Today took a detour from our plans. We were supposed to have a boat tour and another hospital visit but Buenos Aires had a general strike today. This strike is in response to President Milei who cut spending, laid off government workers, and froze public works to save Argentina from its financial crisis in his short time as president. Argentina’s powerful unions backed by Argentina’s left-leaning Peronist parties that have dominated national politics for decades have led the pushback to Milei’s policies on the streets and in the courts in recent months. Milei has been in office since December 2023 and this is the second general strike, the first being in January. 

Since we didn’t have our normal scheduled day we started today at IES. We spent the morning discussing with our professor. We went over key points that we have learned so far from our lectures and hospital visits. It was a great time to ask questions and get clarifying details. After our discussion, we got some delicious empanadas for lunch. They were the first ones we have had since being in Argentina and they did not disappoint. 

After our morning at IES, we headed over to the Japanese gardens. They were gorgeous with beautiful flowers and architecture. The central lake is crossed by the Divine Bridge, traditionally representing entry into Heaven and by the Truncated Bridge, leading to an island where Japanese medicinal herbs are grown. After walking around for a bit we took a taxi over to Barrio Chino (Chinatown). It was so cool walking around there and seeing the different little shops and paintings on the buildings. We had dinner at a hot pot restaurant which was cool as it was my first time having hot pot. Even though we had to unfortunately cancel our planned activities for the day we ended up having so much fun getting to explore different parts of the city!