Argentine tango dancers on Caminito street
Dates visited: December 30, 2013 – January 3, 2014
Buenos Aires is referred to as Paris of South America, and having visited both the cities, I believe that’s selling Buenos Aires short. Buenos Aires, in my opinion, is a lot more beautiful and has a lot more character, but the only reason you would not notice it is because it is very badly maintained. When one of the most powerful buildings, Congreso (Congress building), is also the dirtiest, you know that the powers-that-be have no interest in preserving the beauty of this city. There are numerous fountains in this city, each one more striking than the other, but they are either out of water or are covered with graffiti. You can see graffiti on many of the aesthetically designed buildings in Centro as well. However, I took the city for what it was worth and enjoyed my walk in Centro and on Avenida 9 de Julio (one of the widest boulevards in the world with 16 lanes of traffic). I was a little disappointed by the famous Obelisk landmark, Obelisco, as I was expecting it to be a lot taller and grander.
One of the weirdest attractions here is the Recoleta Cemetry. This unique cemetery houses the opulent graves of rich and famous people such as Eva Perón, Presidents of Argentina, and Argentine Nobel Prize winners. Since there aren’t any maps provided, the inadequate picture of the cemetery layout at the entrance is of little help when trying to locate specific graves. We just followed a tour group knowing that they would certainly be stopping at Eva Perón’s grave.
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- La Casa Rosada (The Pink House), the executive mansion and office of the President, but most importantly, the balcony from which Eva Perón gave her famous speech
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- The most photographed building on Caminito, La Boca
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- Headquarters of the National Bank of Argentina
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- Metropolitan Cathedral
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- Inside the Metropolitan Cathedral
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- Colored corrugated sheets (leftover from the shipping days) that were used as building supplies in La Boca
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- Fine architectural details on a building on Avenida de Mayo
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- Plaza de Mayo with the La Casa Rosada (The Pink House) in the background
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- Beautiful building on Avenida de Mayo
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- Ducking into one of the alleys just to get this shot
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- Famous Argentinian personalities, moonlighting as greeters, outside a shop in Caminito, La Boca
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- Don Quixote – hero of Miguel de Cervantes’ “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha”
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- The famous Obelisk landmark “Obelisco”
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- Top floors of Palacio Barolo, one of the famous buildings on Avenida de Mayo
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- Pretty as a picture photo take in Caminito, La Boca
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- The Monument to the Two Congresses with the desperately-in-need-of-a-wash Congress building behind
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- A portion of the “Monument to the Two Congresses”, a monument that faces the Congress building
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- If it’s in Caminito, La Boca, it has to be colored in pastel colors
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- The opulent mausoleums in La Recoleta Cemetery – the world’s most famous cemetery… …the statue is that of 19-yr old Rufina Cambaceres who was mistaken to be dead (she had only suffered an attack of catalepsy), and when the coffin was opened few days later, a worker discovered scratch marks on the inside of the coffin from the now-lifeless Rufina trying to get out of the coffin.
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- The mausoleum of the Perón family in La Recoleta Cemetery
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- The most photographed and the most read plaque in La Recoleta Cemetery
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- Corrugated sheets in pastel colors, used for buildings in Caminito, La Boca
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- Avenida 9 de Julio – one of the widest boulevards in the world (we counted 22 lanes)
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- You know you are in Caminito, La Boca, when you see pastel all around
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- Rodin’s “The Thinker” – one of the eight original casts made by Rodin
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- Buenos Aires House of Culture
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- As colorful as it gets in Caminito, La Boca
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- Bench at the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires
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- Abaporu (The man that eats people), Tarsila Do Amaral, 1928 – most valuable painting (by a Brazilian artist) – on display at the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires
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- Doesn’t seem like such a wild idea now, does it?