From Obscurity to Prosperity: An Introduction to Buenos Aires with Context

Buenos Aires had to fight to become the powerful commercial center it is today. On this walking tour with professor of design history and Context Travel expert Juan Cruz, you’ll find out how the capital developed, through its architecture and geography. Juan will tell you about the city’s economic developments as you explore neighborhoods like Plaza de Mayo and Puerto Madero.

The tour starts in front of the Cabildo, the sole remaining colonial structure in this plaza, which dates back to a time before Buenos Aires was part of an independent nation. Here, you’ll get a grasp of how the country’s lack of resources, geographical location, and absence of locals left Buenos Aires on the margins of the Spanish empire.

You’ll pass the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral and find out why its previous archbishop, Jorge Bergoglio, is now known as Pope Francis. As you walk towards Puerto Madero, built as a port area in the early 1900s, Juan will tell you how the area has come full circle. Once the country’s main port, it fell into disrepair, and was then reborn as the city’s most expensive neighborhood.

The tour ends at the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur, one of the largest green spaces in the city.

Along the way, you‘ll have a chance to:

• Find out why almost all of Argentina’s colonial-era buildings were made of adobe, a relatively primitive mixture of materials like mud
• Take in Casa Rosada, the headquarters of the Supreme Court, and find out the secret behind its pink-tinted walls
• Learn about the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, two human rights organizations that emerged in direct response to military dictatorship
• Meet Juana Azurduy, an outstanding guerrilla fighter and military leader during the Latin American independence movement

By the end of this 75-minute walk through Buenos Aires, you’ll have a better understanding of how the city has fought to become the powerful commercial center it is today.