Random Photos. Here are a few random photos from Buenos Aires. The files are a little bigger than they appear on this page, so if you click on them you can see them a little better. 

This couple was coming out of their house just as we were crossing the street. The door opened and three miniature dogs charged out ahead of the couple. I liked this house. You can see its two levels and has a roof terrace covered by vines ... which may have been grapes. It's style is pretty typical for Buenos Aires ... the beautiful windows and ironwork. The windows are glass and wood french doors and there is a second set of steel shutters on the outside to block out the sun, noise and for security. This house only goes from the corner to the stoplight (you can see the wall/paint changes just before it). It probably has a kitchen, bathroom and two small living areas on the ground floor and two bedrooms and another small living area and perhaps another bathroom on the second floor. That's a good size house for Buenos Aires. This house was in a decent area, and I imagine it would go for between US$200, 000 to $250,000, which is expensive by local standards. To give you some perspective, US$20,000 is a good annual salary here (minimum wage is US$5,000 a year, though most of the work force is black market so that figure may not mean much). My guess is that it probably costs more than US$1,000 a month for a small family to live here, and home loans aren't common here (which has turned out to be a blessing for the country because families who have homes generally own the outright so they don't loose them when the economy turns downward), so buying a house, let alone a nice house like this, is out of reach for most unless they have help from family or save their pesos for many years. This gives you a perspective on how meaningful it is for someone to have family working in the U.S. or Europe. If they can even send a few thousand bucks a year that could double what their relatives here make, and contribute to their ability to afford a house one day. A home is the most desirable form of saving here because most people don't participate in or follow the Argentine stock market (I've never heard anyone even mention it here) and domestic banks aren't a reliable place to keep your money given the recent history of inflation, currency devaluations and restricted access to accounts. The peso was devalued by 66% in 2001 when the country defaulted on its national debt, and since most people had their bank accounts here denominated in pesos, it declined by an equal amount relative to the dollar, euro, pound. The only way to avoid it were having money denominated in dollars in US or European bank accounts (only the very rich have this). Hence, people want a home. If the economy goes to hell, at least they have a place to live that is paid for. 

This is a park in the ecological reserve downtown on the other side of Puerto Madera. I was surprised at how tall this little jungle gym was (20 feet) or more, and that parents would let their kids climb all the way up there.