Yesterday I stood silently and painfully watched with Maximiliana while they tore down another beautiful antique house in my barrio. This one was on Guatemala between Thames and Uriarte. It had special significance to me because I knew the owner. She wasn't a friend, she was a neighbor, una vecina en mi barrio.
When I first walked this block with Roxie, this block had many antique houses. Most of them have been torn down and have become modern 8 - 10 story apartment buildings. 2 were torn down to make way for the Hotel Splendor.
The land is more valuable for devlopers to build a building with 16 units and they pay handsomely for the property to do so. Never mind that the patromonial of the barrio is being destroyed one by one. When I first came to this part of the barrio it was a quiet middle class porteño barrio. I loved the antique buildings mixed with the ugly 50s and 60s architecture.
I grew to know many of my neighbors not only in my building but in the buildings around me. I was one of the first extranjeras to move to my barrio. Me and Roxie. I think Roxie was the ice breaker. No one knew what kind of dog she was and everyone wanted to meet the dog with the tail that never stopped...and then me. They still remember her.
That was when I met the old lady who lived in the antique house on Guatemala. She yelled at me one day about my dog and dogs messing up the street. I showed her my plastic bags. It didn't matter, she continued to lecture. She was out everyday sweeping her walk and washing it down.
It wasn't as if she had such a great house. It needed paint and her walk was a mess. But she was proud. She continued to lecture me. When the houses next door were knocked down for the hotel, it became my fault. I was a foreigner. Foreign money was ruining Buenos Aires. Bueno. In the end, they painted her house and replaced her walk, it didn't seem like such a bad deal, although she lost her neighbors, and we lost the beauty of the houses.
Then I lost Roxie, and I had no reason to walk on Guatemala. I didn't see her for awhile. When I got Maximiliana, I was back walking the manzana. I would nod "Buen dia" to the porteros, and then I saw my vecina. She was sweeping her walk. But instead of her usual bitter, sour expression, she had a smile on her face.
"Buen dia, señora" I called to her. Before she could answer I heard the racket of a dog from inside her house. Maxi of course not to be left out, joined in. "Mi hijo" she smiled proudly to me. She had adopted a new dog. It had completely changed her life. She opened the door to show him to me. He was a little mutt. Not quite cute, but all hers and she loved him.
From that day on when I walked on Guatemala I would ask her about her "hijo". She would chat on and on about him. She would ask about Maxi. It was a pleasure to see how happy she now was. Amazing what a pet can do for a person.
Then one day about 6 months ago I was walking Maxi and there were 5 police cars in front of her house. The chief was even there. She was outside screaming at all of them I had no idea what was going on, but I knew it was bad. That was the last time I saw her. Now her house is gone.
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