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Argentina’s Most Iconic Character Gives Me a Guided Tour
A stroll through the country’s past and present with Mafalda
Departing on Christmas Eve like Captain Ahab, we followed the course Pequod had traveled, albeit in an aircraft and thus gliding more swiftly by each degree and minute of latitude, sooner leaving behind the merciless New England winter and its first measurable snowfall.
Though not the first time I crossed the equator, it was my first visit to South America and first Spanish immersion. I had a presentiment of encountering some metaphorical Moby Dick that would aid my understanding of the Southern Cone, and was eager to discover its identity.
Arriving in Buenos Aires on Christmas Day meant most businesses were closed. Serendipity led us to La Rambla, one of the few cafes still open and a favorite hangout of the writer-couple Silvina Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares, friends of Jorge Luis Borges. We ordered what later proved to be the best empanada de carne and their famed sandwich de lomo stuffed with 400 grams of beef, and stuffed our faces.
Our initial lodging was on Avenida Santa Fe in the heart of Recoleta, a historically affluent neighborhood and home to the Recoleta Cemetery—resting place of distinguished icons such as Evita Peron and Victoria Ocampo. It was love at first…