Lovely Boots from Mule.

The city of Buenos Aires is probably my favorite world capital. This year, as I do almost every year, I decided to go back for a visit; and even though I had gone with the intention to spend most of my time with my Argentine friends, I could not help myself and I did a bit of shopping as well. After all, I am a super fan of their superlative leather. Needless to say, I had to buy an additional suitcase to accommodate my leather booty. There is this common belief that the best leather is found in Italy; but this is partly a myth because Italy has been buying its best leather from Argentina for a long, long time.

Inger at her beginner polo class.

Living in the capital, it is sometimes easy to forget that Argentina is not only about the Buenos Aires night life, tango, Malbec, great meat and empanadas. Yes, you will say, I know it is about estancias, nature and gauchos too.

But did you know that it is also has over a hundred years of polo tradition? That it is home to the world’s best polo players? That you can learn to play polo even if you never have ridden a horse before?

Photo by Alexander Zabara

So there I was—a more-or-less intermediate level tango dancer, with all the bravura that a lifetime of other dance techniques has given me, which means the tendency to show off when I don’t know what I’m doing. I was in a very popular class of what is conveniently called “tango nuevo.” signifying that everyone is young and experimental and in this case, pretty good. We were learning some complicated steps and finding new possibilities with each different partner and I was trying to hold my own along with everybody else.

Thanks to Blmurch for This Photo

Attention shoppers: mark the intersection of Murillo and Scalabrini Ortiz on your maps for serious deals. This is leather central. You name it and it is here– jackets, purses, wallets, shoes, furs, etc. The neighborhood is off the tourist beaten path so the barrio isn’t as pretty as parts of Palermo but the rents are cheaper and so are the goods.

And the winner is … hu90! His photo was chosen from the Argentina’s Travel Guide photo group pool on Flickr as the winner of the Photo of the Week. This dynamite photo shows the Puerto Madero at a dead calm with beautiful reflections from new buildings behind.