The tour guides walked us from Retiro to Recoleta and emphasized the architecture a lot! There are so many Parisian-looking buildings because like I said before, the newly independent Argentinians needed immigrant architects from Europe to help replace the colonial Spanish architecture.
The French and Brazillian embassies--which are right next to each other-- are both very Parisian looking and BEAUTIFUL!
We then walked past some plazas that I run in (almost everyday) to El Cemetario de Recoleta. The plazas have great statues and grass to relax. They also contain the only tree native to BA which is the Bombay tree. It's technically a bush and it's great for little kids to climb because the limbs are so huge and close to the ground.
Anyway- about the cemetery. It was extraordinary. It was made to look like a small town- una ciudad para los muertos. Some of the "roads" even have names.
The cemetery contains these huge tombs that can hold up to 40 bodies! They are magnificent and many of them beautifully sculpted. The mausoleums were basically a competition between the elite to see who could have the most extravagant. Some tombs, though, are abandoned for a number of reasons. Maybe the family can't afford it anymore; maybe the family died off...
Many famous families are buried here like past presidents and Evita. Evita was basically a woman of the people. She did a lot to help the poor of Argentina and she was very, very well liked. After her body was carted around to different cities for 40 YEARS she was finally laid to rest next to the elite people she once fought against... ironic.
After the cemetery, 5 of us went to a cafe in Recoleta (Travis, Justin, Sheridan, Cole and I). We were there for a good two hours just talking and having cafe con leche. It was a great time getting to know everyone.
Later that night most of IES attended a Pub Crawl in Palermo. It was only 60 pesos if you had an international student ID card! That's like less than $10. That came with unlimited beer, wine and pizza at the first bar, a free shot at every bar and free entry to the boliche (night club).
These Argentine men are EXTREMELY aggressive with women-especially if they find out you're American. A guy, actually originally from Uruguay, came up to me on our way to our second bar and was like (in Spanish), "You look so cold, let me warm you up!" Yes, that seemed like a nice gesture but he was literally hanging all over me-not cool. He also wouldn't leave me alone. Him and his friend kept buying my friends and me drinks and he would keep trying to kiss my cheek then while he's on my face head to my lips... also not cool.
I can't tell you how many times I told him "no" very firmly. Eventually I was like, "I do not want to kiss you and I will not go home with you." He then returned with, "hotel?" NOO!
Then when I rejected him numerous times he would get all mad and stomp off then come back 10 min later.
I heard Argentines are aggressive but I never realized the level!
The 4 bars and boliche were really fun. I even saw some people from Elon University (my home school) on another BA program which was cool!
At the boliche, Mindee asked for a shot and she received an entire cup of vodka and a lime. It was probably about 5 or 6 shots in total if not more. The bartenders here are very generous!
Well that's all for now! Hasta luego!
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