More of a fleeting snapshot, really (albeit rather image heavy). The ‘City Of Fair Winds’, Buenos Aires is a dusty, noisy and beautiful city with a searching modernity rising above its skyline of baroque and colonial architecture. Eyes descend the ornate carvings of huge window arches and elegant masonry before finally resting on a sign for a well-known coffee or fast food chain. Roads are wide enough for the traffic that fills them and the city centre is thoughtfully laid out in a grid, much like New York. Navigation was easy.
Eschewing the queues for buses and taxis, I walked everywhere, taking in as much as I could in the short time I spent there. At one end of grand Avenue de Mayo is the Plaza de Mayo, home to Casa de Gobeirno, the balcony from which Evita sang.
Adjoining the Plaza is the exquisitely designed and peaceful Metropolitan Cathedral, as well as the Buenos Aires Cabildo.
At the other end of the Avenue is the large and imposing Congresso de la Nacion, yet another capital building under renovation, but no less magnificent.
Further afield, and en route to La Boca, a heaving street market on La Defensa overflowed with trinkets and leather goods, as well as tasty empanadas.
Probably the most famous barrio of Buenos Aires, La Boca assaults your eyes with its vivid colours and garish figurines greeting you from the balconies above. The queues of coaches unloading their tourists only add to the commercial sheen smothering the streets.
Navigating through the rainbow-splashed streets I found respite from the swelter in a small café where I was treated to a beautiful couple engaged in a vertical tango. Naturally, Alpha Whiskey tried to get in on the act.
The general advice is that one should only take a bus or taxi to La Boca owing to its notoriety as an unsafe neighbourhood. Yeah. I walked there. In the blistering heat. La Boca is very much a tourist trap but colour is always appealing to a photographer’s eye and there was certainly a surplus of it here.
Back in the city I ambled through the many plazas and parks before settling on some sombre reflection at Recoletta Cemetarty.
Further afield one can find a giant flower sculpture in Plaza Naciones Unidas, although once again they knew I was coming because the area was under renovation. And next to that the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales had today’s students and tomorrow’s future pouring in and out between her giant columns.
The evening is a good time to visit the waterfront at Puerto Madero, not simply to enjoy the vibrant lights and reflections but also the bustling energy amongst the patrons dining out in the many restaurants. It is common for the city’s inhabitants to eat quite late into the night and when presented with succulent Argentinian beef it’s easy to see why.
A city probably better enjoyed in cooler weather Buenos Aires was rather wonderful, spoiling me with great food, magnificent sights and beautiful women. Quite frankly the blazing heat scorched my willingness to unleash my camera, let alone the energy to take meaningful photos, but I managed a few. As usual I used my trusty trifecta of brain, eyes and legs to make these images, attempting to present a more intimate and varied portrait of this impressive city.
Cheers,
