Not much else to add, best weekend so far with excellent deliverance from the likes of Booka Shade, David Guetta, Pete Tong and Gui Boratto. Unforgettable?
I'm going on an Argentinian adventure, and I'm sharing it with you.
Not much else to add, best weekend so far with excellent deliverance from the likes of Booka Shade, David Guetta, Pete Tong and Gui Boratto. Unforgettable?
People come to Buenos Aires for the infamous boliches and music; Regetton is an obvious favourite amongst locals, electro classics go down very well (Creamfields anyone?), but how is Drum and Bass slotting into the music scene here? The answer is every Tuesday at Bahrein. Although it seems strange to try and negotiate and hardcore Drum and Bass night into the middle of the working week, there’s absolutely no lack of gente and it certainly draws an interesting crowd. Interesting to see how well the Drum and the Bass go together, and the answer is not very, at least the DJ I saw who would frantically beat (mis) match at the very last miniute to change songs, leaving the Englishcrowd (me plus 5 other boys) eagerly awaiting the amazing drop which just never came. Camo and Krooked was played once though, which pleased us but nobody else. In terms of dancing people go absolutely nuts, you’d probably be thrown out of Fabric for throwing such similar shapes. They certainly love the music, but you can still sense the excitement of novelty of this new cool genre, which they just don’t quite know what to do with yet. One amazing dude who particularly sticks in my mind came out in his suit after the office (probably straight from infamous ‘after office’ drinks) and was just running laps of the dancefloor waving his hands above his head. He was loving it, regrettably not as much as I was.
What I enjoyed more, and where they definetly bang the nail (to super cool drumming beats) on the head is La Bomba. This is where they specialize, the drumming, without the bass. Such a good vibe as you drink your fernet or quilmes out of fantastically large cups to an orchestra of drummers in the early evening. Still some nutter dancers for sure, but as Dum and Bass will enter and leave the music scene here, La Bomba will be here to stay, drawing hundreds of people every evening all year round, whereas Drum and Bass will draw it's crowd, but with questionable success
Apologies for the recent radio silence on the blog front. Things have been muy hectic in the office in the couple of weeks running up to the fashion show. It was last Wednesday and I’m not alone in saying it was a great success and definitely worth all the hard work! The venue looked amazing (after a long day of setting up and rearranging various table arrangements), all of the collections went down very well on the very very sexy selection of models we had who came down the staircase at the Italian Embassy wearing the likes of Cambac, Morgane Le Fay and a personal favouite, Edu De Crisci. The audience sipped tea while the models did their laps of the amazing rooms. Such a great event and I’m very lucky to have been involved. You can see more photos on our Facebook page, and a big big thank you to the las diosas del Six, Carminne Dodero, Silvia Mazzone and Rosario Lanus for making it all happen!
I’m yet to have a conversation with anyone about Buenos Aires without them mentioning Perón, tango or meat. Emphasis on the meat, beef in particular. Ask for salad in a restaurant and people generally respond with a confused ¿Qué?. Search for fresh vegetables in the supermarket and you’ll only find a sad batch of wilted, brown, unrecognizable shapes. Having dabbled in vegetarianism for the past year I’ve re-converted to meat as a means of survival; without it my diet would be mostly carbohydrate based, and then I’d be in all sorts of trouble. Not to mention that the steak (pride and joy of the Argentines as well as their cultural heritage) is pretty good. Having nearly lost all hope I stumbled across this little gem off Santa Fe, evidence that there are a few surviving herbivores out there in the meat capital of the world. Needless to say it wasn't very busy, and I won't be refusing an invitation to un asado any time soon.
In Buenos Aires there seems to be a more relaxed way of doing everything. Six O’ Clock Tea certainly uses this aspect of Argentine attitude their advantage in their chic fashion shows which embody all things fabulous about the world of fashion, but in a more relaxed, scenic atmosphere in the cities most outstanding venues with their profits going to renowned charities.
The best bit is, instead of sitting in those horrible cramped stalls like at LFW, everyone is seated at tables while tea is served (at six o’ clock…) so you can enjoy the show in comfort without agonising about who has/hasn’t been seated in the front row.
The amazing team at Six, Carminne Dodero, Silvia Mazzone and Rosario Lanús (best dressed girls in Buenos Aires?) have been incredible at welcoming me into the office, and there’s lots to do in preparation for the next desfile (fashion show), which will be Six’s 14th event, taking place in the Italian Embassy on 2nd November. The venue is incredible, with an interesting alternative to the normal runway the models are going to come down this staircase…
Local designers such as Cambac, Edu De Crisci and Laura Venezuela are presenting their spring/summer collections (we’re a season ahead here) as well as special guest designer Liliana Casabal, presenting her new collection from her label Morgane Le Fay all the way from New York.
Everyone’s invited, profits to charity: 14va edición del desfile-té primavera/verano 11-12 el miércoles 2 de Noviembre el la Residencia del Embajador de Italia. Be there or be square, I don’t need to remind you what time…
One long journey via Madrid slept all the way to BA as to avoid jet lag and got stuck in straight away. ILA’s Pablo (who is an absolute dude) meets me at the airport with this MASSIVE sign saying ‘Welcome Amber!’ and takes me to the amazing apartment I’m staying in while I’m searching for accommodation with Argentines. First day fully immersed in BA culture, a peronist breakfast followed by steak for lunch, lots of walking but it’s pretty easy to negotiate your way around as everything is in blocks. Although I did manage to forget where I live, and when I showed a doorman my address he helpfully told me ‘no existe’, soon realised it was written down wrong.
I’m in Recoleta and the other Bristol girls are all in Palermo, had a little reunion supper which was all very exciting, had even more meat and some cocktails which should be called ‘danger juice’. Went to a club called ‘Jet’ which was outside of town by the water, highlight of the evening was possibly when the taxi driver got even more excited than we were when I asked him if he had any house music! The music in the clubs is generally 80s/90s with a bit of house but not a wobbly bass line to be heard yet. Might have to see what we can do about that. Girls dress differently here too. Wear high-waisted shorts and tights with converse and people will look at you like you’re an alien.
Lara and I have sussed the subte, just like the tube but if you get lost you don’t ask for eastbound/westbound services. Had a few adventures as aspiring culture vultures, went to Plaza San Martín to try and find a nice lunch and ventured up to San Telmo for the market. Most offensive moment to date was when we asked a man (with the most mesmerising moustache I’ve ever seen) where we could have lunch, before I’d even finished asking him in my (almost) perfect Spanish he said ‘McDonalds’ and pointed down the road. I’ve had better culinary experiences with Pablo, who took us out for an amazing supper in Recoleta where I had yet more meat. He’s already warned me that I’m probably going to put on weight here. I think I probably already have, and I’m definitely not going to McDonalds.
Been speaking lots of Spanish but it’s pretty different to Castellano. Another fine moment was when Lara and I asked a man for directions and he replied in fluent Portuguese, we really need to sort our accents out. Start work on Wednesday, so much fun already. I can already confirm, la gente está muy loca.
Seeing as I’m not actually there yet I don’t have much to report on my experiences in Buenos Aires so far, only on my expectations. I’m not usually one to get excited until I’m on the aeroplane, but now that everything is booked and organised (not to mention the fact that the rest of my friends are already there having a belter without me!) let’s just say the excitement is beginning to kick in a little bit.
Thanks to my new hero, David Lloyd from Intern Latin America, organisation for this trip has been stress free. I was initially tearing my hair out trying to negotiate exams, general life stress and then a full time job with attempting to organise this year, but it’s all finally sorted now and it looks like I’ve landed myself with a pretty pimp internship! (I’m now quietly grateful that I was rejected from all the office internships I applied for in a hurry earlier this year). People always told me that things would sort themselves out in the end and that the right thing would come along, it most certainly has.
I’m going to be working for the Argentine events company Six O’Clock Tea, which ticks all my boxes: I’ll be involved with digital marketing, events management and hopefully a bit of writing on the side. Not to mention they’re hosting one of Buenos Aires’ biggest fashion events in November, so I’ll be there just in time to jump on that wagon and get involved. Oh, and this will all be in Spanish, no half-hearted Spanglish internships for me, I’m here on a mission to get fluent, although I’m fully prepared to embarrass myself for the first couple of weeks with my questionable made-up-on-the-spot verbs.
Aside from speaking Spanish all day at work, I’m going to be speaking it at home in my apartment which I’m sharing with local Argentines in Palermo. Fingers crossed they understand my old school Castilian and horrendous lisp (that’s a habit that’s got to go), and hopefully they’ll take me out and show me the city’s best kept secrets.
With a week to go I’ve been checking out what else BA (Buenos Aires NOT British Airways) has to offer, and by the looks of things I’m going to be having lots of fun and I’m already pre empting the very real danger of never coming home. I’ve already got tickets to a tango show and free access to the Oasis clubhouse (thank you David!), my friends have made me ridiculously jealous with their stories of amazing nightlife and food and I’ve been looking forward to Creamfields festival (which Booka Shade and Layo & Bushwaka are headlining) since I made the decision to come to Buenos Aires a year ago.
In between work I think visits to Iguazu Falls, skiing in Bariloche, Mendoza wine tasting and a day trip to neighbouring Uruguay are certainly in order. Apparently you can also get the bus to Brazil!? In the meantime I should probably think about packing, and I’ll be listening to this song, which has been on repeat as the Buenos Aires anthem all year:
