This last Saturday I traveled to
Buenos, Aires! (Argentina... if you didn't know) I have always wanted to
venture out there, but have never had the funds. It is an amazing city! I
L-O-V-E-D it!!!! And I didn't want to leave, but I had a life in Santiago, and
needed to come back. (Besides, it is the Fiestas Patrias this week, and what
kind of Chilean at heart would I be if I didn't celebrate. It's only the most
important celebrating of the year, if you don't count celebrating Chile winning
the Copa America in July). Anyways, I'll get back to the blog.
I traveled to
Buenos Aires sola. This was actually my first time traveling internationally
solo. I was really nervous, but I knew this trip would provide me a chance to
work on my self-confidence (Which can be a little low sometimes). It didn’t hit
me that I was traveling to another country until I landed, went through
Argentinian customs, and made it to my hotel room. (I splurged a little. :)
When I sat down on my bed I finally realized that I wasn’t in Chile anymore. I
was in unknown territory, and it was time to explore.
Day 1
Right before I left for Buenos
Aires I found out there was an old theater that was turned into a bookstore, El Ateneo. Since
I love reading and bookstores are my second home, I could hardly contain my excitement
to go and see this place. Plus, books are cheaper in Argentina. This meant that'd it be a great place to stock up on some Spanish novels. (or so I thought…)
My first afternoon in Buenos
Aires was dedicated to going to this bookstore, A. It was a nice 25 minute walk
from my apartment, and when I arrived it was AMAZINGLY beautiful. This was the
second time I fell in love in Argentina. However, due to inflation, the prices
of books were almost equivalent to Chilean prices…and my love slowly morphed
into sadness.The place was still incredibly awesome though. Here are some
pictures:
Day 2
In the morning I walked to the cemetery
Recoleta. It was amazing! It is filled with elaborately designed tombs of
families and people. Evita Peron is buried here as well. Some of these tombs go
2 floors underground. A lot of them had alters in them and places that family
members could come to pray. It amazes me how different death is viewed here in
Latin America compared to the States. Here are some pictures:
After I
walked around a while in the cemetery I went to a feria artisanal (just a local artisanal market) that was held in
Plaza Francia (it is only on Sundays from 11am-7pmish, if you would like to go).
Here I bought some gifts for my lovely friends/family back home.
About 1pm I walked back to my
hotel. I rested for a bit and then headed out to my first official tour of the
trip. “On the Trail of Pope Francis”, it was run by the Archdiocese of Buenos
Aires and free. Pope Francis has really fascinated me and I wanted to go and
find out more about him. It he just an amazing leader and really practices what
he preaches. To start the tour, I headed to the Basilica San José de Flores. At
the Basilica I saw an artist painting a painting of one of the confessionals in
the church. I wondered why he was painting that part of the church, but I didn’t
ask because he was so concentrated on his work. (On the tour I found out that he
was painting the confessional where Pop Francis had his first calling to become
a clergy of the Church. I think it is supposed to be presented to him this
year.)
The tour was on a bus, and in
Spanish. It was my first real test of if I could understand argentine Spanish.
The tour took you all over the city to see where Pope Francis spent his time
and grew up before he became Pope. The tour guide was amazing too! He was very
animated and made the topic very interesting. If you have time, and are interested
in the Pope’s history, you should definitely do this!
Well that is all I have time for writing now.. I have to go plan a private lesson. I will write about Day 3 and 4 tomorrow! Chao!
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