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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires: the calm before the riot

Sse
2004-09-14 10:32:23

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It is said that travel is down due to September 11. I had made plans before this for a Christmas/New Year's cruise to Cape Horn and Magellan Strait in South America and darn it all there was no way these people were going to scare me away from my plans.
The flight to Miami was quick and comfortable. And with luck, since I've already done my U.S. customs in Toronto, I wouldn't see my luggage until I got to Buenos Aires. But when I boarded the big, new American Airlines 767, I sat there thinking about the passengers of that fateful 9/11. Eventually I closed my eyes and, surprisingly, slept.
Buenos Aires is known as "Paris of South America". I soaked up in the city's mixture of strong Latin flare and the European feeling in the architecture. I walked down Av. 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world (6 lanes each way). Standing in the middle of the avenue is the Obelisk, 221˝ feet tall emblem of Buenos Aires built in 1936 commemorating Buenos Aires' 400th anniversary as the capital. Two days later it would be in the news when riots broke out all over Buenos Aires because of the bad economy. One of the world's greatest opera houses is Teatro Colon which hosted many performers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Maria Callas in this mixture of European styles architecture completed 1908.

On the weekends, much of Buenos Aires town is deserted because the people flock to Palermo taking advantage of parks and lakes to picnic, sun bathe, take a rowboat down the lake. I was here during the week so it was relatively quiet. Dog walkers are popular in Buenos Aires. I saw a dog walker with 8 dogs on leashes. They are hired as dog sitters, if you want to call it that.

It was the first major gateway to trade with Europe in 1880 but by 1910, the city outgrew this port. This riverfront promenade Puerto Madero slowly became run down but was saved in the 1990's by transforming the warehouses into apartments, ...