The Only Difference is Shorts!

That was my conclusion about the differences/similarities between Buenos Aires and any European city. Shorts. Argentines wear shorts. Probably because they are smarter than Europeans who choose to wear jeans in insanely hot weather, but the Latin influence in this case has made for happier people, who are not suffering in heat and humidity. I, of course, am not wearing shorts, because while in Iguazu I wore my Keens a lot while they were wet, and I got a slight heat/water rash on my ankles. So I needed to wear socks, and I couldn't wear socks with sandals and shorts! So I had to wear pants, which defeats the whole awesomeness to wearing shorts. But enough about that.


Buenos Aires is a magnificent city and I was lucky enough to have a few local guides along the way, including a friend from graduate school - M. From the newly rebuilt/refurbished Puerto Madero (think urban renewal) to the streets of Recoleta and everthing in between, M was an amazing guide (Gracias). Having a local was key to understanding the city as we were able to pop in and out of buildings, banks with marvelous interiors, and in one instance, even get to the roof of a fourteen story building designed after Dante's Inferno to snag a view of the city. The best parts about Buenos Aires (hereafter BA) are the neighborhoods, the incredible architecture that rivals Paris, Vienna, or Berlin, and the detailed and meticulous wrought iron work. The two best examples of the architecture and wrought iron are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building and Circulo Militar, both on San Martin Plaza (pictures to follow).

We started off our tour by heading through the main financial building toward Plaza de Mayo, one of the main squares in BA, located directly in front of the Pink House, where the President works. The Argentine political system is modeled after the American version, with a bicameral legislature (called House and Senate) and a long street that connects the Congress to the Pink House where all the lobbyists work (sound familiar?). Outside of the Pink House in the square is where a lot of protests occur, including weekly ones held on behalf of the "disappeared," people who vanished and were killed during the military rule of the late 70s and early 80s. Below is a picture of the permanent graffiti that can be found in Plaza de Mayo (and many other town squares across Argentina) which reads "Victims of State Terror." While meeting with some cousins in BA, I was shown pictures of disappeared family members.

Running along Avenue de Mayo (between Congress and the Pink House) were some of the best buildings in BA. Great architecture. It really gives you a sense of how European the city is and what the future promised for Argentines. I mentioned above about a building modeled after Dante's work. Palacio Barolo is one of two buildings (the other is in Montevideo, Uruguay) whose design is based off of the Divine Comedy. The building has three distinct sections, the lower 7 stories are Inferno, the next 7 stories are purgatory, and the top tower section is heaven or paradise. To the untrained eye (or one without a good guide), this looks like another great BA building, but with the added explanation, you can really appreciate the thought and design.