anniversaries

A year ago yesterday, I woke up in Buenos Aires for the first time. It was an afternoon nap.



This was the view from my balcony on Lavalle.

the red door

I can't believe I left Buenos Aires more than two months ago. And that I'm moving back to San Francisco tomorrow.

a time for reflection

I really miss the café culture of Buenos Aires. This was one of the cafés I usually stopped at in San Telmo, El Federale. You could sit there for hours, undisturbed, and sometimes I intended to...but would get distracted by thoughts of my bed.

the real mccoy

I shot this lovely photo for editorial use on a two-page spread in a magazine, and the place totally butchered it.

I just want to show it here in its original glory.

besos, Buenos Aires

Today I am leaving Buenos Aires for...an undetermined amount of time. I am sad.



This is what I will miss more than anything in Buenos Aires. And believe me, I will miss a lot.

meat market II

A butcher stand inside the San Telmo Market.

world cup watching

Porteños gathered to watch the World Cup on a giant screen in Parque Centenario.

say it ain't so

Passersby in the Parque Centenario react to Germany's third goal in Argentina's loss in the World Cup quarterfinals Saturday.

i heart my neighborhood, part iv

Along with the many mechanics of my neighborhood, we have a plethora of rusting cars all over the streets. It is one of the reasons why I moved into this neighborhood. I have a thing for rusting cars. These three cars sat at the end of my street for the first month I was there, missing seats and innards but looking as pretty as could be. And then one day all three of them simply vanished.



The city is mysterious like that.

holding our breath

Being in South America for the World Cup has been an interesting experience. Even if I´m sitting in my room with the windows closed and no television or Internet within my reach, I know when Argentina scores because the city pulses. A collective cheer emanates from every window, every storefront, every home.



This photo was taken in the boat depot in Buenos Aires, where I missed my boat to Montevideo and waited five hours for the next ferry.

it must be car week

stop

This is my roommate Hansel. She hates having her photo taken and usually doesn't stand still so most of my photos of her are usually blurry in low light. I think she stood still for this one because she was obeying the stop sign.



In this home-away, she is like my mom and sister and best friend rolled into one. And I have the most exciting news! I think I am going to spend a few months living with two of her brothers in Mexico City. How cool is that?

mechanic central

My neighborhood is about 60 percent mechanics. A lot of the old-school workshops have trenches in the ground where the mechanics go to work on the chassis, rather than having a lift of some sort.



Ingenious.

bang the drum

I went to a jazz club called Thelonius twice this past week. Here's a drummer during the second set Friday night.

saturday dins

I make a big feast at least once a week, and last Saturday I did the beer can chicken, a little trick told to me by a San Francisco urban planner one fine day on Angel Island. You don't need to season the chicken at all. You open an ordinary can of beer (Quilmes, pictured), pour out about two ounces and douse the chicken in it, then make holes on the sides about an inch below the top. Then you nest the chicken on it, vertically. As the beer heats, it comes out of the holes and keeps the chicken moist and delish...

leggy

if you squint...

...it really does look like Paris.

how pedestrian

This is Calle Florida, a pedestrian-only thoroughfare downtown. Many of the vendors only come out at night and during the weekends because it's just too crowded during the weekdays.



Things for sale: socks, scarves, travel adapters, jewelry, "Lacoste" shirts, toys, cell phones...

desk job

This is a beautiful cultural center downtown on Avenida de Mayo. I've only been inside once, to see a photo show.



I like how so many buildings have someone keeping them company into the wee hours of the night.

more nighttime labor

They were shooting some kind of car commercial the other night when I walked through San Telmo. For the amount of lighting they had out, I wondered why they didn't just shoot during the day.