Overview
Buenos Aires is a hotbed of everything you can imagine in a city. Although it covers a vast area, most of the tourist destinations are concentrated within 5 inner barrios and these are therefore the most crowded. On weekdays, business people are everywhere, with their expensive leather cases and shoes, walking past beggars on the streets without a second glance. The city is trade hub, being a large political power in Latin America and the world.
Food is given a lot of importance and you will see rich and poor alike congregate for a good meal, particularly if it is parilla. Strong cultural ties bind Buenos Aires firmly to its indigenous Argentine roots but immigrant culture is more pervasive. The city has been planned in a French style on top of the Spanish grid of roads. The squares and monuments are a testament to this. Italian immigrants have been so pervasive in fact, that the vernacular of Spanish spoken in the city has distinct Italian pronunciation. It even has its own dialect name: Castellano; or officially castellano rioplatense.
Buenos Aires is also a very sensual city. Art, music, theatre and any sort of creativity is encouraged. Tango bars are on every street corner and the markets showcase the value placed on expression. It can be a smart, well behaved city if you only explore the upper-class areas, but in the more working-class barrios, it can be a dirty, messy, fragrant explosions of life. Tall skyscrapers taper down to meet quiet, tree-lined streets with comfortable residences, which meet rows and rows of squashed-together houses with colourful paintjobs and laundry hung out on the balconies.
One of the most alluring of its aspects is Buenos Aires’ entertainment and nightlife scenes. Theaters, Tango shows, bars, and clubs all exhibit the great South American flair. Unique and dissimilar from the other cities of Argentina, the city is has something for everyone
