Buenos Aires

I'd only allocated a day and a half to Buenos Aires, but time was short and what can one do . I honestly think it's a better place to live than to visit - rather than lots of monumental attractions, the nice parts are more things like the restaurants, theatre, and nightlife.


This monument to St Martin (aka the liberator of the southern part of the continent, analogous to Bolivar to the north) also had the UN Buddy Bears exhibit, where each country gets a different painting on their fiberglass bear (kind of like the Cows of New York a few years ago). It's a funny contrast to have these care bears holding up a big heart on the same plaza as the militaristic sculpture, but why not ?

This is also the place where you meet the BA free tour , which I would also suggest, because one does get a nice walking tour of the city and it's well done in terms of the commentary


The other central landmark in BA is on the Plaza de Mayo, the Pink House. Happily, no tourist feels the urge to climb up on the balcony and sing like Madonna.


BA's golden days were more in the first half of the twentieth century, when the residents would buy buildings in France, have them disassembled, shipped, and reassembled, such as this Hausmanian apartment block.


This is also the days of the Cementerio de La Recoleta, which reminds me of a very small Père Lachaise in terms of the sculptures on the crypts. This is the tomb of Rufina Cambaceres, a young woman who was buried alive (but comatose) in the early 20th C and then woke up. Apparently tried to climb out but died before being dug up, and the new tomb features a way of opening up a little view portal to make sure there's not a living person inside.


There are some signs that Argentina has done rather well from the commodities boom, such as all the big tower blocks going up in Puerto Madero, which is where lots of upmarket apartments are being constructed.

Nevertheless, there is a certain shabbiness overall to the city. A lot of things were clearly not maintained over the past ten years, most notably the sidewalks. And there's quite a lot of poverty. On the Ave de Julio (supposedly the widest street in the world), these guys climb out with their billboards at every red light to show advertising to the customers.