...I
I am leaving the port of Buenos Aires, now, 9.00am, 29 February 2008. The skyline of the city imposes itself, with the new skyscrapers and the old warehouses of the port which have been renovated and gentrified into the new “marina” space of the town, with good and expensive resturants, fancy bars, corporate offices and high standing apartment buildings. Renovation of the waterfront, Argentinian way, which is not so different from the European way (Barcelona, Genova, Marseille) just add more skyscrapers to the recipe and the peculiar structure of the “canal-port” which was build between the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX Century. Similarly to the Trieste port in Italy the “new port” soon became obsolete with the change of the marine transport system and the Containers revolution. So basically it was run-down for 50 years and then the renovation started in 1989...
...II
I am leaving the port of Buenos Aires, now, 9.00am, 29 February 2008. The skyline of the city imposes itself, even though the old city is now overshadow by the new skyscrapers from Microsoft and other corporations, I guess that the my grand-grand father had a similar view when he was quitting Argentina for coming back in Naples and start the family which contributed to the basic fact that I am alive and writing those notes now. It's kind of amazing if I think about it. Pietro Rouge left Marigliano for Buenos Aires and stayed there for something like 6 months, working at the “Retiro” Station for the Argentinian Railways. Apparently somebody from the family found him the job and proposed him to come there. Unfortunately I don't have so much details on his Argentinian adventure, but what I have been told by my grand-mother is that one day he was passing near the harbour (which is close to the station and basically is where i just left) and saw a boat preparing to leave the next day to Naples. He felt nostalgic, he prepared his bag and came back...
...III
I am leaving the port of Buenos Aires, now, 9.00am, 29 February 2008. The skyline of the city imposes itself, similar to a labyrinth, with the traces of the colonial foundation still evident in the orthogonal structure of the street plan. A place to get lost. Which makes the stories of Borges more understandable, more clear. I also picture very well the adventures of Pepe Carvalho described by Manuel Vasquez Montalban, chasing desaparecidos, political activists and trying to figure out the macabre mysteries of a city which still today has the traces of a dramatic past, where there are squares dedicated to the memory of the dead bodies found on the same site (desaparecidos from the Military Government years)...
...IV
I am leaving the port of Buenos Aires, now, 9.00am, 29 February 2008. The skyline of the city imposes itself, but I can already recognise the shape and structure of the centre. I arrived there only yesterday and I had only few hours to look around, but I have been quite lucky to walk around, enjoy St. Martin Square, the Florida Avenue, the Plaza de Mayo, the Porto Madero (the old port which has been renewed in the 90s), Palermo. I eat good meet, I met good people. Now heading to Montevideo and then Colonia for the University on Youth and Participation...
No comments:
Post a Comment