Day 4! (Or 5? I’m not exactly sure lol)

 Hola! Mi nombre Bailey White!

It’s now the 5th day of Shrine of The Ages International Tour and what a day it was.

After an eventful night of tango lessons and a brilliant Tango performance at Madero Tango, I basically died in my bed and resurrected 7 hours later to the alarms I set when I was much more motivated to explore the city. After snoozing until 8:30 my roomie, Mia, and I woke up and got ready for a day of guided tours through Teatro Colón, a trip to the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), and the famous El Alteño Grand Splendid, which had me the most excited.

Our First stop for the day was the Teatro Colón, one of the world’s most opulent and grandiose opera/performance venues, and most certainly in Argentina. With influences from many different cultures and countries and the funding of local wealthy families, Teatro Colóns creation was motivated by a pride and love for Argentina and her people. Pictures could not do the theatre justice, because around every corner and behind every door detailed perfection. Not one place that I saw had been “thrown away”. It mystified me at how shadows laid a certain way when light hit pillars at certain angles reflecting off the 24 karat gold leafing. How the crown moulding would recede into dark corners of the room but were just as detailed as their brighter counterparts. Teatro Colón was a labour of love and every inch of the architecture demonstrated this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Through the building you can see old swatches of wall and moulding left by restoration crews to show a sort of before and after of the theatres renovation. There are so many more details to talk about but instead here’s the pictures I remembered to take while I was entranced by the beauty of it all.

After Teatro Colón was our MALBA trip, which was very excited for. Before that, however, we stopped by this whole in the wall restaurant and ordered Lunch. I got a humberguesa with cheese, and it came with a slice of ham as well (So far on the trip I haven’t had the BEST experience with food, so getting ham on my beef patty was a little upsetting) HOWEVER! THE BURGER WAS GREAT. Restaurants in Argentina like putting ham in and on a lot of their dishes, which is something that definitely caught me by surprise, but sometimes it works! lol. Anyways, after a brief subway ride and a 15 minute trek through the streets of Buenos Aires we made it to MALBA! Of the three exhibits on display, I only had time to see one, Terce Ojos or “Third Eye”, but I was so fortunate to have seen it. Three pieces really stood out to me.

                                                        The Puppet (Music Box) by José

                                                         

                                                        Masquerade by Luis Alberto Acuña

 

                                      And Skull No.5 by Julian Laffitte and Manuel Mendanha

After that little excursion was done a bunch of the Shrine peeps wanted to go to the El Alteño Grand Splendid. So I hopped on google maps (Apple Maps doesn’t super work in Argentina for some reason) and got us there ASAP because I’ve had this place on my bucket list since 2014 and I wasn’t going to miss the chance to share one of the coolest bookstores in the world with a bunch of my friends. And there is really not much to talk about with El Alteño other than it was once a theatre that turned was renovated to become a music and bookstore, and it was named the most beautiful bookstore in the world according to Nation Geographic. So here’s some pics <3 (there’s also a Havana (A cafe I’ve seen everywhere throughout Buenos Aires) where the stage use to be so you can grab a coffee and relax or meander around the store)

[Pictures courtesy of Google cause I only took videos of the store :’)]

The last time I had eaten was like 2pm and by now it was like 8:30? So Vivian, Karina, Adara, Liliya, and I went next door from El Alteño to a cute Argentinian Grill, ordered some steaks, and ate before I had remembered to take a picture of my food. So here’s a 3/4ths eaten steak that was 10/10. 

 

Then we stopped for ice cream parlour called Daniel (I got Cheese cake de dulce de leche and it was glorious), I bravely led us through the Buenos Aires subway system and then ran back to the hotel because I had to use the restroom so bad. Now I sit here in bed, after showering and brushing my teeth, writing my day in this blog post. Argentina has been amazing so far and I’m so excited for the rest of the trip :) Signing off <3