Day 8: Teatro Colon, Bicicletas, Empanadas

We started off Sunday with a tour of the Teatro Colon. The theater's backstory is intriguing because while the theater was being built, two of the architects both died mysteriously at the age of 44. After this happened, they hired a Belgian architect who was 52 because they were worried about, what appeared to be, a curse. After learning the backstory, we began exploring the theater. We were able to sit in the viewing area and saw the crew working on a set--they were preparing for an adaption of Britten's Billy Budd. Although the theater's lights were turned off for maintenance, this crew turned them on momentarily, so we had a chance to see one of the greatest opera houses in all its glory.

Lots of Carrara Marble in this Pic

Teatro Colon

After completing the tour, we began walking to San Telmo to begin our bike tour of Buenos Aires. At this point, we were quite familiar with the neighborhood, passing by familiar avenues and alleys. The building where the biking company was located was the city's old customs house, so the building's tenants have found many smuggled, gold artifacts in the backyard. The house itself was organized in the chorizo style, a Spanish colonial architectural style in which individual rooms faced a common patio. The old almacén also played host to a bright red cat.

We began the bike tour by riding through Puerto Madero--one of the city's most coveted and expensive neighborhoods, and we stopped for lunch at a well known food truck on the boardwalk. Here most of us had Bondiolas, an Argentinian favorite. After finishing lunch, we rode to La Boca, and along the way we tried graffiti for the first time, which we were surprised to find is legal in Argentina. When we got to La Boca, we got to shop for twenty minutes, and Yash bought his 6th jersey of the trip. We got back on the bikes and returned to the bike shop where we tried Matte. We learned how to properly drink Matte with the tour guides.

Vamonos!

Bondiolas and our Provoleta Connoisseur, Anya

After that, we walked towards the indoor market in San Telmo, and we were able to get food and shop around. After a while at the market, we walked to Palermo to learn how to make empanadas. Upon arriving the cooks had us prepare the vegetables and other ingredient that went into the empanadas. After that, we cooked the steak and then threw all the ingredients together to make the perfect empanada. We learned how to perfectly form and fold the empanadas to give them the shapes that we see every day in the markets. After eating and finishing the empanadas, we said "Adios" to the cooks and walked to the bus stop, tired but fulfilled from a long, hard day.

Written by Caiden and Nico

La Hora del Mate

Bombastic Side Eye

Les Chefs

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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...

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Day 9: Day Trip to Colonia

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Poly GIP Argentina 2023-25

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