martes, 28 de septiembre de 2010

Spring has Sprung

This weekend was simply beautiful and I wanted to post a blog Sunday evening but the day got away from me and here we are almost midway into the week.  The weekend was full of sun, it is officially spring time in the southern hemisphere and especially here in Argentina.  For a big city, it was a lovely weekend, with not a cloud in the sky and clear with blue sky.  Actually, Buenos Aires does actually have some really nice air some of the times and I think the past seven weeks have been especially nice.  Even though if you look at the charts BA gets quite a bit of rain, about four times more rain than Albuquerque mas or menos, it seems to come in buckets when it rains and I suppose it also happens at certain times of the year, I have not yet encountered that time of year.



I am into a groove down here now.  I am feeling good and feel just a bit more comfortable being here, especially knowing my way around a bit better.  I actually am starting to get a handle on where I am in the city and what direction I am headed.  If you look at a map of Buenos Aires its not a trivial city to navigate in your head.  The city is not layed out in any sort of direction.  In fact depending on where you are in the city the streets all tend to run in odd directions.  The city evolved over a long period of time, hundreds of years, and I think different parts of the city over the centuries were layed out differently and then it all sort of came together.  One marker in the city is the river, the Rio Plata to the east, or towards the Atlantic ocean.




Luckily, I can see the sun during the day and know which general direction I am headed off in.  My main map is the collectivo pocket guide, which divides the city up into these little planos or maps and they have like 25 pages of little maps of the city with all of the bus lines on them and subway lines and trains all mashed into a book that fits into your pocket.  So, I am constantly flipping through this teeny book trying to figure out what map I am on and how that fits into the bigger picture.  Not to mention the bus lines are listed in the book in squares and you have to literally follow the squares and figure out what direction the bus is going in.  All basically inside scoop for the porteños in the crowd.

Wikipedia article on Porteño

Its a pretty interesting story and the language is even more interesting.

4 comentarios:

Anónimo dijo...

Wow I can't wait to read through everything and get caught up. I LOVE your pictures of spring. I can feel it in my lungs. I can feel the breath of joy in your adventure and the warmth of the people like sun that comes through each day into the city. What a challenge to orient yourself to these little maps! I would be helplessly lost. it takes a brave soul to venture out and discovery and not be afraid to get lost. I am curious how far you are from where Borges lived and walked the streets. Abrazos y suerte!!! Smiles from Luisa!

Kathabela dijo...

My friend is three pictures
I know him by these
he has his hand on a silver button like the moon
this I cannot see
he is so far away even in sunlight
and set off to the side as if he is playing hide and seek

He is a thin tree graceful in white bloom
scatters petals when he wakes so I can find him
no people are in his picture
only the grass and the little set
of stairs surrounded by red roses
I don't know where they go
and the shadows always
I don't know them at all
he makes them
to mirror this still day
and wait for me to find them
there in broad sunlight
they try to hide away
under more petals
as if the white would be a blanket
spring does not need
when he is this tree I see him clearly

my friend is three houses on the river
more blue than the sky or the river
he paints himself boldly
as if to use up all the paint in the world
So then he plunges himself in the water and makes the clouds
thinking here too he will hide playfully
and I would follow upside down
walk on his roof
and climb down the little chimney
but now I see he has made himself
into a little red dock a harbor
where nobody is
and watches the clouds float by under him
all day in a new city crowded with brighteness
that makes new names for shades of paint

My friend is two clumps of spring flowers
let's call him jonquil
later I'll give him a Spanish name
but he just sits there on the ground with roots not too deep
with a map stuffed in his pocket
a tiny map he keeps checking
to follow the paths of his new roots
This Spring he's set them out into Buenos Aires
he only talks to the sky and the tracks
oh he talks to the invisible pull of paths and a few friends he can't see
I'm one of them luckily and you too
maybe we're the open space between the clumps of flowers
this time they are yellow
a little bit of sunlight each one of his days
or maybe we're the green stems and the shadows he drops into for a rest sometimes
we are waiting
on the slight slope of new ground
where the sky tumbles

Kathabela dijo...

We're here at Caltech Poetry Club, Tom, Ines and Kathabela. Just as I thought... everyone else said they could not come. So I just read this post of yours aloud to Tom and Ines and looked at the photos together. Then I read my poem (the comment poem!-- that was my poem today and they like it very much!

Tom and Ines say "did you call and say "hey"!? If you call again could you leave a longer message." They "would love to hear your voice and would love to talk to you." This is Tom's poem:

The Great Wall

The stones at the bottom
carry the most weight.
Ask any soldier
mother or laborer,
they'll tell you the secret:
the letting go of pride
is the beginning of strength."

Another poem from Tom:

"Patience little firefly,
winter cannot last long."

That is our message for you from Caltech Poetry

We are all thinking of you! Who is your friend that you walk in the city with... any pictures??

Elsa dijo...

Dear Michael,

just read all your blogs from Baires and am right there with you in the beautiful springtime.
I grew up in Nueva Chicago, across the street from the futbol stadium, in a proletariat neighborhood.
At that time, it was in the third division of teams ( not good), many yrs. later it got to first division (really good). Don't know where it's at now. Maybe you can find out and tell me.
A wonderful day trip is a short distance from Belgrano- a small town called San Antonio de Areco.
From noon to 4-5 o'clock everything goes to sleep- no restaurants open, just a place to buy chips and soda. You can walk around and look at the beautiful gardens and houses. At the edge of town is the house-museum of Horacio Guiraldes- a well known Argentine writer.
How long are you planning to be there? In the summer be ready for mosquitoes and lots of humidity. Or escape to Salta where it's drier.
Thank you for sharing your life there with us,

Felicidades, cuando encuentres una porteña tu castellano dará saltos enormes.

Chau, Elsa