Sunday in San Telmo

After two days of temperatures in the high 90's combined with nearly 100% humidity, cooler weather finally returned to Buenos Aires on Sunday. After sleeping in, I met up with a friend of mine from Colombia and we ventured to San Telmo, drink some mate and people watch.

San Telmo is an historic neighborhood in the city, once home to some of Buenos Aires' elite who later fled after a cholera outbreak. Many of the buildings (none taller than 4-5 stories) are architecturally stunning and on Sundays, one of the main streets, Calle Defensa, is closed to traffic and becomes a pedestrian street filled with cafes, vendors, and tango dancers looking to make some extra money in tips.

Quite frankly, the place is a tourist trap but there is something endearing about it. On any given Sunday throughout the year, Calle Defensa is mobbed with tourists and locals. Last Sunday was no different. After spending an hour or so drinking mate like the locals and looking at the same antiques (i.e. junk) and novelties the vendors sell week after week, we settled down at a cafe and had some beer and continued our people watching. In the course of two hours, I watched two tourists get robbed by street kids - one kid got caught, the other got away. Most of the tourists don't use common sense and leave their purses on the tables of cafes while they eat or set their camera down for a minute to rest, even after almost every guidebook around indicates Buenos Aires is a haven for pickpockets and small time thieves.

After Gabriel recently got robbed just one block from my apartment by gun, I have been extra cautious, but, being as objective as I can, I have seen more and more petty crime creeping into the more affluent areas of the city - indicative of the souring economy as more and more of the less fortunate stop preying on each other and venture into other neighborhoods to steal. The government tends to play down the amount of crime here, so as not to negatively impact tourism, but over the last year, petty crime has definitely been on an upswing.

Another sign of the times is the number of adults (and children) who stop and ask you for part of your pizza, empanada or other snack/food while you are actually sitting down eating it at a sidewalk cafe in a nice area of Recoleta, along Avenida Santa Fe. These same people will wait for patrons to leave their tables, then rush over and drink what is left in their cups (usually beer or wine) and take any of the remaining food. It's very sad.