So after a month in Argentina we finally made it to the most famous city in the country: Buenos Aires. It’s not like your usual sightseeing city since it doesn’t have that many famous landmarks, but it is a very interesting place to explore.
Recoleta
Buenos Aires is different from most Latin American cities because it has a lot of French architecture instead of colonial architecture. So it’s nicknamed the Paris of South America. The reason is because during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Argentina was the richest country in the world. And all the rich people desperately wanted to copy the French. Because they thought that the French were the most sophisticated people in the world. So they hired French architects to design French palaces. They even shipped all the stone for these palaces from Europe. These people were stupidly rich. So there’s a district in Buenos Aires called Recoleta that’s full of palaces. There were actually a lot more but they were knocked down to build modern buildings. Protecting heritage buildings hasn’t been a strong point of the Argentinian government.
In Recoleta you also have the cemetery for the rich people. It can cost over a million dollars just to buy a plot here. And then you still have to pay taxes and maintenance fees each year. And then on top of that if you don’t have a family tomb already built, then it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build it.
So only rich people are buried here. Or descendants of rich people. They’re the ones that have to pay all the taxes and maintenance fees. Some of the descendants can’t afford to pay the fees anymore so you have a few tombs that are falling apart. If a family sells their plot then all of the previous burials are pulled out and buried in the common people’s cemetery and the old tomb pulled down. Not much of a glorious end for whoever spent all that money in the beginning to show off how great they were.
San Telmo
Apart from the big monumental buildings in Recoleta and the government buildings in the centre of the city, there aren’t too many big landmarks in Buenos Aires like you would expect for such a famous city.
Instead, a lot of the charm of Buenos Aires is in wandering around neighbourhoods and checking out local events like the San Telmo markets. San Telmo is an interesting neighbourhood to wander around even when the market isn’t happening. It’s the oldest part of the city and an attractive area, and it’s full of shops selling antiques, art and other interesting odds and ends.
When the market is on then the streets are full of stalls selling even more antiques, art and odds and ends. You even get bands and dancers making their way through the market and getting a big street party going. At one point there were two drumming groups of about 20 people each, locked into a drumming battle that blocked the entire street.
There’s also tango dancing in the plaza when the market is over, but it was mostly tourists so it wasn’t too exciting. But we did go to a proper tango club. We even got to have a lesson before the actual dancing kicked off. And it turns out that all the dance classes we took for our wedding were helpful. Pedr was actually the best of the guys I danced with (not including the instructor). But it was better afterwards watching the well-dressed locals dance to the live orchestra. And the professional dancers who did a performance. We didn’t think that one lesson made us good enough to join in. And hiking boots and trekking sandals aren’t exactly helpful on the dance floor.
La Boca
One of the most famous areas of Buenos Aires is La Boca. This has been (and still is) the place where new immigrants settle and is very different from the rest of the city. It’s traditionally been a very poor area with cramped living conditions, but also a strong community and pride in their local football team: Boca Juniors.
La Boca still has a reputation for being dangerous, but the areas we wandered around seemed safe enough. But it’s definitely an area with lots of character with its brightly coloured buildings, murals, buskers, tango dancers and local artists painting and selling their work in the streets.
Street Art
Street art is a big part of Buenos Aires. There aren’t many rules against it, so as you walk around the streets you’ll see some really cool murals on the sides of buildings. A lot of building owners will pay artists to paint murals on their buildings just to stop people spraying graffiti tags on them. All of this makes Buenos Aires a very colourful place to wander around.
Buenos Aires is different because it doesn’t really have many must-see buildings or monuments. But it’s a very interesting place to wander around with strange and interesting things around every corner. As well as having plenty of good food and drinks and knowing how to have a good time.
Leave a Reply