Buenos Aires is now offering special bus tours around the city dedicated to the new Pope Francis and the significant landmarks that make up his history in Buenos Aires.

Pope Francis at his first public appearance after the conclave (photo by Agência Brasil)

The free three-hour tours operate twice a day on Saturday and Sunday past 24 sites that are special in someway to pope Francis. Shorter walking tours also run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while another tour bus currently runs weekends in the Flores barrio, where Pope Francis was born and raised.

This tour begins at the Cathedral where Pope Francis gave mass as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. It then stops at the Pope’s barbershop, his local plaza where he played football as a child, as well as and the San Jose de Flores church where he worshipped as a teenager.

According to the city government, it has already received more than 760 applications from companies wishing to register their tours.

The national tourism ministry is one of many that has a tour in the pipeline and is offering an official excursion in August in Buenos Aires, as well as the provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe, where the Pope Francis studied and served.

Daniel Tunnard, the Brit taking all the buses in Buenos Aires, continues his Colectivaizeishon series with The No. 47.

Buenos Aires school children (Photo: Buenos Aires city government)

Some primary school children get on the bus in their little white lab coats. These are standard school uniform in Argentina, because they’re cheap but, at the same time, aspirational. In my first year in Buenos Aires, it was always a cause of minor amusement to see these little people in their little white lab coats, since in England and most other sensible countries the only people who get to where such garments are scientists and their ilk. How I marvelled that here was a country so developed that by the age of six, these gifted children had already qualified as biochemists and astrophysicists and were on their way to the lab to fuse some more atoms.

I’m starting to like Liniers and the surrounding neighbourhoods of Versailles and Vélez Sarsfield. The 47 goes pretty much the length of Alejandro Margariños Cervantes, a pleasant tree-lined street with well-presented houses and PLO (People Like Oneself). I have no idea where I am, but I like it, and I know it’s not Villa Devoto, because it lacks anonymity.

One attractive thing about my fleeting idea of moving to a barrio like Liniers is seeing how people have turned their own houses into little steakhouses. You ring the bell, walk through their living room and have a meal in the back yard of a stranger. It’s a bit like the supper clubs and closed door restaurants you get in Palermo and elsewhere, but without them charging $200 per person. In fact, the home parrilla that the 47 goes past has a sign promising “Pork belly w/chips $30”. It’s like travelling back in time to pre-inflation 2005.

By the time I get home at night, I’ve got a whole house-moving plan to show the wife. After a brief conversation, it turns out we probably won’t be moving to Liniers in the near future. “Ni en pedo” were her exact, if somewhat predictable, words. “Not even if I was drunk.”

This is a great shame because there are little things in Liniers that I’m starting to like, on this my third visit to the barrio in two weeks. Little things like the butcher’s called El Rey del Carne (The King of Meat), whose logo is a photo of a random butcher with a garish crown badly photoshopped onto his head. Little things like the way the acronym of the football team Club Atlético Nueva Chicago spells out “C.A.N.CH.” and I can only lament that the founders did not add an “Argentino” or “de América” to the end of the name so that the club’s crest spelled out where the club played, “cancha” being the Argentine word for “stadium”. And little things like the big shop on Juan B. Justo and Gana that sells dining tables that turn into pool tables, in addition to a wide array of other indoor sports goods. As a native of a country that invented indoor sports and considers them sports so that you can say you play a sport without having to go to any more effort than picking up a dart and throwing it six feet, I love indoor sports and want to live in a barrio where I can pass by the biggest indoor sports shop in Latin America and stare into the window, drooling.

Amid so many minor things I begin to lose my major and irrational fear of the breezeblocks. Near the Club Deportivo Español stadium, where Parque Avellaneda turns into Villa Lugano, I begin to see hundreds of monoblocks which a few weeks earlier would have instilled great panic in me. And yet, the people I see around here are normal folk, teenagers mucking about at the bus stop, kids coming home from school, people who while not exactly PLO (People Like Oneself) are at least DWP (Decent Working People). I see very few marauding bands of murderers or kidnappers. In fact, if I’m honest, I see none. There are couple of shifty-looking youths, but that’s nothing to me. I grew up in Stockport, the town that invented the concept of the shifty-looking youth.

Under construction (Photo: Matías Garabedian)

In Villa Riachuelo, the barrio with the arguable fortune to be named after the third-filthiest river in the world, I see new monoblocks being built, modern buildings that wouldn’t look out of place in Palermo Viejo, where they demolish impeccable mansions so that trendy people can have their expensive flat with rooftop swimming pool and function room on Humboldt and Nicaragua. [Humboldt and Nicaragua are the names of two streets in Palermo. Don’t be imagining a German botanist and Central American republic being razed to the ground for the sake of luxury apartments.] It occurs to me that here lies the key to stop so many grand old buildings from being demolished in certain areas of Buenos Aires for the sake of building enormous, faceless buildings without providing an adequate provision of running water and parking and other provisionables. My idea is this: gentrification for Villa Riachuelo, Villa Lugano, Villa Soldati and other Villas which are not villas in the shanty town sense of the word even though many people think they are.

All it takes is for a group of capital investors and estate agents to build in these Villas the following premises: some bars where they charge you $40 for a stingy shot of whisky that costs $40 the bottle in the supermarket; some parrillas where they charge you $20 just for the honour of sitting down in the premises; and some clothes shops with hilarious names like ‘¡Vete al Diablo, chévere!’ and ‘Las Chabombas Mágicas’ where the saleswomen wear skintight jeans and sell you clothes whose durability is inversely proportional to their price. With these simple capitalist gestures, within six months all the people who typically move to a different barrio simply because it’s “in” will be queuing up to buy themselves a loft in Villa Lugano. That way, the south of the city gets developed and they can stop screwing with us who like Palermo Viejo (PS. If you say Palermo Soho, you’re a twat) as it was. That is, as it was around about 2000, not as it was around about 1980 when it was more dangerous that Villa Soldati and not even the most daring of hipsters would dare set foot in it.

Chori vendors in Liniers (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Sorry about calling you a twat just now. Back in Liniers, I decide I’m going to show how comfortable and safe I feel in this barrio by eating a choripán at one of the stands that inhabit the thin strip between Avenida Rivadavia and the railway tracks, with their cumbia and their plastic Quilmes napkin holders and their ignorance of hygiene standards, where the only fridges are for the drinks and all the other ingredients are left out in the open air. The chorizo in question is one that one might describe as “picado grueso”, which would be fine if it was coarse-cut salami, but which in the case of the present choripán means huge chunks of indigestible gristle. I end up leaving half the chori on my plate, and the men at the stand look at me like a fancy gringo who can’t appreciate a proper Argentine chorizo and should go back to fancy Palermo. It’s at this moment that I know, even before my wife rejects my great plan to move the family to Liniers, that the people of this barrio will never accept me as one of their own.

A premium Sturla launch taking off in Tigre.

When you boat your way somewhere, even if just for a day out of the city, the waters clear the spirit and you feel instantly on holiday. You can find that by travelling from the city of Buenos Aires to Tigre, a charming little suburb 30kms north, which is also the jumping off point for hundreds of little islands in the Paraná delta, making it a top day or weekend getaway place for porteños.

Sturla is the only company that provides boat trips between the city and Tigre. You can charter one of their four available vessels, going wherever tickles your fancy, or take a pre-packaged tour. There’s the Delta Premium, which is just a one way or return, including a guide and a hop-on hop-off bus ticket in town, or the Tigre Full Day packages, which consist of a return trip and different tour options with set lunch.

The Delta Premium tour leaves the harbour at Puerto Madero at 10am every day, where the staff at Sturla organise passengers, who are mostly international tourists, into two vessels. With the capacity to hold more than 40 people, these are clean, comfortable boats with large, panoramic windows.

The guides are bilingual or trilingual (English, Spanish and Portuguese), and the two-hour journey starts with an introduction to the crew members, then the history of the harbour in Puerto Madero, interesting facts about Río de la Plata and the sites you pass.

Even though emergency instructions may go out the window in panic situations, it would be good if they were included. The complimentary coffee and alfajor, the classic Argentine cake, are a nice touch though. They also have water, soft drinks, beer or crisps far sale.

Throughout the journey, the landscape switches from the city to the sight of the islands in delta around Tigre, which occupy a space of around 220km². It is impressively beautiful, with the green trees, perfect lawns and charming houses constructed by the side of the water. From the river, the visit shows the house in which Juan Domíngo and Eva Perón spent their summer holiday and a replica of former president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento’s house, which is inside a glass box and is a museum.

You may go out on the deck, where the sun kisses your face, and marvel with the view. Slowly you start observing holiday makers in action: people swimming, sunbathing on yachts, riding jet-skis, kayaking, water skiing or rowing, which comes as no surprise being that Tigre is the capital of rowing in Argentina, where the Brits build the first rowing club in 1873.

A classic Sturla Launch

There are no roads or bridges between the islands, so the way to move around is by private or commuter boats. Those living there get their services (like groceries and post) from passing vessels.

The ride ends at Tigre fluvial station. With only four hours to spend exploring the city before the return boat leaves, if you do not take the Full Day excursion you may choose to get on the Spanish-guided hop-on, hop-off bus right outside the station.

Lunch at the Puerto de Frutos (Fruits Port) is a good bet. It used to be an exclusively fruit and veg market but now it’s a base for craftsmanship products, a variety of shops and restaurants from parrillas to picadas.

The touristic bus also stops in three different museums (the arts, the naval and the war museums), which are not too big so there will be time to take a peak. Unfortunately there’s not enough time to enjoy other perks of the town, like Parque de la Costa theme park, the Trilenium Casino or chill out in one of the leisure parks such as Parque Lyfe or El Alcazar. To do that, you would have to travel to Tigre by train.

If you live in the city and are hoping to go in and out of Tigre for the torturously hot summer weekends, how often you’re willing to fork out considerably more money and listen to the same explanations (in which figures often do not coincide), is up to you. Still, it’s something that should be done at least once.

Waiting for the bus with FotoRuta (courtesy of FotoRuta)

“It’s like a treasure hunt but with pictures,” my friend explained. And whilst I’d absolutely no idea what to expect, I found myself standing in San Telmo on Saturday afternoon, a piece of paper in my hands, a number and a street name, searching for the meeting place.

If you’re looking for something different to do with your weekend, Foto Ruta is a prime option. From the postcard-style flyer promoting the event, there was one sentence that called my attention: “Foto Ruta BA offers an urban city tour with a twist. Bring Buenos Aires to life through a series of clues that lead you on a journey of discovery in a different part of the city each week.”

Perhaps this was the Indiana Jones adventure I’d always dreamed of, but more of a hipster version, and with a camera?

To begin, organisers Becky and Joss welcomed all of the participants around a table in one of San Telmo’s cosy cafés, and everyone was issued a ‘press pass’. Inside was a small map of San Telmo’s landmarks, quirky facts, interesting places to visit and several restaurant and café recommendations, as well as a list of creative tips on how to photograph.

After explaining the concept of the event – to explore the surrounding neighbourhood whilst interpreting a series of clues through photography – they ran through some creative techniques. Offering advice on how to use shade, lines, reflection, and movement, Becky and Joss described how to lend interesting effects to your photos, all the while projecting examples on to a white screen as visual aids.

At this point I looked around to see that everyone in the group shared my excitement to get outside and start taking pictures. Even with a digital compact like mine, you can make your shots appear professional with all the techniques made to seem fun and simple by the organisers. Or at least I’d like to think so!

Then we started to receive our instructions. We were going to work in groups to photograph an object or a scene that best portrayed each clue and return in two hours, which seemed like long enough. The clues, written inside the small poster with the map, came in the form of 10 sentences. “Mirror, mirror on the wall”, “the gift of time”, “door to another world” and “lawless fashion” were just some of the phrases open to artistic interpretation that day.

Dog's eye view (courtesy of FotoRuta)

I stepped out in a multinational group, made up of Irish, Brazilian, Dutch and British participants, and started photographing.

Foto Ruta invites you to think outside the box. It’s a great way of meeting new people from all over the world, as well as an opportunity to talk to locals as you try to persuade them to help you set a scene for your pictures!

We discovered several spots I’d never seen or heard of before; an open art and bookshop gallery, a prison museum, a store with furniture stuck to its walls and even gate-crashed a film shoot in a groovy record store.

When we’d finished, I felt like two hours wasn’t long enough, but we had to get back to the café where Becky and Joss welcomed us with wine. Reviewing our photos with glasses in hand, we picked the pictures we wanted to represent each clue, and each group’s photos were shared on the big screen for everyone to see.

Whilst the results were similar at times and strikingly different at others, they were overall, incredibly creative. It was amazing to see how each person interpreted the sentences so uniquely.

Between taking photographs, meeting people from all over the world, drinking wine and shared laughter, you can have a wonderful time doing something completely different on a Saturday afternoon.

One of the participants, Katie Jones said: “It was a really good alternative way to explore the city. Living and working in Buenos Aires makes it difficult to find time to explore neighbourhoods that maybe you thought were not as interesting. Foto Ruta encourages you to explore the city safely, without the hassle of searching for maps and doing research before hand.

I wasn’t expecting to learn so much about photography before I went”, she adds.

Another photographer, Andrew O’Driscoll admits he wasn’t expecting too much in the beginning, but after going out to the streets and photographing he said: “I enjoyed a fun day out and I think it’s the kind of activity everybody would have fun doing. It is a great way to discover Buenos Aires.”

Our tip? Go with comfortable shoes- you’ll do a lot of walking!

Nike of Samothrace tucked away in Calle Arroyo (Photo: Melissa Riggall)

Walking around Buenos Aires is a visual treat. The architecture, culture and feel of each area is so incredibly unique. I have found myself constantly curious about the story behind certain barrios or buildings. My guidebook, however, can only tell me so much. The Ayres de Arte tour in Retiro is an opportunity to gain some historical context of Calle Arroyo – famous for its many art galleries and swanky feel.

It begins and ends at the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish American Art. Although it was built in the 1920s, the building looks like a colonial Spanish villa – red tile roof, a large courtyard, and thick adobe-like walls. Take a moment to sit in the garden, it is a peaceful sanctuary from the loud and busy streets right outside. The building looks out of place among the mixture of early 20th century French architecture and modern construction.

The 90 minute outing is a short course on the history of art and architecture of Calle Arroyo between Carlos Pellegrini and Esmerelda. There is the French embassy – sold after the Wall Street crash in 1929, the contemporary memorial park to the victims of the Israeli embassy bombing, and an Art Deco hotel, once slated to be demolished. You also get a chance to window shop as you walk past the eclectic art galleries. That is quite a lot in the span of two city blocks.

The tour de force, however is the iron replica of the Nike of Samothrace, a headless angel standing on the helm of a ship, imported from Italy in the 1920s. The Nike logo is based off of the wings of the original sculpture – located in the Louvre.

The $10 tour fee also buys you entrance to the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish American Art. After your walk take some time to walk through the old house and see Spanish colonial craftmanship from all over South America. There are religious paintings by indigenous schools of art, silver handiwork, and replicas of “typical rooms” during the Spanish colonization. In the bedroom you’ll notice some chairs are lower than others – they are where the woman was supposed to sit. Men sat in taller chairs, so a lady was literally never above her male counterpart. If you’re not paticularly keen on walking tours, you can still visit the museum for only $1.

The Ayres de Arte tour is a chance to go for a short walk, enjoy the temperate weather, and learn a thing or two about your surroundings. You’ll hear how the city borders of Buenos Aires were created, when the aristocracy moved from La Boca to Retiro during the yellow fever epidemic, the inspiration behind certain buildings and reconnect with the streets views of Argentina. The tour will give you a new frame of reference to any street in this massive city. The things you walk by everyday will take on a new luster of historical meaning.

Gone are the days when riding an open-top bus or following a garrulous guide with a rainbow-coloured umbrella were the only ways to tour a city. Buenos Aires is now host to a plethora of options, the best five of which we have sussed out for you:

1. Fileteado Porteño Tour by 054

Fileteado, the style of painting associated with Buenos Aires, is characterised by intertwining forms, bold letters and vivid colours; for example, on the ornate red and yellow wagons that you might associate with gypsies and the circus. It turns out the city is a treasure trove of examples. Starting in Abasto and moving onto San Telmo, the tour takes you around the city by bus and subte. Guides, who speak English and Spanish, point out and explain examples of this artwork on shops and buildings. As this painting form has much to do with tango, there is a stop at the house where Carlos Gardel lived, now a museum paying homage to the famous singer. The stand-out feature of the tour is a 90 minute-long class where a fileteado artist demonstrates how to paint in the style. You also learn more of the secrets behind the art introduced by Italian immigrants working as cart builders in the early 20th century. You get to have a go yourself and keep your own attempt as a souvenir. Hard work over, the tour finishes up with a drink and snack in a traditional San Telmo bar.

Wednesdays at 1.30pm, advance reservation needed. Duration: 4 hours. Cost: $150. Visit their website for more info, or email: tours@054online.com

2. Anda Responsible Travel La Boca Tour

Anda is part of a group of hostels and tour operators dedicated to sustainable tourism; that is to say, environmentally-friendly tourism that promotes fair trade and supports projects for social improvement (Anda donates 5% of company profits to the projects with which they work).They offer a tour to Iguazú where you can meet and learn from indigenous Guaraní people in order to help preserve their cultural heritage. Within Buenos Aires, Anda options include an Ideas Café where you can discuss Argentine idiosyncrasies with a local expert or a Tango Tour, which includes a visit to the Carlos Gardel museum, a tango class and a real milonga.

However, Anda are best known for their La Boca Beyond Caminito tour which, as well as showing the tourist the traditional sights, takes them beneath the veneer of coloured houses to see in action some social projects that aim to reduce poverty in the barrio. Within a shared housing complex, you meet a man who makes figurines from nuts and bolts. There is also chance to try and buy alfajores made by groups of mothers affected by the economic crisis who sell them at weekend football games. A third project, Eloisa, started by cartoneros, sells books donated by authors, which are printed on recycled paper and bound with hand-decorated cardboard covers. This tour offers a unique opportunity to support local economy and pick up a few original souvenirs. All participants also receive a specially-designed free gift.

Day and time to suit. Max group size: 7. Duration: 3.5- 4 hours. Cost: $131 – $448 depending on numbers. For more information, click here

3. Urban Running Tours

In this innovative tour, you run approximately ten kilometres around the city, with stops to catch your breath, have a sip of water, take photos and hear more detailed explanations. Whilst you need to enjoy running, you don’t have to be an athlete – the four guides (themselves all experienced runners) are patient, can change the pace to suit and even offer tips on technique. Hardcore runners can opt for more kilometres. Tours are tailored to pick you up from and drop you off at where you’re staying but are generally based around Palermo, Puerto Madero, Recoleta or San Telmo .

The tour of Recoleta and Palermo includes the flower sculpture, the law faculty, Palermo parks, the rose garden and the famous cemetery. It’s amazing how much you can see in 90 minutes when you’re not shuffling in large group formation through crowded pavements. It’s like running with a personal trainer who pushes you just outside of your comfort zone, leaving you feeling exhilarated and fed with interesting and relevant titbits of history rather than overloaded with information. The guide has a backpack to carry your valuables and water bottle and also brings a digital camera so you can later enjoy sweaty pictures of yourself in various beautiful locations by email. All tours include a free t-shirt.

Day and time to suit. Max group size: 4. Duration: 90 mins. Cost: US$30-50, depending on numbers. 5% of this is donated to the Cardiovascular Foundation. Website: www.urbanrunningtours.com.ar Email: info@urbanrunningtours.com.ar

4. Graffiti Mundo Tour

Buenos Aires street art is a fascinating world which is about so much more than tags and delinquents. Graffiti started here with political messages during Peron’s 1950s government, yet the art really took off in the 1990s. Post-economic crisis examples can express fury and frustration or contain repeated cartoon-like characters aiming to cheer up passers-by. A few years back, two English girls decided there was much interest in graffiti yet to an outsider it seemed an impenetrable scene. They sought to hunt down the prettiest, most striking and most bizarre examples of graffiti, track the artists behind them and bring it all together in a three-hour tour that involves walking and a few rides in a minibus that will take you back to school trip days. The tour starts in Colegiales and moves through Villa Crespo and Palermo Soho and Viejo, stopping at abandoned walls, bus depots, toy shops and houses, adorned with everything from cacti with nipples and robotic dogs to stencilled faces and spaceships.

The tour has the blessing of the artists, some of whom are known personally to the organisers. The guides recount in-the-know stories about what went into creating a certain piece so that by the end you feel the graffiti world is your oyster and the artists your old friends. You will even be able to spot for yourself examples of a specific artist’s work – surely the mark of a good tour. The afternoon includes visits into one or two galleries with the option to buy art.

Day: Wednesday-Saturday. Time: 3pm. Duration: 3 hours. Price: $90. Website: www.graffitimundo.com Email: info@graffitimundo.com

5. Eternautas

This company started off in 1999 organising a weekly, value-for-money walking tour for porteños, aiming to educate Spanish-speaking residents about their cultural and historical patrimony. Since then, Eternautas has been steadily growing with increased tourist traffic and now runs private tours for school groups, ex-pats and tourists…they even provided services to Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands! Group size is limited to increase interaction with the guide who, unlike a recording, can take questions and cater for special areas of interest. The tour is run either in English or Spanish, so you don’t have to wait through translation, and whilst tour groups can enter into local businesses, purchases are entirely voluntary.

The guides are grad students or professors, all enthusiasts and experts in their fields of art, economics, history or architecture. The founders also serve as specialist consultants for TV history channels. As well as the classic ‘Imágenes de Buenos Aires’ city visit, there are diverse tour options including art (during which museums and galleries are visited), architecture or Peronism. Eternautas also runs courses on certain subjects and adventures to further-flung places such as Tigre or estancias that are a little more off-the-beaten-track, having less than 30 people staying at any one time.

Day and time to suit. Price: US$25-35, depending on numbers. Duration: 3-4 hours. Max group size: 20. Website: www.eternautas.com Email: consultas@eternautas.com

Apart from tango, pimped asados and prolific mullet wearing – street art is another area that Buenos Aires does rather well.

Grafitti culture here is different to New York or London because it’s not illegal, or if it is then nobody’s interested in enforcing the laws, says Rick Powell – editor of Juanele art blog- who’s been leading tours around the city for nearly a year and a half.

The corner of Humberto Primo and Bolivar (Photo: Andy Donohoe)

There’s less of the vandalism vibe here – graffiti isn’t a public nuisance and San Telmo, the oldest barrio in the city and home to artists and galleries for centuries, is a monument to generations of graffiti artists that have left their mark on its battered walls.

In Argentina, artists can paint in broad daylight, so their technique is different to time-pressed international counterparts who have to keep one eye on the lookout for police patrols. Some work is even commissioned.

Grolou, one of the artists whose work Rick introduces you to, has now moved to Quilmes and is gradually transforming the town into a living art project with full support of the local authorities and growing requests from local businesses to revamp their buildings.

According to Rick, there’s a cross-over between graffiti and mural art here in the city and the tour takes you on a journey from work that’s been left untouched for years, to parts that are constantly updated with new artists making their mark on the city.

Familiar with all of the big names on the San Telmo scene, Juanele point out signature details in the art that helps identify their work and help untangle the meaning behind the shapes.

One of the most famous pieces of graffiti in San Telmo, by El Odio (Photo: Andy Donohoe)

Starting at the Spanish cultural centre (CCEBA) the tour starts with an introduction to the city’s graffiti heritage. Part on foot, part in a van to save time the tour hops around street corners and underpasses, park walls and precincts in the southern part of the neighbourhood looking at street art.

Making its way along the narrow pavements and bustling streets, the art walk is as much an introduction to the barrio as the art that decorates it, including the traditional fileteado signs hanging over shop-fronts and bars.

The second part of the tour takes in a selection of the best exhibitions, which gives potential buyers the chance to speak to gallery owners, while everyone else looks at the fresh work and innovative installations of young artists that are bringing their shows to San Telmo.

The Wussman gallery is a particular highlight, light and cool after the beating afternoon sun – glass panels in the floor reveal the excavation work that is being carried out underneath it.

The tour finishes at Art Factory, which is as much an organic art project as a hostel, for a look at stencil art and a cool beer on the terrace. Each room (booked until the end of the year) was painted by a different artist and each surface is decorated by a different hand.

Wussmann Gallery, Venezuela 570 (Photo: Andy Donohoe)

Buenos Aires has a dynamic art scene. The world of street art is constantly updating and re-inventing itself with everything from cubist designs to three-storey political murals, while new artists and exhibitions are bringing fresh art and new ideas to the city.

Affordable and completely worth it – this isn’t one to miss, whether you’re new to the city or not.

As Rick says, something that’s there today might vanish under a fresh coat of paint tomorrow – so don’t wait.

Palacio de aguas corrientes (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

This may have happened to you too. You’re on a bus on Avenida Córdoba, hardly noticing anything about your surroundings beyond the fellow passengers crammed up against you on all sides and perhaps trying to catch a glimpse of your watch while beginning to gnash your teeth at the traffic gridlock. Then, all of a sudden your full attention is grasped by a resplendent block-long palace of a building. It is absolutely stunning, the kind of architecture that proves Buenos Aires worthy of its moniker as the Paris of South America. But what is it? Being the savvy traveller that you are you’re familiar with the great monuments of the city; it certainly wasn’t the Casa Rosada, it wasn’t the Congress building, nor Teatro Colón nor any of the grand cathedrals. It was an old disused sanitation plant.

El Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (Palace of Running Waters) is one of the most magnificent buildings in Buenos Aires, it is also cloaked in mystery. With a desire to sort fact from fiction, I decided to attend one of the free tours given by the Museum of Water and Sanitation, situated on the first floor of the Palacio. My tour guide, Celina Beatriz Noya, set the record straight on some of the more outlandish tales as well as offering the concession that foreigners confused about the building’s identity be pardoned on account of many porteños being equally mistaken.

Facade of the Palacio de aguas corrientes (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

A common misconception is that the palace was originally built to be the main government building instead of the Casa Rosada. Plans for the building were borne out of the dire need to improve sanitation in the rapidly growing metropolis after it had suffered severe yellow fever outbreaks in the 1870s. The government expressly stated that the building should have a “striking appearance” in order to provoke respect for the importance of the work being performed inside.

Another falsity concerning the building’s identity is that it was created to be the palace of an Arab sheik – total fabrication. This story was probably invented as an explanation for the building’s lavish ornamentation; but again, the palace’s arresting adornment was a priority for the government. They intended it to be an imposing symbol of the massive public works and societal progress that were being undertaken in that era.

This spirit of progress was carried forth with a constant focus on European societies as models, and in relation to this another long-lasting rumour was born: that the Palacio is an exact replica of a building in Europe. It is not. However, it was constructed according to European design, by Europeans and with European materials. The construction was carried out by the Swedish engineer Carlos A. B. Nystromer, the Norwegian architect Olaf Boye and the British company Bateman, Parsons and Bateman.

Boye’s design consists of eclectic architectural elements but is formally considered French Second Empire style: with its mansard-roofed towers, columns and ornate cornices. The structure is comprised of over 300,000 terracotta pieces of varying shapes, sizes and colours, each produced in and shipped from England and then assembled in Buenos Aires. Many of the terracotta pieces, especially those framing the windows and doors of the building, were glazed with a deep-brown enamel and appear almost wooden. One of the only design choices left to Argentine hands was the painting of the provincial coats of arms which are set just below the upper cornice. The British were unsure of the proper colouring.

The columns that line the first level are embellished with inlaid mosaics of overflowing bowls of fruit and fantastical animals. The British designers had never actually visited Buenos Aires and were apparently expecting tropical environs; instead, they were met with the “porteño melancholy”, as Noya put it.

Somewhere along the line Olaf Boye’s death got sucked into the vortex of rumours surrounding the Palacio. One tall-tale has it that he drowned himself in one of the giant water storage tanks because he felt that the greatness of his work had not been sufficiently acknowledged. Another story maintains that he jumped off the building’s roof because he himself was unsatisfied with the finished product. As if that weren’t enough, one of Argentina’s best known writers, celebrated journalist and author Tomás Eloy Martínez, in his novel ‘El Cantor de Tango’, states that Boye died of a heart attack suffered during a game of chess that he was playing while taking a break from drawing the Palacio de Aguas blueprints. “Myths upon myths,” Noya maintains.

The toilet museum in the Palacio de aguas corrientes (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

But it’s not just Boye’s death that haunts the Palacio. There are other rumoured deaths associated with the innards of the building, the giant water tanks. Nystromer designed what was a massive feat of engineering at the time: an interior framework of columns supporting 12 giant metal tanks capable of storing 72 tonnes of drinking water. One urban legend claims that a pair of disturbed lovers committed a joint suicide by drowning themselves in one of the tanks. Another, this one also promulgated by Eloy Martínez in ‘El Cantor de Tango’, tells of a high profile murder case in which the corpse of a beautiful young girl from a powerful aristocratic family shows up amongst the tanks of the Palacio. Noya told me that while Eloy Martínez did in fact conduct research for his novel at the Palacio’s library, he later admitted to the staff that the story of the murdered girl was a work of his imagination.

Today, along with the Museum of Water and Sanitation, the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes also houses a library and the commercial and administrative offices of its current owners, the state-run corporation AySA (Aguas y Saneamientos Argentinos). The museum exhibits the original plans for the building, documents and photographs of the development of the city’s sanitation system, samples of the enamelled terracotta pieces and a display of the evolution of early faucets and toilets.

Apparently, the rumours surrounding the Palacio gained traction due to the building being closed to the public for most of its life under the old sanitation department, Obras Sanitarias de la Nación. However, AySA has opened the doors of this monumental edifice to the public with the hope that it will gain appreciation for its beauty and contribution to the development of the city, and not remain so shrouded in mystery and rumour.

Tours of the Museum of Water and Sanitation in the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes are given every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11am. The tours are free and don’t require reservations in advance. Enter the building at Riobamba 750 and proceed to the first floor.

In celebration of Argentina’s bicentenary The Palacio de Aguas Corrientes will be open for extended hours and will host a series of special events from the 15th to 28th May. Opening hours will be from 10am to 8pm, every day of the week. The Museum of Water and Sanitation will be hosting photo exhibitions, showing a film cycle and offering enhanced tours which will visit normally closed areas of the building, such as the water tanks. The tours will run daily at 11.30am, 3.30pm and 5.30pm. No reservations needed.

As some of the bicentenary plans are still being finalised please check the AySA site at: www.aysa.com.ar

Photos Courtesy of Argentina Rafting Expeditions

Rafters going down river in Mendoza.

At 9am my head was still foggy from the previous day’s cycle through the vineyards and too many misguided attempts to abuse the bodegas’ good will by feigning interest in purchasing their wares. It was also the precise moment that the punctual-by-Argentine-standards Rafting Expeditions van rang the doorbell of my hostel, ready to take us out into the Andes for immersion into both the Río Mendoza and the joys of white-water rafting.

Thus began an hour long trip, tightly squeezed alongside my fellow travellers – a motley crew of mostly Europeans, Australians and North Americans. Shortly after Mendoza’s flatlands gave way to the rocky Andes foothills, we arrived at Argentina Rafting Expeditions’ base camp. Here lay in wait an attractive café with outdoor seating situated on the bank of the river along with thoroughly modern facilities, including hot showers and changing rooms, all of which attempted to court our purse-strings as the day wore on.

We waited over a coffee for half an hour or so while clients from other hotels and hostels filtered in. Eventually, the rafting group was convened. After a quick brief from the extroverted instructors, the group was trussed up like turkeys in wet suit, jacket, life-vest and helmet before being bundled into another bus for what mercifully turned out to be a much shorter ride.

Not For the Faint-Hearted

Heading deeper into the mountains, we arrived at the starting point for the session’s white water rafting. While the boats hovered tantalisingly in the – at this stage – gentle currents, the group was submitted to a lengthy safety talk, informing us of the likelihood of falling off the boat. The realisation swiftly dawned on me that this would  be no pleasant boat ride. Thoughts of cruise ships, yacht parties, lake pedalos and all the more pleasant forms of engaging with water flitted through my head as I stepped gingerly into what resembled an oversized dinghy.

It took a glance at my fellow travellers to dispell my initial fears. Many were middle-aged, most relatively unathletic looking and none struck as extreme sports fiends. Breathing a sigh of relief, we swopped comforting notes on previous rafting experiences, anchored our feet firmly under the seats of the raft and paddled off downstream.

The rafts were in groups of four, five or six, each of which was presided over by a member of the Expeditions team who barked the commands ‘forwards’, ‘back’ and ‘stop’ in order to dictate the pace and direction of our paddling. Our guide, Lucio, was a sternly charismatic blond who, like the rest of the team, recalled every surf, ski or kayak instructor I have ever encountered. I felt in good hands as he demonstrated his intimate acquaintance with the quirks of the river.

That’s not to say that my heart wasn’t in my mouth as we were pushed into the intimidating swirls of brownish-grey water. To set us at ease we spent a few minutes practising paddling in a calmer area before heading straight down into the first of a series of short rapids, characterised by menacing monikers such as ‘the labyrinth’. Each period of speeding over white water waves was followed by a rest in which to recuperate and gather the group together before heading off onto the next. It was these all-too-brief three or four swells of bouncing around wild waves and dodging rocks formed the climax of our rafting experience.

Born To be Mild

Before I knew it, we were at the end of the route – and my resounding emotion was something of an ‘is this it ?’ moment. Despite the hype I found rafting a little underwhelming, and all initial apprehension was very much dispelled by the experience. As a novice I can’t compare it to other rafting experiences, but we were informed that the river was a Grade IV out of a maximum of V (although I have since learned that there exists the spine-tingling prospect of a grade VI in which an outcome other than death or serious injury is considered the result of luck or extreme skill).

Photos Courtesy of Argentina Rafting Expeditions

Rafter going down river in Mendoza.

That’s not to say there weren’t a fair few thrills and spills, but even the mere exhilarating illusion of danger was absent from our waterbound foray. Despite the extensive safety guidelines, nobody on the trip fell in accidentally and there were only one or two moments when I considered it a possibility –  the most exciting the excursion got.

Rafting is an expensive day out and highly time-consuming for the short period actually spent on water (which, for the record, felt like far less than an hour). We were collected from our hostel at 9am and didn’t arrive back until 4pm. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect was the unnecessary portion of this time spent loitering round the base camp being inveigled into purchasing an overpriced, poor quality cantine lunch. Lesson learnt: bring sandwiches.

Nevertheless, although serious thrill-seekers will find it a tad disappointing, the scenic surroundings are an adrenaline rush in themselves. Equally, as the level of physical exertion is minimal, an organised rafting expedition is ideal for those uncertain of their level of fitness but looking to enjoy a milder introduction into extreme sports. And really, what’s so bad about taking things easy ? It gives you all the more excuse to savour another glass of Malbec guilt-free the night before.

Our excursion was a half-day rafting trip with Argentina Rafting Expeditions, which costs $100 plus $30 for the return bus trip. A variety of other mountain-based activities are also available, such as trekking, horse-riding, kayaking and similar, some of which can be combined with the half-day rafting trip to form a full day’s activity schedule. See www.raftingexpeditions.com.ar for further information.

Mendoza For Beginners

How We Travelled – a fourteen hour coach trip in cama ejecutiva class – the most comfortable – with Rapido Argentina. A variety of other companies offer the same route in differently priced classes. See www.plataforma10.com.ar or head to the Estación de Autobuses in Retiro.

Where We Ate – Molokai, Av. Belgrano. A brand new family-run restaurant with surprisingly gourmet offerings for the ridiculously low prices and service treading the line between charming and sycophantic without falling into the second category. Truly excellent.

Where We Stayed – Tierra Mendocina, Av. Belgrano 1194. Small and unassuming with polite staff and  a mixture of privates and dorms. Competitively priced privates include tastefully decorated bathrooms.

Flying over the Tigre Delta (Photo: Kate Stanworth)

We watch a boat lazily meander through the delta. From above the islands look so small, such little pockets of green between the criss-crossing stretches of water. Further out, over the river, there are bizarre formations – islets that are perfectly rounded. We circle them for a closer look.

The beauty of flying in a light aircraft means you don’t fly so high, and things that are just patchworks of colour from a bigger plane are given new meaning and life lower down.

The four-seater we are in is taking us away from solid land and out over the river to Isla Martín Garcia, an island in the Río de la Plata.

The island, which actually sits just off the coast of Uruguay, has changed hands between Uruguay and Argentina numerous times, and was also the location of Argentina’s first prison. Many a president was exiled there, most famously Juan Domingo Perón, and the island also served as a leper colony for a time.

Whilst most people have to arrive by boat, we have the luxury of landing on the little airstrip to stop for a spot of lunch at Isla Martín Garcia’s only restaurant. The landing strip runs the length of the island and I feel unsure if we’re going to actually make it, but Egon (our pilot) knows what he is doing and we land smoothly.

We are following in the footsteps of more famous in accessing the island by air – the solitary bakery gained notoriety during Menem’s reign in the 1990s as he would take the presidential helicopter from his residence in Olivos and head there to buy pan dulce.

Flying over the Luján Cathedral (Photo: Kate Stanworth)

We have a wander around the serene hamlet, which feels more like Uruguay than Argentina, perhaps for the laid-back atmosphere and colonial buildings. And the island is going to be laid back – with just 150 inhabitants, it’s about as far from Buenos Aires as you can get in an hour.

Taking off again, we head back towards Buenos Aires, this time flying over Luján for a heavenly view of the magnificent cathedral.

Egon tells us he offers trips to the countryside – if you are more inclined to a steak and a snooze than an island adventure he can fly you to an estancia for lunch and perhaps a little outing on horseback, before bringing you back to reality without a bump.

If you’re looking for a day out with a difference, or a treat for that someone special, it might just be worth giving him a call.

For more information and prices, which depend on the number of people and how far you wish Egon to fly you, call 15 3185 0706 or email flyingbuenosaires@live.com.ar