¡Hemos terminado!

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At the end of the set of cultural excursions, everyone has to give a presentation on something about Argentina/Buenos Aires. We do these in groups of 3 or 4, and can choose almost any topic. Some people are doing folklore, others public space, and others traditional music. My group chose La Boca, a specific area of Buenos Aires that is perhaps the most historical of them all. We chose this partly because arguably the most famous Argentine soccer club is based there, and one of our members is a huge soccer guy, and partly just because it's interesting. We presented today, so for our culture class, my group is pretty much done!

A couple of interesting points on La Boca:


• it seceded from Argentina in 1882 and raised the Genoese flag. It didn't last.
• It was the first port in Buenos Aires, and remained the main one for decades
• All immigrants and slaves first arrived in La Boca
• La Boca translates to the mouth. It's located at the mouth of the Riachuelo River, and is the "mouth" of Argentina, as it's the first place most people arrived.
• Even going a matter of yards outside the touristy area is inviting robberies. It has one of the highest crime rates in the country
• Ignoring that, it's got the Caminito, a mural- and brightly-colored-houses street and is adorable
• Fugazza pizza may have been invented there
• In Argentina, squatter's laws are loose. If you build a home on any land, owned or not, and no one stops you, you can claim it as your own. Many poor immigrants took advantage of this, so around the tourist area are plenty of shantytowns.



After the presentation, I went home to just relax for a bit. A bunch of people went to see the opera playing at Teatro Colón. Unfortunately, when we got to the box office yesterday, they had sold out (even though my classmates had just bought tickets half an hour earlier). Two of the other students had extra tickets, but one had been claimed, so I arranged to get the other for Serena, who was also dying to go. They were standing-room-only, on the 7th floor, and apparently it was still absolutely amazing. The way I see it, as sad as I am about missing it (and a little annoyed because the girl who took the other extra ticket showed up late, left early, and apparently didn't really care), missing it just gives me an excuse to return!

In place of the opera, I had a nice long conversation about religion with my host mom over dinner, before going out to a Dutch bar (because why not?) with a couple friends. It still was a pretty good night, so I can't complain too much!

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Photos

La Boca from above
source: http://latidobuenosaires.com/labocabuenosairesbarrioargentinafotos.html

A section of Caminito
source: http://top-img.com/l/la-boca-buenos-aires-caminito