Visitors head south to eat, drink and be bueno

I was running late. The bus was threatening to leave me behind, but it was doubtful I could make it through my first full day of exploring Buenos Aires without an early jolt from a cup of joe.

“Un café, por favor?” I asked the young porteño (the name given to residents of Argentina’s capital city) behind the counter at the Florida Street café. “And I need it to-go, please.”

She offered a look of genuine confusion. I knew my Spanish was weak, so I asked again. The woman still seemed perplexed.

I then realized that it wasn’t my Spanish she couldn’t understand, but my request. The café simply wasn’t prepared to serve drinks on the fly.

I scanned the bustling establishment. Tables inside and out were filled with talkative, smartly dressed porteños enjoying the warm autumn morning. Between gestures, hands were occupied with pastries and petite cups of steaming java. The conversations appeared lively, the mood light, and the pace unhurried.

My pulse quickened as I envisioned myself chasing the bus down Avenida 9 de Julio, the city’s main thoroughfare, but after a quick flurry of activity, the gracious staff had found an unused albeit slightly crushed plastic cup so I could take my coffee and run. Sans lid, I plunked down a peso, gave a quick “gracias” and made a break for the bus. Settling into my seat, I thought about the disharmony between the hurried American pace I was so accustomed to and the city’s more casual café culture. Before I left Buenos Aires, I vowed to more fully embrace my inner porteño.

Why go now?

Not long ago, Buenos Aires kept company with London and New York as one of the more expensive cities in the world to visit. But since the economic collapse of late 2001 and the subsequent devaluation of the peso (currently about three to the dollar), travel to the city has become an outright bargain for some foreigners, and millions are flocking to Buenos Aires for a taste of Old World elegance infused with Latin flair.

Tourism undersecretary Daniel Aguilera announced in May that the government is forecasting some 4.1 million tourists to arrive at the country’s main international airport in 2006, up from 3.7 million in 2005 and 3.3 million in 2004. And foreigners aren’t just flying in. The so-called “Paris of South America” welcomed more than 100,000 visitors via cruise ship over the course of the 2005/2006 cruise season, a 66-percent increase over the previous season.

“The devaluation of the peso has had a very positive impact on travel to Argentina,” said Ted Evangelatos, president of the New York-based travel agency FreeGate Tourism. “Hotel accommodations, travel services, meals became very inexpensive overnight.”

Evangelatos said the newfound affordability has opened the door for more people to enjoy what frequent visitors have known for years.

“The reasons Americans travel to Argentina are multiple — culture, food and wine, natural beauty, landscape diversity and easy combination with neighboring countries like Brazil and Chile.”

The country’s tourism officials have helped drive the trend, sending representatives to tourism conferences across the globe and advertising overseas. The city’s official tourism Web site employs new ways to engage potential visitors, including interactive maps and MP3 guides of neighborhoods, complete with music, clips from political speeches and dialogue from popular film.

Economics aside, many believe that what makes Buenos Aires such a unique experience goes beyond its fine wine and famous beef. Osvaldo Librizzi, president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Latin America and a native porteño, said the country’s most endearing attributes are less tangible.

“It’s definitely our warmness and Latin style that captures every spirit and invites visitors to return,” he said.

Bienvenidos a B.A.

The vibrant city of Buenos Aires — or simply B.A. to those in the know — can almost overwhelm at times. It can pull the palate in one direction, the eye in another, the feet somewhere else altogether. The ride, however, is a thrill.

By almost any standard, Argentines are a beautiful people. The have hearts that warm to foreigners, bodies built for tango and a taste for such delights as dulce de leche, the rich caramel the region is known for. Some 97 percent of the country are of European decent, mostly Spanish and Italian. Fresh young faces take to the fútbol pitch in hopes of being the next Diego Maradona and sweet smiles echoing the natural beauty of a young Eva Peron, Argentina’s beloved first lady, look up from café counters everywhere.

As far as South American urban centers go, Buenos Aires is a beauty. Even in this metropolis of 12 million people — nearly one-third of the country’s population — green spaces abound in between the shadows of skyscrapers. Every few blocks a statue stands watch over a courtyard, or a park with a centuries-old tree affords the neighborhood shady place for rest and repose. A walk in the park also reveals the love affair porteños have for their dogs. Fenced dog parks are abundant, and a professional paseador de perros, or dog-walker, can earn more in a year than a teacher.

Between the busy streets and the parks, stately architecture and chic shops line the B.A.’s pedestrian shopping strips. Along Florida Street, visitors can explore the old stomping grounds of Jorge Luis Borges, one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. In addition to cafés and talabarterias selling handmade leather goods, modest shops sell snacks, soccer gear and sweaters. Out front, porteños talk sports and sip yerba mate — a highly caffeinated herbal tea concoction the locals drink habitually from a hollow gourd — while street performers dance the tango and footballers show off their ball handling skills.

The other football

In Latin America, ESPN’s SportsCenter may as well be called “SoccerCenter.”

Football is clearly the sport of the international community, and Argentina is home to some of the game’s elite.

If a match isn’t being broadcast live, recent highlights and outstanding goals from local clubs fill air time. Eight of Argentina’s 20 pro teams are based in the city, and each neighborhood pledges its allegiance to one or another with complete devotion. Over the course of my recent visit, the B.A.-based Boca Juniors secured a first place finish in Argentina’s premier soccer league. Taxi cabs across the city flew the team flag, and television the following morning was filled with the Boca Juniors’ most brilliant plays from the winning season.

Divided as they may be with their local clubs, porteños rally together in support of their national team. Baby-blue and white national jerseys are available for sale everywhere, often seen hanging alongside a Manu Ginobili San Antonio Spurs No. 20 jersey. (Soccer may reign here, but interest in professional basketball is on the rise, particularly since Argentina ousted the mighty Americans in the semi-finals and took home the gold at the 2004 Olympic Games. To date, Ginobili is the country’s most notable hoops export.) After a major victory, Argentines often gather to celebrate in the shadow of the city’s iconic Obelisco, the 230-foot monument that rises above Plaza de la Republica in the center of Avenida 9 de Julio.

Here’s the beef

Carnivores rejoice. Argentina has a long tradition of producing some of the finest beef on the planet, and the country is proud to showcase their carne at every turn. Statistically, every man, woman and child in Argentina gulps down some 130 pounds of beef each year. Fortunately for visitors they don’t mind sharing.

Meat-eaters can find something to sink their teeth into wherever they roam, from vendors on the street selling empenadas for a dollar to the city’s many traditional steak houses, known as parrillas. Salivary glands kick into high gear well before cracking the parrilla door, as the thick scent of slow-cooking meat on the asado (grill) commonly floats down B.A.’s busy streets.

According to porteños, the country’s superior beef is a direct result of the bovine bliss their cows enjoy on the rich pampas grasslands outside the city. Unlike American or European cows, their free-range brethren aren’t given growth hormones or antibiotics, and proprietors boast that these stocks make for a more natural-tasting beef.

Back at the parrilla, patrons enjoy bread and morcilla (blood sausage) while the staff approaches one at a time with massive spears full of meat, including lamb, chicken, pork and, of course, cuts of beef. Those who prefer to simply order a steak can sometimes be overwhelmed with the choices. Most parrillas offer a dozen cuts of meat or more.

Not only is the beef delicious, it’s ridiculously cheap. A steak dinner with appetizers, dessert and a great bottle of wine will rarely top more than $25 per person.

Be a winer

An authentic feast of fine Argentine meats wouldn’t be complete without a glass of the country’s famous vino. Argentina is the fifth-largest wine producing country in the world, with Mendoza in the western part of the country the premier wine region. Nearly three-fourths of Argentina’s wines are crafted in Mendoza, including plenty of malbec, the definitive Argentine wine. Introduced to Argentina by French agricultural engineer Michel Pouget in the mid-19th century, the unique grape ripens at the foot of the Andes and produces a marvelous red with ample tannins and an intoxicating bouquet of cinnamon, plums and cherries. Though vino tinto, or red wine, is what many drinkers pair with their meals, the region is also produces its share of torrontes, a popular white grape.

Like dining on local beef, quaffing here is deliciously inexpensive, with a nice bottle of malbec running around $10 in a restaurant. In some establishments, a glass of wine costs less than a soft drink, and even the most expensive bottles rarely exceed $50.

Only in the last decade has the country’s wine gained significant notoriety abroad, due in part because so much of the local vino is enjoyed at home. Today, most U.S. retailers carry at least a limited selection of Argentine wine, though not at the bargain prices one finds in B.A. American travelers can bring six bottles per person back into the states duty-free, all for the price of a nice California reds at home.

It takes two

“Tango is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire,” our tour guide said as we made our way to the dance school run by renowned tango master Carlos Copello. But as I stood in the studio listening intently to my instructor, my only desire was to leave without hurting myself, my partner or anyone else.

After about an hour of instruction, I surprise even myself, leaving the class with a modest level of confidence after learning several simple steps without incident or injury. Not only do tango lessons prove genuinely fun, but an important step towards absorbing the essence of the city.

Even for those with two left feet, the moody, sensual movements of the tango have an almost otherworldly attraction, and to watch the dance in the very city of its birth is all the more moving. Across B.A., costumed dancers tango in public plazas, dinner theaters draw tourists hungry for steak and a show, and locals flock to milongas (tango halls) to perfect their moves.

The Abasto neighborhood, home of Copello’s school, is no exception. A few doors down is Esquina Carlos Gardel, a premier tango house named for the city’s most famous tango singer. The elegant theater was built on the grounds of Chanta Cuatro, the restaurant where Gardel and his pals spent many a night. A statue of the crooner out front welcomes visitors with an appetite for a great meal and a skilled show.

Embracing my inner porteño

After a few days in BA, I headed down Florida Street again, this time with a new sense of the city. Picking up a copy of the Buenos Aires Herald, I sat at a café for leisurely stint enjoying fresh pastries and espresso. As I took in the morning, the soundtrack from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Evita” crept into my skull, and I found myself personalizing the lyrics.

Don’t cry for me Argentina. I may have to leave you, but I’ll be back.

• When he isn’t learning to tango or sipping “vino tinto,” Todd A. Vines is the associate editor for the visitor publication Essential Kauai.