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Buenos Aires, Argentina > Buenos Aires attractions > Parque Rivadavia Parque RivadaviaAvenida Rivadavia 4800 (@ Doblas)
 The book fair at the Parque Rivadavia is abuzz on the weekends with great deals to be found on English and Spanish literature. Photo by Clare Nisbet. Covering four city blocks, parque Rivadavia is a generous green space amidst an area that hives with porteño activity. While most tourists will be attracted to the range of greenery available in the Palermo area, Parque Rivadavia provides for a relaxing alternative with few other tourists in sight. As always the park is in honour of an Argentine political or military hero: this time Bernardino Rivadavia, Argentina’s first president. There are a few slabs of towering stone depicting his glory and honour. Besides the marble and granite, the park offers sumptuous shade beneath mighty macrocarpa. At the south-east end of the park there is a small play area where frazzled house-wives chase their various progeny, and these same progeny chase the pigeons, and the pigeons chase the bread that the pensioners fling on their way about. Just outside of the park’s western gates is a sprawling feria of used books, records, rip-off and legitimate CDs, DVDs and video games. There are definitely some good finds to be had amongst the stacks of records, but it takes some searching – international rock is common, but generally centred around middle of the road of prog-rock from the 1970’s. Anything that can be regularly seen on inner-city t-shirts is most likely absent: there will be very little of the Beatles or Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols or the Clash. English books, however, are present in an esoteric array: I recommend the stall at the north-west corner for the best selection. Even if what is desired is not on offer at one particular booth, the folk who man the stalls will generally be able to assist – even if it drives bargain hunters from their stall to visit another stall on the other side of the park. —Parque Rivadavia review by Murdoch Stephens
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