Decolonizing Buenos Aires: Walking through the old town
Overview
Buenos Aires is Latin America's most "European-looking" city. Have you ever wondered why? Its people carry Spanish, Italian, Jewish, Irish, Polish, Lebanese roots and more. What if that diversity also includes Quechua, Guaraní and Mapuche? What does that tell you?
We'll challenge the common-sense line: "we're not Latin Americans, we're Europeans living in Latin America."
This walk goes from Plaza de Mayo, the official founding point, to Parque Lezama, site of the first, failed settlement. On the way we ask why Afro-descendants seem absent from Argentina's self-image (spoiler: they were here, and they are here).
In San Telmo, emptied by yellow fever and refilled by migrants in crowded "conventillos", we look at the push for European immigration as "settle and replace", and its unexpected results.
We celebrate our diversity without leaving any actor out: Indigenous and Afro communities are not history, they are present.
Evidence, open questions, café break. About 3.5 hours.
Itinerary
Plaza de Mayo: the official beginning
The "founding point" and the stage of Argentine power: Cabildo, Cathedral, Casa Rosada. We ask who was here before 1580 and how this square became the place where the country argues with itself.
Santo Domingo Church: an empire's chessboard
The British invasions of 1806 and 1807 left their mark on these walls. We use them to see how colonial territories were chessboards for rival empires, and who actually fought on the ground: Afro-descendant and Indigenous soldiers, whose role rarely makes the official story.
Madres mural: memory as dispute
A different kind of unfinished history. Argentina's memory is not a closed chapter but something people keep claiming in public space. We look at what gets remembered, by whom, and what is still missing from the picture.
San Telmo: the conventillos
After yellow fever, the wealthy families left and the grand houses were split into crowded conventillos for migrants. We look at the promotion of European immigration as "settle and replace", and what happened to the people already here.
Casa Mínima: the Afro roots of Buenos Aires
One of the narrowest houses in the city, and a way into a story the postcard leaves out. Local tradition links it to freed Afro-descendants, a tale we tell as a story, not as settled fact. Here we go deeper into the Afro presence in Buenos Aires: the port that received enslaved Africans, the candombe and the African "naciones", and what happened to that community and why it was erased from the national image.
Coffee or mate break
A pause to rest, refuel and keep the conversation going. Order a coffee or share a mate, and tell us what you're thinking so far. Questions, doubts and disagreements are welcome.
Pasaje Ezeiza: a neighborhood beyond the postcard
A quiet corner that shows how ordinary working-class life layered over earlier histories. A moment to talk about daily life, identity and who gets to be "from here".
Parque Lezama: the other founding
We end where tradition places the first, failed settlement of 1536. What changes if the story starts with resistance instead of foundation? We close with an open question, and with the idea that Argentine diversity is richer when no one is left out.
The estimated duration depends on traffic and how busy the attractions are on the day of the tour.
Customize this tour
Want a different itinerary or pace? Let the guide know what you have in mind.
What's not included
- Food
- Tickets
- Transportation
Your guide
Saulo
I'm Saulo, a Buenos Aires tour guide with 20 years in tourism and hospitality, guiding professionally since 2018. I share porteño culture from a close, relaxed perspective that tries to go beyond common tourist narratives, presenting Buenos Aires as a complex city in constant transformation—from pre-Hispanic and colonial roots through migration, social tensions, and contemporary identities. I see tourism as cultural exchange rather than information delivery: each tour invites observation, questions, and human connection with the city. I'm drawn to tango as a living social phenomenon, active in the local scene—particularly queer tango spaces that reinterpret traditional tango codes from inclusive, contemporary perspectives. I invite visitors to explore the city's urbanism, street art, and cultural spaces, as part of a wider fabric of Latin American identities shaped by history. My aim is for each tour to spark dialogue that leaves open questions and a desire to keep discovering.
Lenguages: English, Spanish, Portuguese
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