Belgrano

I live in the barrio known as ‘Belgrano’. It is a quiet upper-middle class barrio bordering the ever hectic Palermo. On any given day one can walk down the narrow streets of Belgrano and find that is filled with residential homes, artisan bakeries and appetizing restaurants. The barrio has it’s certain suburban appeal that the rest of the city lacks.

As one walks down the La Avenida del Libertador to Arribeños, one encounters Buenos Aires’ growing Barrio Chino. Now I was taken aback the first day I arrived in Buenos Aires, not so much due to distinct cultural differences, moreover due to the fact that I had never seen so many Anglo-looking people speaking Spanish. Being of Salvadoran decent and growing up in the states the majority of Spanish speakers are/were mestizo.

However, due to intense immigration policies during the 19th century Buenos Aires had a large influx of European immigrants, thus creating a large white population. Now imagine, I’m taken aback by light colored people speaking Spanish, imagine how taken aback I am when I see a five year old Chinese boy screaming “Che, Boludo!”,at the top of his lungs. It was quite a sight. Nonetheless, that is what I really do admire about Buenos Aires, it’s diversity. Though it doesn’t seem as though BsAs is very diverse the fact of the matter is when you begin to think about the Spanish, French, English, Italian, Czech, Muslim, Jewish and Chinese presence here, it does end up being quite a melting pot. In other words, BsAs is diverse in its own distinct manner.
I must attest that the random graffiti that plagues the ‘would be beautiful’ residential architecture is quite distressing to a certain degree. The graffiti is not political in any manner, nor is it a sign of gang ‘turf’ (thankfully). Instead the graffiti is just a straight declaration of love (Te quiero Maria, por siempre. de tu querido Julio) or some random word/phrase that lacks any meaning. In any case I’m very happy in my neighborhood and I think with time I can grow fond of the random graffiti. I can do without all the dog shit though...

Check out the pictures I took of Belgrano:
http://gallery.me.com/lopezjo/100017