April 10, 2016

First weekend in Buenos Aires, Sunday: Walking on my own

On the second day of the weekend, I took some time to walk around on my own. My plan was to get to know the park areas of Palermo and visit the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA).

The day was quite rainy, so I found the parks to be quite empty. While walking and shooting lots of pictures (though not as many as yesterday), I realized one thing: Buenos Aires is crazy about statues! 

There are three types: 

1. Those posing as natural looking motives. Strategy to get nice pictures: Point and click. 
Earlier examples in this blog: Statue within the Teatro Colon.

2. Others in the middle of very busy streets. Strategy to get nice pictures: Wait and hope.
Earlier examples in this blog: Not strictly qualifying here, but probably rather fitting in this second than in the first category is the statue at the Plaza Italia from our first neighborhood walk.

3. The whole place of La Recoleta Cemetery is playing in an own league. Strategy to get nice pictures: Click, click, click, click, ... (only limited by time)

Here are some examples from today for type 1:




The following example may be arguable: Taking it from the other side of the street shows another peculiarity of Buenos Aires: The partly deteriorating structure. You will immediately notice that by using the sidewalks that never are consistent for more than some meters. I owe this perspective to Rob who keeps mentioning that so many things look like the 80s - as if the time has been stopped.

The 80s are represented by the two cars parking as if framing the statue
You have guessed as much, right? Yeah, of course: This is a statue representing type 2
No statue, no type: But the Japanese Garden - I didn't go inside, as the rain was not that inviting. However, I liked this arrangement at the entrance that reminded me of our last year's vacation in Japan.
And as last representative of the statues: Another example for type 1.
The rain was a great reason to get on with the second part of my plan for today: Visit the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA). It was opened in 2001 to host the art collection of Eduardo Costantini. The collection is not that large, but it shows a fascinating range of several decades and styles. I really enjoyed the 90-120 minutes that I stayed inside. And of course I am bringing back some impressions for you: