Buenos Aires

On to the main course for Argentina now, you're gonna need your appetite for this one. Buenos Aires is known as the "Paris of South America", thanks to its omnipresent cafe culture (a culture that, to be sure, was on full display in Mendoza and Cordoba as well). The city abounds with beautiful architecture, expansive green parks, and tree-lined streets. It also features a local population of 17 million people, all of whom speak with an indecipherable accent which sounds like a mixture of French and Italian.

As elsewhere in Argentina, there was no shortage of tree-lined streets here.

I never got tired of gazing up at the architecture while on foot. Well, maybe my neck was a little strained.

In downtown, there are a lot of these cute little one-way streets. I seem to have a bad habit of stopping in the middle of these to take pictures as cars are barreling toward me. Thankfully this isn't Peru, so at least they were paying some attention.

Cafes, cafes, cafes, everywhere cafes. Why can't I just enjoy coffee like normal people?

Another addition to my list of fast food inside of glorious historic buildings.

Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires.

Former colonial government building now serving as a national history museum.

Casa Rosada, the President's executive mansion.

National Congress Building.

Caminito de La Boca, a dull but colorful and funky tourist trap. The woman on the right promptly put that hat on my head and insisted on my taking a picture with her. After declining...five times...she simply uttered "what a pity".

Let's just say they take their futbol seriously here.

The subways are filled with beautiful murals.

Recoleta Cemetery, often voted as one of the best cemeteries in the world, holds the graves of notable people, including several former presidents and their first ladies, the founder of the Argentine Navy, Nobel Prize Winners, and a granddaughter of Napoleon (thanks wikipedia).