Wednesday morning brought many exciting prospects and although the weather outside was gloomy our sprirts were high. We trooped onto the bus luggage in hand, and headed to El Teatro Colon, a famous opera house and theater in Buenos Aires. I expected this to be like any other theater, but it was extrodinary. Our guide led us through double doors into the front foyer. In the theater they had costumes that were used for previous performances on display. They were beautifully decorated with gems, and gold needle work. Walking into foyer was as if one was walking into a European palace. Marble columns framed the the room, and large marble statues adorned a grand staircase. The entire building seemed to be made of marble, the walls were covered in gold plaster of Paris. To top it off the entire ceiling was covered in intricately crafted stained glass. We were then guided into the main theater. We were taken into the box with the best seats in the house. Seats In this box sell for a crazy $300 each. We also learned that the theater was built in 1908, and the stage is twice the size of a Broadway stage. It was crazy to think that we were sitting in the same theater as famous presidents, mayors, foreign politicians and other celebrities. We leaned that presidents and important people were given basically the worst seats in the house. They were seated in the box closest to the stage which had the worst view, but it was the most visible to the rest of the theater. The theater was even more ornate than the front foyer, absolutely gorgeous.
While driving to our next destination we were able to view the Pink House- the Argentine White House- from our bus windows. We learned that the president doesn’t actually live there, it is just serves as a very large office building. However the Pink House or “La Casa Rosada” is much more than that. It also has a museum in the bottom floors that people can tour during the weekends.
As we continued our bus journey, we also encountered a giant, solar powered flower. During the day time when the sun is shining, the flower stays open for everyone to see. During the night, however, it’s petals fold upwards, and it stays closed throughout the darkness.
After that we were driven off to a cemetery, but it was nothing like we were expected. The cemetery was huge, and beautifully designed. Instead of tombstones, families had a mausoleum, which is much like a tiny building. The mausoleums were pushed together, creating alleyways with cobblestone for us to walk through. Each mausoleum was decorated differently. Some has glass walls so we could see everything inside them, while others had sturdy, non-transparent walls. Most had columns and statues around the outside, and it was apparent that many of the family’s were Christian because many of the statues were of angels. The insides of the mausoleums contained either the body’s of the family members or their ashes. Many also had flowers and other plants inside. Some even had photos of the family members or other personal things inside. Overall the cemetery was a very cool experience, and our group can only imagine how eery the place would be at night.
After the cemetery we walked to a mall that was close by. Some of us chose to shop and most of us got lunch quickly. It gave us the opportunity to order in Spanish at the restaurant without any help. Not as easy as I thought, when I ended up with coke, when I thought, I ordered water. After lunch we all got back onto the bus to go to Quilmes.
The bus ride was about 45 minutes, and the whole bus was buzzing with excitement and nervousness. When we pulled up to the school we were met by our exchange students at the front. It felt so good to be welcomed by them, for we had all be waiting to see them again. Most of us went back home with our exchange student after that and spent the rest of the evening with them!!