Is anyone out there from La Plata?

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Calimecita

Hi!! :-))) Greetings from La Plata, Argentina!
In fact I live some kms away (in City Bell) but I've studied there, and I work and spend most of the day there, every day.
What do you wish to know?
La Plata is officially a "city", but apart from the busy commercial streets (just a few blocks in total) it's more like a small town. Especially on Sundays, when there seems there's no one around!
Unlike most cities that grow from a central square, a church and a City Hall, La Plata was designed and built according to a plan. It's a perfect square, with streets at right angles, and two huge diagonals that divide it in quarters (the diagonals run in N-S and E-W directions). The streets are numbered (most have names but nobody remembers or uses them!) so it's extremely easy to find addresses, although strangers are bewildered by the diagonals. There are many of them, besides the 2 major ones (Diagonal 73 and 74), some are only 1 block long and others are somewhat longer, and run from one square to another. There are plenty of squares and parks (in fact, you cannot walk more than 7 blocks in any direction without encountering one), with many plants and playthings for children.
There's also a huge artificial woodland at one end of the city, where you can find the zoo, a lake (also artificial) and the Natural History Museum where I work. Oh, and the stadiums of the traditional soccer teams, "Estudiantes de La Plata" and "Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata".
As there are many universitary faculties, the city is usually full of young people that come to study from all over the country (and from other countries too).
Most neighbourhoods have low one-story houses (chalets, and old high-ceilinged French and Italian styles), and almost all the streets have trees on the sidewalks.

Now for the negative aspects: relatively few museums, theaters, and generally speaking, not enough cultural activities. Unexistant good public transport system, and the streets downtown can be a crowded nightmare at times. There's a certain proportion of snobbish people who will eye you critically and maybe decide you're not "cool" enough :-P But well, I guess those occur everywhere!

Although there are days when I end up very tired of La Plata, most of the times I enjoy its relative quiet. I live in a suburban area, and travel to LP every day (20 minutes by car, +30 mins on the bus). So I guess I have the best of both places :-)

Here are some links with nice views:
http://www.americatravelling.net/argentina/la_plata/la_plata.htm (that's the Museum where I work, there are links to more data and a photo gallery)
http://www.laplata.gov.ar/ (official La Plata portal)

Anything else, just ask! (or IM from my profile page)

Nacho Shackleton

I haven't been there so I can't tell you, but take a virtual tour at least... click the link and begin your trip http://www.laplata-argentina.com.ar/index2.html

know-it-all

forget about la plata. go to bsas instead. get a flight and find out.

Bemo

La Plata is the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as of the partido of La Plata. The city was planned to serve as the capital of the province after the city of Buenos Aires was declared as the federal district in 1880.

La Plata was officially founded by governor Dardo Rocha on November 19, 1882.

History and brief description

Rocha decided to erect a new city to host the provincial government institutions and the planned university. Urban planner Pedro Benoit designed a city layout based on a rationalist conception of urban centers. The city (see figure) has the shape of a square with a central park and two diagonal avenues, north-south and east-west. This design is copied in a self-similar manner in small blocks of six by six blocks in length. Other than the diagonals, all streets are on a rectangular grid, and are numbered consecutively.

The city design and its buildings are said to possess a strong Freemason symbolism. This is said to be a consequence of both Dardo Rocha and Pedro Benoit being Masons.

The designs for the government buildings were chosen in an international architectural competition. Thus, the Governor Palace was designed by Italians, City Hall by Germans, etc. Electric street lighting was installed in 1884 (the first in Latin America).

The cathedral of La Plata, in gothic style, is the largest church in Argentina.

The La Plata University was founded in 1897 and nationalized in 1905. It is well-known for its observatory and paleontology museum. Ernesto Sabato was a graduate in physics who went on to work at the Sorbonne before becoming a novelist. Doctor RenÃ© Favaloro was another famous alumnus.

The city was renamed in 1952 as Eva PerÃ³n; the original name was restored in 1955.

The city is home to two football (soccer) teams that play in the first division: Estudiantes de La Plata and Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata.

Location
Coordinates: - 34Â° 55' latitude (south) - 57Â° 10' longitude (west)
Area: 940.38 kmÂ²

Climate
Usually warm and humid.
Average temperature: 16.3Â° C
Average clear days: 126 Rain: 1023 Mn
Average humidity: 78%

Population
City: 563,943
Conurbation: 694,253 (ranked 6th in Argentina)

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