Experimental Travel
Not all the travels are the same, even though tourism sometimes brings that feeling. If you believed in travel agencies, you would have to think that it doesn’t matter if you decide to go to Paris, Madagascar or Chivilcoy: in all of them there are extraordinary monuments, historical milestones, comfortable and luxurious hotels and delicious gastronomy. In all of them, people arrive by some mean of transport with a fixed time schedule, in all of them people do the check in and they visit museums.
Opposed to this trend that can imply a routine in a journey, people fond of experimental tourism propose to travel at random or considering their whims in order to discover the world in another way. Thus, people can go through the city in alphabetical order, starting with the streets’ name with A. Or they can choose a number and let it guide their tour: going to the fifth platform, taking the fifth train, getting off the fifth station, walking five blocks and staying five hours…
Buenos Aires is tango, football and bife de chorizo, but also a lot more. With the experimental tourism, even porteños can feel themselves tourists in their city. For instance, they can walk along all the streets with names of European cities (many of them are found in Parque Chas neighbourhood: Liverpool, Berlín, Marsella, Treveris, Atenas…) or rent a movie made in Buenos Aires and visit the places shown on it: Pizza, birra, faso (1997) is ideal to go through the surroundings of the Obelisco; Mercado de Abasto (1955), with Tita Merello, allows to compare the past of the porteño architectonic style with the present one. Instead of reading a guidebook for tourists, you can take into account an old one and imagine how those places were some decades ago: for instance, walking around the modern Puerto Madero neighbourhood following the silos’ traces. Or you can do a street survey asking the best ice cream parlours in the city and go to the three winner ones on Sunday.
What kind of experimental travel would you recommend to do in Buenos Aires?
Agosto 8, 2007 a las 13:11 Editar
HI!!!! A good option is to draw a geometrical figure on a map of the city and follow the route marked. The lonely planet website is very interesting and gives nice ideas about this new tourism trend!
Agosto 8, 2007 a las 19:14 Editar
Another good option is to walk looking to the sky. Of course, u have to be careful enough not to be crashed by people walking around. Its amazing the rich culture that u can see if u look a little more over your height. For example, do you know that in 9 de julio avenue, in one of the builiding’s roof there is a complete full house? Look careful, its between avenida de mayo and avenida corrientes. And… do you know where are 2 titans holding a building with their backs? Check the city on top of you, not only around you…