"BIG APPLE SOUTH" a Buenos Aires Travel Page by mtncorg

Buenos Aires 'BA' to English speakers and 'BsAs' to Spanish - is one of the largest and most important Spanish-speaking cities of the World. Three million live in the city proper, the Capital Federal -'portenos', tilde on the 'n' -and another 10 million live in the expansive suburbs extending from Tigre in the north to La Plata in the south - 'bonarenses', people living in the province. BsAs is to Argentina as to what Washington, DC, and New York City,combined would be to the USA. It is hard to overemphasize the City's importance to the country. BsAs is the political, financial, cultural heart of the land.

Argentine history doesn't start with BsAs - that honor goes to the cities of the West and Northwest - Tucuman, Cordoba, Mendoza, Salta, Jujuy. Growth was slow throughout much of the 17th and 18th centuries when BsAs languished at the end of the Spanish supply line. The crown did not allow for direct sea contact and forced trade to take place over the long and very hazardous trails extending north via Bolivia, Peru and up to the what is today Colombia. When Spain finally recognized BsAs as the capital of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, in 1776, the City never looked back, however. Independence from Spain was declared in 1816, though locals had already begun the revolution on 252 May, 1810. The long Wars of Independence led to even longer struggles between Unitarians, supporters of a strong central government, and Federalists, those who looked for a more regional affair. Juan Manuel de Rosas, a Federalist, held sway for 23 years and, ironically, during his tenure the power of BsAs increased over the countryside. Rosas was eventually defeated and sent into exile by Justo Jose de Urquiza, a general from nearby Rosario, in 1852. For the next decade, BsAs was actually separate from the northern section of the country. Urquiza then rectified this situation in 1861 though it wasn't until the time of President Avellaneda, in 1880, that BsAs was made the official capital of Argentina. Massive immigration from Europe - mostly Italy and Spain - through the late 19th and early 20th centuries vastly enlarged and changed the City.

For the tourist, BsAs extends in a large boomerang-shape extending from the parks and chic avenues of the Palermo/Belgrano districts in the northwest through the Recoleta and Retiro districts eastwards and then south through the Microcentro - business-political centrum - to the former immigrant strongholds of San Telmo and La Boca - each arm of the boomerang extends for about five kilometers. A traveler can walk - or take short cab rides - to most of the sites of interest.

Before visiting, a little pre-travel education may help make more sense of what you are seeing, whether the 'education' consists of simply reading Lonely Planet's "Argentina" or "Buenos Aires" tomes ? I found the locally obtainable Clarin Visual Guide volume for Buenos Aires (45 pesos) much more useful for actual exploration -though both the TimeOut Guide and the Moon Handbooks guides to BsAs are very good; better IMHO than the LP issue - watching 'Evita' or 'Apartment Zero', reading John Lynch's "The Spanish-American Revolutions 1808-1826" or immersing yourself in the short stories and novels of Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Ernesto Sabato, Manuel Puig, Roberto Fresani, Osvaldo Soriano and many others, you will find such efforts very useful.

To graze the highlights of BsAs, you need three days minimum - follow the itinerary set out in the www.expatvillage.com website. Longer and you really begin to look deeper into this very fascinating hub of Latin America.

Mechanics of my offerings: Must See tips are loosely organized into districts: Recoleta, Palermo, Retiro, Microcentro and La Boca. Side trips to suburban offerings: Avellaneda, Tigre, San Isidro, Santo Logares and Quilmes are offered separately. Look also into Uruguay for tips on both Colonio del Sacramento and Montevideo - both highly recommended sidetrips doable as day visits - Montevideo would be more interesting with more than one day at hand to visit.