A Tour of Buenos Aires

Sunday was the first day everyone in our program was together. To welcome us to the city without overwhelming us, IES Abroad took us to lunch, and after, we went on a bus tour. Everyone in our program met at the building where IES Abroad is located. Everyone’s host parents walked them there which was adorable since we were (and still are) so clueless. Once everyone arrived, we took mini-buses to three stops. First, we stopped at a restaurant in Puerto Madero called La Bistecca for lunch. Everything was delicious, but I wasn’t very hungry since we had just eaten a hefty breakfast of carbs right before meeting up. After lunch, we were taken over to the Plaza de Mayo where we learned a little about the history of the country as well as the city. It was interesting to see all of the activity going on at the plaza. And coming from the US, it was funny to see La Casa Rosada is open to the public on Sundays with only a metal detector as security. Although the president doesn’t live there, I still doubt anything like that would fly in Washington DC. After Plaza de Mayo, we drove to the south part of the city, to the famous neighborhood of La Boca. On our way, we heard about the history of that area, one that includes SOCCER, immigrants, and colorful houses. We stopped to explore the popular streets of El Caminito for about 20 minutes. It was so touristy but also kind of fun because of the liveliness. After La Boca, we drove through San Telmo and Retiro/Centro (Avenida 9 de Julio) on our way back to the IES Abroad building. It was a great introduction to the place we’ll be for the next four months.