The Paris of South America

I think it was five years ago when I first heard this nickname of Buenos Aires; and just like that BA bumped off Brasil as my top destination to visit. At that time, I haven’t been to Paris, but I was intrigued anyway.

I had such high expectations before my arrival in Argentina. I think I should’ve gone to Buenos Aires first before Paris. Or maybe I would feel differently, had I visited this city in the Spring or Fall. The heat right now is unbearable (to think that  officially, summer just started two days ago).

Anyway, BA truly deceives you into thinking you are actually in Europe, rather than South America. There was a surge of migrants from Europe in the early 1900s. They were mostly Italians, followed by Spanish. Basically, the people here are Italians who speak Spanish and live in French buildings.

There are a number of European monuments scattered around town which were actually presents from the French, Spanish, Italian and British governments. Some of the buildings/palaces here closely resemble the buildings in Paris, simply because the cement, wood, steel and grill used to build them, did originate from France.