Buenos Aires 10 days in.

10 days in, a couple of tango lessons, and up to the present continuous and one of the past tense conjugations of castallano.
I like the place so far. I like learning spanish and the really good coffee and the great beef. I like the people and the bustling streets combined with the friendly nature of the people. I like that the city hardly sleeps, and the streets stay lively with people, restaurants and shops until well in the early morning.

there is a friendly worn down look to the buildings, which tend to be led on european styles. the effects of the economic crises here remain, the homeless huddled up in blankets in the shop fronts in the evenings. the facades of some of the buildings ed and some banks still shuttered up on the main street. according to everyone, half the economy in the black. but buenos aires wears its ruined look very gracefully, like a lovely old house full with several generations of a large family.

the city is full of art exhibitions, imaginative and usually politcal graffiti and cafes on every corner. every couple of days, I stumble upon a colorful protest. in fact, as I write el Bloque Obrero y Popular are streaming past this internet cafe on route to a protest outside the Congress.

I´m told that the portenos (Port people - meaning people from Buenos Aires), get sick of the protests, which occur with annoying frequency. Its clear at least that much of the country is politically literate and take a keen interest in the twists and turns of the congress. I read apparently, that as the 25 year anniversary of the War approaches next year, the issue of soveriegnty over the Falkland Islands (Malvanas in Argentina) rears its ugly head. Here is a recent artcle where the governor of the island has stated that relations with Argentina are becoming more difficult. Try here for English. The economist also refers to this in an article in January. You can be certain that the tabloids in the UK are going to perform their usual postering about the whole sordid event.