We went to a dinner party last night in the San Telmo neighborhood, hosted by an American couple who have lived here for 3 years, a friend of a friend (we hadn’t met before)…

When we were given the directions we were told that the taxi driver might advise us against going there, that it’s dangerous, but to ignore him…

Sure enough, the neighborhood did feel sketchy. (We’ve been there during the day, but this was our first time at night.) The lights are dim. The buildings are dark.

When we arrived at the address of the party we thought we must be in the wrong place… no lights seemed to be on… We looked up and down the desolate streets, looking for signs of life…

 But then a head popped out of the next door over and said in a slight New York accent, “The doorbell’s there, but this is the entrance. Come on in.”

The house was in a grand colonial style with a  lot of outdoor living space. The outside was lit with candles and some dim lighting. There were plants and waterfountains. It was nice.

We met the other guests. All accept one Argentine wife were Americans…

For the most part everyone was very well travelled and interesting, which was good, because earlier in the day at an outdoor bistro near the Recoleta cemetary we found ourselves within earshot of some very loud American tourists sharing intimate details of their lives to some other American tourists they had just met… ughh…

At the dinner party we never really got a good look at the house. The lights were always too dim and we didn’t want to be too nosey…We understood that it was under construction. And all the background that we got on it was that they had bought it from an African friend who was divorcing his third Argentine wife (he had two at the time evidently) and that they promised him they wouldn’t tear it down… There was apparently little in the way of electricity, little plumbing, and no heat when they bought it. But the part that we went into for drinks had evolved far from there and was quite comfortable…

Our burning question that never got answered was, “Why San Telmo?!”

Every Argentine we talk to says to steer clear of the place… It’s dangerous…

But we really do know why… the buildings are beautiful. San Telmo used to be rich. But in the late 1800s the place was over-run by yellow fever. The rich people fled to the north and their houses were taken over by the poor people and it’s been that way ever since.

You can get a lot for your money. I don’t know how much these people paid, but I’m guessing not a lot, and the place was huge… and they had another empty lot that they were turning into their garden. It was going to be nice.

San Telmo as we understand it has a lot of artists and musicians, a rapidly growing bohemian culture. It’s also home to Buenos Aires’ famous tango houses. So, culturally San Telmo may well be rich and vibrant. We’ll have to spend some more time in the area to find out… 

What gets me though is that you go out your door at night and you feel like you’re on the set of Blade-Runner… that’s a little hard to swallow… Especially in a city that’s cheap even in the nicest areas, you can be somewhere nice and safe. But who knows, maybe we’re missing the boat in San Telmo…

We’ll continue to report to you, dear reader, about the happenings here in BA, where it’s almost always an adventure…