Yesterday we took a guided tour of Buenos Aires. Much like DC, the federal capital is autonomous from the surrounding province of Buenos Aires, and it's only about a 40 minute drive from La Plata. Our tour guide for the day was Nacho, a good friend of the program coordinator. Although he's not a tour guide by profession, he had an incredible amount of knowledge about the city and was really interesting and nice. Unfortunately, I forgot my memory card at home so I could only take about 12 pictures on the internal memory of my camera, thus much of our day is undocumented.
First we went to to Boca, a colorful (literally) neighborhood bordering the river. It's a historically working class neighborhood, originally settled by Italian immigrants who brought much of their socialist or communist ideologies with them. Many of the building are original, built out of wood and painted a rainbow of bright colors. The artist Benito Quinquela Martin famously captured the bright colors of the neighborhood, the obrero (worker) residents and the factories across the river in his paintings, like this one:
The neighborhood is historically home to a variation of tango called milonga. Today, it seems more touristy than anything, but is still quite beautiful and colorful.
Next we traveled to the neighborhood of San Telmo and saw a lively artisan's fair as well as a historic church. Then we went downtown to the Plaza de Mayo- the central plaza and home to the executive building and tons of demonstrations, including the famous Madres de la Plaza de Mayo who still march every Thursday in honor of their disappeared sons and daughters.
The main avenida of Buenos Aires is beautiful. It was widened to be in the style of the boulevards of Paris, and although the process involved unceremoniously chopping some buildings in half, the effect today is lovely. Everyone always says that Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America; I didn't really understand the comparison until I saw this street. Many of the building are in the French style and it certainly does remind me of Paris to a certain extent. However, the city overall has a very particular flavor unlike any European city I've visited. The distinct personalities of each of the barrios is remarkable, and everywhere you turn is evidence of political and social activism: the buildings are covered in graffiti that is fascinating to read.
We were lucky and the Casa Rosada (Pink House- the presidential building) was open for tours.
First we went to to Boca, a colorful (literally) neighborhood bordering the river. It's a historically working class neighborhood, originally settled by Italian immigrants who brought much of their socialist or communist ideologies with them. Many of the building are original, built out of wood and painted a rainbow of bright colors. The artist Benito Quinquela Martin famously captured the bright colors of the neighborhood, the obrero (worker) residents and the factories across the river in his paintings, like this one:
The neighborhood is historically home to a variation of tango called milonga. Today, it seems more touristy than anything, but is still quite beautiful and colorful.
Next we traveled to the neighborhood of San Telmo and saw a lively artisan's fair as well as a historic church. Then we went downtown to the Plaza de Mayo- the central plaza and home to the executive building and tons of demonstrations, including the famous Madres de la Plaza de Mayo who still march every Thursday in honor of their disappeared sons and daughters.
The main avenida of Buenos Aires is beautiful. It was widened to be in the style of the boulevards of Paris, and although the process involved unceremoniously chopping some buildings in half, the effect today is lovely. Everyone always says that Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America; I didn't really understand the comparison until I saw this street. Many of the building are in the French style and it certainly does remind me of Paris to a certain extent. However, the city overall has a very particular flavor unlike any European city I've visited. The distinct personalities of each of the barrios is remarkable, and everywhere you turn is evidence of political and social activism: the buildings are covered in graffiti that is fascinating to read.
We were lucky and the Casa Rosada (Pink House- the presidential building) was open for tours.
La Casa Rosada
The interior of the building is grand. I was very surprised, however, by the sheer volume of Peronist propaganda that's inside. The lobby was full of posters extolling Perón and Evita's achievements, which struck me as very strange. The current president is Peronist, but wouldn't it be strange if the White House were filled with homages to the current political party? I thought it odd that the Casa Rosada itself seems to be used as a political tool.
In front of one of the many homages to Evita: a massive picture, portraits of Perón, some of her clothes- right in the lobby of the Casa Rosada!
View of the Plaza de Mayo from the balcony where Perón and Evita so famously addressed the crowds gathered below.
After our tour of the Casa Rosada, we went down to the other end of the Avenida de Mayo to the house of Congress. Here, as in many places, the recent economic troubles of the country are very evident: right next to Congress is a huge, beautiful old building in total disrepair. Finally we went to the historically upper-class neighborhood of Palermo and enjoyed a stroll around a beautiful park, followed by some shopping in a hip district. We topped it all off with a delicious dinner of pizza.
All in all, a wonderful day in Capital. I'm looking forward to exploring the city more!
All in all, a wonderful day in Capital. I'm looking forward to exploring the city more!
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