Torres de los Ingles
I really like Buenos Aires, it’s a very laid back city, different yet somehow familiar, possibly because of all the European influences. It’s easy to get about and whilst everything is slightly more expensive than the rest of Argentina it still feels good value for money. The subway and bus are frequent and cheap and the city is friendly to walkers if not cyclists which may explain why so many people ride on the pavement.
Taxis are everywhere and very cheap. It’s possible to get all the way across the city for £3. Legal taxi drivers will have a plastic wallet hanging up showing their name and a photograph. Illegal taxis are painted up to look identical but have no insurance. I didn’t really have any trouble either way apart from one who was a bad driver, and when we survived the traffic he had another go at killing me through passive smoking by lighting up a cigarette in the car. Generally the taxi drivers are friendly, helpful and honest, and most importantly seem to know where they’re going without you having to give them a map. More dangerous was the 12 year old girl I saw driving the wrong way down Avenue del Libertador, a 10 lane one-way highway.
Everyone here seems to own a dog, yet doesn’t have the time to walk it, so there is a thriving business in professional dog walkers. They never seem to clean up the dog mess so the pavements are littered with it. As a result everyone with somewhere to go walks around looking at the floor so are not too concerned with other people and you can quietly go about your business without being hassled or stared at. Nobody bothers you in the streets apart from being handed the occasional restaurant flyer in the more touristy areas and market traders don’t shout to attract your attention. Aside from the ever present traffic the only noise comes from people in the outdoor cafes talking and laughing.
BA is a very green city, with large parks throughout town filled with sculptures and statues, and people picnicking. In the evening these become free gyms with Porteños outside exercising in the fresh air.
We saw a few protests. These were quite localised and seemed good natured, but unlike home the protesters tend to leave a lasting reminder of their day out, whether it’s vandalised doors, paintings or littering the street with thousands of multicoloured flyers.
One negative we noticed was there was still a lot of indication about of ill will regarding the Malvinas or Falkland Islands. Posters and graffiti are plastered on walls claiming ownership. This feeling seems to extend to the local government as well, as Torres de los Ingles (English tower) standing in Plaza Britannico (British Plaza) have both been renamed, and the Malvinas war memorial with its everlasting flame has been situated directly opposite. It’s also noticeable that the British flag is absent outside hotels and on adverts for the World Cup, but no one directly mentions it, and if they find out you’re English the first thing they do is laugh remind you of is Maradona and the Hand of God incident from the Mexico World Cup back in 1986 (Youtube Link).?
