Thursday May 28th, 2015

The first stop of the day was the Buenos Aires Cathedral, once inside you could view the tomb of Jose de San Martin.  To see the tomb of one of the most revered people in all of South America up close was really cool. One of the interesting things about the tomb itself are the three statues that surround it; the statues represent the three countries, Argentina, Peru, and Chile, that San Martin had played a large part in freeing.

The cathedral itself was very large and according to our tour guide it has a rare depiction of Christ in which he is nailed to the cross using four nails instead of the usual three.

The next stop was the National Revolution Museum. It was interesting to see the some of the things that were actually used during the revolution such as a battle standard. The architecture of the museum was very Spanish, which I found interesting because I had not really seen that style around Buenos Aires.

Afterwards we walked to some of the oldest parts of the city, parts that are so old that cars are not allowed to drive in fear of the buildings falling down. One of the stops happened to be the oldest bookstore and it has had past Presidents of Argentina shop there.

As we continued our walk down Mayo Avenue we stopped at Cafe Tortoni. Cafe Tortoni has been around many years and has been used by the many luminaries of Buenos Aires. Alfonsina Storni, an author from a passage in the Argentine Reader, has a spot dedicated to her in the Cafe. The Cafe Tortoni also has a table dedicated to some of its other famous customers. A trip to the Cafe Tortoni also allows a customer to have access to a barber shop as well.

Our final stop on the tour was the Congress Building. The walk up to the building was very fascinating filled with gardens and sculptures such as The Thinker by Rodin. The pathway also contained a pneumatic system that connected the Pink Palace and the Congress Building. The entire tour was filled with a lot of history and interesting architecture. The tour stops really help me connect the material that we learn in class with the historical relevance of the actual buildings.

Tuesday May 26th, 2015

Buenos Aires is a city built on immigration from mainly European countries and Jewish people added a lot of diversity to the initial culture of Buenos Aires. We initially started our tour at AMIA which is the Jewish Federation of Argentina. AMIA provides several services to its members including job opportunities, legal issues, and travel to Israel. AMIA was a target of a terrorist attack that killed 85 people and damaged the building extensively. Today, AMIA is under extensive security and a passport is required in most cases for tourists. These were some of the artifacts that survived the blast and are still on display today.

The next stop on the tour was the Abasto. Years ago, the Abasto used to be an old farmers market. Over the years it went out of use and was empty. It was recently renovated and today it is a mall with several American brands such as Wendy’s and Burger King.

There are over 95 synagogues in Buenos Aires and the next stop on the tour was the oldest synagogue in Buenos Aires. The synagogues was first started in 1897 by Russian Jews but it wasn’t completed until 1932. The architecture of this synagogue was just like that of a Catholic Church.

The synagogue also had a museum that included items that immigrants had brought over from their homelands. After we got to the hotel we had a conversation with a Guest Professor that talked with us about about various topics concerning Argentina. The viewpoint from a professor that wasn’t from the United States was interesting to hear and really gave a different feel to the topic rather than the news that I have seen beforehand in America.

To finish the day we had a group dinner at El Pasaje Resto. El Pasaje Resto is a Jewish restaurant and the meal was kosher and predominantly vegetarian. It was interesting to see a different style of dinner because up until now it had been predominantly meat. The meal tied the entire day together and really showed the impact of a specific culture on Buenos Aires.