire, complete with polo fields and a Harrods store. With this in mind, it would be plausible to presume that the state of the global economy and the recession would prove to be something of a killer blow to the Argentines, as it were, but the nation has risen to the challenge, seeking to establish its own identity; a journey that arguably began at the halfway point of the twentieth century. Buenos Aires is moving on from its European past but not forgetting it, the result of which is a metropolis of European elegance with a strong sense of Argentine culture.
Buenos Aires has always been something of a mystery. As the much maligned capital city of a historically troubled country, the city has such a recognizable name with such an unrecognizable identity. The name was given by the Spanish in 1324, meaning ‘fair winds’, which is on balance a fair indication of the area’s obvious potential that had remained untapped for so long. Recent statistics, however, suggest that Buenos Aires is addressing this eternal stigma, with the influx of international tourism in Argentina increasing by 27% in 2010, and with visitors to Buenos Aires rising by over a million in three years, its capital deserves the lion’s share of credit. Indeed, Buenos Aires is undergoing a process of reinvention.
The city was officially founded by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza in 1536 and was christened Puerto de Nuestro Senora Santa Maria de los Buenos Ayres. Since then, its history has been dominated by consistent colonial presence. After the Spanish came the British, who, as lately as the 1920s, held the city as a virtual outpost of their empire, complete with polo fields and a Harrods store. With this in mind, it would be plausible to presume that the state of the global economy and the recession would prove to be something of a killer blow to the Argentines, as it were, but the nation has risen to the challenge, seeking to establish its own identity; a journey that arguably began at the halfway point of the twentieth century. Buenos Aires is moving on from its European past but not forgetting it, the result of which is a metropolis of European elegance with a strong sense of Argentine culture.
As a dance that finds its cultural origins in Argentina and influences from Europe and Africa, the embodiment of this aforementioned harmony is that most quintessential of Argentine pastimes, the Tango. From the more traditional dancehalls like Centro Region la Leonesa in Constiucon to the newly established nightclubs such as La Marshall in Microcentro, it is nigh on impossible to avoid the Tango wherever you go and whoever you are. Many of the milongos (locations for Tango) have a unique, if slightly quaint, appeal to them. They have a style resembling that of a 1930s Hollywood ballroom but with a lifeblood of Argentine youth, who display a vigor that is disassociated to the Eurocentric yearnings of the past. In the Tango, Buenos Aires has found a remedy for its dependence on Europe perhaps much closer to home than would be expected.
While the changes are numerous, some things will always stay the same, and this is no truer than in relation to the nation’s love of soccer. In Buenos Aires, this passion is expressed almost religiously when it comes the clash of its two principal teams, River Plate and Boca Juniors. Never again will you see a city split into two in quite the same way as during this game, which is arguably the most fiercely contested derby in the world. Financial troubles led to the shock relegation of River a year ago, but such is the support of the faithful that their return to the elite was swift, much to the delight of everyone not donning the blue and yellow of Boca.
In 1923, Columbian writer, Jose Maria Vargas Vila once wrote pejoratively about Argentina’s capital, ‘the absolute lack of originality is the distinction of Buenos Aires, all imported, all transported, all imitated…it’s the Patria of Plagiarism’. Admittedly, Vila’s words may find some vindication in the El Obelisco built in 1936, which was based entirely on the Washington Monument. This is a familiar criticism for Buenos Aires and indeed Argentina; however, these words are not anywhere near as relevant today as they perhaps were prior to the Second World War. There is a change in mentality amongst native Argentines, as now the portenos (locals of Buenos Aires) consider the authenticity and originality to be the fundamental principles of that which is held as canchero (‘cool’). And to that end, Argentina is currently seeing an unprecedented expansiveness in their pool of talent. The likes of Carlos Gardel and Cora Groppo, a DJ and stylist respectively, are removing the need to look to Europe. This was a transition that may well have been triggered as far back as the 1950’s by the creation of the Caminto- an alley of art and the birthplace of the Tango. This shift in the Argentine mindset has become manifest in the last few decades. The Museo del Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires is the result of a $50m investment, designed by local architects, and the once decrepit Puerto Madero has undergone extensive gentrification to become the capital’s youngest area. This achievement is the pride of the city’s urban planning team and showcases the newest architectural trends of the nation. Palermo Soho has been renovated to a similar effect, offering shops and restaurants in abundance. Perhaps now Vila’s writing would not have found much attention as the reasons for the growing number of tourists are becoming clearer.
It is perhaps universally acknowledged that meals are a social experience, but in Argentina this even truer than anywhere else. Invitations for dinner are, of course, a sign of friendship and warmth, but here it holds a particular significance. The preparation of homemade meals is regarded a way of expressing affection, and this care is carried down though posterity and has become a characteristic of the Buenos Aires Restaurant scene. The Argentine asado (barbecue) demonstrates the presentation of the hallmark of Argentine cuisine- meat. Steak, beef ribs, pork and blood sausage, chitterlings, and sweetbread all compose the nation’s much loved meat feast, which is often accompanied with a sauce of garlic, herbs and vinegar. Drink is well-stocked; Quilmes is a native product and the country’s most popular beer, while mate is an infusion based on the Yerba mate herb. There is no shortage of restaurants in which to try this cuisine, leading places include the Argentine El Bistro within the Faena Hotel, which is run by young chef Mariano Cid de la Paz (a protégé of El Bullis’ Ferran Adria), and Olsen, a Scandinavian restaurant.
The shackles of old, European colonialism are being smashed and a real and beautiful Argentina is blossoming from its flower in the city of fair winds. Buenos Aires has just found its fountain of youth, and is getting wetter and wetter.
