Abasto.

Never heard of it. We've been to BA half a dozen times but never stayed here long enough to see more than the top 4 or 5 tourist areas--Recoleta cemetery, San Telmo fair, La Boca, Puerto Madero, the Obelisco...

Until today. Abasto used to be where the wholesale vegetable, fruit and meat market was for the whole of Buenos Aires---HUGE. Then that market was moved out near the airport and this fell into disrepair. BA has a law that if a building is left unattended for 15 years the city can take it over, so that's what they did and now Abasto is a mall.

It's huge inside and if you're in the area, it's definitely worth visiting just to see the cool architectural details from it's former life.

The real interest here though is that it's in this neighborhood that the most famous Argentinean lived. Carlos Gardel---drum roll please---and if you're inclined feel free to tango about a bit.

Carlos Gardel is the most famous tango singer EVER and 3 different countries claim him as their own. France because his father was French, Uruguay because his mother was Uruguayan and Argentina because he lived here. This neighborhood has more Carlos Gardel monuments than you can believe---even his song lyrics are painted on the side of buildings lest you forget what he's famous for, as he was the first to add lyrics to tango music.

It doesn't sound anything like country western, but the story's the same---lost girl, lost love, lost money. Tango music has an aching loneliness to it, a wailing for the old country sung by sailors dropped in a strange country far from home they'll never see again.

A bright spot amongst all this wailing is a pop of color painted on business fronts in intense primary colors. Bold reds, blues, yellows, pinks all assail the eye in a calamitous orgy of swirls and symbols.

It's called filete painting and it's all BA. Born here in the barrios, this got started by one man brightening up his grey wooden cart he hauled fruits and vegetables in. People liked it and started copying his style. Pretty soon a gaily painted cart wasn't enough--they started painting the fronts of their businesses, too. It's such fun to walk down this block and see all the happy colors in an otherwise monochrome street.

After a stroll through this most unique neighborhood we caught the underground for el centro where the more classic Buenos Aires can be found.

BA's building boom occured in late 1800's to about 1930, and while some of these heavily ornate buildings have been well cared for, many have been allowed to turn black and grungy. A hundred years ago Argentina was richer than Europe---greater than Spain or Italy either one.

But due to drought, greed, inefficiency, government bungling--whatever--- Argentina's coffers were emptied. Today you see buildings that in their day must have been truly dazzling, now in sore need of a good scrubbing.

It's part of the charm though---a glory past and an uncertain future. Argentina has always been outspoken and autocratic, it just hasn't always been rich. And always, the poor suffer.

We see so many homeless sleeping in the parks, on street corners, in the lee of buildings, on former bandstands, in the wide window sills of marble buildings. There are so many.