Parte 2: Artistic Buenos Aires

January 25, 2019, Buenos Aires, Argentina — Day 2 in ‘The Paris of South America,’ and it is a beautiful city, influenced by many French architects and engineers. But first, your daily history and social studies lesson:

Argentina (population 40 million) gets its name from all the silver (argento) the conquistadors were after. But before they discovered all the wealth, explorers came looking for the ‘magic pass’ between the Atlantic and the Pacific, which Magellan finally found in 1530 — the Strait(s) of Magellan, between the southern point of Chile and the island of Tierra del Fuego. While he is frequently called the first circumnavigator, Magellan did not make it all the way around: He was killed in ‘a tribal skirmish’ in the Philippines and it was his navigator, Juan Sebastián del Cano, who led the expedition back to Spain. Emperor Charles honored Cano with ‘an augmentation to his coat of arms — a globe with the inscription “Primus circumdedisti me” (“You were the first to encircle me”).’ [Britannica]. [I hope you all appreciate the fancy punctuation footwork.]

Poor Juan Diaz de Solis. He ‘discovered’ the country in 1516 but the natives attacked and ate his entire expedition except for one young boy, who escaped. When Sebastian Cabot (son of John the explorer, not Mr. French on Family Affair) came exploring the region, he found said boy. Said boy told the explorers about ‘a mountain of silver.’ And the rush to plunder was on.

Buenos Aires (population 3 million) was founded twice. First in 1536 by Pedro de Mendoza, but the locals had other ideas, and the Spaniards hightailed it north. Four decades later, in 1580, Juan de Garay successfully (as far as Spain was concerned) founded the ‘City of the Holy Trinity of the Port of Our Lady of Good Airs.’

Skip ahead — this all gets very confusing, even with my copious notes — to the 1816 Act of Independence from Spain and the ensuing civil wars between Unitarians (no, not those Unitarians) vs. the Federalists.

After a yellow fever epidemic (yes, I had my shot last year, and it is good for life), the country encouraged immigration: from 1880-1930, some 5 or 6 million came, many to work in agriculture. Today the ethnic origin percentages are: 50% Spanish, 40% Italian and 10% other, including our guide, whose roots are Austrian, Russian and Turkish.

We were all alive through one of the most gruesome periods of Argentina’s modern history, the 1976-1983 ‘Dirty War,’ when the military junta kidnapped and murdered some 30,000 young men and women they considered ‘subversives,’ who became known as ‘Los Desaparecidos,’ or ‘the disappeared.’ Decades later, many — mostly mothers, wearing white scarves on their heads —still march every Thursday, demanding to know what happened to their children.

We also remember the 10-week Falklands War in 1982, when Argentina decided to ‘take back’ the islands and was surprised when Maggie Thatcher sent in a convoy of 117 ships and a task force to put an end to that idea. But this is also the event that ended the military junta.

In the past 4 years, Argentina has had SIX presidents — 3 in one year! Inflation has hit four figures. Neither of my two guides dwelled on any of this distressing information. Argentina needs tourism since their economy is in such dire straits, and they don’t want to scare people off.

Our guide told us ‘Chile has everything that Argentina doesn’t.’ When its government changes, Chile keeps whatever the previous administration did that was good. Argentina throws out whatever the previous administration did even if it was good. [Does this remind you of someone?]

Back to some better news: Main industries are petrol, minerals, cars and plastics. Education is free, including university — including for foreigners. The Argentinian

accent is closer to Castilian than in other South American countries.

Argentina is agriculturally self-sufficient with two exceptions: it is not warm enough to grow bananas or coffee. It exports lemons to the U.S. and soy to China. But their previous administration ramped up agricultural exports to the extent that the soil has been dangerously depleted.

Argentina is known for its Malbec wines, which benefit from their annual 350 days of sunshine. At a toll booth, our bus driver was given a routine breathalyzer test !

Above: First stop on my tour of ‘Artistic Buenos Aires’ was the fabulous Colón Theatre, considered (by some) the #1 theatre in the world for opera acoustics (#3 for orchestral acoustics, right behind Boston’s Symphony Hall!). Opened in 1908 with a performance of Aïda (btw, we watched a Live from the Met Aïda on the ship), Caruso performed there, as did a very young Maria Callas. The largest auditorium in Argentina, it seats nearly 2,500 — with standing room for 300-1,000, depending on your source. What we call the ‘peanut gallery’ they call the ‘hen house.’ Though it’s the cheapest section, the view is the best, according to our young guide, who is a student at the music conservatory nearby. The vast stage area is nearly as large as the auditorium. The entire building was exquisitely renovated in 2010 — judge for yourself:

The foyer...

The upper reception area....

... and the velvet seats — with lots of legroom, unlike may U.S. theatres.

The gold circle just outside the figures painted on blue (below) is actually a ‘minstrels’ gallery’ where instrumentalists or singers can be arranged to add an ethereal touch to a performance, i.e., the voice of god or angels.

Second artistic stop in Buenos Aires was the National Museum of Decorative Arts, housed in a 1911 neoclassical mansion that belonged to the Errázuriz Alvear family. Most houses in this neighborhood have been turned into embassies.

I was testing my iPhone 8-plus closeup capability on this tapestry foot, woven in Brussels in the 17th century.

Besides doors, I love staircases. Had to wait hours for the damn tourists to vacate.

I would have had a café café at the museum if it hadn’t been drizzling.

By now you know I love taking pictures of doors. Here are some that are quite unusual:

Okay... I was at La Recoleta Cemetery, a very New Orleans-ish place with hundreds of above-ground crypts.

The most famous inhabitant is Maria Eva Duarte, aka Eva Péron, wife of one-time president Juan Péron. She died in 1952 and was buried first in Milan, then moved back to Buenos Aires. She was beloved by the people — her funeral lasted 14 days. Here is the beribboned door to her sister’s husband’s family’s crypt, where Evita is buried. Can you find Waldo? It was hard to stay out of the shot.