Monday, March 19, 2012

Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday morning. After our arrival, we took advantage of the fact that it was Sunday, when the city is quite empty compared to the weekdays. We went to the Recoleta Fair, a huge outdoor fair with lots of vendors, entertainment and food. There, we found just about everything we could possibly want - beautiful and original artwork, handmade jewelry and trinkets, and much more. After meandering through the fair for a couple of hours, we stopped at a small park across the street to listen to some local bands, who happened to be pretty good.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at the Recoleta Cemetery. It was unlike any cemetery I've ever been to because it was all huge, ornate mausoleums with almost no grass. This cemetery is especially famous because Eva Peron, otherwise known as Evita, was laid to rest in her family's mausoleum. Evita (perhaps you've seen the American movie about her life starring Madonna?) was the second wife of President Juan Peron, making her the first lady of Argentina from 1946 until 1952, when she died of cancer at the young age of 33. Evita was loved by many and is still remembered well today. In fact, walking through the city, I have seen her name spray painted on buildings many times!

Today, we went on a city bus tour. My favorite stop was at La Boca and Carminito. This is where one of Argentina's biggest traditions - the tango - is alive and thriving. The buildings are all painted bright colors and tango dancers walk the streets, dancing and posing for photos. It was also here that we had our biggest surprise of the trip yet...we ran into a Clarkson alum!! I was actually the one to spot him, as he was wearing his "CU" hat as he was walking into a store near me. I stopped him and sure enough, he was a Class of 1962 grad! We were all so excited to see each other and make a connection from across the globe. It was a great pleasure to meet him and to hear about how is "CU" hat has been worn in 57 countries around the world since he graduated. It was so wonderful to see the Clarkson pride he had! 

Tomorrow, we are heading to two companies - IBM and Pampa y Pop, a company that makes organic, high end leather goods to sell in Europe and Argentina. I'm really looking forward to both these visits and I will make sure to tell you more about them tomorrow. Hasta luego!

3 comments:

  1. Very cool, was the CU grad visiting or living there?

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  2. Trip sounds really great -- any photos you can post from the cemetary or the businesses the group is visiting?

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  3. One place I loved was the Teatro Nacional Cervantes. Have you gone?
    The interior is decorated with materials from Spain, including tapestries from Madrid and tiles from Valencia and Tarragona. The theater was renovated in 2009. It's open to the public for tours and has productions throughout the year, so ask about upcoming shows. I had a Buenos Aires temporary rent last year and as soon as I found out it existed, I went without doubting it!

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