As promised, but quite late, here is a run-down of last Sunday, January 7, which Aparna and I spent in the neighborhood of San Telmo.
We left our apartment at noon, and caught a bus to San Telmo. Though it’s not a terribly long walk (probably 40-45 minutes from here to the plaza that serves as the center of the Sunday market), the buses are quite fast when there is no traffic, and they cost less than 1.5 pesos–around 30 cents. Sidenote: there are only a few subway lines, and they stop running around 10:30pm, which is dinnertime. Buses run 24/7 and there are at least 150 different routes, each of which connects multiple neighborhoods via a highly confusing series of turns and barely-marked stops. The only portable bus map comes in the form of a little book where you find your location and destination on a map grid, and then flip between two different sections trying to find a bus number that appears in both cells.
Old phones at San Telmo market
So, we got to the plaza without a problem, and immediately saw that the antiques market at the plaza was not just in the plaza. Nor was it mostly antiques. The market fanned out in several directions from the plaza, including tables and blankets all along Defensa street for at least half a mile, and there were various other streets lined with tables all around the area. Though many of the stalls in the plaza were selling “antiques” (everything from silverware and family photos to rotary phones and glass siphon bottles), there was a lot of jewelry, artwork, leather goods, clothing, mates and bombillas (for drinking mate, which is a strong tea-like beverage that many Argentinians, Uruguayans and Paraguayans drink frequently; see upcoming post on Tigre for more info).
As we walked along some of the side streets, we saw one table that sold these awesome chess sets depicting famous conflicts in Latin American (particularly Argentinian) history. I didn’t buy one, but I did take some pictures.
Historical chess sets!
"Siphon" bottles at San Telmo market
We also heard all kinds of music at the market. In the square, there was a couple dancing tango (to music from their speakers), as well as another couple doing another traditional dance to music that was sometimes from speakers and sometimes live. A few blocks down Defensa there was a man masterfully playing Spanish guitar, and a block or so from him was a percussion band playing in the middle of a street, where several people were dancing and many more were standing around enjoying the music. On another street, across from an old church, there was a full band (piano, accordions, violin, singer, etc.) playing tango music. I videotaped songs from the percussion and tango bands, both of which I will eventually upload and embed here.
After wandering around the outdoor market, Aparna and I went into the indoor market, which was more of the same (with more of a thrift-store vibe, plus food) so we didn’t stay long. We walked around the neighborhood a bit longer, and ended up at La Poesia, which is an historical cafe with a strong artsy/literary edge to it. Here in Buenos Aires, many old cafes and bars are recognized by the government as being of cultural, architectural or historical significance and thus worthy of preservation efforts and special note. A full list can be found here. So far, in addition to La Poesia and Cafe Tortoni, Aparna and I have been to El Gato Negro (twice), which is just a couple blocks from our apartment. Clasica y Moderna is also nearby, and we have planned to go a few times, but the crowd is, ah, older. On the topic of cafes, I should mention that here many “cafes” also serve alcohol and all kinds of food, and some double as bookstores or, in the case of El Gato Negro, spice shops.
Two papers are due tomorrow, so that’s all for now.
NOTE: For those who didn’t expectantly check the blog today (18 January from 12:01am-11:59pm), or try to use Wikipedia, reddit, or any number of other sites, it was blacked out in protest of SOPA and PIPA. For those who don’t know about the bills, you can watch a short video and read more here. If you are in support of online freedom and do not think the government should be able to mandate the removal of offensive or potentially copyrighted material, I urge you to sign one of the dozens of online petitions/open letters to Congress, like this one (from Google). As a New Yorker who is generally happy with her senators, I am appalled that BOTH Senator Gillibrand and Senator Schumer are cosponsors of PIPA–though not surprised, seeing how they each received hundred of thousands of dollars from the entertainment industry during the 2010 election cycle. (Source: ProPublica) There was a physical protest today in front of both Senators’ NYC offices, and with enough pressure they will hopefully hear the call for a free and open Internet.
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