As far as I’m concerned, there are just two seasons in Buenos Aires: Absolutely Beautiful and Almost Unbearable. After more than two years in Argentina, I’ve observed how much the daily rhythm is driven or contained by weather. Do you want to see other humans? To go outside? It depends on the forecast.
First, a disclaimer: I grew up with snowy winters, but I’ve spent most of my adult life in temperate climates. What’s more, I’ve had nature as an antidote to endless winters or stifling summers. It’s been fine. However, in the gray that is any cityscape, fine can quickly become…
Almost Unbearable
Almost Unbearable is characterized by its dampness. Everything around you is wet: your clothing, the air, the very walls of your apartment. During the most recent round of Almost Unbearable, I discovered in one corner of my studio apartment a tiny garden of sprouting mushrooms. Had the blooms been outside, I would have considered them a lovely sight fit for Dr. Seuss. Indoors, they were slightly more disconcerting. My landlady and I peeled away the rotted wooden floorboard, leaving the concrete wall fallow for the rest of this season.
But that’s just indoors. During Almost Unbearable, outside is where you really run into trouble. The moment you leave your personal greenhouse, you enter into even denser mugginess. And it’s not just the air. No matter where you move along the sidewalk, you’re liable to misstep on a wobbly tile and get splashed with mucky water. In another iteration of Almost Unbearable, the problem comes from above in the form of dripping air conditioners. During this version, the stickiness mostly radiates from within your overheated body.
No matter the temperature during Almost Unbearable, you are likely holed up indoors or seeking reprieve with weekend getaways to anywhere else. You’re ready to escape. And just when you think you can no longer stand the weight of Almost Unbearable, the sun lends its soft rays and you’re in the glorious midst of…
Absolutely Beautiful
Ah, hello you. It was during this season that I first thought, “Yes, this is a place I want to stay.” I was huddled in the bobbing mass of an outdoor market, listening to music, eating street food and laughing with friends and strangers when I realized that Buenos Aires is home.
If Almost Unbearable is characterized by its sogginess, Absolutely Beautiful is known for its sunshine. A friend who owns an outdoor restaurant once told me that Buenos Aires is one of the sunniest cities in the world — a fact I only believe when nestled in the glow of Absolutely Beautiful.
During this season, you spend your days outside: riding rented EcoBici bikes along Avenida Libertador, beholding the blossoming jacarandas or yellowing linden trees; gathering with friends in a park, passing around mate and stories; dining on steak and wine on a rooftop, easily until the sun goes down and often until it returns anew.
Yes, Absolutely Beautiful is true to its name. It’s for coming together and being outside. For feasting and relaxing. For delighting in this city’s vibrant culture, community, architecture, and your own freely moving, not-damp self — mushrooms be damned.
Porteños often tell me that Buenos Aires is a city of sharp contrasts. Without neutrality, you’re forced to welcome the bright with the dank. And after a couple rounds of it, you appreciate that it’s all part of the same breathing, aching, stretching place.
