November 29 & 30, 2024
After a long day of travel to Santiago and arriving at almost midnight we headed out at 6:00am for the airport to fly to Buenos Aires to begin the Patagonia part of the trip.
On Good Friday many people stood in line to shop we spent the day in immigrations and security in two countries. We finally arrive in Buenos Aires in the late afternoon with just enough time to grab a bite and then head to our Tango lesson. The Tango was invented in Buenos Aires and the people love it. You will be surprised that I attempted to learn it and was excited to get the basics including the wrapping my leg around my partner’s leg and dipping. Hunter from NC is a super nice guy and a fun partner…we laughed at ourselves!!!
Saturday we headed out for a bus tour of Buenos Aires; it’s an elegant mixture of Spanish Colonial architecture and several traditional European styles. Our tour included a brief visit to the city’s iconic, white obelisco (obelisk), which commemorates the 400th anniversary of Buenos Aires’ founding. We also visited Avenida de Mayo, which runs into Plaza de Mayo. Many buildings with important links to Argentinean history are centered in Plaza de Mayo, including the Casa Rosada (Government House), the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Cabildo, the first City Hall built during Spanish rule.
Next we headed to the Site of Memory where we engaged in discussion about the Controversial Topic of the tens of thousands of Argentines who were kidnapped, tortured, or killed between 1976 to 1983 during the country’s last dictatorship. Thus began the “Dirty War,” a time of terror when the people of Argentina lived in fear that a loved one—or even themselves—could be taken away at any moment, for any perceived reason. Many of the tortured kidnap victims were dropped from airplanes into the river. There are still 30,000 people who are unaccounted for. The wall is a memorial for the victims. It reminded me of the Vietnam Wall but these bodies have never been recovered. It was a sobering conversation especially when a group of us stated the obvious that this could be the USA in the next administration. The headscarf that is in the featured picture is the symbol of the grandma campaign that is trying to get the government to identify what happen to their children.
At the conclusion of our conversation, we drove to La Boca, the colorful working-class neighborhood where the tango was born.
For the evening we split into smaller groups and departed for a Home-Hosted Dinner with a local family. We visited with an incredible host family!! We sat together at the dinner table for an evening seasoned with great conversation and yummy food.
Sounds like a lot of fun, but where is the picture of you doing the Tango!?!??!?!?!!!