Category: Buenos Aires Local Tours Archive

Spotted this during today’s tour in Abasto. Remind you of anything?

Just can’t think where they got the idea from…

Being a bit of a geography nerd, one of the things I tend to notice when I travel is street names. In France it seems that every other street or avenue is named after a National Hero (Jean Jaurès is a particular favourite). New York uses numbers and Washington DC has letters. Towns in Colombia have a bloody confusing block system – I spent 4 months in the country and never really got the hang of it – the Bogotá tourist brochure explains their system thus:

Moving around Bogota is easy. The two mountains Monserrate and Guadalupe are the reference point. The carreras (KR) run parallel to the mountains North-South, and numbers increase from East to West. The calles (CL) are perpendicular to the mountains, and numbers increase from South-North. A transversal (TR) is similar to a carrera, and a diagonal (DG) is similar to a calle. The avendias are denominated (AK) when the correspond to a carrera, and (AC) when they a correspond to a calle. The avenidas also can be distinguished by a name, for example: Avenida Cuidad de Quito.

So, compared to that, Buenos Aires is relatively straighforward and uses regular names. Again, lots of National Heroes, San Martin, Borges, Sarmiento and friends feature heavily, even Jean Jaurès gets a look in. There is one little quirk however that I had not come across a lot, that is the use of dates as street, avenue and park names. Occasionally I’ll find myself wandering down a date and wondering what happened on that day to make it worthy of remembering.

So, I have put a little guide together of the dates you might come across on the streets of Buenos Aires, and what they mean.

3 de Febrero

What happened? In 1852, at the Battle of Caseros, the then Governor of Buenos Aires Juan Manuel de Rosas was beaten by the forces of the Great Army under Justo José de Urquiza.
Why does it matter? Since his defeat Rosas has been painted as a tyrant and soon after his being deposed Urquiza formed a National Confederation and drafted the first Argentinian Constitution. It being largely a Buenos Aires affair, 3rd February is not a national holiday.
Where is it remembered? The official name for the Bosques de Palermo, a large expanse of greens, lakes and gardens to the east of Palermo is el Parque 3 de Febrero – the land being the former residence of none other that Señor de Rosas himself. Aside from the park there is also a 3 de Febrero street in Belgrano.

1 de Marzo 1948

What happened? On this date in 1948, the Argentine railways were nationalised.
Why does it matter? Good question, but back in 1948 the English and French-owned rail system was seen by the President Peron as indicative of the unhealthy influence of foreign interests in Argentina. Nationalisation was seen as a step towards more self-determination. By the 1950s however the crippling debts of the rail system contributed to numerous economic crises from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
Where is it remembered? In a small square in Saavedra in northwest Buenos Aires, la Plaza de 1 Marzo de 1948.

2 de Abril de 1982

What happened? Well, I wasn’t expecting this one. On the 2nd April 1982, Argentine forces invaded las Malvinas, or Falkland Islands. The Argentines surrendered to British forces on the 14th June 1982 after a conflict that cost the lives of 257 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen. April 2nd remains a national holiday – the Day of the Veteran and Fallen in the Falklands War.
Why does it matter? Las Malvinas remain a very emotional subject in Argentina, at least officially. The average Argentine has little interest in the place, and holds no grudge towards any Englishman he meets however, politically the perceived theft of the islands by the British in 1833 is the cornerstone of Argentine foreign policy. The claim to the islands is part of the Constitution and it is illegal to produce a map of Argentina without claiming the Falklands as part of Argentina. Literary legend José Luis Borges described the 1982 war as “two bald men fighting over a comb”.
Where is it remembered? In the 6 block long Calle 2 de Abril de 1982 in Villa Lugano, southwest Buenos Aires.

1 de Mayo

What happened? International Workers Day
Where is it remembered? 2 blocks in Villa Pompeya, Calle 1 de Mayo & Plaza de 1 de Mayo between Hipolito Yrigoyen & Alfonso Alsina in Congreso.

25 Mayo

What happened? In 1810 the events of the week beginning on the 18th May, culminated on the 25th with the Spanish Viceroy being desposed and a local goverment, la Primera Junta being declared.
Why does it matter? It was the starting point of Argentina’s War of Independence which resulted in independence being proclaimed 6 years later. The Bicentenary was celebrated this year.
Where is it remembered? In 3 places, the Avenida de Mayo, one of the grandest avenues in Buenos Aires leading from the National Congress to the Plaza de Mayo – the first square in Buenos Aires. One of the streets leading from the square is called 25 de Mayo.

5 Julio

What happened? In 1811 Venezuela declared independence from Spain.
Why does it matter? No direct importance to Argentina as far as I can see – an important date in South America history however.
Where is it remembered? A one block alley leading off, appropriately enough, Calle Venezuela in Montserrat.

9 Julio

What happened? In 1816 Argentina declared independence from Spain at the Congreso de Tucumán.
Why does it matter? The birth of a great nation
Where is it remembered? The main avenue of Buenos Aires, Avenida 9 de Julio – said to be the widest in the world with up to 7 lanes each way and another 4 if you count the streets that run alongside it. It’s home to the Teatro Colon and the Obelisco.

11 September

What happened? The death, in 1888, of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the 7th President of Argentina (1868 – 1874)
Why does it matter? An intellectual, Sarmiento is remembered today as a great social innovator who did great work in promoting education and literature in Argentina and South America.
Where is it remembered? Belgrano has a calle 11 de Septiembre and Plaza Miserere is better known as Plaza Once, as it is next to the Estacion Once de Septiembre, the terminus of the Sarmiento railway. The square is also home to the mausoleum and ashes of Bernardo Rivadavia, the first constitutional president of Argentina. Update: Whilst Sarmiento did die on the 11th September it looks like I’m totally wrong about why Once is Once. It seems that the Province of Buenos Aires rebelled against the Federal State on the 11th September 1852 (protesting against rules imposed by Urquiza after the Battle of Caseros) and actually became an independent state for all of 10 days. Heady times indeed. Anyway, apologies, and thanks to 91 Days for pointing me in the right direction.

12 Octubre

What happened? Colombus Day, Dia de la Raza, Día de la Diversidad Cultural Americana
Why does it matter? Celebrated differently in different countries, it marks Colombus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492. Latin American countries call it Dia de la Raza (Day of the Race) marking the first meeting between Europeans and Native Americans. Since 2007 Argentina celebrates the day of American Culture Diversity.
Where is it remembered? A 3 block street in Villa Crespo. It’s also a public holiday.

15 Noviembre 1889

What happened? Brazil declared a republic.
Where is it remembered? Calle 15 de Noviembre de 1889 in Constitucion.

My first attempt at being tour guide was not an unqualified success. Aged 21, I was in put in charge of 50 French kids who had just arrived in London at the start of a three-week stay to learn English.

One of my duties, aside from stopping Xavier the 14-year sex pest reading the contents of every top shelf in every newsagents we walked past, was to give them the guided tour of my capital’s sights. I was told that this would simply consist of sitting at the front of the Barry’s of Weymouth bus with a microphone, reading from an information pack the language school had provided for me.

So, the merry travellers and I boarded our bus ready to take in the sights of London Town. Except there was one small problem. As I turned to the section of the folder where the tour information was supposed to be, it wasn’t. It went straight from Section 2 “Week 1 Itinerary” to Section 4 “Making Pronouns Interesting”. I flicked furiously through the entire folder, Section 3 was nowhere to be found.

By this point we were had already gone past the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace and the kids could tell that these places were of Places of Interest and some information about them would be well, interesting. I began to panic, I’d only been to London twice up until that point and had no idea where we were or what was coming next.

As we drove across a large park, I quietly asked the bus driver if he could tell me where we were. He told me and I stood up and faced my audience. 100 French eyes turned towards me expectantly. I cleared my throat, “Um, well this is um, Green Park” I stammered into the microphone. “And, um, as you can see it’s um, well, green.”

The bus driver stared at me, the kids stared at me uncomprehendingly. I sat down and said nothing else the entire journey.

So why, 18 years later am I dedicating myself to showing people the sights of Buenos Aires? For a start I know Buenos Aires a lot better than I do London. Since my first attempt at tourism, I have got to know London a lot better, having lived there for a couple of years and visited many many times. However, the time I’ve spent visiting and living in Buenos Aires has been as a tourist, which means I look at things in a different way here than I do in London.

I got to know Buenos Aires through the pages of Lonely Planet and Time Out and have kept exploring. I’m blessed with a pretty good sense of direction and love figuring out where I am and how I got there. Now, 2 years after first arriving I’ve shown friends round the major (and minor) sights, figured out the best way to get around on buses and corrected taxi drivers when they try to take the long way round.

Link this internal GPS to an annoying tendency to remember every small fact I ever hear or read and tour guide starts to make much more sense as a profession and I love what I do. I meet some very interesting people and am able to share my knowledge and love for this city with them.

The route of the tour takes us to some of my favourite, and most interesting parts of Buenos Aires, and by catching buses to get around we get to see the city truly as the residents do. I look forward to showing you round!

OK, so two photos today and not of anyone actually tangoing either but two iconic tango places in Buenos Aires.

Carlos Gardel is to Tango what Maradona is to Football. Except more so. And he’s dead. The world’s greatest ever Tango singer, Gardel was killed in a plane crash in Medellin, Colombia in 1935. This is his tomb in La Chacarita cemetery. Recoleta may attract all the tourists, but I like La Chacarita better – it is much more attractive, with much more space and it has Gardel. What more do you need?

Keeping with tango songs, the opening line of the best-loved one is “Sur” an elegy to Lost Love set in the southern barrios of Buenos Aires. The first line namechecks the corner of Boedo & San Juan, which is now known as Esquina Homero Manzi in tribute to the song’s author and, like Gardel’s tomb has become a shrine to all things tango.

Eric Fischer on Flickr has published a photoset that examines the GeoTagging information in each Flickr photograph of a city and analyses the users behaviour to establish whether the photographer can be classified as a “local’ or a “tourist”. For example a tourist takes pictures of lots of different locations in a month, a local takes lots of pictures in the same area over a longer period of time. He then produces a map of the city showing who took pictures where (blue = local, red = tourist, yellow = uncertain).

The Buenos Aires one is interesting in that there is very little blue in there, it’s mostly big blotches of red. The “V” on its side in the middle is Congreso bottom left, Avenida de Mayo leading to Plaza de Mayo and the Diagonal skewing up and to the left towards El Obelisco. Towards the bottom the concentrations are El Caminito and La Bombonera in La Boca and the large blob in the centre towards the top is Recoleta Cemetery. Other hotspots include El Puente de la Mujer in Puerto Madryn and Plaza San Martin (north of Plaza de Mayo)

The driving in Buenos Aires is not the worst in South America, but that’s not saying much. When I first came here from Europe travelling in a bus or taxi was one of the most terrifying (or exhilarating if you’ve had a bit to drink) experiences of my life. Traffic in London seems bad when you come from Dorset, then you drive in Paris and things back home seem tame. Go from Paris to Milan or Madrid and things start to get a bit more lively. Then you arrive in Buenos Aires and nothing you’ve seen or known before applies.

When I got back here from Colombia it actually seemed tame here compared to Bogota, but nonetheless things are hectic and I am constantly amazed that more serious accidents don’t occur. Simple things here have always puzzled me like why nobody takes the blindest bit of notice of the lanes. There may be 4 painted on the road but there will be 6 cars lined up as you cross. Indicators have no link to reality. Ever. In fact it is not uncommon to see cars or driving along indicating right for 2 blocks, then the indicator stops and the car goes left.

Last week any puzzlement I may have had about why these basics are ignored was finally cleared up. Talking to some colleagues from Argentina and Holland, we were discussing the process in each country to get a driving licence. Myself and the Dutch guy talked about 15 hour long driving lessons, 30 minutes one-on-one driving tests, theory tests, the works. We then asked the Argentinian about the test here. “Test?” he answered, “I turned up on my own in my car, he made me reverse into a parking space, showed me one road sign and asked me what it meant, gave me the psychological test and got me to draw a house, a person and a tree, checked my eyesight and that was it, handed me my licence and I drove off again in my car, which wasn’t even insured.”

So there you have it, nobody here drives like they know what they are doing, because in actual fact they don’t know what they are doing.