Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires - is this really South America? Are we sure that Lufthansa hasn't just circled for 13 hours and dropped us into Madrid? Well I guess we are, but this does not feel like a foreign place. On the surface everyone is fairly homogenously Mediterranean-looking and the buildings are in the neo-classical and art deco tradition.

But looking a bit closer things are slightly different. Where are the rambling, narrow streets of the old centre, the city wall and fort? Not present. Instead, we have a sensible grid layout and some monumentally wide avenues. Crossing the Avenida 9 de Julio is like walking across a rather splendid airstrip. You could probably land a couple of Airbuses side-by-side (or more to the point, show off lots of tanks and soldiers) down this road. The central section has 18 lines of traffic, mostly driving at extraordinary velocity (so it could be Italy, then).

We stroll through the central barrios of Montserrat, Recoleta, Retiro, San Telmo, Palermo and La Boca. San Telmo is our favourite. It has an arty, studenty vibe, and is home to many antique and designer boutiques, cafés and bars. It's cool.


- I want to say "San Telmo's Fire" but it's too cool for that

And the people are different from Europeans. They exude confidence, looking at you in the eye before very blatantly checking you out. Shy they are not. Girls tend to have booty rather than bust, and guys run to seven shades of stubble and lots of hair. Lots of smokers and lots of people attached to their maté gourds. Quite a pleasant lot too.

We wander the streets agreeably, ending up, more often than not, drinking coffee (twice the size, half the strength of the Europan equivalent) or eating the famous beef. It's no lie, the beef is stupendous here. It's big, tender, and tasty straight off the parilla, often served with the attendent kidneys, chitluns, and blood sausage. Wash down with a litre of beer or bottle of Malbec, thank you very much. Excellent value too.

BA has a genuine vibe beyond the basics, it's a proper World city. Visit!


- The tower on the left was built by the English. It almost didn't see 1983...


- Cimiterio de Recoleta. Is that a ghost?


- A religious taste for the macabre


- Spooky light on someone's personal vision of heaven


- Boca Junior's stadium, Maradonna's old stamping, elbowing, diving, snorting, cheating ground.


- Don't cry for me. La Plaza del Mayo, BA's public address system.


- A splendid old bus. Utterly typical BA transport


- Big meat


- Moaning about the Malvinas continues to be a national pastime


- Plenty of superior grafitti adorns BA's vertical spaces

For my birthday we make the short journey to San Antonio de Areco. It couldn't be more different. It's a sleepy little town by a stretch of river. Cyclists potter about, cars that should have been destroyed years ago struggle their way through the cute streets. The police car circles aimlessly looking for any kind of felony to while away a couple of minutes. A gaucho exercises his horse on the river bank. Kids jump off the weir. It's quite idyllic. We find the best bar in town and do the necessary damage to cow, grape and cigar. Happy days!

It would have been easy to trip back to BA, but instead we take our hangovers like men and catch a bus to the city of Rosario, birthplace of Che Guevara. It's kinda dull to be brutal, especially on a Sunday when everything is shut, but we're heading to better places on Monday.


- Making an imaginary cuppa at birthday lunch


- It's a boy! Sleeping off lunch by the river


- Gaucho drill. Putting his horse through it's paces


- Lovely old shop in S.A. de Areco


- Bring me your finest wiiines...


- And bring them to me also...

You might have noticed that the map has gawn. It was too slow for some of our readers and you can always click the little link to see where we are - no maps of Argentina I'm afraid. Don't know why.