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Just a melancholic review of my life in Buenos Aires.
Live in Buenos Aires can be the best or the worst thing of all. I was born in Belgrano, one of the best neghbourhoods in Bs As, it is in the Capital city but not in the heart of it. It is an area full of bars and shops, very green, calm and full of life. Rich and young people live there. I lived in Belgrano till I was six years old, so I didn´t enjoy it very much. It happens that my family´s economy collapsed and we had to move to Morón, a town in the west of Bs As, far away from the Capital city, ugly, deserted and poor. The only good thing of living in Morón was our house, a very big one. Houses in places far from the big city are bigger than houses in the inner city. So this was my time to climb trees and play the Ingals family´s game. But when I was eighteen -because our misery lasted long, actually all the dictatorship- things were different. From the victory of democracy, in 1983, the economy of the country was caught in an inflationary inspiral that brought desperation to citizens, (just like now) but that was not enought to avoid the fact that something new was growing up and Buenos Aires became the place to be. There were plenty places where to go; theatre, music, dance, everything was there, and nightlife became so exciting that I felt I was missing something because of the distance. So I just took my belongings, said goodbye to my parents and moved with a friend to Barrio Norte, kind of Belgrano but in the inner city. Great time, I was twenty!!! Then came the romance and I moved to Bernal, far from the Capital city again, in the south part of Bs As. This was my time to play the Henry&June´s game but in the third world´s heart. We spent there a couple of years and then moved to the inner city again. It was Once, this time, the heaviest neighbourhood in the inner city, very centric and cheap. You can find artists living there as well as inmigrants from Bolivia, Perú, Paraguay, now, Ucrania and Russia. The only good thing of Once is its geographical position, it is the real center of the capital city in Bs As, apart from that it is shit. The streets are dirty, noisy and full of marginals who like to drink wine on the streets, touch your pusy without permission and play "cumbia" -funny-cheese-cheap-popular music- you can listen to in the "bailanta", another traditional point of meeting for the lonely-burnt out-hearts of Buenos Aires. Not recommendable at all. Why do decent people live in Once? Because it is possible to find there big and cheaps flats to rent... and this is Argentine, you see we try to survive..!
Finally the present, not a very exciting one... After a long time in Morón my family moved back to the Capital City, they´ve been living in Flores for the last nine years. Flores is a kind of modest Belgrano, quiet calm, not very centric, but not far from the inner city. The funniest thing of all is that I´m back at the family house, Why? You know how life can gets you really miserable sometimes..! I have a small room on the terrace of the family house which somehow makes me feel like the main character of "Lo imborrable" a novel by Juan Jose Saer -the best argentinien contemporary writer-. "Lo imborrable" is about a man that after getting divorce moves back to his family house, to his old single room on the terrace. It is there where he finds the answer he is looking for.
Sounds familiar...
 comments [4]
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Circling Buenos Aires and Richmond - 13/10/2002, harry kollatz,
richmond
Greetings, Gladys; good to read your words.
I, too, am a native of my town, Richmond, though not as glamorous perhaps as Buenos Aires, but sometimes, in the summer, probably as hot.
I've followed my life patterns around Richmond, capital of the state of Virginia, in much the same way and in circumstances similar to yours.
The last time I lived at my parents, though, was after my attempt to at becoming Jack Kerouac spiraled in for a crash back into the roughly paneled den on Shawonodassee Road, in Chesterfield County. It was strange to be sleeping on the couch and working at the American Automobile Association office, drawing "TripTiks" or book maps for travelers. This was back in 1989 before MapQuest. I wonder if AAA makes TipTiks anynmore.
I didn't think I'd ever make it out of Chesterfield County again, which I'd left without regrets to the city's bohemian Fan District, next to Virginia Commonwealth University, where I labored in the vineyards of academe for six years. I did get out again and my next severe involuntary dislocation occurred when a romance, almost marriage, abruptly went bad.
We were living in the western fringes of the in a comfortable Cape Cod style house that really wasn't my type. During rainy nights I needed to go out and rock the sump pump to make it quiet down.
Anyway, I bed surfed at friends, depressed, drinking heavily and thinking I was truly better off dead.
I was exiled to the Far West End, in Henrico County, in a tacky apartment complex called London Towne that fancied itself as a Tudor Village. When Princess Di was killed, the complex flew its Union Jack at half mast. Surreal. Belowstairs, a disabled fellow who got around on a bicycle smoked incessantly and watched pornographic movies very loud. The grunts and moans reminded me of what wasn't happening up in my place.
Across the hall, University of Richmond students, full of potential and energy, kept things going with girls and loud music. I felt old.
My only solace was walking to a franchise restaurant, Bennigans, and getting drunk on white russians and the occasional Baltimore Zoo. I got infatuated with all the waitresses.
The woman to whom I am now joined in holy matrimony, artist Amie Oliver, first lived in the city's East End, on Fulton, a lovely, 1920s residential neighborhood, though in dire need of assistance. In the first years we lived there, we regularly heard gunfire. Though much is made of the U.S. propensity toward violence, still, in most cities and towns, regular showerings of bullets aren't frequent events. But, in the three years we were there, Fulton greatly improved due to the presence of a strong community association and artists.
Now, we live near Richmond's Carytown, a bustling, diverse retail district, next to the entertainments of the Fan and within easy walking distance of work and play. I regularly walk to my office at Richmond Magazine (richmag.com) and the theatre of which I'm co-founder, The Firehouse Theatre (firehousetheatre.org) Amie freqiently teaches at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/), one of the best medium-sized "encyclopedic" museums in the country and suffering from state budget cut backs and the busy Handworkshop Arts Center (http://www.handworkshop.org/index.html)
Our house is a Tudor Revival, built by a physician for his family in 1927. We even have the original blueprints! The doctor's offices are still downstairs though we've converted them into an apartment.
Less than a five minute walk, up the street, is the fabulous Byrd Street Theatre, a pocket movie palace built for the surrounding neighborhood at the cusp of the silence and sound era. It retains its many-throated Wurlitzer theatre organ and the original, somewhat uncomfortable seats, which a non-profit foundation is trying to get replaced. The Byrd now shows second run films before they head to video or wherever. Just $1.99. Amie and I refuse to drive out to the burbs to see a movie for $7.00 that probably isn't worth it. The Byrd also is a gathering place for street musicians. Most frequently is a guitarist Roz, a black woman, always dressed in colorful rainmnents, whose hair is pulled back into one long, thick chord that hangs behind her.
Is Jose Saer available in English translation? Well, I should find out.
I look forward to future writing.--Harry Kollatz Jr., Richmond, Va. Oct. 22, 2002
 Pictures of Richmond sights, including Carytown
Nearby neighborhood, doesn't claim our street
Byrd Theatre up the block
not the dandiest thing in the world - 13/10/2002, gladys lizarazu,
buenos aires
Miriam, to be back with my family is not the dandiest thing in the world but I can take it.
The only real bad thing about it is that I can not smoke grass, so I spend most of the time out visiting friends or drinking somewhere, not really I hate alcohol that`s why I miss it so much...
welcome gladys - 13/10/2002, miriam fiordeponti,
berlin
dear gladys
thanks for your introduction!
how is it to be back with your family? how is your relationship with your parents.
since my father is dead, i don´t really like to go home anymore. my
mother makes me feel, like i can´t breeth anymore.
welcome Gladys - 13/10/2002, cieslak@lubricat.de
I am glad to see a first sign from you and from BA on our platform.
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