BIG BUS TOUR OF BUENOS AIRES
In the last year I’ve taken the Big Bus, Hop Off, Hop On tour of San Francisco (twice) and the Big Bus tour of New Orleans (twice). I like riding instead of walking and from the open air upper level can take photographs, first from the left side and then from the right side. This is, again, an old man’s way of seeing a city. I was planning to do the same thing in Montevideo, but the Big Bus was cancelled during the pandemic and never started up again, and to do the same thing in Buenos Aires. But in Buenos Aires I only circled the city once. The reason I only toured once was that unlike the houses called the painted ladies in San Francisco, or the variety of New Orleans, the only things to photograph in Buenos Aires were ornate classical buildings, very modern shiny glass buildings, or the most colorful section of the city, the houses of the poor along with a number of very important looking men gazing out from pedestals, either giant heads or on horseback. Photographing these things was enough for me. Most people in Buenos Aires seem to live in apartment buildings.
Maybe there was less to photograph because it is winter here. Maybe in the summer there would be more people out on the streets and fairs of one kind or another. Anyway, here is a sampling of what struck me of interest in Buenos Aires. Notice that as the tour moves along the buildings move from ornate classical to shiny glass to shabby, with the poorest parts of the city being the most colorful and lively.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 