La Boca Bomberos

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What do you think is the biggest threat to an urban environment now and then? Yes, it is fire! Many ancient and modern cities fell victim to its disruptive forces. Luckily, there are fire fighters always on standby and ready to help. How important they are could be seen in downtown Buenos Aires today when two fire incidents were reported, one in a restaurant in Montserrat and another on Avenida Madero where a truck caught fire. Fortunately, in both cases, no persons were harmed.
The fire truck in the picture, a Mack CF 650 from 1973, belongs to the fire brigade of La Boca. You will find the fire department in Avenida Brandson 567.

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Working Hands: Fábrica de Pastas

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Making fresh pasta is not all that complicated. It involves typically only a few ingredients but all the more handwork which can be physically demanding on the hands and wrists. This gentleman certainly mastered making pasta from scratch. I so much enjoyed watching him handling the dough mass with his classic pasta machinery. Unfortunately, I just witnessed the penultimate steps - the extruding and drying. Yes, you guessed it, the fan is to dry the pasta.
It's truly amazing to see how food is coming into existence. I really appreciate good old handwork and the care that goes in it. Not to mention the trust it creates on the customer's side.

There's another Working Hands Post on Buenos Aires Perception:
Working Hands: Confitería Argentina

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Working Hands: Confitería Argentina

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Today I'd like to introduce you to facturas, one of Argentina's sweet delights. Facturas is how pastries are called in South America, especially in Argentina and Uruguay. Basically, there are bigillions of these sugar-carb bombs out there in Buenos Aires. Three at a time, however, were more than enough to satisfy my munchies. I'm not ready to become a tubby yet. ;)
So, what do we have here? The black one is called tortita negra, the piece between the tongs is a medialuna con dulce de leche and, last but not least, the one in the basket is a medialuna de manteca dusted with powdered sugar. Medialunas are the Argentine croissants and are exceedingly tasty. It's needless to say that this sweet stuff is best accompanied by a hot café con leche. Enjoy!

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Giant Key Sign Advertising Safety-Deposit Boxes

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Looking for a bank with a safe-deposit box section in Buenos Aires? Well, almost there. At least you've found the sign you have to watch out for. Frankly, my first impression of that sign was this is a key service where you can duplicate your home keys. Banelco, an acronym for Banca Electronica, is an ATM network that is affiliated with the VISA/Plus system, and probably the most widespread in Argentina. By the way, it can be pretty annoying for foreigners to access their cash in Buenos Aires. The limit for a single withdrawal is subject to change and differs from one ATM provider to another and depends also on your debit or credit card. In addition, they might charge you a withdrawal fee. The good news is the limit on ATM withdrawals seems to have been raised to A$R 750, at least at Banelco machines.

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Street Vendor Selling Chocolate Bars in Buenos Aires

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If you take a walk through Buenos Aires you will notice many street vendors selling any kind of goods in the streets of the city. This woman was offering chocolate bars to passer-bys. While she is probably selling ice cream and popsicles in summer, chocolate, of course, is much more in demand in winter. Her business is tough at all seasons and I watched numerous people decline. Still, she had a good site between Microcentro, the business district, and Puerto Madero. There at least she can count on some solvent clientele.

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Ice Delivery Vehicle at Work

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Warm weather means hot business for Buenos Aires' ice delivery companies. The ice is directly delivered to homes and restaurants, just like the daily newspaper or a pizza. Now it is autumn and the ice delivery business slows down a bit. Anyway, I really like the old-fashioned style of that silver vehicle because it is not streamlined against all good sense and, hence, it appears so unique to me.

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Little Laundrette in San Telmo

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Doing the laundry yourself? Not in Buenos Aires. There are plenty of these small wash salons where you bring in your dirty laundry in the morning and collect it in the evening. Just say how you want it done. The stuff in this little wash salon located at Avenida Independencía is ever so lovely. Getting your laundry done is kind of cheap in Buenos Aires.

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Older Cars Can Suffer Major Problems

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Porteños usually are not really passionate about their cars. Cars are designed to be used and so they do. The cars are driven till they fall apart. That's bad news for the car industry and new car dealers but good for you, car mechanics! The auto repair shop in the picture specializes in car electrics and A/C work.

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