PAINT THE TOWN
Halfway down one of Buenos Aires’ main thoroughfares, sandwiched between a museum and 12 lanes of traffic, is an enormous steel flower.
No-one quite knows why the 23m high sculpture is there, or even its relationship to the Argentinian capital. But everyone seems to love its shiny ‘petals’, which unfurl during daylight and close at night.
When they work, that is. “Sometimes the flower remains closed during the day and opens at night,” says our guide Esteban with a shrug that could mean resignation, indifference or anything in-between. “You just never know what’s going to happen.”
Which perfectly sums up Buenos Aires, a sultry city of 17 million that surprises at every turn. Will you stumble across a couple tango dancing in a cobbled backstreet or a speakeasy bar in an old church? Will you think you’ve passed through some kind of time-space continuum and ended up in Europe? Will you eat more meat than you’ve ever
