More around Buenos Aires

Our apartment was walking distance from Avenida Nueve de Julio, famous for being the widest avenue in the world.  It has at least 10 lanes going each direction, interspersed with various park-like walkways.

Well ok, the concept of lanes is somewhat vague with the drivers in this city, but you get the gist; it's a really wide street.  The Argentinian taxi drivers claim that the reason the drivers are so crazy in the city is because of all the Italian immigrants--and without skipping a beat, after just having said that, those same drivers continue just as maniacally as everyone else.  At one point our driver swerved around a stopped bus and then turned right from the second or third lane (in front of the stopped bus).  A motorcycle tried to sneak through the gap, but was attempting to go straight through the intersection.  I'm not sure how we avoided motorcyclist pancake at that moment, but after some momentary honking and fist waving, everyone zoomed along.  One thing though--I never saw a single person trying to text and drive at the same time.   I'm pretty sure it would spell certain death.

We walked to the obelisk, but since it was in the middle of the street, no one was motivated to walk over to read the inscriptions--it was approximately half a block to cross the street to that point, and in the direction opposite of where we were going.  Curious minds can use Google.

We walked past a protest in which the participants were lighting firecrackers and noisemakers in the street, as well as shouting and banging drums.  It nearly scared the pants off the girls, even though to us bigs it seemed a relatively peaceful operation.  

The protest was on the same square as the main cathedral of Buenos Aires.  

There was a mass going on, so we got to hear the organ as well as singing.  Beautiful acoustics!

I couldn't resist capturing the organist kneeling with the congregation during the service--it seemed like a special moment, and I feel a sense of guilt about photographing it, but I couldn't help it.  I also found it somewhat fun that he was playing the service in his funky jeans, white t-shirt, and sneakers, meanwhile the priest was decked out in full garb.

Buenos Aires is very proud to be the home of Pope Francis, and this was evident in the churches we visited--many displayed shrines or images of the pope (more than in the average catholic cathedral).

The girls enjoyed exploring the churches and cathedrals and asked a lot of questions about the iconography and images in the stained glass and painted murals.  It's been great fodder for discussion.

The main square in front of the cathedral.

At the far end of the plaza sits the Casa Rosada (pink house) which is the executive mansion and official workplace of the president: the "White House" of Argentina.

One of our taxi drivers told us that the house has historically always been painted pink--originally the color came from the paint being mixed with cows' blood (of which there was a surplus, since right behind the building were numerous slaughterhouses).  The cows' blood was purported to diminish the ill effects of the humidity on the paint.  An alternate and compelling theory (although much less "juicy") is that the color came from an attempt to cross the aisle between opposing political parties whose colors were white and red.

Side note:  the humidity in Buenos Aires does not mess around--I think I might have been willing to smear cows' blood on myself if it would have lessened the suffering....

We returned to San Telmo on a "non-feria" day in order to go to an historical site there.  It was strange to see the place relatively empty and with cars on the streets instead of endless booths and musicians and dancers.  There was also not a 20-foot line to take a picture with the Mafalda sculpture, so we were able to take our time and have fun there for a few minutes.

The historical site we visited is a privately-owned museum.  The site was originally purchased in order to install a restaurant.  During the renovations, the owner discovered access to some of the earliest remnants of the original city of Buenos Aires, (at that time spelled Buenos Ayres).  The owner privately hired a team of archaeologists to dig out the site and preserve it.  The site was originally the home of a wealthy family, and they had created tunnels underground to preserve the natural creeks flowing there.  It provided access to clean water in a city that at the time was notoriously filthy and filled with disease.

This is the restored part of the mansion on the ground level.

Here is the underground cistern--in addition to the underground creek, the original owners had an ingenious way to collect rainwater and funnel it to the cistern.  In order to keep unwanted fungi and algae from growing there, they kept frogs and turtles in the cistern.  There's some good solid 1800s hygiene for you!

After we left the museum we stumbled unwittingly onto a mercado that drew us in with its old-world charm.

Later the girls found an open stage in a park where they played for awhile.  Believe me--there is nothing as exciting as an open stage in a park.

Now that I think about it, they had some intense and involved "game" that went on endlessly for days while we were on this trip.  It seemed to morph seamlessly from the open outdoor stage, to walking down a crowded street, to riding in a taxi, to back in the hotel room.  It was just endless chatter back and forth and they were so absorbed in it that it was nearly hopeless to try to attract their attention.  I love that they are such good friends and that they can get so involved in creative process with each other like that!

Our flight back to Santiago wasn't until 10pm so we didn't head back to the airport until after this last very full day of sightseeing in the city.  Here we are heading back home.  I love travelling light--this was all the luggage we had between the four of us for 5 days.  In retrospect, considering the intense heat and humidity, we should have just traveled in our bathing suits and left all luggage at home.  There's always next time....

We got a huge surprise in the airport when we unexpectedly ran into a friend, the wife of one of J's colleagues at CMU!  They are originally from Buenos Aires and had been back for a family event.  They are some of the dearest people you will ever meet--what a fun treat!