It’s an extremely polluted city in a basket case country – but I love it

The mental dilemma is, and always has been: why is this terrible country and its overpopulated city (with 14 to 16 million inhabitants) – which is also traffic-crazed, extremely polluted and surrounded by slums – so surprising? Place to visit?

One way local guides, often well-intentioned historians and intellectuals, try to help travelers understand BA is by exploring a particular area.

Visitors can take Pope Tours, Perón Tours, Jewish Tours, Memory/Dictatorship Tours, Tango Tours, Football Tours, Graffiti and Street Art Tours, BBQ Tours. All cities are multi-layered to some degree, but BA excels across many themes.

Don’t talk about war

How about the British-Argentine Tour? As I passed the impressive Falklands monument at the foot of the sloping lawns in Plaza San Martín, I noticed two grenadiers dressed in beautiful old uniforms.

The cenotaph, which contains the names of 649 Argentine soldiers who died in the war and the shields of Argentina’s 23 provinces framed by Falklands-like vegetation, was closed behind gates for years. Milei, whose government was criticized for using the word “Falklands” instead of “Islas Malvinas” in a statement, is nevertheless a patriot and must have approved of the 24-hour guard of honor introduced in March.

Opposite it stands the Torre Monumental, or Torre de los Ingleses, a clock tower gifted to the city by the Anglo-Argentine community as part of the centennial celebrations of Independence in 1910. The “Ingleses” part of the name was officially dropped in 1982.