Balvanera

Balvanera is the Buenos Aires neighborhood Manuel Arroyo moves to in mid-March, a change of address that brings him closer to the Palace of Justice and farther from Walter Kutschmann. Its crowded, popular character also offers Fred Goodwin, a CIA agent, a setting in which he can pass for an ordinary resident, intensifying his encounters with Manuel.

Setting and Change

Manuel’s move reshapes the geography of his work and surveillance: he lives near the Palace of Justice but at a greater distance from Kutschmann. Balvanera is described as both popular and populous, a quality that makes it harder to distinguish an outsider from a local.

Encounters and Significance

The neighborhood changes the rhythm of Manuel’s dealings with Goodwin. Their meetings become more frequent after the move, and Goodwin’s appearance allows him to seem like just another porteño. The contrast between the agent’s inconspicuous fit in the neighborhood and Manuel’s guarded dealings with him gives Balvanera a practical significance: it is where proximity increases even as Manuel remains cautious about how much information to share.