It is instantly recognizable and instantly accessible. To anyone coming from Europe or the United States, it hardly seems like Latin America at all. Babylon'' is how the writer Ernesto Sabato described it. ''The biggest Galician city in the world. The biggest Italian city in the world, et cetera.
People are more informal than they used to be, and friendly both to one another and to visitors.
As usual, it is angst about the economy, which has emerged from the bad old days of hyperinflation to dollar-pegged stability. With nationwide unemployment of 15.5 percent, many Argentines are beginning to despair about getting out of recession and about the high cost of living. A recent poll in La Nacion indicated that 30 percent of the young people here would like to return to the countries from which their parents and grandparents emigrated. Every day, lines of people seeking passports form outside the consulates of Italy, Spain and other countries. The Alvear Palace is reputed to be the city's most luxurious.