Buenos Aires is nicknamed ‘the Paris of South America’ but my first impression is that of a flatter version of Lisbon. However, the sidewalks here are smooth marble unlike the ankle-busting cracked uneven stones of Lisbon. The beautiful aura is the same. As for the people, in the famous words of Ken Sutton, “They are people. They look just like us” (an inside AZ joke, but appropriate). It is warm and humid with hazy sunshine; luckily we were acclimated to the heat from our last trip. My feet were sore on this second day but we got up and started walking. It’s a busier sidewalk on a Monday and the city has come alive. This time we headed south to Plaza Maya, surrounded by financial and government buildings. Plaza Maya is famous for the ‘Mothers of Plaza Maya’ who protested the 30,000 ‘disappeared’ in defiance of anti-assembly laws from the ruling dictatorship (1976 on). Some of the Mothers themselves were ‘disappeared’, rather violently. White headscarves are painted on the sidewalk to commemorate them.
The beautiful Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires is on one corner of Plaza Maya. This is Pope Francis’ home church. Inside the cathedral is the guarded Mausoleum of the Argentinian General Jose de San Martin, who, along with Simon Bolivar, was the leader of the War of Independence from Spain (1810-1818) for Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. BA is named after the Santa Maria of Buenos Aires as sailors arrived from Europe and gave thanks to their patron saint, the Madonna of Bonairia, in Sardinia. The city was officially founded in 1536.
We headed around the Casa Rosada, the government building, to the Riverwalk and on to the Puente de la Mujer, the Women’s Bridge. This modern walking bridge traverses the canal and can swing open to let ships pass. Beyond is a strip of land with all new skyscrapers, apparently the newer business district. Beyond those few blocks is the Rio de la Plata which leads out to the Atlantic. Uruguay is on the other side with Montevideo at the entrance of the bay. Geography lesson, boom.
We continued walking along the canal to Puerto Madero and back over to the San Telmo district. There we toured the El Zanjon de Granados. This building was built as a grand house in 1830 with 3 courtyards and 2 levels but deteriorated over time and through various epidemics (cholera, typhoid, etc) to become a tenement and eventually was abandoned. In 1985 an entrepreneur, intending to renovate into a restaurant, found that the building was built above various tunnels which originally funneled seasonal streams under and through to the Rio de la Plata. The excavated tunnels and house itself were beautifully restored and are now a history/art museum and event space.
We headed north towards our hotel and beyond to the Tourist Police station to file a report. And have something new to include in my blog. Here it is in Spanish.
Cops all wear kevlar vests when they leave the station so as they escorted us to the main station to file the report we felt a little underdressed. This officer was polite and not very talkative. Police are on every corner in the city (except for one); it feels very safe. There are a lot of homeless people and some with fairly elaborate tarp covered lodgings. Afterwards we savored afternoon drinks and delicious empanadas then headed back to the hotel.
On the way we detoured to the Women’s March. The theme continues; women are striving to be seen and heard and valued and today’s youth are carrying the torch. This day has come full circle in a city that certainly values women.
The next day we left BA to begin our tour with Odyssey. First stop: Iguazu Falls!
My new reality 