| | Paris of the South | Above Buenos Aires |
I had planned to explore the city for one week, then visit a distant location in Argentina during the second week to compare the two regions. I have decided that there is just so much to do in Argentina's capital, that I will just stay here for my entire vacation. Yes, it is massive. It is larger than New York City, at least 5 times the area and 1.5 times the population. I am warming up to this city more each day, and to help you to find a soft spot for Buenos Aires too, I will blog about the city for months.
Have you ever noticed how we seem to suppress megacities such as Buenos Aires in our imagination, denying the fact that they are in reality much larger than we assumed? Most people tend to judge a city's size by its skyscraper count and clustering— that is, the size of its financial district. This almost always leads to a clouded perception of a city, since many external forces affect building count, not just the total number of residents in the city.
Buenos Aires, for example, does not really have a packed financial district like my fair city, San Francisco. One look at San Francisco's dense skyline and it's obvious that we are a huge bustling city, right? WRONG! Our population is less than one million, and we are jammed like sardines into just 47 square miles. Buenos Aires is forty times the size of our city, but yet it might not appear so just by inspecting its downtown area. Honestly, there's not much there.
Buenos Aires, much like San Francisco, is a district-rich city, where the mood, fashion, nightlife, and everything else changes from one neighborhood to another. All in good time, I will take you through a tour of the city, one area at a time. But for now, I'll leave you with two photos. The first is a photo of one of my favorite districts called La Boca. Needless to say, I'll visit the neighborhood at least one more time! The second is the huge law school of the University of Buenos Aires.
 | A Vivid Street in La Boca |
 | Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociale |
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| | Posted 12/4/2007 8:21 AM - 9 comments
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If I had more time, I'd take a gay tango class. I'd have gone over to Colonia del Sacremento as well.
