Looking For Modernity

Argentine Money For my second book I was thinking about reading Motorcycle Diaries because I really love the movie. It is also the only book I know of that at least partially takes place in Argentina and specifically Buenos Aires. Even when I went to Idle Wild I was only presented with guidebooks or writing from Argentine writers. So I took myself to Bobst and searched for Motorcycle Diaries. The computers said that it should be on the shelf but of course it wasn’t, it also wasn’t on any of the surrounding tables, the room books go to before getting put back on the shelf, or the area books are held right after being returned. I became very frustrated and checked the shelf one last time.

Motorcycle Diaries is nowhere to be found in Bobst but I did begin to look at the books on the shelf were it should have been. I came across the book “Travels With My Father: A South American Journey,” by Daniel and Feliks Topolski. The novel is what the title promises: a recollection of a man’s journey around Latin America. It begins in Paraguay then moves to Argentina. I browsed other chapters but only really read this chapter from start to finish.

Each chapter opens with a small map in order to situate the reader. The Buenos Aires chapter is titled “Argentina: a nation in search of a future.” Whenever I tell people that I am going to BA, I hear about how advanced the city is considered the rest of the continent. I knew right away that this book could not be up to date but that the story probably took place during the economic crisis Argentina faced for quite some time. I flipped back to the title page and found that the book had indeed been published in 1983. I had hoped that I found a book that would give personal insight into a travelers’ experience that would be helpful. Instead, I had to sift through the chapter for what would still be applicable. One example of his story that will not still be true is how much the author stresses the inflation he faces while staying in BA compared to what he was ready to spend during his travels.

The chapter opens with what I believe to still be an accurate opening impression although with different population numbers now: “A huge, plush, handsome city, nearly seventy kilometers from edge to edge; hectic, sprawling and home for nearly nine million people, a third of Argentina’s total population...a city full of character.” This is the feeling I am told Buenos Aires still contains, one that is constantly moving and densely populated.
To get a feeling of the people I paid attention to the following: “Here the population was all white, determinedly European in approach, look, and style of dress.” This also supports the idea of BA being the “Paris of Latin America,” which I hear over and over again. From pictures I have seen I also believe the following is still true in some parts of the city: the architecture is “run-down, un-cared for perhaps, yet there was still ample evidence of colonial style and harmonious with Spanish architecture…Lovely sculptured wooden and iron worked balconies hung out over the narrow streets.” The mention of balconies caught my attention because when I was in Barcelona one of my favorite daily activities was to sit on my balcony, which overlooked a very busy street, and just watch the people and the city move.