Without a doubt this would be a nice city to live in; the parks and restaurants are world class and very pleasant to explore. not an inexpensive destination though, but you can't let money get in the way of a beautiful city, can you?
However, from a distance the city does not look like much - if I think of what I know of Paris, the Champs-Elysees cutting through throngs of nameless buildings, Buenos Aires feels a great deal like that. There are enormous tracts of boring buildings in the city; but the beautiful parks and boulevards more than make up for this.
Also, it's quite a touristic city. Tango is preformed with either religious or touristic intent in the major pedestrian centres of Florida and Caminito. The large pedestrian areas, roads which have been turned into pedestrian walkways, make Buenos Aires a good strolling city. Not for scenery, but for shopping. Surprisingly clean, surprisingly expensive, and all very nice.








The Caminito is one of Buenos Aire's tourist trap items - and it stunk, in more ways than one. I had inferred that this was the best example of the Barrio of La Boca's colourful houses, but it is essentially the only example; and it's filled with nothing more than souvernir sellers and packs of bus tourists. In the context of the barrio it looks contrived, invented, and as if it shouldn't be there. On top of all of that, you have the stench of the polluted river wafting into the street, making it a difficult place to even tolerate being in. Definitely a disappointment. However, it's one of those attractions that you almost have to see while you are in the city, because if its popularity. If you can get out of seeing it, you won't be missing much.









I think the best sight in Buenos Aires is the Recoleta cemetery - touristic to be sure, but who cares. It is a city of small cathedrals, mausoleums to the rich families who can afford to be buried here. It is a city of the dead - rows and streets and avenues of ornate little cathedrals, replete with stained glass and marble angels. If there is one 'must see' in Buenos Aires, then this would be it. It is also surrounded by large tracts of city parks which are nice way to spend an afternoon.








Buenos Aires is a great city for culture, food, and entertainment. It's a nice place to be in, a nice place to wander around; Argentina itself is an interesting mix of traditions from everywhere else except Argentina, it seems. Everything I saw in Buenos Aires reminded me of another place - Paris, Texas, America, Spain; and yet it was still slightly different, somehow their own. There are greasy diners that look almost exactly like ones from Mexico and the American southwest, but yet, the television is playing soccer and the atmosphere is French . It is a mixture of things, and yet it is still its own. Argentina as an identity is a difficult thing to describe.
-April 2000
















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