¡Bienvenido a Argentina! 27/03/11
Today, after a long and sleepless flight, we finally landed in Ezesa Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentinaaaaa!!! We must admit, there were few valuable impressions of the drive to the hotel because most of the girls fell right asleep on our luxurious tour bus. However, despite the much needed sleep, the minute we laid eyes on the city our excitement to be in a new country ignited. Once we got to the hotel we were given our room keys and sent off to settle in our rooms...for 10 minutes before we were off again. The majority of those ten minutes were spent navagating the quaint yet charming Hotel Reina and figuring how to unlock the door to our rooms with our seemingly ageless keys.
We then took a walk to the program office to get acquainted with the culture, customs, and our itinerary for the duration of the trip. We learned some interesting facts about colloquial Spanish and the Argentine accent. Our lunch of empanadas and our introduction to Mate were great ways to boost our energy so that we could move forward with our day, despite our earlier exhaustion. It was "re" fantastico!
San Telmo was the location of our next adventure (can you believe it`s still the first day?). Every Sunday the neighborhood of San Telmo is lined with street performers and local venders selling their handcrafted goods. We trekked over 10 blocks of this market trying hard not to get lost within the buzzing crowd of tourists and locals enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Our final destination? The renowned Plaza de Mayo, home of the Casa Rosada, the office place of Argentina´s president Cristina Kirschner.
The Casa Rosada, aka "The Pink House"
We finally got back to rest before dinner, and we are in the locutorio directly to the left of our hotel where we can make phone calls and use the internet. After this we will get some rest and then head out for a classic Argentine meal, of many more to come!
Adios!
Maddie and Julia <3