Skip to main content

day 2: finally in Argentina!

Finally arriving at the Buenos Aires airport at 3:00 am, our hotel at 4:30 am, and waking up at 9:45 am (some of us), our long awaited trip finally begun. We walked to the pizza place, Las Cuartetas, had some trouble first ordering in Spanish, and tried to down five whole deep dish pizzas.

pizzas galore! 

four hours of sleep, no problem. 


Very cheesy, very dense, and very hard to keep eating. After leaving two whole pizzas left and feeling extremely bad about it, we walked down to the metro for our first Argentinian subway ride. We spotted a girl with her notes looking quite fretful and Profe. Levin wished her good luck, teaching us a valuable lesson about being nosy in a good way. We met Mariana, the director of the travel agency Lunfarda, who took us around the city and spoke to us about the history. First we went to a church, Basilica Nuestra Señora del Pilar, where Mariana talked about the European immigration and influence in Buenos Aires, including aspects like architecture, society, and more. Then she took us to La Recoleta, a cemetery where the elite class of Argentineans rest, including Evita Perón, the controversial first lady of Juan Domingo Perón. After all that, we explored the mansions of Buenos Aires and the dramatic stories behind their construction, such as the beef between Corina Kavanagh and Mercedes Anchorena; for example, we learned about an early-twentieth skyscraper that Kavanagh had built, blocking Anchorena's view of the church she ordered built across the plaza from her mansion. The entire feud dramatized the tension between the city's old money and its new money. That church was pretty cool. It had a big golden shire. Mesmerizing and intriguing, we stayed seated for a few minutes taking in the serenity. At the end of our day, realizing we were too tired to go on, we took a short brisk walk back over to the hotel, but before arriving, we made a quick pitstop at Starbucks and realized that none of our cards worked here. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our hot drinks and rested in our rooms until we were called down for dinner. Our dinner took place a few blocks down where we had the pleasure of ending our first full day in Buenos Aires with some traditional Argentinian cuisine. I can't speak for the boys, but at our table we devoured two steaks, grilled veggies, milanesa napolitana, Anya's grilled cheese (a block of cheese with no bread, just... cheese), and to end it off, a chocotorta - a traditional argentine dessert. After dinner Profe. Levin took us to a convenience store but on a corner and got some interesting new Argentinian snacks. Exhausted from our long first day, and still recovering from our first two days of travel, we immediately crashed.

written by Abby, Sofia, Anya, Olivia

danny and santi admiring this 400+ year old tree

more tree! 

Cementerio de la Recoleta 


"We need to come back here!" -Nico


Comments

Rcaragher said…
What an opening day- no rest for the weary. Sounds like great fun and super delicious food. I have heard about La Recoleta, but the description and then the photo amplifies its iconic legacy "as a must see" in Buenos Aires.
June 11, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 5: Los Porteños!

On Thursday, we started our day with a swift breakfast in the hotel and a short walk to the Casa Rosada--workplace of the Argentinian president--where we began a scavenger hunt that was organized by an Argentinian travel company that we have been working with so far on this trip.  As we split into groups (los carpinchos, los chocotortas, y los empanadas), we began to walk around the city and complete tasks along the way. These challenges often included talking to friendly strangers or organized actors and asking many questions regarding the daily lives of Argentinians. For example, we asked an actor (our previous tour guide Fernando) and other locals (pedestrians, workers, police officers, etc.) questions about Argentinian football. In turn they taught us facts like how fans of the team River Plate are called “Los millionarios” (the millionaires) because their home stadium, which is el estadio mas monumental of South America, is located in a wealthy neighborhood. In addition, we we...
1 comment
Read more

Day 10: All Good Things

Tuesday, our last full day in Buenos Aires, was as packed as every other. After breakfast at the hotel buffet, we took the bus over to Palermo, where we embarked on a tour of street art and murals. We talked about the importance of street art to the culture of Buenos Aires, visiting murals ranging in subject from Frida Khalo to the LGBTQ community to soccer. It amazed us to see murals in many parts of the city, each symbolizing something different. Many of the murals wowed us with their intertwinement of 2D art with 3D art, incorporating aspects of the building’s architecture into the paintings. After the mural tour, we headed to another graffiti workshop, where we learned to paint a distinctive form of art central to Argentine culture. This style of art, called Fileteado, incorporates colorful components like borders to decorate parts of the city, including buses, signs, taxis, and trucks. At first, we attempted to mimic our maestro’s masterful paint strokes, but eventually diverged i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 9: Day Trip to Colonia

Monday morning was wet and windy. We walked a short way to the ferry station where we caught a boat to Uruguay. Once on the boat, some of us chatted while others slept, and to our pleasant surprise, across the river, we found specks of blue and some sun. Profe. Levin crossed her fingers, hoping that the temperate conditions would hold for the day.  Colonia was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese, and for much of its history, the settlement has passed from one controlling power to another. In the 18th century, the Spanish and the Portuguese fought for its possession, and in the 19th century, Argentina and Brazil became its new claimants. Finally, in 1825, Uruguay, along with Colonia del Sacramento, gained its independence.  This history of hostilities had a hand in the settlement's design; the Portuguese surrounded the old peninsular town in a thick stone wall, whose battlements held cannons directed at whatever enemy the river might bring. We walked the cobble stone streets, whi...
Post a Comment
Read more