Hello Buenos Aires

I have been living in Buenos Aires for a week now. Here are my very first general impressions:

BsAs reminds me in parts of Barcelona (shaded streets, typical quarters and buildings, black & yellow taxis, weather) and in others (i.e. Palermo) of Chicago (particularly high-rise condominiums with porters; also buses are somehow similar).

The city seems to be made for cars. There are plenty of huge multi-lane streets (One way Avenida Libertador has no fewer than 11 lanes and Avenida 9 de Julio is supposed to be the widest in the world!), which actually results in a quite bearable traffic – quite an achievement for such a big and busy city. I think this is also a reason why scooters and motorbikes are not very popular. Car-orientation of the city is however not too good for pedestrians. There are plenty of zebras, but people pay attention only to the ones in the zoo. The ones on the streets are widely disregarded by the drivers.

Buenos Aires has plenty of green spaces along the La Plata river (although not directly by its shores), which are, unsurprisingly, very popular with the locals. Porteños, as people living in BsAs are known as, are generally fit and do lots of sports. Jogging, rollerblading and of course football are all popular. The difference with Europe is that older people (60+) seem quite active as well; you can see them exercising in the parks and there are quite few senior citizens in my local gym.