Day 10 – BAck in Buenos Aires

Day 10 – BAck in Buenos Aires

OK, there is yet another incredible coincidence/experience that comes after our city tour of BA. You can skip to that if you like; otherwise read on about BA.

We had planned for a half-day city tour to get us better acquainted to BA. We awoke to an absolutely spectacular day with very blue skies and temperatures in the low 70’s and not getting out of the 70’s for the entire day. What a welcome relief to the persistent heat that we had been experiencing. Mariella had met us at the airport the evening before, and she was meeting us at 9am for the tour.

Our day started with a stop at the cemetery – yes, the same one Bob and I visited on our first day there the week before. With an expert guide, we got a whole lot more out of the experience. We saw the most extravagant mausoleum with incredible sculptures that were made in France and shipped to the US. 

Our tour guide, Mariella, at the base of the most incredible mausoleum in the cemetery.

We saw the mausoleums of famous leaders, generals and even Nobel scientists. But, most importantly, we saw the most famous mausoleum of all – that of the Duarte family, whose mot prominent member married the Argentine President at age 26 and is known all over the world as Eva (or Evita) Perone.

  

At the end of every day the mausoleum is cleaned and cleared, and every day there are new bouquets of flowers and other messages that adorned the mausoleum. Evita was a remarkable hero to the working class, and she had an incredible influence in Argentina until she died of uterine cancer at the very young age of 33! Many mourned her passing and the aristocracy of the day in Argentina did not. There was even graffiti on a wall near the Presidential palace that said, “Viva la Cancer!” Amazing!

We also took a quick look at the modest church next to the cemetery, and it turned out to be quite ornate. It is Our Lady of Sorrows. Some pictures below show the artistry of the wood sculpted altar pieces with an abundance of gold leaf.

Next, we drove down some boulevards and saw the University of BA Law School, several museums and many nice parks. Of particular note was an enormous flower made of metal that is supposed to open and close with the rising and setting of the sun. It doesn’t exactly work that way, but I sure wish I could have seen it in action. The picture below shows the enormity of this glimmering sculpture.

Off to La Boca, a part of town that is famous for a variety of reasons.

• It is the area of BA that houses the Boca futbol team with its “chocolate box” stadium. It is called the chocolate box because the stadium is packed into this lower income neighborhood with a rectangular shape and very steep sides.
• It is also a part of town that had the original harbor for the city, though it is no longer operational in any meaningful way.
• It is the place that immigrants from Europe flooded the country, especially to flee from WW1 and WW2.
• It is the birthplace of the now very famous tango. Believe it or not, it was originally a dance that men did with each other (really, we saw the pictures!). It was rebuffed by Europeans for a long time. Eventually women got involved when it was deemed more proper for such risqué behavior, and now it is a staple of Dancing with the Stars.
• Boca is also the touristy/artsy part of town with many, many street vendors and little shops and restaurant, and it is also known for its colorful houses/apartments.

   

This brings to mind an important cultural and social tidbit of information – confirmed by Mariella - that is very simple but imbues every aspect of Argentinian life: Argentina wants to be like Europe. With all the immigrants coming from Europe, they longed to recreate their European life in this new “rough and tumble” world. In fact, one of the early Presidents wanted to make BA the “Paris of South America.” They designed boulevards in a layout like Paris, an Opera house like La Scala, banking like the British, etc. The architecture is a striking mix of French and Italian. Even to this day, they seem to have a “societal inferiority complex” as they attempt to measure up to the cultural and social norms of continental Europe.

A boulevard between the center of the city and the Plaza de Mayo.
It is modeled after Parisian boulevards and all the buildings are very French.

Another important fact: their economy is in the toilet. This is bad for many reasons, but it is particularly striking as the entire world has rebounded from the financial crisis a decade ago. With new elections this year, look for some changes.

We saw a few more places around the Plaza de Mayo (May Plaza, where independence from Spain occurred in 1816) and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Plaza de Mayo in front of the Presidential Palace and National Bank.

The Presidential Palace. This is where Eva Perone gave her famous speech to the people ...
on the balcony on the second floor on the left side of this picture.

The National Bank

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The Incredible Coincidence

We went back to the hotel and the plan was to meet with Lori, recall Bob’s sister-in-law? She was coming to BA from Paraguay where we saw her last so she could eventually fly back to the US. Her hotel was very nearby. She met us at the Algodon Mansion, and we decided to go to the most remarkably lovely outdoor restaurant for lunch … The Park Hyatt, which was very near both of our hotels.

OK, Bob had said in Asuncion (remember that city a few days ago?) that there was something familiar about our tour guide, José. Now, 10 years ago when Lori’s son was marrying Tami in Asuncion, the family took a city tour as part of the whole event. Bob pulled out our pictures from the Asuncion city tour with Jose, and Lori exclaimed, “Oh my Yahweh, that’s the guy that did our city tour with Brad and Tami’s wedding!” So, Bob was right! There was something familiar about José – they had met 10 years ago on the family version of the city tour. That’s just plain crazy!

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Back to lunch. What a fabulous day to sit behind the Park Hyatt in a secluded garden area (I could not tell that I was in the bustling downtown area of a major city of 13 million people. Serenity, good food, great company, brilliant blue skies – Ahhhh!

Bob and Lori went off to shop for leather coats and Steve went back to La Boca. We all met for dinner at a nearby restaurant – there are many in the Recoleta area of BA – for an enjoyable evening. Oh yeah … the earliest reservation we cold get was 9:30pm. Bob and Steve walked by to their hotel on a very pleasant evening and crashed around midnight.

Dinner is the Recoleta area of Buenos Aires.