Friday

After arriving on Friday, we went our separate ways for lunch.  Lindsey, Carrie, Catie, and I ordered bagel sandwiches and went to a park to enjoy. Carrie, Catie, and I also got lemonade. Or we thought we did. Catie didn't. Her cup was filled with some sort of condiment. Not the best surprise. Carrie and I shared ours with her and it was all good. After this, we went on a walking tour. I've selected some of my favorite photos to share with you. 

I loved the juxtaposition of the old and new architecture. We were in Recoleta a wealthy area of the city that people started moving to when an illness (I don't remember which one) broke out in the city. When they moved they built huge mansions. Like the older building pictured here. It now functions as the state department and when officials from other nations come to Argentina they meet there. The new building is state department offices. 

The statue in the back ground is of San Martin (the man who lead the revolutionary efforts of Argentina and other South American countries). We went to see his burial place later that day. However, because it was inside a church and services were being held, I did not take any pictures.

The Obelisk. Described to us as the heart of Buenos Aires. Whenever there is something to celebrate the Portaños (the people of Buenos Aires) gather there.  

They're a little proud of the Pope.

Evita.

More architectural contrast.

The sunset.

The sunset and the Obelisk.

The Plaza de Mayo. Mayo = May. Last week I posted about the 25th of May being the day independence was proclaimed. It was here that that happened. The monument is in celebration of that event.

During the dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s thousands of people disappeared. Government employed people would brake into homes during the night and take people from their beds for no reason. They were brought to prisons. Many were killed. The most common way they were murdered was by being drugged and dropped from planes into the water where the river meets the ocean. Because their bodies cannot be found they are called los desaparecidos (the disappeared). Groups of mothers whose children had disappeared began gathering in the Plaza de Mayo where they would wear head scarves that looked like this with their child's name embroidered. During the years of the dictatorship, they marched in pairs. Gatherings of three or more people was considered an act of rebellion.

 

We have the White House. They have the Casa Rosada. Translated: The Pink House. The balcony pictured on the right is where Evita addressed the people.  They light the whole building with bright pink lights at night.

During the day it looks like this.

Friday night we went to see a musical titled Camila. A girl is supposed be falling in love with a man that her family has approved. Instead she falls in love with a priest. Because he is Catholic they are not allowed to be together. He leaves the church. They run off together. Then they are thrown in jail and both are shot.

It was a good show. The set consisted of two turn tables, one for the house and one for the church, that rotated to reveal different rooms. We sat way in the back, but could still hear and see everything.