Category Archives: Shopping

Dressed Up Somewhere to Go: Buenos Aires, Round 2

Walking around Buenos Aires

Last weekend was a holiday weekend here in Chile, and needing a bit of a break from the unforgiving sun and barren desert landscape, two friends and I hopped on a plane and travelled across the continent to beautiful Buenos Aires.

We landed in a somber, late-autumn climate – with temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s F (18-20 C) – periodic rain, mist, and a few leaves changing color and falling to the ground.

We stayed in an apartment, an experience I’d highly recommend over a hotel to anyone visiting any city for more than a few nights. For one thing, it puts you in a more residential setting and gives you a taste of what it would be like to actually live in the city. There are also better restaurants, cafes and cheaper transportation options around residential areas than there are near hotels. Our apartment was a fabulous building from the 1940s, with incredible parquet wood floors, super high ceilings, chandeliers and white wood cabinets. In other words, it had tons of character.

Cafe culture in Palermo Soho

On our first morning, we beelined to a coffee place. it was a newer cafe on one of the city’s endless historical street corners. The coffee was great (my first real cup since leaving the U.S. in March) and the cafe had a lot of character, too: they sold fresh bunches of flowers and great pastries and cookies.

So why did I go back to Buenos Aires so soon after being there only about 6 months ago? Well, to put it simply, I can’t imagine growing tired of exploring its many historic streets, cafes, and browsing its eclectic boutiques. Plus, I had a great excuse to go back: in a little over a month, I’ll be starting a master’s degree program and writing a thesis centered on a topic that has to do with Argentina. This past weekend was a great way for me to start some research and I got more done than I ever imagined. I made some amazing contacts and picked up some fantastic information.

The city is huge: it’s the second largest city in South America after São Paulo and has endless streets and neighbourhoods to explore. Although shopping was not my main focus of this trip, I took a little time on Saturday morning to visit the quaint leather district, where you can buy leather goods and furs all made in Argentina, some designed right in the shops themselves.

An antiques store in San Telmo

What I like about shopping in Argentina is that I’ve found I get very personalized attention in the little shops. I got nearly as much attention from the sales ladies selling me a leather jacket in Argentina as I did back in the U.S. buying a wedding dress a few years ago. The women helped me find the right size and then choose the right colour, and the right fit and cut. They then instructed me about how to zip it up so it would look the best, and how to tie the belt neatly and arrange the collar so it fell the right way on my shoulders. Essentially, they taught me how to put on a jacket, which you would think I might know how to do by now, but I actually felt like I was learning for the first time.

I find that so many Argentinean women have a way of putting themselves together and value style and beauty in a way that many women in the U.S. and Canada seem to have forgotten. No matter what they are wearing, they look beautiful, neat, tidy and stylish. They are not a group of women who seem to fall victim to trends; instead, they carefully choose styles that suit their own body types. They also seem to be resourceful and use what they have in their own closets: although you can find a number of shopping malls and browse the same designers you’d find on 5th Avenue in New York in Buenos Aires, I never saw men or women flashing designer labels – they weren’t even wearing designers, as far as I could tell – but they still look spectacular.

San Telmo’s Sunday morning antiques market in Plaza Dorrego

While one of my travelling companions was shopping for her leather goods, she had overheard an Argentinean woman being told by a clerk that a certain style of coat is in fashion right now. “But I make my own fashions!” The shopper had replied to the sales lady.

I was also on a mission to pick up some Rhodochrosite. This beautiful pale-pink stone, often found swirled in with other minerals in patterns reminscent of marble, is only found a few places on earth, most notably, in Argentina. It is the country’s national stone. The stone is becoming more difficult to find, as most quality pieces are being exported and made into jewelry on the international markets by companies such as Tiffany. Nonetheless, we found a wonderful and very informative seller in the San Telmo Sunday morning market. It was a delight to stare at all of the cotton candy pink stones he had on display, and we picked up a couple of the pieces as gifts for friends and family back home.

Rhodochrosite

San Telmo is known for its opulent antique shops, especially its antiques market on Sunday morning. We drooled over a few of the many icy crystal sparkling chandeliers hung in endless display in these shops, lamenting the fact that they probably wouldn’t travel well in a suitcase. I prefer shopping in the little antiques shops on the side streets near Plaza Dorrego, as I have found that most of the picturesque stands in the central plaza itself are just that: mostly for show. The crowds are less dense in the shops and markets on the side streets, and that seemed to be where most Argentineans were doing their shopping as well.

There is one thing I’d also recommend seeing in San Telmo on Sundays: some very talented painters can be found displaying their works just off of the central plaza. One of my friends picked up two small still life oil paintings, and I was mesmerized by one artists’ work in particular. Argentinean painter Juan Daniel Habegger had a display of breathtaking landscapes of the Argentinean countryside at different times of day. The vibrant reds and oranges in one picture of a sunset over the pampas caught my eye. I couldn’t think of a better souvenir than one of his landscape paintings of the lovely Argentinean countryside.

Painting by Juan Daniel Habegger, c. 2012 Buenos Aires

We finished our weekend shopping in the trendy Palermo Soho district. On the weekends in Plaza Serrano, artisans set up stands with funky jewelry and artwork. The friendly vendors sipped mate tea (the subject of a future blog post) while we browsed the bohemian wares. We enjoyed walking up and down Honduras street and oogling at the colourful and totally creative window displays of the shops. Many Argentinean designers and small designers’ co-ops set up shop in this area, so if you want to buy real, made-in-Argentina fashions, this  is the best place I’ve found so far. We could have spent a whole day or two just in this area, but unfortunately only had about three hours, not nearly enough time to see everything! We also ate two great meals in this area, which I will blog about soon.

I’ve shopped in Paris, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal, and by far my absolute favourite city to shop is Buenos Aires. I was telling this to a woman about my age working at a shop in Palermo Soho who had never visited Paris or New York. She couldn’t believe me when I told her this. I think I enjoy it so much because of the diversity and creativity of the items that can be found: handcrafted, handmade, original and unique apparel, housewares, accessories and other goods are in more plentiful supply and more accessible to the average shopper in Buenos Aires, compared to the mass-produced goods slapped with a designer label and a high price tag in the U.S. or Europe. Not to mention, the fabulously-dressed Argentinean men and women are inspiring, to say the least, to watch while you’re contemplating how to improve your wardrobe.

The streets of San Telmo

Supporting e-commerce in Latin America

Books!

I love shopping online. I love putting things in my virtual cart, reading reviews, looking at pictures. I enjoy the excitement of making a purchase from someone far away and then anticipating the item showing up at my door a few days later.

So you can only imagine my despair when I arrived in Chile and there’s almost no e-commerce. (In fairness, one of the major grocery store chains has some sort of system where you can order groceries online, but the actual store is located well within walking distance from where I live and the in-store selection is greater than what is shown online anyways.)

Soon after arriving, I decided to order a small $5 replacement for my forgotten camera transfer cord off eBay from the U.S.. The replacement arrived over 2 months later, and for some reason was kept by the Chilean post office, which is a 30 minute bus ride away. (There aren’t exactly many post offices around here). Taking that into consideration, plus the fact that shipping and import taxes are so high on items ordered from North America, I decided not to order anything from the U.S. again.

When I was in Buenos Aires, one of the bookstores I spent hours browsing in was Cúspide Libros. Later I was relieved to discover that Cuspide had a website and (imagine a stirring rendition of Handel’s Messiah playing here) you can order books online through their website and they ship throughout Latin America. On top of it, since Chile is one of Argentina’s neighbours, the shipping rate was very reasonable.

I decided to hit the “submit” button one day and see what adventure might await. I felt hopeful and idealistic when I submitted that order, eager to support businesses that would ship items to Chile.

My transaction appeared to go through, but a few days later I received an email from a customer service rep, Clementina*. She wrote that they needed a few more details for my order to be completed. I figured that was probably my fault. I didn’t completely understand the order form. I would have to re-submit the order online, by fax or mail in the order form. I re-submitted the order online with the missing details.

A few days later, I received an email from Clementina. She said my credit card did not go through at their bank. I had figured something like this would happen. I do, of course, only have a U.S. and a Canadian credit card here with me.  I would have to re-submit the order online, by fax or mail in the order form. She told me not to worry: she had set aside the books I had ordered and had put them on reserve with my name on them. At this point, I imagined my little stack of books neatly placed aside on Clementina’s desk overlooking a busy Buenos Aires street. I smiled at the thought. I resubmitted the order with my other credit card.

A few days later, I received an email from Clementina. She was very sorry, but the bank was still not accepting the card. I would have to re-submit the order online, by fax or mail in the order form. The books were still set aside with my name on them. I called my bank at this point, but they told me that no charge had been attempted by anyone from Argentina. He suggested that they were probably not entering the card information correctly. I re-sent the order, careful to fill in everything correctly. I then sent an email to Clementina and told her I had just re-submitted the order after talking to the bank, who said that my credit card should be working just fine. I figured that third time’s the charm, right? I reluctantly decided not to attempt to order again if this didn’t work.

Meanwhile my books were waiting patiently, somewhere in this city...

A few days later, I received a triumphant email from Clementina announcing that the order had gone through and my books had been shipped. She forwarded a DHL tracking number. I checked the DHL website and saw that the books had left Clementina’s desk in Buenos Aires and arrived in Santiago, cleared customs and arrived in Antofagasta in fewer than 48 hours. I excitedly waited for them to arrive at my door the next day, until…

I checked online the day they were supposed to go out for delivery and a bold red message informed me to contact DHL because some address information was missing. I called DHL Chile. In my broken Spanish, I attempted to explain why I was calling. The woman quickly interrupted me and announced that she would transfer me to the English speaking representative. (Way to destroy my confidence in Spanish.)

A few minutes later, a man picked up the phone and spoke in broken English. After explaining why I was calling, he told me I had been transfered to the wrong person. I said it was probably because I don’t speak Spanish very well. He said, “yes, but I am in the wrong department. I think the person you need to speak with is on break now. Oh, here he is… I will transfer you.”

I was then transferred to a third person, who miraculously seemed to understand most of what I was saying and on top of it was the “right” person to talk to. He told me they were missing information including a phone number. I gave the missing info and phone number to him. He said the package would be delievered the next day.

The package was not delivered the next day.

Or the day after. Finally, I asked my (Spanish-speaking) husband to call and see what was going on. He did, and told me that they said they needed my phone number before they would deliver, in case anything went wrong. Now that is a catch-22 if I’ve ever heard one. They were telling us they wouldn’t deliver because there is no phone number. But they only need the phone number if something is wrong. My husband provided a phone number and they told him that they would deliver the package right away that morning. (And, yes, I had given them my phone number a few days prior.)

That afternoon at 4:28 pm, exactly 28 days, 1 hour and 19 minutes later, my order arrived.

I was informed by the delivery man that I had to pay 13,000 CLP (that’s over $20, which is OVER half the cost of the books themselves,) to receive the order. I can’t quite figure out what that was for. Storage fees, perhaps, from DHL? (I kid. I am pretty sure it was some sort of customs or importation fee. So much for hoping that Chile wouldn’t charge duty on an order from their Latin American brethren. Although I’m impressed by a fee that is 50% the price of the goods.)

This story has a happy ending. Did I receive an order in less time than it would take to receive something from the U.S.? Absolutely. Did I support e-commerce in Latin America? Definitely. Did I make a new friend, a customer service person at a bookstore who I could order from again sometime? Yes! Did I become really annoyed at DHL? Yes, but what else is new, that’s universal: I get annoyed at courriers in Canada all of the time.

I’m reminded of those old MasterCard commercials:

  • Books ordered online… 200 ARS
  • Shipping to Chile… 25 ARS
  • Mystery fee when package arrives late in Antofagasta… 13,196 CLP
  • A month’s worth of entertainment… Priceless.

The famous (infamous?) package

*Clementina’s name has been changed in this post, but I assure you she really has a similarly adorable name.

El Gato Negro: The black cat

Happy Halloween! Although Halloween is always a bit of a stressful holiday for me – I am terrible at thinking of costume ideas and tend to be attracted to obscure, literal costumes that no one but myself would ever understand – I still can’t help but miss the festivities back home.

There’s merely a sprinkling of Halloween here in Chile. My mosaic instructor told me that Halloween is a new concept to the country, introduced only a few years ago. When it was first introduced to Chile, it apparently caused a bit of an uproar because so many people were afraid of what it stood for. It isn’t a fortunate coincidence that Halloween also happened to fall on the “Day of the Protestant and Evangelical Churches” holiday. Yes, you heard that right. In Chile, there’s a holiday reserved for Protestants and Evangelicals and it’s on October 31st. No wonder Halloween celebrations here are fairly subtle.

Then there’s November 1st, All Saint’s Day, a Catholic holiday in many countries including Chile. I have heard it is vigorously celebrated in countries such as Mexico, but in Chile it is not a major holiday. If anything, Chileans might use it as an excuse to get together with family or pay their respects to a deceased relative by taking flowers to their grave.

But back to Halloween. What better topic for today’s post than my favourite (or one of my favourites…) cafe that I visited in Buenos Aires, El Gato Negro. A cafe named after a black cat seems suitable for the holiday, doesn’t it? (There I go again, being all literal.)

Buenos Aires is peppered with grand historic cafes that have kept their original old-world ambiance and high standards. El Gato Negro, one of the city’s famous historic cafes, was located within a couple of blocks where we stayed. So how could a coffee and tea lover like myself resist dashing over there first thing? When we arrived in the city, we dropped out bags off in our room and I dragged my husband out onto the loud, dirty, buzzing Corrientes avenue. We were surrounded by tall art deco theatres, white buildings with high windows and wrought iron terraces that appeared transported straight from a Paris city block, and… bookstores.

Bookstores.

Endless bookstores.

Every other storefront was a bookstore.

And I’m not talking about tiny little cutesy bookstores. I’m talking about bookstores with sometimes two floors, stretching back a hundred feet, and crammed floor-to-ceiling with thousands of books. You could have fit the inventory of two Barnes and Nobles stores into just one of those many endless heavenly Avenida Corrientes bookstores.

So as a Porteño, you browse one (or several) of these bookstores, you find your books on existentialism, contemporary Argentine economics, the Düsseldorf School and Twilight (did I mention they had a staggering variety of subjects, too? -and in English, Spanish and French, no less) and then you make your way down to El Gato Negro to ponder your profoundly enlightening book over one of the cafe’s delectable offerings.

Slipping into El Gato Negro, like so many other places in the city, is like stepping back in time. Black and white tile floors, walls covered by floor-to-ceiling wooden cabinets with glass doors displaying the wonderful spices, jams, preserves and sauces for sale. The “soda fountain” counters are covered with a delightful variety of spices, dried fruits, teas and coffees from all over the world, also for sale, measured and packed into an adorable little tin adorned with the likeness of the cafe’s namesake, a black cat wearing a huge red bow. I think what struck me the most, though, was the lovely scent of all of the spices mingling together with the fresh smells of tea and coffee and the profound sight of the waiters, dressed in turn of the century clothes (crisp white shirts, red vests, bow ties, aprons, black pants, our waiter even had tiny turn-of-the-century spectacles), who quietly come up to your table and offer you the menu, neatly nestled in a leather cover.

Browsing the menu was a bit overwhelming. They had dozens of varieties of teas and coffees, flavours, mixtures, concoctions. I finally settled on the fruits and flowers tea, which was presented loose-leaf in a cast iron kettle. Teas and coffees are served with a complementary small glass of soda water and tiny butter cookies.

The cafe also had a wide selection of snack and light lunch options, and there was a full-service restaurant upstairs. On a subsequent visit (I just had to go back) my husband ordered a dessert that they dubbed “orange delight.” Delightful, indeed: it had a shortbread bottom layer with the most incredible sweet, floral orange top layer that is best described as the consistency of very thick, moist orange frosting. Um…yum.

I could have easily spent a week doing nothing but browsing the bookstores on Corrientes and lurking in El Gato Negro with likeminded Porteños who wear black, have impeccable hair and shoes, and sit for hours at the wicker bistro tables with their piles of books. Alas, we had limited time during our 5 days in Argentina and had to move on from the cafe’s early 20th century intellectual atmosphere and back to the streets of the 21st century.

El Gato Negro: Avenida Corrientes 1669, Capital Federal