Buenos Aires, lenguaje, letras y libro

.....how could I possibly not have known this before I arrived?   In 2011 Buenos Aires was rewarded the book capital award - capital munidal del libro - by the UNESCO and living here it is really hard not to see why.   Bookstores of all kinds at each corner,  lists and lists of literary cafes.    In the foto you can see the one where I bought El Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges - one of the most important Argentine writers, essayists and poets born in Buenos Aires - yes in Spanish as I like to challenge myself.  (really?) His work is a an amazing mixture of tale and dreamlike fantasy and no I have not progressed very much with this book as its layers are deep and my Spanish not yet.  Today in class at VOS the cultural center here in Buenos Aires I learnt that this style is called Realismo Magico - it is extremely important to LatAm because it is the first literary style that was created here and that is being exported quite successfully while in the past all other styles were imported from Europe.   I am proud to announce that I made it through my first tale ba Julio Cortaza equally important as Borges.
"No se culpe a nadie".   I really wanted to give up - this was very challenging to read in Spanish but Pancho our teacher and my classmates would not let me.

my favorite bookstore

at the Cafe Tortoni 

The most famous among the many many literary cafes in Buenos Aires is of course El Tortoni 
http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/
another time machine you can step into in this city.   So many places to still go and explore,  to have coffee and read or write or just feeling inspired in this special energy.  My favorite bookshop it is 15 steps away from my apartment it never fails to amaze me how they find anything in there within seconds of my asking.    I always think of my Mum when I am inside...  Incredibly also I discovered only a few weeks ago I live near he National Library which is heaven inside and such an interesting building historically as it was the residence for some "governments" in Buenos Aires at some point.   http://www.bn.gov.ar/faq.    

And then I made the newspaper.   A little over a month in the country and I am being interviewed while in class at VOS on Lunfardo of course,  a sort of dialect or secret language of the Tango.   So when I came to the office on Monday Maria Gabriela says - estas en el diario!! - you made the newspaper - of course this is not just any newspaper La Nacion is what you read in BsAs when you take pride in your education - so here is the article in La Nacion.   (More on the war between the government and media another time - winds of change here) Mind you I am not that anxious to learn Lunfardo as they cite me quite liberally - as this feels like another deep world of complexity I could easily get lost in....so Tango has its own language.  Of course here is my link between my love for dancing and my love for words.  Of course Tango has its own words.   So this week I need to buy yet another dictionary and yes I am learning a fifth language - Lunfardo.  Jose Maria the CFO of Telmark spoke to me about this language when we first met and since our discussion was in Spanish I thought maybe I misunderstood - no, no Tango has its own language.  Claro.

My bario has one more particularity I want to mention and that is I live in medical headquarters.   This is somewhat puzzling to me - at first I only noticed the dermatologists who seem to reside on the Recoleta side of Avenida Santa Fe - walking to my Tango Studio however I discovered really via the bookstores that Dentists cluster on the other side of Ave Santa Fe only to find all major hospitals and university faculties only steps from my home.    So the energy of the healing profession has been all around me.  Another little fact that is curious - Buenos Aires has more shrinks than New York and I am not a bit surprised by that fact either.   Bario Freud - this is also what some have  called  my neighborhood.   I cannot help but smile at the sheer concentration of all that is important and available to me at this stage in my life.  So is this true - it is always all there in abundance and we just notice it more clearly as we heighten our awareness?  Buenos Aires is just what the doctor ordered for me - books,  writers,  journalism,  a potential and people connecting job.   I live in this enormously interesting city,  in summer, light and sun without end, Tango,  calm attitude,  peace of mind,  courage curiosity AND time to indulge in it all.   Any doctor would be pleased with the progress I have been making here.

Buenos Aires - where else would I want to be writing a book....