It’s estimated that over 20,000 ‘cartoneros’ now rummage through BA’s trash heaps and ‘dumpster dive’ their way around the barrios collecting re-cyclable rubbish to sell by weight. In recent years, the city government has also initiated a Ciudad Verde plan where registered cartoneros can collect a base salary for emptying the large bell-shaped recycling bins…

The vast majority of Porteños live in apartments, and Porteños love a dog, so for those who work a full day (most of ‘em), the dog walker is the go-to solution in BA. They’ll pick Alonzo (one of the more popular local dog names apparently) up in the morning and return him in the afternoon…

During the early 20th Century, Buenos Aires was booming and extremely wealthy, so much so that in 1914 Harrods of London decided to open their only foreign store right in the heart of the city. A super grand Belle Époque building on Calle San Martin standing proud on a corner position, crowned by an eight-storey cupola,…

The Guardian has ranked El Ateneo in Recoleta as the ‘second most beautiful bookshop in the world’ (so you know, Polare in Masstricht was first at the time, though now I see it’s closed… hmm, so where does that leave El Ateneo I wonder?). Apart from its enormous proportions – 2000 square metres – it…

The 2018 Youth Olympics opened here on the weekend with 250,000 people heading downtown for the opening ceremony* along the Avenida 9 de Julio. Sadly, the budget was slashed 40% in recent months, perhaps dulling this first time Olympics for Argentina, albeit the lesser known Youth Games. The IOC president Thomas Bach, who opened things…

The San Telmo Sunday market is a huge draw for both locals and tourists, so it gets packed, especially on weekends, and on a 25-degree Spring Sunday afternoon like today. Wonderfully warmed by the sunshine you’re shuffling along at a snail’s pace, so plenty of time to peer and poke around in the jammed curio…

On the other side of Puerto Madero is one of BA’s greatest and most unexpected treasures, the 865-acre wetland park, the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur. This is an incredible resource to have so close to a city of 13 million, packed with 314 species of birds, 23 species of reptile including, surprisingly, caimans and iguanas,…

It’s been a glorious Spring week here in BA, not a cloud in the sky and temps in the low 20’s – perfect conditions for this morning’s wander down to the Rio de la Plata. It’s actually a bit of a hike, not as the crow flies perhaps but a 10k walk all the same…

Up on the roof terrace the roofs join up, separated by low walls and lattice fences full of flowering jasmine and for us, one giant cascading ivy down the whole light-well. I’m the self-designated gardener here, watering the multitude of potted plants, succulents and herbs and occasionally peering over a wall, down a light-well and…

We’ve rented a sprawling and very affordable ‘casa chorizo’ in San Telmo in a quiet residential street near Parque Lezama and around the corner from oh-so-stylish Caseros with its excellent restaurants and bars. There are thousands of these faded elegant gems all over Buenos Aires and dating from around the late 19thC and into the…