Palermo Soho

There’s a lot to be said for the Palermo Soho neighborhood of Buenos Aires. And believe me, I will say it.  🙂  But first, let me mention that Dan and I were staying in the fashionable, high-brow Recoleta district at the incomparable Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Hotel, an establishment whose prices would have been well beyond our budget without a little help from American Express points earned by the sweat of Dan’s brow. Or, well, by the extent of his business travel. Recoleta is lovely in a sort of Beacon Hill way. Lovely and ever so proper. We liked it. We were eager to see someplace else.

Soho beckoned.

We went there to see the boutiques and restaurants. Which were nice enough. But we fell in love with the street art. There was such an air of freedom and exuberance about the place! (Lots of pictures later in this post.)

First, the streets themselves were attractive: brightly colored buildings set along tree-shaded avenues and colorful alleys. Here’s one such alley.

The shops and restaurant interiors also did not disappoint. From street cafes to formal restaurants to shops, they were lovely inside.

But the real treat of visiting Palermo Soho was the street art. Many of the shop and building owners decorated their exteriors with wonderfully painted storefronts that ranged from the interesting to the positively exuberant. I can’t resist street art. Here’s a sampling. (There are a lot of pictures in this section. I like them all so much, it’s hard to choose!)

I’ve been saving the very best one for last: Noah taken hostage aboard the ark!

Next: Calle Florida, Buenos Aires’s pedestrian shopping street.

Cruise Day 13 (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico): Art

It’s hard to go to Puerto Vallarta without thinking about art. The town is full of art. For example, you can find shops that sell objects of art still being made according to ancient tribal techniques. These decorative items are made of beads pressed into beeswax on paper mache.

tribal objects in shop

You can also find strictly made-for-tourists art for sale at reasonable prices on the way back to the ship. This seriously talented young man creates detailed scenes entirely by fingerpainting! I wonder what he was like back in kindergarten.

small IMG_3353 fingerpainter

One thing my mother likes in Puerto Vallarta is the formal sculpture along the beach. She made sure that I photographed some of them. (Hi Mom! Here are some pictures for you!)

small IMG_3319 art1

merman and mermaid

sail sculpture

I like these sculptures, too. But even more, I like the street art: crumbling walls painted in strange glyphs that evoke other, impossibly distant civilizations. Like some of the best graphic-novel art, these paintings evoke moods for which we have no words.

small IMG_3324 painted wall

small IMG_3325 painted wall 2

small IMG_3326 painted wall 3

small IMG_3328 painted wall 4

And what else I like about them is their universality. This could be the street art of an ancient Mixtec culture. Or the street art on Beta Centauri 4. Or then again, it could be the street art of San Francisco.

mural in San Francisco