BA, what a city. I love it, as do most gringo travellers. Unfortunately the first 2 days of my time here were spent obtaining my visa for Brazil. I had to put together so much information at their request only to not have it viewed at all by the lady who approved it. Geeez, frustrating but at least I got it with no hassles.

BA is a great city to walk around. The main touristy areas are broken down as follows.

Recoleta
Welcome to where the rich are buried....and live. The cemetary here is like a city in itself. All graves are more like tombes or shrines and are at least one storey high with marble facades and statues. Evita is buried here and flowers are constantly being placed at her block of marble. It's another photographers dream here, I wonder if the dead mind that. I also ventured into an art museum that housed some interesting south american art showing how things had changed over the centuries.

La Boca

Home to the Boca Juniors football club and the poorest inner suburb where even locals don't wander off the main streets. I was lucky enough to go to a football game here and must say that is was an amazing spectacle. In terrential rain the faithful fans didn't stop chanting once and the match itself was a really exciting and very attacking display of football. One area, La Caminito, located near the football ground is an arty and touristy area of colorful buildings and cafes with live Tango shows on the street. You could also have your photo taken with Maradona look alikes, which I politely declined.

Palermo

Shoppers beware, this area is the place to be. There are also some rather large parks here but unfortunately the weather turned nasty so I was forced into the ridulous number of clothing stores. It's probably still over priced but I found really good value leather belts, shirts and tees. The backpack is now a bit fuller than it was but it's the end of the trip so I can justify it. Oh, it's also a beautiful, leafy area where more rich Portenos live (the city dwellers of BA).

Centro

Numerous attractions here. The Pink Palace where Evita spoke to her people, Avenue de Mayo and Avenue de Julio, one of which is a super wide tree lined street containing the Oblisque (symbol of BA), gorgous old victorian cafes with chandeliers and old men sipping coffee and just walking around staring up at the magnificent buildings. Avenue Florida is also a touristy but impressive shopping area where I picked up a tailor made leather jacket for a song.

San Telmo

This is Tango territory. I payed the bucks and saw a live show, which was actually really good. Don't know how they do it so fast, you struggled to keep up with their footwork. Plaza Dorrego has an antique market on Sundays where you can shop for gramophones or records after sitting in a cafe watching the hoards.

I love this city!