The tour guide said the main core city center of Buenos Aires was 200 square kilometers and it had 3 million people. She also said the north part of the city is where the high class citizens resided. This is also where the Universities of Buenos Aires are located. Each of the colleges (an example would be the college of agriculture) were located separate from others unlike in America where there is a large campus in one location. We saw the Malba Art Museum, the British Tower Monument (it was built in 1982), and The Argentine Air Force Memorial. We drove past the Obelisk which is a very famous monument on Buenos Aires's main drag (it is similar to our Washington Monument).
We saw the Argentine Government House. It is painted pink because at the time it was constructed because there were two political parties in Argentina. One was represented by white and the other by red. The President at the time decided to paint it pink to signify a unified Argentina. We also saw the Spanish monument which was a gift from Spain to Argentina in commemoration of there independence, which was won in 1816. Another neat thing was the flower monument, a metal sculpture, which opens during the day and closes at night.
We toured the main square of Buenos Aires and saw the first Church of Buenos Aires. I was amazed by its size and beauty. We saw a the main historical cemetery built in 1872. It is totally different to how a cemetery is here in the U.S. It had many crypts and tombs. The cost to be buried there is the cost of a upper class penthouse apartment. Many famous people, including presidents, writers, and religious leaders are buried there. One of the more notable graves we saw was Evita Perone, the prominent wife of the general Juan Perone. Their marriage was considered scandalous as she was of the lower class of people and he was from a very wealthy family. The national library of Argentina was also built in her honor.
In the main square we also saw a 350 year old rubber tree. It was so large that they had to use columns to hold up the branches. The town has much French and Italian influence on architecture. We stopped at a neat street in the Boca Neighborhood. The houses were painted in all different colors of the rainbow. Each house had a different color because the Italian immigrants from that neighborhood used leftover paints from their boats to paint their houses. We also went past the Boca soccer stadium which is the rival of River Plate (our host Alejandro's favorite team). In Argentina people are so into soccer that people are often killed because of violence that happens between team rivals.
We also toured the Catholic Cathedral that current Pope Francis last preached at before he was name Pope. The church was so massive and beautiful it's hard to even put into words.
One final fun fact that we learned about Buenos Aires is that the founder of the city Pedro Mendoza was thought to have been eaten by natives. Argentine's joke that this was the first BBQ in Argentina.
Chad Knoblock
Mik Sich
Catholic Cathedral (above and below), where current Pope Francis served prior to being named the Pope.
Students in the main square of Buenos Aires, looking at historical buildings on all sides.
Another historic building just off the main square.
