Day 1: May 24, 2016
We arrived in Buenos Aires this morning. After getting our suitcases and going through customs, we began the journey to our hotel. It was about a 30 minute bus ride to the heart of the city where our hotel was located. Once we arrived, we had a mere 25 minutes to change and meet in the lobby to begin our touring of the city.
Our first stop was the Gran Cafe Tortoni which was founded in 1858: it is the oldest coffee shop in the city. Here was our first Spanish test, for we had to order and pay with pesos on our own. While we were enjoying our desired drinks, a loud banging came to our attention. A few of us went outside and saw a protest taking place. Although we weren’t certain of what their motives were, the people were wearing green and held flags, banners, drums, and more.
Once we finished, we walked around the city until we reached Il Gatto, the restaurant where we would have lunch. Again, our Spanish was tested, but in the end, everyone seemed to enjoy the Italian based cuisine. Once we finished lunch, we continued touring the city. We stopped at the soccer stadium where La Boca, a popular professional soccer team, plays (their colors are yellow and blue). Surrounding this stadium are barrios or neighborhoods that heavily embrace and support this team. We learned about their history and even got to see what these buildings looked like back in the day.
After walking around this little town, we headed back to closer to the heart of Buenos Aires. Here, we saw La Casa Rosada which is equivalent to the White House in the US. On this house, there are two Argentinian flags–a small flag beneath a larger flag. This smaller one means that the President is currently in the house. Besides this, we got to see other things like the National Bank, a church, the obelisk and more before heading back to the hotel.
We had two hours before it was time to head to dinner, so most of us took a long desired shower. Finally we headed to La Bistecca for a nice dinner to start off the trip. There was a buffet with a wide assortment of foods as well as made to order specialties. Some people tried blood sausage which is native here and apparently requires special taste buds to be liked. After taking another walk, this one along the river, we headed back to the hotel once more. We said our goodnights and headed to our rooms for some well deserved and needed rest. All in all, our first day in Buenos Aires was both eventful and fun, and we can’t wait to further explore this cool city!
—Chloe
