Day 11: Adios Argentina

The End of a Journey

It was a somber morning for us all, as we slowly packed our bags and said our last good-byes to an incredible vacation, service opportunity, and life-changing journey. With a later flight, we had a few hours to spare and spent our last day enjoying the city's wonders. We enjoyed a delicious brunch (complete with dessert) at a cafe we had been dying to try all week. The inside of the restaurant was beautiful, and we couldn't be more satisfied with our large, but sadly last, Argentinian meal. 

After our delicious brunch, we soon said our good-byes to Natasha, as she was headed on a different flight to visit family in Ecuador and Peru. With a few hours to spare, a small group of us went to visit the Congreso Nacional--a beautiful monument we had passed by earlier but didn't get the chance to see up close. We were amazed by the beautiful architecture and the fountain's similarity to one of UT's own treasures: the Littlefield Fountain. We knew a little piece of ourselves and Texas would always be in Buenos Aires. 

Once we returned to the hostel, we grabbed our bags and headed for our ride to the airport. This service abroad trip was an incredible experience for each of us, and the memories we made will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Buenos Aires had become our home for a week, and by the time we left, we were starting to believe it was always going to be.

From the start, the service project was always the main focus of our trip and every day we spent at the Jardín Travesuras, we knew we were making an impact on the lives of so many young children. But as much as they learned from us, we learned so much more from them: the value of hard work and the appreciation that comes from receiving a good education and warm meal every day. Another year, another successful service abroad trip for the Women in Natural Sciences organization at the University of Texas at Austin! 

Adios y Hook'em!

Day 10: Shopping and Fuerza Bruta

Shop 'til you Drop! 

One day of shopping is never enough in Buenos Aires, so we set off to San Telmo, one of Argentina’s largest and oldest street markets.

The market went on for as long as could see – and even beyond that. Street vendors sold all kinds of souvenirs, antiques, and art pieces. They were so creative with their products; we saw recycled bottles being sold as wall decorations, watercolor paintings of Buenos Aires’s most famous landmarks and many, many, llama sweaters. We wanted to buy everything!

We practiced our recently learned bargaining skills to try to get the best prices we could. Trying to communicate with the vendors in our broken Spanish was challenging, but definitely fun!

After several hours of shopping and walking up and down the market, we headed back to the hostel to drop off all of our goodies. After a quick break, we took the subway to the famous Recoleta Cemetery. There are many renowned individuals buried there, including Eva Perón!

We walked around for a bit looking to see if we recognized any names, looking specifically for Eva’s tomb. We saw many different sepulchers of all shapes and sizes. Some were old, some were newer and some were filled to the brim with generations and generations of coffins.

The cemetery was eerie, a little bit scary, but also breathtakingly beautiful. With ten minutes until closing time, we ran around the winding paths trying to find Eva’s burial place. Unfortunately, we had no luck finding it but that’s even more of a reason to come back next year!

After dinner, we headed to the Recoleta Community Center to see Fuerza Bruta, the #1 most recommended attraction in Buenos Aires. Several other hostel guests recommended this show to us and we were so excited to see what all the fuss was about. The only thing we knew was that it was some sort of artsy, interactive show that makes the audience part of the show.

All I can say is that the show did not disappoint. It’s very hard to put it into words just how exciting and different this performance was. There were dancers and actors on treadmills and there was even a pool that was lowered down from the ceiling with performers swimming inside it. The audience was constantly moved to make way for all the different props that were used during the show. The performers were on harnesses and were lowered to the floor where they would interact with the audience. The show ended with rain falling down on the audience as we all danced to some funky electronic beats.

Fuerza Bruta is such a strange, complex show that everyone must witness. It will change the way you look at performance art and will make you fall in love with Buenos Aires even more!

Here is a photo of us with one of the stars of the show!

Day 9: A Day Out in the City

Exploring BA’s diverse neighborhoods

After breakfast, we took the subway to Teatro Colón. We went on a guided tour of this magnificent architectural wonder. We learned that this theater is the largest structure of its kind in all of South America and has the best acoustics in Latin America and is considered to be one of the top venues in the world.

The halls and the lobby of the theater were decorated lavishly and elegantly. The second floor balconies were decorated with the busts of the great composers wrapped in gold leaf.

We were able to go inside the actual theater and sit in the most expensive seats of the house. We witnessed how the crew were setting up for the upcoming show.

After the tour we headed to Palermo for lunch. We found this hip, organic restaurant with a great view of the neighborhood plaza that was absolutely delicious. Once we were done with lunch we went shoe shopping and found some great Argentine leather boots for cheap. Exhausted and hungry once again, we headed back to the hostel. 

We napped for a couple of hours and then went with some other guests of the hostel to experience the world-famous Buenos Aires nightlife. We danced the night away and met many other tourists from all around the world. It was a very fun, successful day in Buenos Aires!

Day 8: Last Day of Service

Time to say Goodbye to Jardín Travesuras

Our last day of service began with our very familiar commute to José León Suárez. We got to the kindergarten and enjoyed some “mate cocido” and delicious fresh bread. We then got to work putting finishing touches on the fence and the brick garden. Some of us headed to the kitchen to help Lorena and Pía make empanadas and some of us helped Viviana sort donated clothes for either the local church or to sell to raise money for the Jardín.

After lunch Lorena showed us a book titled “Mujeres Argentinas,” or “Argentine Women” in English. This book is a collection of stories about the efforts and triumphs of exceptional Argentine woman, Lorena being one of them. The book detailed how she started the kindergarten and what her hopes are for the future. It was very touching to see the passion she has for what she does, and she even gave us her copy of the book! 

Lorena took us on a walk through the neighborhood so we could see how people really live in this area. As we walked, we were greeted by Lorena's neighbors and friends. She walked us through the trash dumping area, where small children dig through and sort trash day and night.  This experience made us realize how fortunate we are and made us want to help this community even more.

Soon, it was time to go back to the hostel. Lorena and Viviana presented us with gifts before we left. They had made little butterfly decorations out of recycled pudding cups and tissue paper. They were adorable! We took some more photos, hugged everyone goodbye and promised to come back to continue our work next year. We will miss the children and Lorena’s family and friends dearly and are excited to return to José León Suárez to see all the new friends we have made.

A Night of Tango

Once we got back to the hostel, we got ready to hit the town. We headed to Complejo Tango for a 3 course meal, a tango lesson, and the most amazing tango show ever.

Our instructor, Alejandro, was an excellent teacher. He was funny, but firm when teaching the complex tango steps we were learning. After learning the initial steps we began dancing with partners. We switched off often and danced with everyone in the room.

After our lesson, we sat down and enjoyed our delicious 3 course meal. Shortly, the show began and we were marveled by the ability of the dancers.

The show was a history of tango in 5 parts. It described the dance’s origins, and its progression to what it is today. They even danced to electrotango! The whole experience was amazing and I doubt any of us will forget the moves we learned tonight.

Day 7: Back at Jardín Travesuras

Let the construction begin!

Day 6 of volunteering led us back to Jardín Travesuras for an intense day of work. We were joined by several other volunteers from the Voluntario Global house to build a fence and a brick garden in which delicious and healthy fruits and veggies will be grown.

We learned how to mix cement (which is much harder than it seems), we also learned the delicate and complex art of bricklaying, and how to build a fence from scratch. Agustín, the construction worker on site, was very patient and excited to teach us his ways. All these tasks were daunting and took time to get used to, but after a while we all felt like professional handywomen.

The little children would often leave their classrooms to look at the progress we were making and were astonished at how different their patio looked! They would run over to us, hold our hands, and ask us where the beautiful fence that suddenly appeared came from.

Once the fence was in place, it was time to paint. Lorena jokingly said that she wanted the fence to be red and white because those were the colors of the River Plate team, which she is a huge fan of. After much deliberation, and quite a few painting mistakes, we ended up choosing red and purple as the paint colors. 

Once we finished, we could see how the fence added a burst of color to the patio, and to the neighborhood in general. Everyone was excited about the new additions to the patio, and we headed back to Milhouse tired and ready for bed.