Today was a very different type of day compared to the rest of the trip. We didn’t do our usual lectures or site visits. We experienced a piece of what it is truly like to be an Argentinian on a daily basis. The entire city of Buenos Aires scheduled a strike today in order to protest against Milei and the city was anticipated to be largely closed today with public transportation not running and small businesses closed. As a result, our boat trip to Tigre was cancelled and all of our lectures in anticipation of the strike. It was a little disappointing because I was really excited for the boat trip but we made the most of our first free day in the city.

We started the day by going to our partners, IES, where we reviewed what we have learned throughout the trip with Professor Martsolf. During the review we talked a lot about solidarity which is a very unique aspect of the Argentine culture that does not exist in the United States. I learned that solidarity is when the rich take care of the poor, the healthy take care of the sick, and it is the idea that people with the resources want to pursue a common goal for everyone in the country. This idea is shown in many aspects of the city but particularly in the public sector. Many healthcare workers work in the public sector solely because of this idea of solidarity. They could pursue a better salary in the private system and have access to higher quality technology but they want to take care of the Argentinian people who can not access private care with this idea of solidarity in mind. This aspect of Argentine culture is intriguing because US healthcare feels centralized solely around profit but that is not the case in the public sector here in Argentina.

For lunch, we enjoyed beef, chicken, and ham empanadas which are famous in Argentina. This was another interesting and delicious aspect of the culture we experienced today. After leaving IES, we negotiated a day pass to an Argentine gym which was fun experience and it was similar to gyms in the US. After going to the gym, we went to the Plaza de Mayo where we saw some of the protests against Milei where they chanted “Milei Basura” amongst other things outside of the Pink House which is where he works everyday. At the plaza, we also saw “Las Madres” walk around in a circle in front of the Pink House which they have done every Thursday at 3:30 for many years without missing a day. We then went to La Puente de la Mujer where we enjoyed some food and shops that were overlooking the river in Buenos Aires. Finally, we walked through Florida Ave. where there are many small shops selling things like leather, jerseys, and shoes that create a cool atmosphere on the avenue. It was an unplanned day that we definitely made the most out of by exploring the city.