Don't Weep For Me, Buenos Aires

Just like Paris in the old days.

That’s what I expected when my buddy Randy and I arrived in Buenos Aires.  And, architecturally, it was like Paris about a century ago.  Wonderful turn-of-the–century buildings, none of them overshadowed by skyscrapers.  So impressive to walk around a human-sized city, each building standing proud. 

How Buenos Aires got frozen in time, I do not know.  Somehow the Argentines didn’t tear down their early 20^th Century buildings.  The city was so old-fashioned that I was happy when I spotted a Lady Gaga poster.  The poster reassured me that I was in the 21^st Century, even if this city kept on telling me otherwise.

Yes, the city’s buildings stood old and proud, but they also stood vulnerable. 

I had to keep my eyes at second story level or higher.  Buenos Aires has not found a way to control graffiti.  The facades on the upper floors looked fine, but the street level façades were all defaced with spray paint.  Building after defaced building, especially when you got away from the Plaza de la Republica:

Whle the city could not control graffiti, some individual buildings had found ways to protect themselves.  There was a physical approach: paint the fin de siècle stonework black:

There was an aesthetic approach.  Graffitists consider themselves artists; so, the assumption is that if your street-level façade is a work of art (preferably painted by a graffiti artist), then no other graffitist will deface it:

Or you can go a step beyond paint.  An optometrist glued old eyeglass frames to his building, creating portraits that were two stories tall:

Buenos Aires was reminiscent of Paris in the 1920’s, which impressed me.  Buenos Aires was also reminiscent of New York City subway cars in the 1970’s, which almost made me weep.

I did not weep because it is hard to weep for a city that knits sweaters for its trees:

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com