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Happy Spring Day ¡Feliz Primavera!
Today marks the official beginning of spring in Argentina and to celebrate, it’s Spring Day. I love that there is an official day of spring here. Florists are doing a roaring trade in spring bouquets and the focus is on the outdoors. Today is also Students’ Day and the combined celebrations see teenagers get together and head outdoors to sit, picnic, play football, and chat in parks and gardens. Thousands end up in Palermo’s parks.
It isn’t always sunny on Spring Day but this year the weather rose to the occasion. These are the spring days you’d dream about in England, warm spring days that make sense. The leaves are lemon-yellow against the blue sky. Buds open out on branches and the birds reflect sunshine on their wings. The dogs snooze in the grass. People loosen up, kick back, stop worrying about rain and dark days.
Spring is well known in Argentina as the season when love blooms and blossoms, where new beginnings are enjoyed. It was spring when, three years ago, I first came to Buenos Aires and met my husband. To me, love, the city and springtime go together.
Buenos Aires doesn’t seem itself in winter – there’s something not right about walking past palm trees wearing a thick coat and scarf. And Buenos Aires is often too much of itself in summer; too swelteringly hot and humid and worn out by 30-degree nights. Spring is the season Buenos Aires is most comfortable. Softly beating fans in cool rooms, asado smoke on the warm air on Sundays, blossom and leafy parks. This is a hectic city, heavily urban, often congested and crumbling. Spring opens up the city, colours it pink and mauve, and shoots it in perfect light.
Feliz primavera a todos.
