Ho-hum Buenos Aires

I am surprised that I do not like Buenos Aires as much as I had expected. Compared to the cost of living and the level of goods and services that are aimed for disposable income, Buenos Aires is low on upkeep, e.g. trash, sidewalks, buildings, etc. For a New World city, it is unusually crowded, and for us, is reminiscent of Shanghai and Mumbai. There seems to be a lot of petty crime, right around us too, probably festering on the hordes of tourists. We are usually just content looking at grand buildings in big cities, but in BA there is a hodgepodge of different architecture styles, but none outstanding.

The highlight for me was the totally unexpected Floralis Genérica, a recent sculpture that combines art and technology. In fact I was so impressed with it that I lament Washington DC does not have a cool addition such as this. We found the famous Recoleta cemetery nicely outrageous, even after what seems like the grand-tour-of-South-American-cemeteries that we have been on.

We are experiencing our third period of hot weather of the trip. Since we are used to hot and humid summer at 35 degrees north, BA, at 34 south does not seem so bad.

A couple of shots of Floralis Genérica.




Eva Peron's tomb draws a crowd in Ricoleta Cemetery.


The Art Deco Metropolitan Cinema.


La Bombonera: Stadium of the Boca Juniors futbol team.


Russian Orthodox Church (Iglesia Apostolica Ortodoxa Rusa).


The "first plates" of our all-you-can-eat-buffet lunch at Granix, one of many vegetarian restaurants in Buenos, Aires.


The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo still march on Thursday's at 3:30PM. Very poignant and inspirational.