Av. Corrientes (from 9 de Julio to Callao), Buenos Aires City Center

The famous bookstores of Avenida Corrientes

Welcome to Buenos Aires, one of the most literary cities on the planet. The people here know the value of a good book, whether it’s poetry, fiction, anthropology, self-help, psychology (not only can you bet that most porteños have read some Freud, but there is even an area of Palermo - Villa Freud - named after him!), or art.

If you wish to properly observe this social fact, you absolutely must visit the bookstores of Corrientes, the famous avenue that bristles with the action of theaters, cinemas, cafes, shops, and people with their noses stuck in used copies of anthologies of Argentine history or poetry.

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Buenos Aires City Government Tourism Portal Launches blogs in English and Spanish

I’ve just seen on Pasa en Buenos Aires [ES] that the Buenos Aires Government Tourism Portal has launched two new blogs about tourism in the city of Buenos Aires, one in English, and one in Spanish.

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Sometimes Buenos Aires can be a bitch

I have to say, it is with great honor that I welcome Diva, of Buenos Aires Through My Eyes (AKA Bitchtours) fame, to the blog. If you haven’t read her site, then, well, you should, now. Oh, actually, read her guest post below first, and then go to her site. And do please come back after, or I might cry.

1. I order a dish from a menu and they don’t have it

This is not something unusual here, even in fancy restaurants. You spent 10 minutes deciding what you’re gonna have and when you order the waiter gives you this look like you’ve pronounced a forbidden word and then says: “I’ll check if we have that”.

How come? It’s on the menu, the only thing I would eat right now is that damn dish and you don’t have it? Give me a break.

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Later today (Sunday), Argentina will take on Brazil in the final of the Copa America - the most important national football (that’s soccer, to all you Yanquis) team tournament in the Americas (team news here). As you might have guessed, there is something of a futbol rivalry between Argentina and Brazil (see Arjewtino’s post for more on this). In fact, in the past things have got so heated that the two countries have even resorted to humorous advert warfare…

Back in 2004, Brazil beat Argentina 3 - 1 in a World Cup qualifier, and shortly after, Tulipan, an Argentine condom manufacturer that puts out consistently funny and clever ad campaigns, came out with this provocative billboard of typographical genius:

“WE’RE ALREADY PLANNING THE REVENGE”
(Ya estamos pensando en la revancha)

I don’t think I need to spell out exactly what Tulipan claimed Argentina would do to Brazil in their next match!

Not to be outdone, neither on the pitch nor in creative use of typography, the Brazilian football organization responded with the following ad:

“IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME. AND IT WON’T BE THE LAST”
(No fue la primera vez. Tampoco la ultima)

Wow. Great comeback! And there was me thinking it was Brazilians like Pele that needed to use Viagra?
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An Introduction to Dancing Tango in Buenos Aires

[Photo Credit: SMeaLLuM]

Note from Alan - We are lucky enough to welcome a seasoned Buenos Aires tango and milonga expert to the Buenos Aires Argentina Guide, in the form of Cherie Magnus, from the Tango Cherie blog (see the end of this post for more info on Cherie). Her first offering is an excellent guide to the types of tango salon in Buenos Aires, for those interested in the real world of social tango dancing in the city. So, over to you Cherie…

If you want to dance tango in Buenos Aires, where do you go?

Actually it depends on many things: your age, what style you dance, what day or night of the week you want to go out, if you go with or without a partner, and so on…

Dancing social tango in Buenos Aires has nothing to do with the Tango Show Dancing on the streets of San Telmo, La Boca, calle Florida, or Recoleta, or the many Tango Cena-Shows with an orchestra, stage dancers and dinner. The first thing to know about tango is that what you’ll see in those places is a different dance - Tango for Export. And that is another post entirely!

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