The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Hola Amigos!

More Spanish lessons!

I bet a lot of you have pets at home. Like I said I have two cats at my house in Portland and my host mother here has a dog. In Spanish a cat is called a Gato and a dog is a Perro. In Spanish the last letter of many words changes with gender. For instance, my host mother’s dog, Tina, is a Perra (not a perro). So I’m sure some of you have perros and gatos, but do any of you have Monos (Monkeys) or Patos (Ducks) or Dinosaurios (Dinosaurs) at home? Me either.

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The program that I am in here in Rosario includes several trips and events around Argentina. My favorite so far was our trip to Buenos Aires, the largest city in Argentina. Buenos Aires has always been the commercial center of the country, and therefore the most wealthy. Almost 3 million people live in the city of Buenos Aires, about six times as many people as Portland! Buenos Aires has a very large port which is one its main sources of income. Have you ever been called an Oregonian? Well people in Buenos Aires are called Porteños, which is like saying they are people of the port. Buenos Aires is also a huge tourist destination. After not hearing much English for the last month it was really surprising to hear people complaining about the heat as I walked down the street. Buenos Aires is also quite dangerous! The prosperous cities of Argentina are surrounded by villages of poor people who sometimes travel to the city in search of work, legitimate or otherwise.

Here’s a run down of our trip:

We all arrived in BsAs at 10 am and went to a part of the city called La Boca. La Boca (which means The Mouth) is a very old, beautiful part of the city. It was originally settled by italian immigrants and their influence is very clear in the style of architecture, the accents and the food in the area. This area is also known for it’s brightly painted buildings:

After lunch we went on a tour of an art museum where they forbid me from taking photos. They museum had a really wonderful collection including a piece from both the mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Then we took a tour of The Recoleta Cemetery. The cemetery is massive. Our tour guide made us walk in a tight group because she swears she’s lost students here before. It’s a very unique place where the families of wealthy and/or famous people have erected ornate tombs to commemorate their lives. Residence include several past presidents and historical figures include Eva Peron, a famous argentine and first lady.

It’s a little city of tombs.

All of the buildings have large underground tombs where several generations of the family are buried,  the largest can hold up to 60 people.

After the cemetery we were all exhausted and decided to go back to the hotel for a siesta before heading out to a tango show and dinner. Tango is a type of music and dance that has originated in this area. In Argentina there are still many traditional Tango groups, but even the modern bands show signs of the influence of Tango in their music. La Cumparsita is one of the most recognizable Tango songs. It was written in 1916 in Uruguay, which is Argentina’s neighbor to the east. It was originally written on piano but had been adapted to several different instruments and arrangements. Here’s one I like:

Again, they asked us not to take pictures at the Tango. Fortunately they didn’t inform anyone of this policy until after the intermission so I snapped off just a few:

After a four hour bus trip, a museum, a cemetery, and siesta, we were all ready for some sleep after this tango performance. We all piled into the bus and made our way to the hotel for a good night sleep.

Sunday morning we got going early after a quick breakfast at the hotel we took a short trip to a famous bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava:

After which we took a stroll over to the Casa Rosada which translates as Pink House. The Pink House is basically the Argentine version of the White House. The president doesn’t actually live there but it’s the political center of Buenos Aires.

This second ay was much more relaxing, we mostly just strolled around the city’s many popular neighborhoods before eating a late lunch in the park and getting on the bus back to Rosario.

Okay next week I’m going to tell you a little bit about the trip I took to Uruguay this weekend and then tell you all about some of the foods that are popular here in Argentina. Ciao!