CITY OVERVIEW
 Buenos
Aires is a busy, vibrant city and the central gateway for the
produce and products that are transported to every area of Argentina.
Its banks transact business with commercial establishments all
over the world. Its streets teem with pedestrians from early
morning until late at night. Cars and colectivos, or small buses,
race up and down the broad boulevards at breakneck speed, and
an extensive subway system runs underground. Many green, shaded
plazas throughout the city offer quiet refuge from the bustle
of daily life, and in beautiful Palermo Park, which covers acres
of land in the heart of the city, are a zoo, ponds for boating,
a golf course, and several restaurants.
Please note that additional
info (prices, activities, etc) are found to the right of this
pages. 
Porteños, as the multinational people of Buenos Aires
are known, possess an elaborate and rich cultural identity.
The typical porteño may never have traveled outside of
the country. They value their European heritage--Italian and
German names outnumber Spanish, and the lifestyle and architecture
are markedly more European than any other city in South America.
From their own backgrounds, they have brought foods, arts, and
customs, thus creating a cosmopolitan blend that is distinctly
Buenos Aires. Porteños are intensely involved in the
life and culture of their city, and they will gladly share the
secrets of Buenos Aires if you lend an ear and relate your own
stories in return.
 Buenos
Aires is composed of many small places, intimate details, and
tiny events and interactions, each with a slightly different
shade, shape, and character. Glass-sheathed skyscrapers cast
their slender shadows on 19th century Victorian houses; tango
bars hazed with the piquant tang of cigar smoke face dusty,
treasure-filled antique shops across the way.
The city's neighborhoods are small and highly
individualized, each with its own characteristic colors and forms.
In the San Telmo district, the city's multinational heritage is
embodied in a varied and cosmopolitan architecture -Spanish Colonial
design couples with Italian detailing and graceful French Classicism.
La Boca's pressed tin houses are painted a rainbow of colors,
and muralists have turned the district's side-streets into avenues
of color.
The porteños are great food-lovers. Beef,
unquestionably the favorite, is often eaten both at lunch and
at dinner. Fruits and vegetables are varied and plentiful; and
desserts, many of them made with a heavy sweet cream called dulce
de leche, are extremely popular. Local wines and good fresh bread
traditionally accompany almost every meal, and small cups of strong
black coffee complete the repast. Mealtimes are leisurely and
late. Dinner often starts at 10 o'clock in the evening, and many
people pause during the course of a long and busy day for tea
in the late afternoon.
For all its diversity, the elusive spirit of Argentina as a
country is present everywhere in Buenos Aires. The national
dance, the tango, is perhaps the best
expression of that spirit--practiced in dance halls,
parks, open plazas, and ballrooms, it is a dance of intimate
separation and common rhythm, combining both an elegant reserve
and an exuberant passion.
|
