Porteño Corner: Ester Vanda Marini, Natural Products Shop Owner

Ester Vanda Marini
Owner, Arte Naturale/author/massage therapist
Age: 43
San Telmo

Q: You’re Italian. How did you end up in Buenos Aires?

I came when I was traveling around South America around five years ago. I wanted to see Chile. I passed through the dessert and was in Chiloe and I had an Italian friend living here. I was tired of traveling, so I came to visit and stayed here a while and I started dancing tango, I liked it. I met a guy and then I ended up pregnant, which was the last thing I was expecting at 40 years old, so I decided I’ll stay here for a while. We lived together for two years and now I’m already single again!

• And how did you end up operating this store?

My son started school and I got to know Leandro who owns this property and I had wanted to set up a place like this. He had other projects going, so I took over the store beginning in March.

• Did you rename the store or change anything since you’ve taken over the business?

Previously the store was called ‘Arte Natural’ but I just added an ‘e’ at the end, so now it’s called ‘Arte Naturale,’ which is how you would write it in Italian, so I just made a little biddy change.

• Where did you live in Italy, had you ever lived in a big city?

I’m from a small town called Fasano (BR) but I lived in Milán a few years before. I didn’t like it too much. There’s no sun there and the people are a bit aloof and stressed out. To see a friend you have to make an appointment like a month in advance.

So Buenos Aires is the biggest city I’ve lived in but I like San Telmo because it’s like a little pueblo. You see your neighbors, you can go to the butcher shop and they know you. The people are warm around here. I like the south side of the city, I suppose since I’m a girl from the south myself. Actually, from seeing Buenos Aires on the map, I had thought that it would have the sea nearby but then I got here and realized the beach is like 200 kilometers away!

• How is business going here?

It’s pretty good, people seem to like the store. There’s no place else to get all these natural products in San Telmo. There are places that may only have imported products, which are very expensive, or those who only have national products but I try to have a wide array of brands here.

• Who are the customers here?

Mostly people from the neighborhood and there’s some foreigners and kids from the university nearby. And on Sundays it’s a free for all – we get people from everywhere, especially a lot of Brazilians.

• Where does your son go to school?

He goes to the private kindergarten. This is one complaint I do have, that there was no space available in the public school, so I have to send him to a private kindergarten that costs AR$300 per month, and that’s with a city government subsidy. Some people pay AR2,000 per month.

• What do you think of Argentine–style Italian food?

I always say that everything in Buenos Aires is like a copy of Italy. It’s similar, but not exactly quite right. The dough of the pizza is definitely different and in Italy we don’t put olives on the pizza, that changes the flavor. The fresh pasta is very good though and you can find all the products you need to make Italian food such as olive oil, so the general idea is there.

• And the coffee?

The coffee is weak for an Italian. We like coffee that will give you a heart attack. But the coffee here is good quality. They use sugar to roast it, which we don’t do so I go to a little place here to buy the good stuff and make it at home. In the end it goes further, so it’s worth it.

• What’s the best Italian restaurant you’ve found in Buenos Aires?

Well, I don’t go specifically looking for Italian food, but Filo I liked — it has a good variety.

I’ve started eating meat as well. I was a vegetarian for many years and I got malaria after living in Guinea, Africa and started eating meat again for the iron. I don’t love it, I’m more of a fish person but I’ll eat it a couple of times a week. It is Argentina and it’s the best in the world, so I’m pretty adaptable.

• They say that Argentines are Italians that speak Spanish, what do you think?

That’s true. For instance the vocabulary of lunfardo sounds to me like the dialect of my village. There are a lot of words that are the same, such as ‘mina’ (mine/female). The way they say ‘toalla’ (towel) is the same. They talk with their hands a lot and the way they complain is a lot like southern Italians. They have all the customs of Italians. But the thing about the partying, going out and getting drunk comes from the Spanish — Italians are a bit more serious.

Galerías Pacífico: Florida Street’s Shopping Mall

The 1991 debut of Buenos Aires’ downtown shopping mall, Galerías Pacífico, is what saved downtown’s Florida Street from becoming a complete ghost town in the 1990’s.

The opening of the three-floor 180-shop mall was also a financial blow to the already hemorrhaging Harrods Buenos Aires a block away, and in part led to Harrods Buenos Aires department store’s closing in 1998.

Buenos Aires’ Beautiful Downtown Shopping Mall

The beautiful 1889 building on the 700 block of Florida, at Cordoba, was originally modeled after Paris’s most important department store, Le Bon Marché.

Later this was the first location of the National Museum of Fine Arts, and then home to the British Pacific Railway administration office, from which it derives its name.

In 1945, the building’s huge central dome was constructed. The Beaux Arts style frescoes by artists Antonio Berni, Lino Spilimbergo, Manuel Colmeiro, Demetrio Urruchúa and Juan Carlos Castagnino are some of the most celebrated in Buenos Aires.

In 1989, one hundred years after its opening, the building was declared a national historic monument. Shortly after it was reopened as downtown’s premier shopping mall, artists Rómulo Macció, Josefina Robirosa, Guillermo Roux and Carlos Alonso added an additional four frescoes.

Shopping & Eating at Galerías Pacífico

For visitors it’s definitely worth taking a spin around the mall to admire the elegant building, although as with most shopping along Florida Street, the merchandise is not particularly unique.

The mall is home to many international brands such as Polo, Tommy Hillfiger, Christian Dior and Hugo Boss. The prices rival those in the developed world, but at least shoppers can get a refund on the 21% VAT tax.

A few high-end local brands such as polo outfitter, La Martina, and Lopez Taibo, for leather shoes and accessories, may be of more interest to visitors.

El Amor mural by Antonio Berni in Galerias Pacifico Buenos Aires — The mural ‘El Amor’ in Galerías Pacifico.

Buenos Aires’ Downtown Shopping Mall’s Dark History

Behind the designer glitz of Galerías Pacífico, is a darker, spookier past that few tour guides mention.

As author Naomi Klein describes in her book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, in 1987 a documentary crew discovered the literal writing on the wall — names and messages left by former prisoners who were presumed to be tortured in the building’s depths during the 1976-1983 military rule of Argentina.

Those with kids in tow may find Galerías Pacífico’s clean bathrooms utilitarian while exploring downtown. The busy food court has a lot of options ranging including Asian stir-fry joints, classic grilled meat restaurants, including the highly-rated Postavecchia, standard fast food, and artisanal ice cream that is hard to pass up.

Even though it is a high-end shopping mall, culture vultures will not want to miss Galerías Pacífico because of the Centro Cultural Borges (Jorge Borges Cultural Center) on the premises.

The cultural arts center has a constant rotation of international art exhibitions and events ranging from reasonably priced, high-quality tango shows to free indie film screenings and Argentine folk music performances.

←cont. from: Harrods Buenos Aires and the Decline of Florida Street

→ cont. reading: The Naval Center—A Beaux Arts Gem on Florida Street

Galerías Pacífico
Florida 753
Tel: 5555-5110

• Operating Hours: Mon-Sat 10am—9 pm
Sun 12 pm until 9 pm

Centro Cultural Borges
Viamonte 525
Tel: 5555-5358/9

• Hours: same as Galerías Pacífico

Harrods Buenos Aires and the Decline of Florida Street

In 1914, Britain’s most prestigious department store, Harrod’s, decided to open an overseas branch in Argentina. The beautiful Belle Époque style building takes up most of the block at Florida 877, and for many years was the city’s most elegant department store.

Harrods Buenos Aires remains the first and only foray into foreign territory for the famous retailer, highlighting Argentina’s importance in the early days of the twentieth century. It was known as the gathering place for the city’s elite in the decadent tea salon and the place to buy Italian suits, expensive perfume and imported jewelry.

WA-florida-harrods-federicomp — The San Martin entrance of Harrods —FedericoMP

In the 1940’s when her husband, Juan Peron was in power, Eva Peron was said to shop here despite being the figurehead for the country’s underclass.

A slow — and for Buenos Aires residents— painful death of Harrods began in 1989 when the top floors of the building were closed one by one.

Finally in 1998, Harrods Buenos Aires closed altogether due to debt problems. Later, a conflict over the use of the name with UK Harrods’ owner Mohammed Al-Fayed (father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend Dodi Fayed, who died in a car crash with her) continued to delay its reopening.

The closing of Harrods was a huge disappointment to nostalgic Porteños who fondly remember going to the children’s barbershop and lining up for a photo-op with Santa Claus at Christmas time. If there is one single reason for the decline of Florida Street in the 1990’s as a gathering place for Porteños, it is the closing of Harrods.

“I went there to buy clothes for school,” says Eduardo Masllorens, Eternautas tour guide. “There was a dwarf with a little hat who opened the doors of the cars that pulled up. Anyone who is over 50 remembers the dwarf from Harrods.”

Like so many other life-long residents Masllorens remembers going to visit Santa Claus at Harrods as well. “All the kids would write their Christmas wishes on a piece of paper and then Santa Claus would lift you up and kiss you and, I don’t know how the system worked, but they would somehow arrange for the parents to get the wish list on the way out.”

Apart from opening up for a few special events over the years, such as Tango Week in 2008 and 2009, Harrods has remained closed ever since. Now the grand department store is tentatively expected to reopen its doors in 2014 as a gay shopping center.

The current plan is to conserve the historic details such as the Tea Salon with its beveled mirrors and intricate moldings while bringing it up to current safety codes and incorporating modern technology that has become essential to the modern shopping mall, most notably, escalators. No one in the city is holding their breath though – the reopening of Harrods has been announced several times with much fanfare in the past, but it has nevertheless remained closed, while capitalists and preservationists continue their battle over the building in the courts.

—Tango Week on the first floor of Harrods—

← cont. from: Florida Street— Outdoor Entertainment and Touts

→ continue reading: Galerías Pacífico, Florida Street’s Shopping Mall

Florida: Buenos Aires’ Downtown Pedestrian Mall

Buenos Aires downtown thoroughfare Florida Street is the city’s most notable pedestrian area and an enduring neutral ground for a diverse cross-section of humanity.

While pleasant for a nice stroll away from the rumbling Buenos Aires buses and home to quite a few architectural gems, it’s admittedly not one of the city’s most dazzling destinations.

On the weekdays, Florida is flooded with office workers and vendors selling everything from tango tours to leather goods on the fancier northern end of the mall and handmade jewelry and hair braiding on the southern side.

While some vendors stick around on the weekends, Florida is decided mellower when no one is rushing from point A to point B.

Although famed as a shopping street in tourist guides, most Porteños will admit that these days Florida is most known as a destination to change money on the black market.

It is also fun to pass through for gawking at busy people and interesting buildings such as Galería Güemes, Galería Mitre, the Bank of Boston Building and the old Gath and Chavez Building.

Florida Street’s History

Florida Street is one of Buenos Aires’ oldest. Early in the city’s history it was a simple footpath along a creek leading into the River Plate.

In 1789 the municipality laid cobblestone here. Later, it was the first street to be paved in Buenos Aires.

It received the name Florida in 1821 to commemorate the important Battle of Florida for independence in what is now the country of Bolivia.

WA-florida-oldphoto1-1880 — Florida street, circa 1880

As the city’s elite moved away from the southern neighborhoods and toward the Plaza San Martin area in the 1870’s, Florida became increasingly commercial.

Toward the end of the 19^th century a tram running up and down the street was installed.

Shopkeepers successfully petitioned for parts of the road to be made pedestrian in 1913.

By the 1920’s, construction was booming along Florida Street. Most of the historic buildings that remain on Florida today date from that time period.

The 1922 silent avant-garde film, ‘La Chica de la Calle Florida‘ (The Girl from Florida Street), about a girl who works in a store on the mall, revealed Argentina’s modernity and contained elements of drama that highlighted class divisions, so pronounced at the time and still in evidence today.

For much of the 20^th century Florida remained a destination in itself, drawing visitors from all over the city.

A decline of the shopping street began with the military dictatorship and rough economic times of the late 70s and early 80s but was fully evident by the 1990’s with the closing of the huge high-end shopping mall, Harrods Buenos Aires.

Today, Florida has just a few empty buildings and has once again become a predominately commercial area with its own automobile-free charm.

What the downtown street lacks in classic neighborhood flavor found in other neighborhoods such as Recoleta, Palermo and San Telmo it makes up for with stunning buildings such as Galerías Pacífico.

→ continue reading:

• Florida Street— Outdoor Entertainment and Touts

• Galerías Pacificos — Florida Street’s Shopping Mall

• Shopping on Florida Street

Dining, Shopping and Travel Info — San Antonio de Areco

When to go:

Any fair day is a good day to go to San Antonio de Areco. The ideal time to visit though is during the gaucho festival, which celebrates the ‘Day of the Gaucho’ on the 10^th of November. Gauchos and their horses from all over Argentina come galloping through the cobbled streets to compete in cowboy competitions in a festival that resembles a grand country fair.

Getting there:

-By car: Take the Panamerican Highway towards Pilar, then head 115 km down Route 8. Be sure to carry small bills; there are two tollbooths on the road.

-By public transport: Chevalier, with 17 buses daily, is probably the best option to arrive at San Antonio de Areco from Buenos Aires via public transport. Reserve your ticket with a Visa or MasterCard by phone by calling 4000-5255 or just purchase them in Retiro, at stand number 67 or 73. The trip takes about an hour-and-a-half and costs AR$23.

Getting Around:

San Antonio de Areco is easily explored by foot or bike but to reach some of the estancias outside of town you may need to call a remis, or car service.
—Remis Sol
Tel: (02326) 455-444
—Remis Express
Tel: (02326) 452-254

Money:

Many businesses in San Antonio de Areco only take cash, there are three easy-to-find ATMs in town.

Food and Drinks:

-Cafe de las Artes-$$
Bolivar 70
Tel: (02326) 456-398

-El Boliche de Bessonart-$
Corner of Segundo Sombra and Zapiola

SanAntonio-bar1 — The Esquina of Merti — photos, Alice Josselyn

-La Esquina de Merti-$$/ credit cards accepted
Arellano 149
Tel: (2326)456-705
Hours: Sun-Thur: 9am-2am, Fri and Sat until 3am

-Puesto La Lechuza-$$/$$$
Victorino Althaparro 423
Cell: (02326) 15-40-5745
Hours: Weekends only, until late

Shopping:

San Antonio is famed for its leather and silverwares, shoppers will find plenty to take home just wandering around the town.

-La Bagula
Arellano 59 (Best value for traditional clothes for adults and children)

-Novecento
Arellano 152
(Inexpensive apargatos, traditional canvas sandles, in a small arcade of artisan shops)

Attractions:

-Ricardo Güiraldes Museum
Camino R. Güiraldes.
Tel: 45-5839.
Hours: Wed-Mon, 11 am-5pm AR$ 4.-
Closed Tuesdays

-Usina Vieja Museum and Cultural Center
Alsina 66
Hours: Tue-Sun, 11am—5 pm, AR$ 1.50-

Special Needs/Tourist Office:

San Antonio de Areco is recommended for disabled or special needs travelers who want a taste of Argentine cowboy life — the government has undertaken special initiatives to make the town accessible. Patio Moreno, a newer hotel right in the center of town is also fully accessible. Visit the San Antonio de Areco tourist office downtown at the corner of Zerboni and Arellano for any special requests or call them at (2326) 453-165 any day of the week from 8 am until 7pm.

← Lodging in San Antonio de Areco

← San Antonio de Areco, A Guacho Getaway Near Buenos Aires