Lucas Moore in Buenos Aires

A Summer Summary

2012-09-24T07:18:13Z

Sadly, this was my blog during my summer in Buenos Aires, meaning that time has passed. I am now back living in the United States with a serious case of the travel bug.

Here is a quick recap of what I wrote about:

- I jumped right in and got lost.

- I had some linguistic revelations. And sometimes things got pretty weird in my Spanish-soaked brain.

- I did some touristy things like the Ferria de San Telmo, and less touristy things like follow a spontaneous protest through the streets.

- I traveled to Iguazú Falls and went zip lining through the forest. I also spent a week in Montevideo.

- I had an awesome internship at a marketing agency.

- I got honestly inspired by Buenos Aires Graffiti.

Despite trying for a long time, I could never come to write a comprehensive reflection of my time in Buenos Aires. I miss it dearly, but know I will return one day. I mastered Spanish and became a different person. I learned more about the world and about myself than I can concretely articulate, so I'll just summarize what happened and keep thinking.

My Final Week in Buenos Aires

2012-07-22T22:14:34Z

I haven't been writing too much here lately... I'm too busy living it up in my last week here.

Very fast update of what I've done lately:

Went to a closed-door Asian restaurant. Photos to come.

Went out to the bars with friends from Spanglish. Came home at 7am.

Hung out with someone from Columbia, Missouri. Learned the phrase "comosapien."

Slept in quite a bit this morning. (see above)

Now I'm headed out to an asado of a friend of a friend.

Stencilland & Jazz Nacional

2012-07-18T03:13:45Z

I went by The Post Bar after work today to pick up the stencil art I reserved following my Graffitimundo tour. I mentioned the bar on Flickr, but didn't post about it here. Basically, this bar has been decorated by the coolest street artists of Buenos Aires. In exchange for decorating it, they got use of the back room and upper level as a cooperative way to sell their works and as an exhibit space.

Going outside the tour was amazing. I walked into this divey bar, all covered in graffiti and went straight to the back room. It's through the kitchen and the door was closed. I just walked right on through and back into the gallery.

During their open hours, there is always an artist there. I was lucky enough to meet Stencilland, the guy who made this great stencil.

I ended up talking with him for about twenty minutes.

He shared his inspiration for the idea, which comes from the sad fact that many kids in Buenos Aires juggle at intersections to raise money. The kid here is, in fact, juggling alcohol, drugs, violence and an eaten apple.

Roberto said that juggling is the only skill these kids develop and that's what he wanted to share in the work. It's an entire sad generation.

I bought a print of this piece, in addition to the other one I reserved. They work well together. Him and I talked, all in Spanish of course, about his method, what he's trying to do with his artwork and why he isn't seeking fame. He said he just loves to paint. I think that's a perfect answer.

I also stopped in a record store on my way home. I was browsing around and found a national jazz section. This album stuck out to me. It's a really talented musician named Javier Malosetti.

A double necked bass? How can I not buy this?

I also picked this one up, after telling the cashier that I played bass. He suggested Alejandro Herrera, a more funky bassist from Argentina. Both of these records are national labels. I never would have found them from the US.

I'm glad to be finding such inspiring artists in BsAs. Only now do I realize that I've never saught out and had a discussion with a professional artist in the US. I think that's something I'm going to get more into.

The Graffiti of Buenos Aires

2012-07-16T01:18:35Z

Today I went on a bike tour to see the city's graffiti. I was both impressed and inspired by these artists. The scene in Buenos Aires is unique, since artists can paint in public space almost openly. They take their time and roll out some well conceived and stylish work.

The best part of this tour, which I booked though Graffitimundo Buenos Aires, was having a guide to explain about each artist's method, inspiration and style in depth. Below are some of my favorite works by my new favorite artists. All the names are links to their websites, so be sure to check it out for yourself.

There's too many photos to go through all of them on here. Please check out My Flicker Set about my tour. It's got all my photos from the day with tons of descriptions. Let me know what you think!

Mart

Jaz Jaz Mart & Poeta Incredibly detailed stencil wall

Club Silencio - Entering into an Artist's home

2012-07-14T22:36:09Z

Last night, I went to a closed-door club called Club Silencio. It’s vaguely based on the movie Mohalland Dr. and is meant to be a surreal experience focused on the senses. What that really means is that an artist named Shoni Shed invites guests into his home, then blindfolds us for an entire performance.

            My night began by taking the 110 collectivo all the way to Villa Crespo, a small neighborhood bordering Palmero. I had an address, a reservation and no idea what the night had in store for me.

            I hopped off the bus and walked on the path of the directions I’d memorized. I’d forgotten the exact address of the club. I walked a half-block past my destination and asked a parking attendant, all in Spanish, if he knew where “Club Silencio” was. He told me about the boliches in the area and I explained that this was a secret club, which I knew was within these few close blocks. He said he’d heard musicians and seen people waiting in the street just a half block back. This was exactly what I was looking for.

            I walked up to the unmarked black door and examined it. Nothing out of the ordinary. I looked at the doorbells just to the left. One of them had simple markings, written in sharpie – Club Silencio. I pressed it. Only then did I recall the explicit directions in the email – No tocar timbre – don’t ring the doorbell!

A woman came to the door and looked outwards, at myself and the couple waiting with me. She told us that they would be ready in about 10 minutes and that we should wait. Most importantly, when more people come, we should be sure to not ring the doorbell. She would come to retrieve us when they were ready. So we waited.

More and more people showed up, all collecting at the entrance to some strange experience ahead. After a period of time, and random bits of small talk among ourselves, the same door opened. No one moved. There was a tap at the open door, demanding our attention. I looked past the frame and saw a person holding the door open, covered by a theatrical mask with a comically large nose. It simply gestured that we should follow down the hallway…

I was the first to obey. I stepped inside the passageway and walked down a long corridor with no roof. I glanced up at the stars above, and then quickly back at my new compadres to be sure I was not alone. I really felt like I was part of a David Lynch movie.

All that happened next was grand, but I hesitate to write about it. In this age of Google searches, I would hate for my blog to interfere with the experience of other attendants of Club Silencio. I won’t reveal all that happened, nor my personal reactions to the blindfolded, hour-long experience I had. Ask me about that in person sometime.

Weekend Ahead

2012-07-13T18:03:38Z

Tonight - Club Silencio - I'm going to a closed door, blindfolded club/preformance. Surely, I'll write more about this once I experience it but it's inspiration was drawn from Mulholland Dr.

Saturday - Spanglish. Going with the flow again. Should be a good time.

Sunday - A bike tour of the city's graffiti scene.

Montevideo

2012-07-10T01:11:14Z

I spent the first part of last week in Montevideo, Uruguay. After a forty-five minute flight from Buenos Aires, we arrived and took a shuttle to the hotel. Our driver for the week was an awesome guy named Hugo, who runs his own transport and tourism business with his son. If you're going to Montevideo, let me know and I'll hook you up with Hugo's contact information. He is such a cool guy.

Our first full day in the city was spent touring media outlets. We saw Canal 10 (TV), El País (Newspaper) and Radio Montecarlo (AM/FM). These are all essentially the best media outlets in the country, all based in Montevideo. We learned about the production behind each medium, the journalistic responsibility they each have and we met the folks that make them all run. My favorite memory was talking about music with the DJ of the FM station until our tour guide told us we had to continue on.

One thing I noticed about Montevideo was the great graffiti. Hugo said all the youngsters are the ones tagging the city, just like anywhere. I thought they did a really great job. This wasn't nonsense, like the scribbles covering almost everything in Buenos Aires. This was real art.

Just one example

On Friday, we had a tour of the city with Hugo. He took us through all the major streets, we stopped and saw the historical points and I had a great time chatting with him in the front seat. We only spoke in Spanish the entire time, so it was great practice. The highlights, for me, were seeing the Centenario Stadium, which was the site of the FIRST WORLD CUP EVER in 1930, and driving to the top of the hill in a barrio called Cerro, where we could look over the entire city. I'll let the photos do the talking from here on down:

This wall was part of an entire wall that surrounded old Montevideo

Teatro Solis the central Cathedral from early 1900s Congressional Building The View from Cerro El Centenario - the site of the first World Cup in 1930 Saw a few of these donkey carts scootin' around the city.

Check out the rest of my photos on My Flickr

Week Ahead & A Realization

2012-07-04T02:10:27Z

Them red lines be my travel plans

I'm flying from Buenos Aires to Montevideo tomorrow afternoon. We'll be having a journalism expedition for the rest of the week- touring a newspaper, radio and television stations. After Friday morning we are free to travel for the weekend, so I booked a Hostel in Punto del Este. So far, we don't have plans for Friday/Saturday, but I'm sure I'll find something awesome to do.

The last time I showed up to a random hostel and asked what to do at the front desk, I was advised to take a 20 minute walk to Tres Fronteras (the border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina) which was a cool place to be. I'm feeling good about the coming week. There has been a lack of photo-taking on my part lately; I'm glad to know that this will not be the case for these next few posts.

I also had a very slight revelation this afternoon, again, of course, about the Spanish language. I was picking up my laundry from the tintorería and chatting with the woman who always works there.

She remarked, "¿Hace frio, no? ¿Porque no tenés un abrigo?" (Isn't it cold out? Why don't you have a coat on?)

I said, "Pues, yo soy de Chicago, éste no es tan frio." (Well, I'm from Chicago, this isn't really that cold.)

As I was walking out, I was thinking about how the use of yo was unnecessary. In Spanish, the verbs contain the information about who is doing the action. What I essentially said was, "I am from Chicago," which seems unnatural when spoken. Whereas saying "Soy de Chicago" is similar to the more natural contraction, "I'm from Chicago."

The cool thing is that Spanish has the ability to always use this pattern. I'm is one word that contains subject and verb- I am. Every single verb in Spanish has this information - beben (they drink), subieron el collectivo (they boarded the bus), diseñamos (we design).

In thinking about this contraction comparison, it's easier to see why I don't ever need to add the subject before a verb I'm using. Of course, there are certain times when it's useful for emphasis, but the majority of the time, the information is redundant. It's not a huge break through or anything, but something of an interesting comparison.

Building the Bucketlist & Last Night

2012-07-02T00:40:25Z

My time here is winding down. As my family left yesterday, I realized that I have only one month left living in this city. That's four weeks; that's four weekends. That's too short of a time, especially when I'm just starting to know my way around. So I've begun to build a list of all the stuff I want to experience before I have to return to the US. I'm not going to share the list here though.

I think it's better if I make a post about each thing I do rather than focus on all the tasks as a whole. That would seem overwhelming and, if I've learned one thing while living in Argentina, it's to just go with the flow. I may not be able to get it all done, but I will be happy either way.

       A good example of going with the flow came last night. I went to Spanglish Exchange and saw a few familiar faces. There were fewer English speakers, so I got to speak with dos porteños each rotation. I had some great conversations, my favorite of which was a comparison of American blues to Tango in Buenos Aires. The similarities are actually quite striking. In the middle of the conversation, we had to switch languages, which I think really brought the whole point home in my mind.

       Afterwards, most of the people actually stuck around and we all hung out. I think spending time with groups of Porteños is more fun, since everyone naturally speaks in Spanish. We ordered pizza, had a few drinks and then, around 2 am, left for a party someone's friends were at.

       This party was at a cultural center in Belgrano. It wasn't really a bar, I was told, but it had two bars across three floors and plenty of drunk people, so you could see where I was confused. The lowest floor was more of a dance party - there were projectors of visuals and loud music. Not really my scene.

The second floor was very hip - there was art on display in a room where everyone was sitting on the floor, drinking beer. The other room on this floor had a projector contraption set up, with a bowl of colored bubbly water, a magnifying glass and straw. People were blowing bubbles, swirling the bowl around and messing with the magnifying glass to project a liquid pattern onto the wall. Groups of two or three sat on the floor, watching the wall and talking about god-knows-what. It was apparently called a Jam Audiovisual.

The third floor was the best. It was a patio with a bar and a lot of people. There was no music, only conversations and chain-smoking locals. I hung out there for a few hours, talking about music and art, turning down cigs and sharing large bottles of beer. I got tired and took a cab home (since I had no idea where I was) around 4:30. I chatted with the cabbie, got home and crashed.

It was a great night, a fun adventure with no plan, no goals, and living in the present. As I think about my remaining time in this city, I see the importance of keeping this attitude in place. If I live deeply in every moment, through every experience on my list, I'll be able to leave the city without any regrets, simply continuing the adventure.

Cosas Get Extraño En Dos Languages

2012-06-27T18:15:42Z

Things get weird when living in two languages.

       Last weekend, I picked up an antique book at the San Telmo fair and read the entire cover. "This looks interesting," I thought, "but I wonder which language it's in." It took me a good five seconds to recall that I'd just read the cover and that it was in Spanish.

       The more I speak Spanish, the less I notice the actual language. As I process the meanings more quickly, the more similar the language becomes to English as I've learned it. My mind has begun to sort things in concepts, not just in words. I have trouble keeping track of what language I've had certain conversations.

       A great example of the strangeness of combining languages happened last night. My family went to a show at Teatro Colón.

Yeah, it was mind-blowingly beautiful. We were under the impression that it was a Mozart performance, but it turned out to be an orchestral arrangement to a dramatic reading of a Greek Legend. That was an interesting surprise, for sure. More so, though it was Greek and Roman mythology, it was spoken in French and translated on a screen into Spanish.

This performance was about an hour long and for the first ten minutes, I was pretty disappointed. I thought this was going to be a waste of time. As the legend picked up though, it was easy to get swept into the experience. The actress' reading was emotive; the music was tense at the right moments, and relaxed in the pensive moments.

After it all, I realized that I just heard a Greek Legend, read in French, and translated into Spanish. English was never a part of this process, and yet I walked away understanding the point of the work and having felt the emotions of the path of the plot. If I didn’t understand Spanish, all this would be lost on me.

It’s quite strange to live outside my native tongue. It doesn’t just change the way I think about language and thoughts. It has made me think about how massive the entire world really is:

Outside of everything everyone I’ve ever met has ever learned, lies more expressions of knowledge in hundreds of other languages. And yet, when it all boils down to the ideas, most address the same themes, concepts and emotions. I'm learning that the world is both massive and small, in a manner I can't properly explain in either language I know.