South America: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Yesterday morning we arrived in Buenos Aires on a long night bus from Cordoba. Cordoba was a nice city, but we made the mistake of visiting the most Catholic city in Argentina on a weekend. Most of the shops where closed at noon on Saturday and closed completely on Sunday. On Sunday we went to the zoo and had a great time seeing one of the best zoos I've ever seen.

Buenos Aires is a very large city and we'll be spending 7 days here to see as much as we can. We'll be spending about 1 day in each of the major neighborhoods. Yesterday and today we spent most of our time in the central district of the city. We crossed the widest street in the world (Avenue 9 de Julio) a few times on foot and in car.

We also found this good guide pamphlet to guide us around the city. It has a lot of updated information that our big guide books don't have, but it also has some strange little pieces. Below are the few I have noticed so far:

Casa Rosada: "Located in front of May Square, this is the seat of National Government. This pink color has nothing to do with a pro-gay tendency, but to the decision of former president Sarmiento . . ."

Plaza San Martin: "One of the city's most beautiful squares. It presents slopes and wonderful trees, such as the Jacaranda; it is ideal fro sunbathing, meeting friends, or trying to enter a conversation with one of the pretty women of Buenos Aires.

Reserva Ecológica: "The Reserve is a natural circuit with thousands of typical trees, herbs and bushes of the Delta and River Plate banks. There also are many birds and small animals. Ideal for bird watching, taking pictures, riding bicycles, or jogging. And an excellent meeting point for gays.

I'm not sure if these are just bad attempts at jokes, cultural differences in general, or if it is just the weirdest little guide book in the world. These are just three from the central area that we visited today. I'll post more when I find them.

Posted by Noah Brimhall at November 1, 2005 03:24 PM