The beautiful and culturally rich city of Buenos Aires is suffering from the collapse of the Argentine economy. While political leaders search for solutions to the country's default on its public debt, some portenos (as residents of the city are known) hold their breath, hoping things don't get too much worse. Others beat on pots and pans from their windows or in the streets -- a common form of nonviolent protest called the cacerolazo. Even though things have calmed down, the city remains tense and there are occasional protest marches.

The effects that years of recession have had on the city are painfully obvious to visitors. In the cosmopolitan and oh-so-European metropolis, many sidewalks are unkempt and cafes are empty. But it's still possible to drink in the city's beauty and charm, and do so with the added benefit of favorable exchange rates.

Buenos Aires continues to be a wonderful combination of sleek skyscrapers, ornate friezes and turn-of-the-last-century grandeur -- at once ultrachic and tumbledown, up-to-date and firmly planted in the past. Even before the recent financial troubles, there was always a spirit of malaise in B.A., as it is affectionately known locally, which may help explain the devotion to that bittersweet expression of Argentine popular culture, the tango. Performed in the streets, on stages, in cafes, the sorrowful and romantic nature of the dance is integral to the city.