Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Palace of Running Water


Museo del Patrimonio Histórico at the Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes (Palace of Running Water)

Av. Córdoba 1750, Buenos Aires
Museum entrance at Riobamba 750, 1st floor

Click here for photo slideshow: Palace of Running Water

Avenida Córdoba is an often used thoroughfare, so although many tourist pass by this grandiose Baroque structure, most miss this attraction because the entrance is around the corner at Riobamba 750. In addition, although residents pay their water bills on the first floor, the museum is only open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9-noon.

The building construction began in 1887 and was completed in 1897. Norwegian designer Olaf Boye was responsible for the building's design; the English construction company Bateman-Parsons and Bateman took responsibility for construction. The façade is made up of over 170,000 tiles and more than 130,000 enamel bricks, as well as glazed castings of the coat of arms of the fourteen provinces and the capital, which at that time made up the Republic of Argentina . The ocher and blue-greenish terracotta glazed tiles were made by Royal Doulton and shipped in crates from Britain. Each tile was numbered, corresponding to it's exact placement on the building. Located at the highest point of the city (such as it is in this incredibly flat city), El Palacio de Aguas Corrientes was built as a disguise for what was essentially a water tower meant to provide clean, drinking water to the locals following the yellow fever epidemic of 1877.

Water was collected from the river, off the shore of Belgrano, and diverted through canals to Recoleta, where it was pumped to El Palacio. Twelve metal tanks inside stored 72 million liters of water. Today the equipment is defunct and the building serves as the headquarters of the water company Aguas Argentinas. It also is home to the waterworks museum that has hundreds of toilets collected from across the world as well as a library, drawings, antique sanitary artifacts, models and other materials on waterworks across the globe.

Prior to the construction of the distributed municipal plumbing system, water was collected and held in pools and containers in individual homes. In the mid-1800's water was literally sold in buckets to homeowners, brought from the river, full of silt. These conditions helped spread disease. Because the new water storage building was located in an area that was being populated by the city’s wealthy families and their mansions, the building was meant to complement the surrounding architecture and as a monument to what was a world class city.

An excerpt from the book "Far Away and Long Ago" by W. H. Hudson provides a clear, first hand description of the situation around 1870:

" . . . the principal and sublime stench in a city of evil smells, a populous city built on a plain without drainage and without water-supply beyond that which was sold by watermen in buckets, each bucketful containing about half a pound of red clay in solution. It is true that the best houses had _algibes,_ or cisterns, under the courtyard, where the rainwater from the flat roofs was deposited. I remember that water well: you always had one or two to half-a-dozen scarlet wrigglers, the larvae of mosquitoes, in a tumblerful, and you drank your water, quite calmly, wrigglers and all!

All this will serve to give an idea of the condition of the city of that time from the sanitary point of view, and this state of things lasted down to the 'seventies of the last century, when Buenos Ayres came to be the chief pestilential city of the globe and was obliged to call in engineers from England to do something to save the inhabitants from extinction."

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Cul de Sac


There is no end to walking around Palermo, and one can certainly spend an entire vacation wandering there, but we find ourselves occasionally "crossing the border" into Almagro and Villa Crespo, two barrios immediately south of Palermo. Each time, we find something interesting. During our last trip we stumbled across Cul de Sac, an outlet store/showroom for a small handbag (cartera) manufacturer that is located in the rear. The plant produces bags for other labels, but the showroom exclusively displays its own label, Cul de Sac.

The owner previously designed bags for Prune, a well known handbag store in Palermo Soho, before striking out on his own. Carolyn ended up buying four bags. Two as gifts and two for herself. Cinthia, the saleswoman, spoke enough English to help us make the purchase. The store is only about a 10 minute walk from Casa Palermo (7 blocks), located at Lavalleja 1114 (Esq. Cordoba 4400). 4774-9448




Note: Argentina is well known for it's leather and there is a "Leather District" in Buenos Aires that's only about a ten minute cab drive from Casa Palermo. It's located in the area surrounding the intersection of Murillo and Scalabrini Ortiz.

Note: Click map for a larger image.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Pickpockets & Other Dangers


I really hate to make my first posting on my Buenos Aires Blog about something negative, but I want our guests to have a good time and not get ripped off. BA is simply sublime when all is going well. But like in Chicago, or any large city, you have to be on your guard. During our last trip (Nov-07), someone tried to pickpocket me two different times:

1. On a very crowded downtown subte (subway) car, standing near the doors, I felt fingers reaching into my back pocket. I quickly turned around, pretending to get a better grip of the handrail. The guy was directly in front of me, looking innocent and off to the right. Moments later, I felt tugging on the camera case, which is strapped to my belt and on my side. I realized that the same guy was trying to open the zipper on the camera case. I shifted, placed my hand on my camera case and stared at the guy, who pretended to ignore and moved away. I noticed that had pulled the zipper open about halfway. I began to formulate a plan. I saw that he had his cell phone in his shirt pocket. I figured that at the next stop, as the doors opened, I would reach into his pocket, grab the phone and hurl it out on to the platform. I envisioned that he would go after it. But then he pulled out the phone and began playing with it. So instead, I took his photo. He immediately turned away, pretending to be looking out the window, and vanished the moment the doors opened at the next stop.

2. At another sutbe platform, as a train pulled up, everyone rushed forward, even though there are throngs of people trying to get off. All the bodies are in contact at such a moment and it's an ideal opportunity for a pickpocket. Sure enough, I felt some tugging at my camera case. I looked down and saw that a middle-aged woman's hand was struggling with the zipper. What astonished me was her clever approach. Her purse was cut open at one end and her hand was protruding from it. Had she snatched my camera, she would have simple pulled it into the purse. Of course, I pulled away and she instantly vanished, never actually getting on the train. (A good strategy would be to hang back, let the crowd get on the train, and get on last.)

Taxi trouble

Here's a tip we all need to keep in mind when in BA: If a taxi driver initiates a telephone call or starts texting after you get into the cab, it's probably prudent to immediately tell him to stop, get out and walk away. Find a different cab. I read this tip a while back somewhere, but this story puts it into perspective:

KIDNAPPED

Update (2-21-09): I learned that some dishonest taxi drivers at Retiro train station are pulling this trick: When a passenger gets into the car, they insist on seeing the bills that you plan to pay with. When you hand them the bill(s) to examine, they substitute them with counterfeit bills. Tip: If you are paying with a large bill, memorize the last three digits and read them to the driver as you hand them the bill. -OR- pay in small bills. That will drive him nuts.

Don't wear expensive stuff

We were on a bus on Av. Sante Fe. I was talking with my friend Ralph; Carolyn was sitting with our friend Nancy. Unexpectedly, another passenger, a woman, said to me, in English, that she recognized that Carolyn was wearing a Movado watch and a diamond ring. She cautioned that thieves recognize the real thing. Nothing happened, but at least we were warned. Carolyn put her watch and ring away.


Be careful out there.

Also see: Trip Advisor posting

Inaugural Posting

I have created The Buenos Aires Blog to serve as a outpost for information about Buenos Aires for guests of Casa Palermo and tourists in general who are interested in information about Buenos Aires.

Links to photos I have taken in Buenos Aires:

November, 2007
November, 2006
April, 2006
December, 2005
October, 2005