BUENOS AIRES-EUROPE IN THE NEW WORLD

The meaning of “new world” makes more sense when in Argentina and in Buenos Aires in particular. The Spanish may have had a presence here since the 1500s but the majority of the current architecture and culture took hold only in the late 1800s and it very much resembles what was being built in continental Europe during the same time period. I read a statistic that at the beginning of the 20th century, over half of BA's residents were Italian immigrants and a majority of the city's architects. The local slang still retains a lot of Italian words and pronunciations (a quirk other South Americans like to make fun of). After a number Italian-like buildings went up, some officials then decided that French architecture was more classy and so a Parisian style is also evident. So, picture a city with a mix of Rome, Paris and Madrid, placed on a new continent, and you start to get a picture of the city.

Like other great cities, BA is a collection of distinct neighborhoods. We explored quite a few in the two weeks we were there but I suspect one could keep on discovering new niches for months on end. One of the neighborhoods most in transition is Boca. Once upon a time, the bluest of blue collar areas, with a thriving port which then went into decline. Now re-born (gentrified ?) as an state sponsored artist colony with cafes holding tango demonstrations, a modern art museum and a “found” sense of history. Not as bad as it sounds really ! What does help keep it honest is that it is home to BA's football (soccer) team the Boca Juniors (you can't miss the stadium). The Boca fans are insanely passionate about their team and Maradona is a deity in this city. For the Americans reading this blog, soccer is still considered a blue collar sport, even if the players are paid gazillions of Dollars/Euros/Pounds...

We rented two different apartments for a week each (about $300 a week) in or near the San Telmo neighborhood. This area is good for taking in BA's “cafe society” with loads of places in eat, people watch, listen to music and view some of worst (best ?) kitchy antiques. The area is also close to the city's main squares, and with the South American's penchant for strikes and demonstrations, this meant marches and parades almost every day (official or not...).

Another neighborhood we visited turns into Argentina's version of the Wild West each Sunday. The shops there cater to the “Gaucho crowd” selling tack, saddles an other cowboy supplies. And on Sundays, there are stalls selling produce and bands playing music from that region of the country. Adding more flavor are the horse races and other contests taking place on the city streets. The Sunday fair is crowded with Argentinians rather than foreign tourists. As the country is so vast, this may be the only chance the city dwellers get to have a taste of their own frontier cousin's lives...

If you like the big continental European cities (and I do), then it's very easy to like Buenos Aires. It has good food (probably the best steaks in the world, but I'll reserve final judgment on that until I've had one in Texas !), great wine and coffee, very cheap and reliable public transportation, loads of art & music venues and a lot of very friendly people. All that at prices about half of what they'd cost in a European city ! I'd have no problem returning for another, and hopefully longer, visit sometime in the future.

Brett