Boxing is the best martial art, I can give you the contact information of a guy that has boxing classes near Villa Crespo and there, send me a note if you want me to give you his contact info. Or hell here is his homepage for everyone to enjoy http://marianoplotinsky.com.ar/ . Seeing it I remembered yeah he also teaches kickboxing and muy thai, brazilian jui jitzu and some of them other martial arts, great guy, well accomplished and training there aint that expensive. Give him a buzz.
At one point I was thinking about taking up classes again myself. I studied Okinawan Gojo Ryu many years ago but was surprised to find that it was actually pretty hard to find a traditional karate class around. I did run into a lot of schools teaching a Kung Fu offshoot called Pa'Kua. I went to a free lesson at the dojo which if I remember correctly was on the second floor of a 2 story building on the corner of Cordoba and Callao. The school had positives and negatives and I decided to give it a pass but it was not so negative that I would advise you not to stop by and check it out for yourself and form your own opinion. I also found a lot of Akido and Judo schools. Some of the fitness clubs (like Megatlon) give group lessons (I saw advertisements for judo and general self-defense) so you might look into that. Also check out some of the Tae-Kwon-Do schools in in Belgrano and Palermo. When I run in the park I often pass this guy, who looks like a Brazilian, teaching people Capoeira. He usually has 2 to 4 students training in the Park in Palermo (by the pull up bars and next to the lake) between 2-4pm on weekdays. You might want to stop by and see if you can get a free lesson from him. And for those of you who don't feel that Capoeira is a real martial art you should see this Brazilian movie called "Quilombo" to see it in action.
There are lots of martial arts schools in BA - ranging from TKD to Kung Fu (Pa Kua seems to be most popular), Karate, Aikido, etc. Best source for info here is: http://www.redmarcial.com.ar/
I'm curious as to why you'd find it surprising that there are martial arts options here...? Martial arts are taught all over the world. Buenos Aires by itself probably has a couple of hundred school options, plus almost every gym here offers some sort of MA program, and that doesn't begin to address the rest of the country. You can find schools in any country in South or Central America, not to mention the rest of the continents out there (with the probable exception of Antartica...)
I have been going to this Brazilian Jui Jitsu school for awhile and really like it.
http://revolutionbjjacademy.com/wp/
http://revolutionbjjacademy.com/wp/
I've been taking classes in Pakua for about 8 months now and I love it. I take classes primarily at the Callao/Cordoba recinto - but there are quite a few options around the city if another location is more convenient for you. I can also recommend an excellent maestro (G. Jobal), if you are interested. They offer classes in marcial artes, armas, tai chi, yoga and others. Massage and acupuncture are also available. And it is very reasonably priced. I studied tai chi in the states a long time ago and studied yoga for many years. I prefer Iyengar yoga to Pakua so far - but the pakua tai chi is fabulous as is the marcial artes (which is my only experience.) The massage and acupuncture are excellent too! I forgot to mention Reiki - that was my first introduction and I wound up studying it as well. Let me know if you want more information. Suertes
I was surprised that you can't throw a cat in this town without hitting a place that offers some sort of martial arts class. (Maybe the instructors aren't the best at every one of them, but they're everywhere.)
Near Callao y Cordoba: There is some school that I have tried to visit twice on Tucuman near Junin (b/n Junin y Ayacucho). They offer some sort of Kung Fu plus some other things. When I ring the bell, no one answers. It's practically next door to an elementary school, so they may focus on after school classes for kids.
Also, three of my students at a software company take martial arts classes of some form or another and it isn't that big of an office.
I think that it's pretty common here. I'm holding out for Mr. Miyagi.
Near Callao y Cordoba: There is some school that I have tried to visit twice on Tucuman near Junin (b/n Junin y Ayacucho). They offer some sort of Kung Fu plus some other things. When I ring the bell, no one answers. It's practically next door to an elementary school, so they may focus on after school classes for kids.
Also, three of my students at a software company take martial arts classes of some form or another and it isn't that big of an office.
I think that it's pretty common here. I'm holding out for Mr. Miyagi.