The Buenos Aires neighborhood that best sums up the cosmopolitan spirit of the city is the Abasto. A few minutes from downtown, with the ghosts of Carlos Gardel and Jorge Luis Borges looming all over, the Abasto opens up its secrets to those who know where to look. In the 19th century, Buenos Aires received an enormous inflow of immigramts, a State policy aimed at populating the country. The Abasto is one the bestexamples of this multiracial, multicultural tradition. There are small avant garde theathers, antique bookstores and new cultural centers, museums, handicraft fairs and state-of-the-art shopping malls. There´s also historical cafés, tango and milonga, parks and bars where you may sip the evening´s first and also last drink. As in a Borges dream, losing one´s way in the cultural labyrinth of the Abasto is not unlikely to happen – not in the least. Every street corner in Abasto has its own history. The old buildings keep secrets and legends associated with tango and with famous tango figures, such as Gardel, Anibal Troilo, Astor Piazzolla and even rock singer Luca Prodan –all of whom have left their mark there.