Today was our third time visiting Quilmes High School. We met up by the high school before going down the street to visit the Kindergarten. There, the children had a small assembly and rose the flag after the teachers announced our visit. We then split up into three groups and each joined a class, introducing ourselves to the children. Shortly after introducing ourselves, we left the classes to take a couple pictures with the heads of the kindergarten. After snapping a few photos, we headed back over to the high school and got on a bus to go to La Plata.
Once we arrived, we walked down a road with rows of particularly interesting trees with yellow leaves (ginkgo). Our destination was the natural science museum. We were welcomed by the columned Greco-Roman style edifice guarded by two statues of saber tooth tigers. We were given an hour to roam the museum freely. In the displays, there were plenty of taxidermied animals and their skeletons, as well as many artifacts from indigenous peoples of South America like the Inca and even some from way back to primitive humans.
Afterwards, we left for lunch at the Cathedral. The Cathedral was very beautiful and its French New-Gothic style architecture was very interesting. The inside was incredible and the stained glass and details on the ceilings and other objects were breathtaking. We later went on a tour through la Torre de Jesus (the Tower of Jesus) and the museum underneath the Cathedral. The tower was extremely tall and we visitors multiple floors of it. The view from the top of the tower was absolutely spectacular, from there we could practically see all of La Plata. After we went up the tower, we visited the museum underneath and learned all about the Cathedral’s history. Something very interesting about this cathedral is that it is one of few in the world that has a very special relic: a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on. The Cathedral museum is also home to a gallery containing many paintings, some religious and some not. With that we wrapped up our tour and visit of the Cathedral. After finishing our trip we headed back to the bus to Quilmes High School. Once we arrived we gathered shortly until school let out and we headed back to our exchange students’ homes.
-Brandt
