Plaza Dorrego

Six days a week, Plaza Dorrego is a nearly silent shady square where porteños sip cortados and nibble lunches from nearby cafés. On weekends, though, when authorities close Defensa between Avenida San Juan and Avenida Independencia, it swarms with Argentine and foreign visitors who stroll among dozens of antiques stalls at the Feria de San Pedro Telmo, the most famous and colorful of the capital’s numerous street fairs. Items range from antique soda siphons to brightly painted filete plaques with piropos (aphorisms), oversized antique radios, and many other items.

The plaza and surrounding site streets also fill with street performers like the ponytailed Pedro Benavente (“El Indio”), a smooth tanguero (dancer) who, with various female partners, entrances locals and tourists alike—even though his music comes from a boom box. Up and down Defensa there are also live tango musicians and other dancers, not to mention puppet theaters, hurdy-gurdy men with parrots, and a glut of estatuas vivas (living statues or costumed mimes, some original and others trite). One favorite, though, is the trio of fresh-off-the-boat immigrants who, at the drop of a coin, jabber in the Italian-Spanish pidgin cocoliche, which has had such an influence on the Argentine language since the late 19th century.

The Feria de San Pedro Telmo takes place every Sunday, starting around 9–10 a.m. and continuing into late afternoon. Even with all the antique and crafts stands, there’s room to enjoy lunch and the show from the sidewalk cafés and balconies overlooking the plaza.