Buenos Aires and its province

I love Buenos Aires… I always enjoy staying at a café and looking at “porteños” (the local natives of Buenos Aires). Buenos Aires is part of the Wet Pampas “Pampa húmeda” Eco-region, which is not the same region as the western Pampa, called “Pampa seca”.

The province of Buenos Aires and its diversity

Buenos Aires is also the hometown of the Tango. Europeans who come to Buenos Aires do not feel like being abroad, just back in the Fifties or Sixties… Some neighborhoods are really like France, Spain or Italy.

However, this illusion disappears if we drive just 30 minutes from the town center where “villas miserias” are. This slum is the house of the poor, uprooted people who arrived in Buenos Aires to build a better life. This poverty reminds us violently that we are in South America.

Buenos Aires will amaze you with all of its different neighborhoods, its culture and its variety. Here’s a selection of my favorite neighborhoods:

• La Plaza de Mayo: This is the soul of Buenos Aires and even of the whole country because this place tells the story of Argentina with for example the statue of General Manuel Belgrano, who created the Argentine flag, the May pyramid (Pirámide de Mayo) in commemoration of the 25th of May revolution but also a replica from the famous “Rodin’s thinker” in his fountain; finally, the Casa Rosada: is the headquarter of the Presidency. It was build on the site where the Fort of Juan Baltasar of Austria was (“Real Fortaleza de Don Juan Baltasar de Austria”).
• Avenida de Mayo will remind you of Madrid’s boulevards with its large pavements and cafés. It’s like time stopped there. In the 40s, Avenida de Mayo was the place to come to have fun at night.
• La Recoleta became the new place to entertain after the Second World War. It’s the most lively place in Buenos Aires with a real social and cultural melting pot. Recoleta is also well known for its cemetery (which alone is worth a visit) and the city’s cultural centers where lots of expositions can be seen, which attract a considerable audience quite different from that which frequents the chic restaurants located on the other side of the Place.
• The Palermo area, with its 1,200 acres park, is the most beautiful green space in Buenos Aires. It’s also the most fashionable part of the city where lots of Argentines meet and have lunch or a drink in the numerous cafés. New hotels and shops are set up every month in this area…
• The San Telmo district was the 19th century exclusive neighborhood. Now it’s more a middle class area which is known for its antique shops. The garage sale every Sunday is very lively and the animation is coming both from the shops and from the street with tango dancers and free lessons.
• La Boca is the area that best describes the melting pot where the working class was born from in the early 20th century. It’s the most visited district in Buenos Aires because of its crazy and typical places. The Caminito walking street is surrounded with houses painted with lively colors and artistic tags. It’s also the place where painters and sculptors have their workshops and where there still reigns a bohemian nostalgia.
• Puerto Madero is the new modern area of Buenos Aires. Real estate’s price is rising very fast there.

But Buenos Aires is also the largest and the most populated province of Argentina and the power is centralized there. It’s also the starting point towards the Argentine Pampas in the west where large estancias and famous Polo clubs are worth a visit…