Argentina's European city

By Dick Tarpley / Abilene Reporter-News

When I was a kid, Buenos Aires was the largest city in South America. Five cities have passed it, but if you include its 12 million metropolitan area, it might still be No. 1. More than one-third of Argentina's 34 million population reside in the Buenos Aires area.

South America's most European and most sophisticated city is beautiful. Avenida 9 of Julio is reputed to be the world's widest street.

It has its grimy areas, of course. La Boca, the old waterfront along the Rio de la Parana on its way out to the Atlantic, once served as the main domain of sailors from around the world when they landed in Buenos Aires.

It remains an interesting spot, with its old wooden sidewalks that are elevated in front of stores. But at a city tourist bureau, the lady adviser told me I shouldn't go there. "They throw mustard on you," she said. Our tour book recommended an evening in La Boca for an Italian dinner, but I declined, realizing I spilled enough mustard on my clothes without risking an intentional onslaught from a resident.

Besides, I had walked to La Boca on a previous tour in 1981, found it interesting but not requiring a second trip this past June. The main changes in Buenos Aires are the huge hotel and office buildings and the wide thoroughfare that separates the rest of downtown from the passenger ship berths and the main rail line.

The city's traditional center actually lies along the eastern edge of downtown. Plaza de Mayo contains the famous Pink House, Casa Rosada, where the president of the country lives, the large park with statues of famous personages and the San Martin Cathedral.

The liberator San Martin is buried in the cathedral. Honor guards stand in front of his tomb. The cathedral has been renovated since we were there in 1981, is much brighter and the paintings have been restored.

The main downtown shops lie to the west of Plaza de Mayo, between 9 de Julio and the river, which is 30 miles wide at Buenos Aires but rapidly expands as it moves eastward to Montevideo, Uruguay, where it is 90 miles across.

The 220-foot obelisk in the center of 9 de Julio is the city's most famous landmark. Built in 1936 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Buenos Aires' founding, it towers above the theater district immediately to its north and the world-famous Colon (Columbus) Opera House a block to its west.

The beautiful opera house, built in 1908, ranks as one of the best in the world, attracting major performers despite its huge distances from other major world centers. The stage is actually as large as the six-balcony auditorium. The foyer contains many mannequins of famous singers wearing costumes they wore in performing at the Colon.

These include Maria Callas as Aida, Lily Pons as Lucia and Enrico Caruso as the Duke in "Rigoletto." Many other paintings and artifacts make a tour of the theater exciting.

The Recoleta, a fashionable residential area just west of downtown, contains the famous Recoleta Cemetery, with tombs all above ground in monumental structures like those in Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The most famous is that of Eva Peron. A park outside the cemetery contains some huge century-old trees with limb-spread half a block long.

An interesting half-day trip west along the Parana to Tigre is facilitated by a new railroad (you can still travel the old one, but don't because it lets you off in the center of town, not near the river). Rail service is excellent, on time and clean. A stop along the route at San Isidro (you can catch a later train on the same ticket) allows a shopping opportunity.

The station in Tigre lies next door to a popular theme park for children. We took a river excursion down one of the Parana tributaries, deep in swamp country. Nice beaches and summer homes make Tigre a popular vacation spot for Buenos Aires residents.

With 97 percent of its population having European ancestry, Buenos Aires gives tourists a mini-view of Europe. But it's no short cut. Paris and Madrid are no farther from us and closer from New York.