The sidewalks of Buenos Aires
A trip to Buenos Aires is what threw me to the Urban Odyssey side. The city’s sidewalks were the most impressionable character that I left with. Besides wondrous Street Cookie, the most memorable part of strolling down the sidewalks of Buenos Aires was the dog shit. It’s everywhere; brown little shrines left here and there. Their shapes were varied, from perfectly round droppings that made you think of spilled chocolate gumballs, and (even grosser, get ready), when it was smeared it reminded me of the dulce de leche found in almost every BA dessert.
In many areas, the sidewalks are very narrow, and beautifully natural in their unevenness and slopes. It’s a killer, ladies, to stroll down these blocks in your stilettos. Herds of dog walkers (Paseaperros) suddenly swarm your walking path, so you might find yourself with your back against the walls of stores to allow them to pass. We even saw a lady sprawled out on the sidewalk having epileptic seizures.
The sidewalks are also an open art gallery, with an abundance of colorful graffiti murals.
Then there are those majestic urban trees. They’re in tiny tree pits that are sometimes flooded with cloudy water with tiny swarms of flies. They must have deep, deep roots. They are gorgeous. I saw them everywhere. Many have spiraling black branches that curl into the sky. They shade the city in a green, luscious sigh.
Do you have any favorite cities with impressionable sidewalks?
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Georgetown (DC) and Gettysburg (PA). Childhood memories of cobblestone roads that didn’t go too far. Georgetown was a fantasy, I fell in love at age 10 and could only dream of living in one of the little town houses there and walking through the cobblestone streets to the shops each day. Never been back…
I had a secret fascination with the music from the Civil War as a 10 year old child and visited Gettysburg to explore the once war torn town turned beautifully well kept museum with most original cannons, trenches, flags, etc. It gave me an eerie sense of hope and sadness to think of all that went on there hundreds of years before during the famous battle. Why is this a fond memory then? Perhaps it wasn’t… however I did get a pink t-shirt with Garfield on it that said Gettysburg which I wore for years with self made cut off shorts, so that helped.
vivid memories… those are indeed memorable sidewalks from what you describe.
The sidewalks in Buenos Aires do look so interesting. Why are there so many dogs? Does it smell of dog and dog sh*t everywhere you walk?
the smell of dog and dog shit is not something I remember. it was more of a visual memory. don’t quite know why they have so many dogs. Is it that there are more dogs, or the fact that it is common to have dog walkers walk your dog, so you always see packs of dogs together being walked so you think there are a lot of dogs…? but picking up dog poop is not practiced enough! a shame, because it is truly a great city to stroll through, it sucks you have to always have one eye down to scan where you step. I think, Bianca, you would be cursing out some folks there during your stroll!