Many a traveler has arrived at their Buenos Aires hostel or bed and breakfast and almost immediately gone to scour the shelves of the book exchange, yearning for a Marquez, Allende or Borges (you are in South America, after all).
![Josefina Sanchez in her bookstore, Walrus Books](https://wander-argentina.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/WA-BAshopping-Walrusbooks.jpg)
Instead of wallowing in your disappointment at the sorry selection of crumbling paperbacks you find along the way, step through the door of Walrus bookshop in San Telmo.
This is a veritable mini-mecca for English-speaking travelers and residents craving a decent read.
![Buenos Aires: Latin America's Book Capital](https://wander-argentina.com/wp-content/uploads/Buenos-Aires-book-capital-1024x800.jpg)
This cozy shop is crammed with 4,000 new and used books including Argentine classics in English and popular paperbacks that have been left in the wake of countless English-reading travelers.
A mish-mash of non-fiction titles includes history, philosophy, religion, art and even reference books.
Bring in the book you just finished to receive a modest discount towards your purchase.
Prices are reasonable, and the owners, Geoffrey Hickman and Josefina Sánchez, an American-Argentine couple provide friendly customer service in order to help you find that one book that will turn that 20-hour bus ride from hell into a journey of literary bliss.
Walrus Books
Estados Unidos 617
San Telmo
• Hours: Tue–Sun 12:00— 8:00 p.m.
Tel: 4300-7135