March 12th
After breakfast we took the subway to Plaza de Mayo, an excellent location to visit. We were unfortunate today as we could not get into Plaza de Mayo as it was under complete construction.
We walked by the Casa Rosada, also known as the Pink House, and something was going on as it was high in security. One car was pulling up within the grounds and a security officer had a mirror and looking under the car for explosives. The security was high at all entry points to the palace.
Across the street we visited the Metropolitan Cathedral. It was absolutely incredible inside … such architecture.
When we left the Church we got approached by a “volunteer” who was telling us some things to see in the area. We explained that we already have a map of the area. He continued his shpeal and at the end asked us for a donation. I informed him that I had already said we had a map and thanked him. He smiled, shook our hand, and wished us a good day. I love that they are not aggressive.
We walked down Avenida de Mayo up to Avenida 9 de Julio and then turned right. We walked up to the Obelisco a few blocks away. Just before crossing the street to take some photos of the Obelisco, there was a demonstration taking place. There was quite a large gathering with a variety of drums playing.
We took a few photos of the Obelisco ...
... and then took Avenida Presidente Roque Saenz Pena which diagonally went back towards Plaza de Mayo.
On our way back, we observed people living on the street with actual mattresses. This was not the first spot we witnessed mattresses in some of the parks in Buenos Aires. What is different is that when you walk by they do not ask for money which was a little surprising. This was truly sad to see as in some cases there were mothers with one or two children.
About two blocks before the Plaza de Mayo there is a walking street, Florida, which is about 11 or 12 blocks long. There were stores on both sides of the street and people hollering that they had sales on. The street was packed with people walking both directions. It is a good thing they have a street for walking and no vehicles … talk about busy. We also ate lunch on this street, we had to have fast food with beer … the beer was super cheap! LOL
At the end of Florida Street is Plaza San Martin. We took a few photos of a neat monument, Monumento al General San Martin, and noticed a red carpet in front of it, partly unrolled.
We crossed the street to a small park and observed a large number of security, police, etc. Across from this little park was a large building and a very interesting structure that was the Palacio San Martin. I went across the street and asked if it was okay to take photo’s … they indicated no problem.
We went around the corner and saw some special black cars that were behind a police motorcycle escort. We decided we would go back to the front of Palacio San Martin to see what … or who was there. We waited across the street and a couple dignitaries drove up and went in. After about half an hour I crossed the street, by the building to get a better angle and this was a much better location. We learned that five country dignitaries were represented here today in this meeting. The first to leave was lady president, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.
She was under heavy armed escort which included a motorcycled arcade, two black unmarked vehicles with blue lights flashing in front and two behind and two heavily armed black trucks with four soldiers in each truck and drove at the end of the arcade. Eventually other dignitaries came out and had a small escort.
I wanted to wait for one more dignitary to leave and just as soon as he left I was watching the main gate. In a couple of minutes a number of soldiers came out in pairs and marched right beside be. It happened so fast as they came out and came in my direction ... I had no where to go. I was trapped between the wall and the soldiers. The intimidation part was when they stopped right beside me but continued to stomp their feet … I was feeling a little uncomfortable as I was the only civilian there. My brother Charlie took a few photo’s of this.
I was not sure what they were going to do next, but was a little relieved when they continued their march. I was so glad they didn’t turn sideways as I could have been skewered by their swords. LOL
We were about to leave when we noticed that these soldiers were getting instruments out of a bus. We again decided we better wait around to see what was going to happen next. We crossed the little park and went back to the Monumento al General San Martin. They now had the red carpet completely rolled out and security around the monument. I started to videotape the musical band of soldiers and didn’t see the soldiers come right behind them. I was just about to turn off the video when I caught the soldiers, from the corner of my eye, walking right towards me. I took two steps back to get out of their way and can say you can’t get any closer than this, well except when I got pinned between them and the wall. LOL It made for some great photos and video though.
The dignitaries came to the monument one at a time. One car would pull up, the band would start playing and the dignitary would walk up to the monument. Three soldiers carried a wreath and placed it up on the statue. The dignitary would go up the steps and bow his head in respect. After the band stopped playing the dignitary would turn around, come down the stairs and pose for a photo. His entourage would then join for a photo op and some of the dignitaries had only their family with them and had their photos taken. The family, or entourage, would step to the side and the dignitary would walk back to the car with the music playing. This was quite spectacular to witness, and totally unexpected. Such a different day then expected! NOTE: If you happen to know who any of the follwing dignitaries are, please let me know. Thank you.
I have attached a map that highlights the approximately 20km hike that we did around Buenos Aires.
