Buenos Aires Today

The insistent 2/4 beat of a tango, the banging bass drum at a protest march, the screams of fútbol fans when a player scores a game-winning goal: tune in to the soundtrack of Buenos Aires and your pulse is sure to quicken. Porteños (as residents of Buenos Aires are known) take their passions very seriously—you'll notice this when you see them sampling a sizzling cut of beef at their favorite neighborhood steakhouse or listening to live music at a basement club—and those passions can be contagious.

Blending Old and New

Cobbled streets, wrought-iron billboards, and quaint cafés that seem untouched since 1940 are all part of Buenos Aires' trademark time-warp look. But though porteños are nostalgic, even they've had enough of exquisite stone facades crumbling (sometimes plummeting) through lack of maintenance. Suddenly scaffolding is everywhere, as old buildings are revamped and savvy developers transform century-old mansions and warehouses into hotels—some boutique, others behemoth.

Even though the Argentine economy has been on shaky ground over the past several years, new buildings have continued to push heavenward. Notable new structures include architect Sir Norman Foster’s first Latin American project, a residential building called El Aleph in swanky Puerto Madero. Local-boy-gone-global César Pelli has completed a modest (by his high-flying standards) skyscraper nearby.

Controversy shrouds some of the makeovers: the city government was accused of selling the historic cobblestones they replaced with asphalt, and the restoration of the Teatro Colón went way over schedule and budget. Still, like other aging local beauties, many of Buenos Aires' historical buildings are looking younger by the minute.

Eating and Drinking

Foodie culture has hit Argentina in a big way. Celebrity chefs are busy evangelizing enthralled TV audiences, and former table-wine drinkers now vigorously debate grape varieties and name-drop boutique vineyards. Their beer-drinking peers are turning from the ubiquitous bottles of Quilmes lager to local craft beers. A growing number of food blogs and food tours alert both locals and visitors to the dishes of the day, often found behind the unmarked entrances of puertas cerradas, the city's famous "closed door" restaurants.

The food scene is rife with contradiction, however. Argentina is one of the world’s largest producers of organic produce, but nearly all of it gets exported. A small slow-food and farm-to-table movement is fighting back at the farmers’ markets scattered around Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. Saddest of all, the exponential growth of genetically modified soy farming is pushing Argentina’s famed grass-fed cattle from the Pampas and into feedlots—these days only very high-end restaurants can guarantee you are enjoying a totally grass-fed steak.

Taking to the Streets

Forget writing to your political representatives when you've got a gripe with the system—in Buenos Aires you take to the streets. Strikes, marches, rallies, and piquetes (road blocks) have long been fixtures of daily life. Plaza and Avenida de Mayo fill regularly with drum-and-banner-toting crowds. Sometimes they're protesting or petitioning to change laws; other times they are celebrating victories both political and sporting.

One of these events has become famous around the world. The Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers’ Association of the Plaza de Mayo), the brave women who organized the first protests against the military junta, continue the weekly marches around Plaza de Mayo that they started 40 years ago in search of their missing children.

Going Global

Argentina is a long, long way from a lot of places. The weak peso makes it hard for porteños to travel abroad—instead, the world comes to Buenos Aires. Locals say that they can't get over the number of out-of-towners there are today. (Thankfully, the numbers are still small enough to keep sightseeing from being a competitive sport.)

And more and more of the visitors are staying: Buenos Aires has growing Asian and Latin American communities, the number of exchange students at city universities has soared, and there's a thriving English-language expat scene complete with how-to blogs and magazines. And the urban landscape is changing, too: the ultimate nod to globalization came when Starbucks opened its first branches in Buenos Aires. But some things never change: the city's time-honored cafés are as popular as ever.