7712 Today we met the our host-guy's mother, who is hosting an additional 4 of us. she walked over to pick us up, and take us all to the meeting point in town. this meeting point was Marriot Hotel, quite a swanky place in a swanky neighborhood. we then all hopped onto a bus to get a driving tour of the immediate area of the city. and here are the notes from said tour Buenos Aires was founded in 1536, in an effort to get closer to finding the Legend of the White King, which has something to do with looking for the silver, i dunno the guide lady wasnt too clear. unfortunately after disembarking the Spanish came upon the Pampas, the grass desert, no trees, no mountains, nothing of note, just a bunch of grass, which does not lend itself to building defensible positions,and the native peoples killed them. Those few Spaniards that escaped north left a bunch of their horses and cows, who were subsequently domesticated by the people living on the plains, as you know horses and cows are big fans of plain living. Buenos Aires was then founded again in 1580 as a port for the Spanish American empire, to siphon the copper from Chile, gold from Peru, and silver from Bolivia to the homecountry. On the drive we came upon this
Which is the 3rd largest opera house in the world, helped opera to survive WWII cause you know, Europe was busy being annihilated, and no one else really cares for opera. all the big shots fled here to make more art. Old city hall where the May Revolution was declared.
Also in this square was a cathedral, now dont go expecting anything on par with what was seen on the last dialogue, cause I did, and was a lil disappointed, i actually did not take an pictures of the outside, so gogo wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_Metropolitan_Cathedral )
Mausoleum of San Martin, buried standing, off the church as he was a mason. He's kind of a big deal to Argentina, as he freed a bunch of South America from Spanish Rule 1870s, as Europe ramped up its industrialization/in-infighting, Argentina became the foodbasket for Europe, producing grain and beef/leather to be sold to the Europeans. The rich expanded further west, pushing the native peoples out for more agricultural lands. As this happened the Argentine government needed labor, so they advertised in Europe, promising unlimited opportunity. The poor came, and lived in squalor here in the South of Buenos Aires much as they did back home in Europe. Making the southern part of the city the immigrant section, Russians, Danes, Jews escaping the Pogroms and predominantly Italians (in La Boca neighborhood). Church sponsored by Tsar Nicholas II in Southern Areas of Buenos Aires
Argentina has the largest population of Welsh outside of Whales. There is a famous Irishman who came over during the first war with the English, fell in love with Argentina, and helped to train the Argentine navy, who went on to defeat the British the next time they showed up according to our guide. here is wikipedias version of it ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_%28admiral%29 ) The La Boca neighborhood was built of leftover bits of the port. The port itself was the first port of the city, and the only access to the sea the city had, operated until the 1920s when ships got bigger and the port became obsolete. I didnt get any pictures of the area, it was kinda a tourist trap, we will likely go there again at some point, ill get pictures then. We ended our tour in a big fancy cemetery, filled with rich aristocrats, and heroes of the revolution. Evita Peron the Spiritual leader of Argentina through much of the first half of the 20th century is buried here, and there is a big story about her body before coming here. She died, was embalmed her body was stolen (kidnapped?) and kept in a closet for a while, and then shipped to the States, and then given back, and ultimately put in here.
after the tour broke, we wandered around the area, im not entirely sure where the downtown is in Buenos Aires, the city is HUGE, like metro area is 500 sqmi bigger than LA. and in our travels (as i am writing this late, even today) have not taken us to a central place of any kind, no specific bar scene, or downtown shopping area i dunno. the city confuses me. me and 2 of the 4 other guys had lunch at a place and paid waaaaay too much, and then wandered around a craft market. this market had stalls selling leather wares and jewelry and Yerba Mate straws and general Argentine
crap stuff. we found our way home by subway, the Subte, and got a lil lost between the station and home. after dinner we went to meet people at a club thing, Club Araoz, which at only admitted grown ass people between 1100-1135 while we stood outside. we ultimately decided to walk elsewhere to the closest thing i have seen to a barscene here. the square had like 4 bars/clubs around it, we (me, my roomate and 10 of the girls) went into one place at midnight, which didnt pick up till like 130, then we went to a club and danced n partook in various beverages n whatnot till like 445, at which point we went home and slept through most of the day.
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