Burning the Inheritance

We stayed in the neighborhood of San Telmo, one of the oldest districts and part of the old city, dating back to the 1700s. The nineteenth century architecture throughout the neighborhood reveals the brief period when this was one of Buenos Aires’ wealthier districts. Improved infrastructure including sewer lines and gas lights installed in 1852 attracted the well-to-do who built mansions that can still be seen today.

A yellow fever epidemic in 1871 drove the wealthy residents north to safer lower-risk neighborhoods such as Recoleta and left San Telmo’s mansions to be divided up into apartments for new poorer immigrants.

Today, San Telmo is one of Buenos Aires’ most diverse neighborhoods which has managed (thus far) to hang on to its roots and not become overly gentrified.

We were right around the corner from the Plaza Dorrego where there was always something going on, like tango performances! On Sundays, the plaza is home to “the most important open-air antique fair in the city.”