Day 1: Arrival in Buenos Aires
The bus ride was six hours of sore butts, twisted necks, and freezer-like temperatures. We stopped for lunch in a mall about an hour outside of Buenos Aires. I opted to use my 70 pesos (doled out to each of us for each meal by ACA) on a Subway sandwich. Fun fact: Everything about Subway in Argentina is smaller: the bread, the cheese, the wrapper, even the bag of Doritos. On the plus side, the jalapeños they used were fresh. The were spicy. Even though it was different, that Subway sandwich was very good.
As we entered the city, I saw that people really do live under bridges. There were tent cities set up under almost every bridge we passed, and the shopping carts and cardboard boxes did not make me think they were there on vacation. It was a permanent thing.
Besides that moment of reality and the trash lining every street, my first impressions of Buenos Aires were "big" and "cultured". Almost every single building was not only huge, but also a work of art. With heavy French, Spanish, and Italian influences, Buenos Aires is not a city lacking in beauty.
Besides that moment of reality and the trash lining every street, my first impressions of Buenos Aires were "big" and "cultured". Almost every single building was not only huge, but also a work of art. With heavy French, Spanish, and Italian influences, Buenos Aires is not a city lacking in beauty.
Day 2: La Boca Caminito, El Teatro Colón
This was the beautiful day. We arrived at La Boca Caminito about half an hour before all the other tourists swarmed the place, giving us a chance to watch the painters set up their stands and peruse the empty streets with ease. The place is a tourist trap in every sense of the word, but it is still a very quaint area. It doesn't feel too overwhelmingly like a big "spend your money here" place. There were guys playing accordions in side shops, and painters painting while a school group of 2nd graders with little fezzes shuffled through the streets. It was an experience indeed. With only an hour there, I know I didn't get to see every cute corner and neat niche in La Boca, but the hour there was certainly worthwhile.
El Teatro Colón: Awe-inspiring. Absolutely incredible. This building was huge. Huge chandeliers. Huge stairs. Huge busts of old men. In the theater itself there were seven balconies for seating (one was for the standing crowd). Specially made with silk on the lower sections to absorb sound and the upper walls are bare to reflect the sound down. It still is a fully functional theater, and is used for classical concerts, operas, and ballet. Incredible mosaic floors. But the actual theater was only a small part of the building. The rest of it was rich chandeliers and painted ceilings that took your breath away. At one point, Lauren and I just lay down on our backs to take it all in. Probably not the most polite thing to do in such a place, but the tour guide was looking away, so we went for it. It was worth it! Our tour guide was wonderful too, and because of him (and the movie Night at the Museum) I wouldn't mind being a museum guide at some point in my life.
Following our incredible tours, we did a little shopping. Not much to say there except that my feet were dying and prices are either ridiculously low or ridiculously high.
El Teatro Colón: Awe-inspiring. Absolutely incredible. This building was huge. Huge chandeliers. Huge stairs. Huge busts of old men. In the theater itself there were seven balconies for seating (one was for the standing crowd). Specially made with silk on the lower sections to absorb sound and the upper walls are bare to reflect the sound down. It still is a fully functional theater, and is used for classical concerts, operas, and ballet. Incredible mosaic floors. But the actual theater was only a small part of the building. The rest of it was rich chandeliers and painted ceilings that took your breath away. At one point, Lauren and I just lay down on our backs to take it all in. Probably not the most polite thing to do in such a place, but the tour guide was looking away, so we went for it. It was worth it! Our tour guide was wonderful too, and because of him (and the movie Night at the Museum) I wouldn't mind being a museum guide at some point in my life.
Following our incredible tours, we did a little shopping. Not much to say there except that my feet were dying and prices are either ridiculously low or ridiculously high.
Day 3: La Recoleta y el Museo
-Went to a pretty park that had a sculpture of San Martín on a horse.
-Visited a memorial with two guards standing at attention. It was a very solemn place even though it was outdoors. Soon, instead of just taking pictures of the guards, some of the ACA kids got brave and went to take pictures standing between the guards. It felt kind of weird to me to do so, so I just stood and watched. At a break in the picture line, I went up to one of the guards and stuttered out, “Gracias para ustedes servicio". The guy looked at me and gave a slight nod. It was a terrible sentence, but still, he got the message and that was the highlight of my day.
- Recoleta: A very expensive part of Buenos Aires. Lots of parks, very pretty. Cool flower sculpture; a gift from the province of Córdoba to Buenos Aires. A planetario, gardens, AND the incredible cemetery. It was weird to walk through what was really a town of the dead. You could live in those mini-buildings because they were just so large! It was somber to think about the fact that I was taking pictures of dead people's graves. But that was what they wanted.
-Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes: On the way to the National Art Museum I snapped a picture of a street vendor dressed all fancy. Instead of just continuing past him, he threw his arm out and almost clotheslined me. Apparently, he didn't want his picture taken. As he yelled at me in Spanish I deleted the two pictures I'd gotten of him as he watched me and then I went on my way. They were bad pictures anyway. Whatever. Inside the museum was the good stuff. Besides all the work of many international painters, I found a Monet! One of my favorite artists, thanks to my mom's good taste.
In the evening, two of my friends and I perused the streets shopping and just taking everything in. On every street corner there are what we called "cambio guys". Cambio guys are constantly yelling "cambio": an offer to exchange your American money to pesos. They are pretty sketchy, because number one, exchanging for the blue dollar (the higher street rate) is illegal, and number two, you never know if you are going to get ripped off or not. The normal exchange rate right now is about 5 pesos. The blue dollar exchange rate though, is around 9.5 pesos. Much better. At 8:30 pm, we decided that we were going to exchange money. We found a cambio guy and proceeded to change my friend's money. Honestly, it felt like a drug deal was going down. But we weren't gypped, and the memory was made. Another "worth it" moment.
-Visited a memorial with two guards standing at attention. It was a very solemn place even though it was outdoors. Soon, instead of just taking pictures of the guards, some of the ACA kids got brave and went to take pictures standing between the guards. It felt kind of weird to me to do so, so I just stood and watched. At a break in the picture line, I went up to one of the guards and stuttered out, “Gracias para ustedes servicio". The guy looked at me and gave a slight nod. It was a terrible sentence, but still, he got the message and that was the highlight of my day.
- Recoleta: A very expensive part of Buenos Aires. Lots of parks, very pretty. Cool flower sculpture; a gift from the province of Córdoba to Buenos Aires. A planetario, gardens, AND the incredible cemetery. It was weird to walk through what was really a town of the dead. You could live in those mini-buildings because they were just so large! It was somber to think about the fact that I was taking pictures of dead people's graves. But that was what they wanted.
-Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes: On the way to the National Art Museum I snapped a picture of a street vendor dressed all fancy. Instead of just continuing past him, he threw his arm out and almost clotheslined me. Apparently, he didn't want his picture taken. As he yelled at me in Spanish I deleted the two pictures I'd gotten of him as he watched me and then I went on my way. They were bad pictures anyway. Whatever. Inside the museum was the good stuff. Besides all the work of many international painters, I found a Monet! One of my favorite artists, thanks to my mom's good taste.
In the evening, two of my friends and I perused the streets shopping and just taking everything in. On every street corner there are what we called "cambio guys". Cambio guys are constantly yelling "cambio": an offer to exchange your American money to pesos. They are pretty sketchy, because number one, exchanging for the blue dollar (the higher street rate) is illegal, and number two, you never know if you are going to get ripped off or not. The normal exchange rate right now is about 5 pesos. The blue dollar exchange rate though, is around 9.5 pesos. Much better. At 8:30 pm, we decided that we were going to exchange money. We found a cambio guy and proceeded to change my friend's money. Honestly, it felt like a drug deal was going down. But we weren't gypped, and the memory was made. Another "worth it" moment.
Day 4: La Estancia
Best day ever! After driving for forever we got out in the rain to warm empanadas and juice. Everything looked authentic. It was a true tourist spot and i imagined I was at a luau in Hawaii. I even got my pony ride with two gauchos. The visit to the gift shop had me walk away with a nice mate (pronounced mah-tay) and bombilla (bomb-bisha). Finally, I'm Argentinian!
After the gift shop we were served dinner. For most it consisted of five or six different types of meat. For the vegetarians however, there was salt-less spaghetti. The salad however, was amazing. Once again proving that that's all a vegetarian needs (not really)! But the food wasn't what filled me up. It was the lively ethical discussion that occurred and the tangos and singing and dancing that happened throughout the meal. We even got to dance a little ourselves!
After our meal, we headed outside to watch a little demonstration of horse herding complete with a sheep dog. There were a few other demonstrations and then people were offered the chance to ride behind a gaucho as they galloped around the arena. Of course every girl shamelessly formed a line and died of happiness when they got the attractive one. It was just easy fun, and we all enjoyed it.
The trip was indeed a success, and served to help me fall in love with Argentina. Up until Buenos Aires I had been a bit ambivalent on liking Argentina or not. Now however, I've been getting more and more into the culture, and I must say, I don't really want to leave. It's only been two months, but Argentina is slowly stealing my heart, and starting to feel like home.
Best day ever! After driving for forever we got out in the rain to warm empanadas and juice. Everything looked authentic. It was a true tourist spot and i imagined I was at a luau in Hawaii. I even got my pony ride with two gauchos. The visit to the gift shop had me walk away with a nice mate (pronounced mah-tay) and bombilla (bomb-bisha). Finally, I'm Argentinian!
After the gift shop we were served dinner. For most it consisted of five or six different types of meat. For the vegetarians however, there was salt-less spaghetti. The salad however, was amazing. Once again proving that that's all a vegetarian needs (not really)! But the food wasn't what filled me up. It was the lively ethical discussion that occurred and the tangos and singing and dancing that happened throughout the meal. We even got to dance a little ourselves!
After our meal, we headed outside to watch a little demonstration of horse herding complete with a sheep dog. There were a few other demonstrations and then people were offered the chance to ride behind a gaucho as they galloped around the arena. Of course every girl shamelessly formed a line and died of happiness when they got the attractive one. It was just easy fun, and we all enjoyed it.
A couple of our profesoras and our awesome ACA director
The trip was indeed a success, and served to help me fall in love with Argentina. Up until Buenos Aires I had been a bit ambivalent on liking Argentina or not. Now however, I've been getting more and more into the culture, and I must say, I don't really want to leave. It's only been two months, but Argentina is slowly stealing my heart, and starting to feel like home.
Jardín de Rosas
I loved seeing all your pictures! The one of the cat is my favorite. I'm really glad you had a good time.
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