After a treacherous journey and a 12 hour delay, we finally landed in Buenos Aires! We started our trip with a delicious barbecue at the IES offices, which only foreshadowed the amount of hospitality that Argentinians have showed us on this trip so far.

We started the day off with an introduction at IES, where we learned about the do’s and do-not’s within Argentina. We ate a very healthy lunch of salads to fuel us up for our day of learning all about the Ministry of Health.

We made our walk to to Universidad Austral, which was housed in an incredibly beautiful building, embellished with mirrors everywhere. There, we learned about the goals and purposes of the University, and had an introduction on the structure of the Ministry of Health. I learned that it was much more complicated that the system in the United States, as it houses both the private and public system in a rather fragmented system. Next, we had the ex-minister give us a more in-depth view on the new reform and projected reform that is taking place, and the new goals that the ministry has that they desire to reach in the coming years. It was very informative on the fact that they want to reach Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and had a very intense plan for the hopeful implementation of this!

Finally, we went back to the IES office to have coffee, which was followed by tango classes! We learned all about tango and actually danced for around two hours. We ended our tango adventure with a performance by our two instructors, which literally left all of us in awe.

Overall, it was a good first day and I am excited for what’s to come!