A visual exposition of Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital—vibrant, passionate, flavorful, yet shadowed by truths it doesn’t always show…
Vamos! (let’s go!)
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About Frank’s Photography
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Where is Buenos Aires, Argentina?
Buenos Aires translates to “Good Airs” or “Fair Winds” in Spanish, reflecting the favorable conditions early Spanish colonists encountered there.
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Argentine Visa Stamps
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Argentine Pesos & American Dollars
Because the official currency, the Argentine Peso, is perpetually declining in value, Argentines try to accumulate American Dollars whenever they can. While these so-called blue dollars are officially illegal, dollars were freely and openly accepted everywhere I went. And, because the dollar is preferred over the unstable Peso, your change will always come in pesos.
When I visited in February 2014, the official exchange rate was around 8 pesos per dollar, but you could get 13 for 1 on the street (touts are everywhere whispering “cambio, cambio”) and 10 for 1 at most establishments. Some restaurants advertised 11 for 1 if you used a crisp $100 bill. It is not clear to me if spending dollars helps or hurts the people there. I suppose that, in the short-term, it helps those who get dollars and hurts those who don’t… but in the long term the answer is not so clear.
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The People (La Gente)
The city’s inhabitants are known as Porteños (“people of the port”), a nod to the massive wave of European immigrants who arrived by boat in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And because more than half of Porteños have some degree of Italian ancestry, Italian is widely spoken, Italian cuisine is popular and delicious, and Porteños are more like outgoing Italians than reserved Peninsulares from Spain.
Plaze de Mayo & The Pink Palace
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Remembering The Falklands (Malvinas) War
While there are few highly visible signs of antagonism towards the British and her allies because of that 1982 conflict, most Argentines care infinitely more about rampant poverty at home and corruption in their own government.
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The Opera House
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The Obelisk
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Buenos Aires Food & Drink
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Buenos Aires Street Scenes
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Signs of Climate Change
Notice the enormous number of window-installed air conditioners in the high rises, severely taxing the energy infrastructure. This is relatively recent development as the climate has become significantly hotter over the last few decades, allegedly due to unchecked deforestation in the Amazon.
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Glimpses of the Filthy Rich & Utterly Destitute
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La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery, a fascinating study in the subjects of mortality, notoriety, and wealth.
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La Boca Neighborhood
Saunter around the vibrant, gritty La Boca neighborhood and see what you discover…
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Tango Music & Dance
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That picture you hesitated to take is all over America now…
Oh, Ana. It’s beyond heartbreaking, nauseating, and infuriating to see what “we” allow to happen in the US. BTW, it’s one reason why I regularly volunteer at a homeless shelter here in ABQ… where I learn a new lesson each time.. especially on the immense power of trauma and one’s environment and circumstances to define and constrain one’s life prospects. I want to share some of these lessons but am struggling with how to do so honestly and constructively without jeopardizing my priviledged access and abiliy to do my work there. Any thoughts? Big hug to you.
It comes to me that, being you, you would be able to create a big self-esteem boost in patrons of the establishment by asking the ones you want to feature for an actual interview, in which they would tell you the same things that got you interested (nothing but good for them to see your sympathetic face about them more than once), then they’d be able to see themselves afterward in a beautiful light when you show them the post you make of it. Not to belittle hunger, cold and fear, but the feeling that one is going through it all invisibly is some of the worst of the homeless experience. As you show them (and their friends ~ whopping street cred!), you can even affirm that now their lives are benefitting others, who are learning compassion from their life stories. For me, even beyond the invisibility and humiliation, the thought that no benefit came to orhers from my existence was the worst. If you let the folks at the shelter in on what you’re doing ~ even feature their lives and motivations for working there in some pf your posts ~ you’ll have everybody on the same court, on the same team! That alone would be a significant accomplishment.
Great tango pose, Frank! (smile) And, as always, such wonderful photos of all aspects of a culture!!
Ha! Thanks for digging my style, Anita, and for appreciation my visual story telling. Cheers!