I am SO fed-up with reading stupid blogs written largely by silly Americans about how 'dangerous' Buenos Aires is. Yes, after everything that happened with the economic crash in 2001, crime increased and attitudes changed. Many modifications to houses were made and some families fled the cities to live in the campo. To be fair to the silly American blog writers there are also two types of Argentine's that I hear talking about this 'danger' - people who live in the campo, and people of an older generation who live in the city. There was such a huge fear factor instilled in the minds of these groups after the crash that they can't believe things have really changed. In my opinion they are overly paranoid. I can tell you that in 2010, Buenos Aires is like any other capital city in the world - New York, London, Rome, Moscow etc etc. The only major difference is that unlike these cities, Buenos Aires does not have an extensive CCTV system.
IF you are going to talk in a loud voice everywhere you go, IF you are going to walk around on your own at night in the center, drunk, IF you are going to carry everything you own from stashes of cash to ipods to Nikon D3's, IF you are going to wear obviously touristy/hostel-type clothing and IF you are going to go wandering on your own into the villa then yes, you probably will get a gun pulled on you by a crazy crack addict. I am a foreigner and I can spot a tourist a mile off, especially an American or a German (with my random radar that I have). Generally speaking, being low-key helps. A lot.
Buenos Aires is an amazing city and so don't be afraid to go!
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