Buenos Aires doesn’t offer Europeans a giant culture shock. Sure, it’s hot and sunny down south when it’s cold and rainy up north, across the ocean, and yes, you do need to carry a fad wad of cash to pay for your coffee, but the city feels very European.
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
“Mexicans descend from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incas—but Argentinians descend from the ships,” goes an old saying. Buenos Aires is a cosmopolitan city but the locals, who have been there for generations, came by boat from Europe during the great European immigration wave to Argentina. To put it plainly, Buenos Aires is white, very white. You do see recent immigrants from Bolivia, Paraguay and Venezuela but European settlers massively outnumbered the indigenous peoples, so while many Argentinians probably have some indigenous blood, they look like transplanted white Europeans… and some are proud of it.
In the back of my mind, I can’t help wondering if this is why there are so many white travellers from Europe, North America, and Australia in Buenos Aires and so few comparatively in Brazil outside of Rio de Janeiro. Are white people more comfortable around white people? Does it make them feel safe?
Yeah, probably. And let’s not go there, it won’t solve anything.
My point is, Buenos Aires is… ahem, not very colourful. I still had a few days in Buenos Aires, so when I came back from La Plata, I went out to explore three popular neighbourhoods. I was looking for something other than grey walls and classic European buildings. Something colourful, maybe?
This is what I found in San Telmo, Palermo, and La Boca.
San Telmo
For the first time ever, I stayed in San Telmo, a very artsy, Bohemian barrio with a working-class side. San Telmo is popular with tourists because of the Sunday street market along Calle Defensa, plus the San Telmo Market, an overpriced but fun place to explore—it has everything from empanadas to antiques.
I found some life and colour in San Telmo. Even though it’s a tourist attraction, it’s still very much alive, and it’s a great place to explore to meet interesting characters.
Palermo
I don’t get Palermo, and this alone makes it interesting to me.
Palermo is huge, and Palermo is far, Palermo is out of the way, yet this is where all the foreigners I meet are staying. Even digital nomads are raving about Palermo—it’s apparently the place to be and a hotspot for restaurants, clubs and more.
It reminds me of Armação dos Búzios, in a way.
Palermo is wealthy, glamorous, and expensive. But I find Palermo very, very boring. The streets are empty during the day (hello, Ottawa?), coffee shops play the kind of jazz music that puts me to sleep (are they trying to look even more stylish?), and hipsters are hanging out with hipsters.
The one “funky” thing about Palermo is the street art. There are some great creative murals!
La Boca
La Boca is the opposite of San Telmo. It’s gritty, poor, and historic but as a tourist, you will only explore a few streets because it’s not the safest place to wander around without a knowledgeable local.
The traditional walk is from the colourful houses along the “Caminito” to the Boca Juniors stadium, “La Bombonera”. Expect hundreds of tour groups, stalls, souvenir shops and tourist traps—still, it’s pretty, unique and very colourful.
