Step by Step around Buenos Aires

Both Touristic Buenos Aires and its inhabitants' everyday life can be discovered in a tour on foot that includes Buenos Aires neighborhoods of Monserrat, San Nicolás, San Telmo, La Boca and Recoleta- a show which is highly representative of the diversity enclosed in the Argentinean Capital.

The tour started in Monserrat, on the corner of Rivadavia and Callao Streets, where the National Congress is located. Lovers of architecture find in this building from 1906, one of the most refined exaples of the architecture from the port outstanding in it the statues that decorate the outside and its cupola which is 65 meters high.

Opposite the seed of the National Legislative Power and, to the River Plate, the Congress Square and the monument of the Two Congresses erected in commemoration of the Constituent General Assembly of 1813 and of Tucumán Congress of 1816.

The square is approximately three blocks and, as you cross it , you reach the end of Mayo Avenue which has highly Hispanic influence. Just walking along one of its blocks, you will realize that it has an elegant style where Barolo Palace and Real Estate Agency outstand with its two saffron cupolas.

After these initial steps, Line A subway which is known because of its picturesque wood carriages, was the chosen means of transport to go to Mayo Square. This historic place in which center Mayo Piramid is located, has been witness since 1810 of different popular expressions and it is surrounded by important buildings such as the Government House also called Casa Rosada (Pink House), the Cabildo, the Government Palace of Buenos Aires City and the Metropolitan Cathedral. In diagonal to the Piramid, facing Roque Sáenz Peña Avenue, you will discover the Obelisc in the far distance- par excellence, symbol from the port. At midday, we could observe the Change of Guard of the Grenadiers, we later walked from the Casa Rosada to the interior of the Cathedral where General José de San Martín Mausoleum is situated.

After visiting the imposing Catholic Temple, Ariel, our guide, led us to the Southern area of the Capital. We took Defensa Avenue to head to the third destination included in the tour- San Telmo, no less. Wide avenues gave way to narrower passages and, as we went forward, paving stones replaced asphalt and at the same time a new pace of life starts- more peaceful and bohemian. Since it is the oldest neighbor of Buenos Aires, San Telmo irremediably recalls "Tango", stories of "compadritos" and calls to nostalgia. Once we had walked ten walks from Mayo Square, we reached Dorrego Square- a paradise of Antique shops. Nothing is better than this place to stop for a while and have lunch outdoors as you listen to the tangos sang by a singer.

In the afternoon, we took a bus to get to the fourth neigborhood- "La Boca. My Boca, your Boca...", shouted the bus driver to indicate the end of the route of Line 154. The brook also gave a clear sign that we were in the neighborhood born hand in hand with Italian immigration. We took Caminito pedestrian street- a parade of intense colors where painters, musicians and living statues offer their art to tourists.

From shinny red, green, yellow and orange, we get to blue and golden in just a couple of blocks. "Kick as "el Diego", said a man to a kid playing soccer on Garibaldi street which is close to the railway track. No doubt, we were approaching the Stadium of Boca Juniors Club where Diego Maradona consecrated as the best Argentinean footballer. Suddenly, everything tinged of xeneizescolors, from the field walls to the most modest tenement houses.

The opposite face of this neighborhood was expecting us to North Buenos Aires. We would take another bus to get to the last stop of the tour- Recoleta. We walked along Libertad Street to arrive to a typical corner from Paris, as if the elegant "City of Lights" had moved to the surroundings of Carlos Pelegrini Small Square. Some more minutes and we will reach the very heart of Recoleta with its first class shops and restaurants of European style, the Cementery, Our Lady of Pilar Basilica and three important cultural centers such as Palais de Glace, Recoleta Cultural Center and the National Museum of Fine Arts. A crafts fair settled in Intendente Alvear Square during weekends and Buenos Aires Design Complex complete the offer of this neighborhood. After a five-hour- journey, our tour culminated "Argentina" with mate and alfajores under a bi-centennial tree that covered the evening from the port with its shadow.