Tips on enjoying life — every day and in every way — in B.A.

Looking to escape the rain, wind, snow and ice of another winter in Seattle? It's time to head south, WAY south, to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"B.A." is one of the world's "In" places at the moment. So in addition to enjoying a break from winter in the Pacific Northwest (it's summer in the southern hemisphere), you can experience a vibrant city that's also very easy on the wallet.

Thanks to a confluence of various political, social and economic factors, Buenos Aires is riding the crest of a rare wave. Think of Seattle in the early '90s with grunge and Microsoft, of San Francisco in the late '90s with the tech boom, of Mumbai, India, today, with its tech-services and cinema industries surging.

In B.A.'s case, the driving pulse is hard to describe. It's a pinch of can-do spirit mixed with a dollop of "we live in a great city and we know it." Whether it's shopping, going to a soccer match or enjoying some Argentine beef, you'll find your own way to tap the buzz.

While there are, of course, museums and other cultural attractions, the focus of this article is to help you find ways to experience everyday life in the city. The following are tips based on my visit to Buenos Aires last February.

ICE CREAM WARS

You soon discover upon arriving in the city that ice cream (gelato) is a bit of a local obsession — and you will fall under its spell as well. This is the good stuff, grounded in the tradition of gelato in Italy.

At Persicco in Belgrano, I waited a full 20 minutes for my number to come up even though it was 1:15 a.m.! There must have been 100 people standing around.

You first order and pay for your size cone or bowl at the register and then they give you a number. When your number comes up, you go to the scooper and tell him what flavors you want — and they assume you want two flavors so be prepared.

Your task at this point is to repeat the above at Freddo and Munchi's, two of the bigger ice cream chains in the city, plus at any number of mom & pop heladarias. Which does your favorite flavor the best? Another tip: for a really cheap cone, go before 2 or 3 in the afternoon where the basic cone goes for as little as 3 pesos, or 1 dollar U.S.

In the end, I preferred Freddo's.

FOOD AND DRINK

Beer: Quilmes, with the blue and white label, is very thirst-quenching on warm summer evenings. A one-liter bottle (about 2 pints in the U.S.) goes for about 85 cents U.S. at the grocery, and about $2.35 U.S. at a restaurant. If you buy a few bottles at the grocery, you might have to pay a bottle deposit as well — take the bottles back when you go back to get more. There are some microbreweries in B.A. as well.

I stayed in the Las Canitas neighborhood of Palermo, which turned out to have a great number of restaurants. Baez Street simply surges with people after 10 p.m. most nights. Here are four restaurants in Las Canitas that I can recommend:

Campo Bravo — Very good salads.

Las Cholas — Fantastic parrilla. After 9 p.m. expect to have to wait to be seated, even though the place is large. I had the Brochette de Pollo, essentially a chicken kebab, and it was possibly the best chicken I have ever eaten.

Piegaro Piazza — The large Neapolitan pizza, with its garlicky crust, was fantastic.

Eh! Santino — Italian place had great service and decent pasta.

At all of the above, it's tough to exceed 30 pesos (about 10 U.S. dollars) per person for food and drink. And unlike in the U.S., you'll never be rushed so they can seat more people. We always had to ask for a check — they don't believe in rushing dinner. After dinner, walk off the meal by — what else? — walking to the heledaria! It was not uncommon on my summer visit to finish dinner after midnight.

For snacking, lots of mom & pop storefronts offer meat empanadas. These make great on-the-go lunches.

SOCCER TOURS

We booked our "futbol experience" through www.4rentargentina.com, one of the apartment rental places. We sent a deposit in advance ($39 toward the $150 U.S. total for 3 people) via Western Union for about $15. We paid the balance at their office after we arrived in the city. Make sure you keep a copy of the e-mail exchange documenting the arrangements in case they ask for more money.

Don't expect much more than a ride to the stadium and back, with the so-called tour guide merely guiding you to your seats and then disappearing. Not sure he was actually bilingual, since he never actually said anything. We had pretty good seats, but be prepared for direct sun — it was hot. We were seated among other travelers, some via Tangol, a tour company (with higher ticket prices). It looked like their guide actually said a few words to them. My misguided impression is that the guide would explain what was what, like what the songs were, etc. Nope.

The game itself was actually pretty cool. We saw River Plate, the home team, beat Lanus 1-0 with a goal in extra time. The songs the River fans sang were fun.

RENTING AN APARTMENT

We rented an apartment in Las Canitas through www.bairesapartments.com, and were very satisfied with their service. Some tips on choosing an apartment:

— It's a VERY noisy city, so try to make sure you're far enough away from the major thoroughfares like Libertador, Santa Fe, Cordoba, Cabildo.

— Is it really a two-bedroom? In our case, it was an odd layout that made the main bedroom less than private. If that's a concern, try contacting the owners to ask them.

If I had to do it again, I would choose the following areas:

— Las Canitas: Feels very safe, and the restaurants are great.

— Palermo Soho, between Santa Fe and Cordoba at Armenia and Serrano.

— Belgrano, around Maure street, just up from Las Canitas — a bit of a walk to the subway, but a lively, upscale neighborhood.

TRANSPORTATION

— If you take the Manuel Tienda Leon shuttle bus from the airport: You can buy your ticket right in the arrivals hall, but then it's a bit of a trick to find the actual bus pick-up spot. It's outside terminal B, which means when you walk out of the arrivals hall, walk straight out about 50 yards and then turn left around the corner.

— Despite some horror stories I read on the Web before going, taking taxis in the city was easy and cheap. No one tried to scam me. Before you signal one on the street, however, just make sure you get one that actually says "radio taxi" on it.

— The subway is great, and cheap, but it can be warm on hot summer afternoons. When someone walks through handing cheap doodads to everybody in your car, don't panic. They'll come back through and take it back from you — if you don't want to buy it from them.

SHOPPING BEST BETS

— The malls, like Alto Palermo and Abasto.

— Along Avenida Cabildo in Belgrano.

— Palermo Soho and along Ave. Cordoba.

For all of the above, lots of clothing designs are unlike anything we have back home in the states. And cheap too.

— In the city center, LaValle and Florida streets are shopping ground zero.

— At the San Telmo feria on Sunday afternoons.

— Surprisingly, I encountered very few galleries of local art or native crafts.

MISCELLANEOUS

— It felt safe on the streets even at night. Very few aggressive panhandlers like back home in Seattle.

— If you like video slot machines, there's a huge — and very smoky — casino at the Hipodromo de Palermo, near Las Canitas. It's free to enter unless the horse racing is going on.

— I never could find an ATM that would dispense U.S. dollars. All would ask if you wanted dollars or pesos, but then would not be able to give you the dollars. I ended up doing most of my withdrawals from the ATMs of Bank de Ciudad. Only problem is that it would only give me a maximum of 1,050 pesos per day, which is about $324.

— Revel in a place where Starbucks is hard to find (there is one at the Alto Palermo mall). Instead, most cafes have a morning special — where you actually have to sit down in the cafe — of a cortado (coffee with milk) and a medialuna pastry for a mere 5 pesos ($1.61 U.S.).

— Beware the mosquitoes. If you leave windows open at night (with no screens) where you're staying, make sure you have some kind of anti-mosquito device plugged in.

— It's a noisy place, with somewhat dirty sidewalks — but in two weeks I never ran into any rude people. I did run into plenty of dog poop on the sidewalks, though.

— Post cards: They are hard to find outside of the Florida Street shopping district, and generally cost about 2 pesos each and 4 pesos to mail to the U.S. That means $2 U.S. per mailed post card, which ain't cheap.

— Laundry: A heaping grocery-bag sized pile of laundry can be dropped off at any of numerous laundries — 5 a sec is a ubiquitous chain — for a "lavado y secado" and picked up four or five hours later for a mere 8 or 9 pesos (about 3 bucks).

Bob Payne is director of communities for seattletimes.com