- Population: 12 Million.
- Location: Province of Buenos Aires (Capital City).
Buenos Aires, an energetic and seductive port city stretching south-to-north along the Rio de la Plata, has been the gateway to Argentina for centuries. Porteños, as the multinational people of Buenos Aires are known, possess an elaborate and rich cultural identity. They value their European heritage: Italian and German names outnumber Spanish, and the lifestyle and architecture are markedly more European than any other city in South America. One of the world's finest opera houses, the Teatro Colón, flourishes here on the plains alongside the river. Porteños are intensely involved in the life and culture of their city, and they will gladly share the secrets of Buenos Aires if you lend an ear and relate your own stories in return.
Buenos Aires physical structure mosaic is as varied and diverse as its culture. The city has no dominating monument, no natural monolith that serves as its focal point. Instead, Buenos Aires is composed of many small places, intimate details, and tiny events and interactions, each with a slightly different shade, shape, and character. Glass-sheathed skyscrapers cast their slender shadows on 19th century Victorian houses; tango bars hazed with the piquant tang of cigar smoke face dusty, treasure-filled antique shops across the way.
The city's neighborhoods are small and highly individualized, each with its own characteristic colors and forms. In the San Telmo district, the city's multinational heritage is embodied in a varied and cosmopolitan architecture: Spanish colonial design meets Italian detailing and graceful French classicism. La Boca's pressed tin houses are painted a rainbow of colors, and muralists have turned the district's side streets into colorful avenues.
Despite all its diversity, the elusive spirit of Argentina as a country is present everywhere in Buenos Aires. The national dance, the tango, is perhaps the best expression of that spirit. Practiced in dance halls, parks, open plazas, and ballrooms, it is a dance of intimate separation and common rhythm, combining both an elegant reserve and an exuberant passion.
We are confident you will find Buenos Aires a wonderful place to learn - and live - the Spanish language!
