Today, we actually had a free day, due to the general strike going on all throughout the city of Buenos Aires towards President Milei.
We started the morning off at a local cafe, where we almost cut it close and made it late to our first lecture! I got avocado toast and kombucha, which I had never been more happy to find. We then made our way to IES, where Professor Grant conducted a Q&A for our various questions regarding the lectures we had been attending over the past couple of days. We dove deeper into differences. between public and private sectors, and the various discrepancies even regarding their patients. It was really informative towards the many little things during lecture that I overlooked, such as how companies like Swiss Medical makes their profits. Unrelated to healthcare, we also had a very informative conversation with Grant, regarding our various different lifestyles and how their each beneficial in their own way.
Next, was the empanada adventure! IES provided us with empanadas from a restaurant super close to our hotel, and I ate both a corn one and a tomato mozzarella one. They were both absolutely delicious, and definitely lived up to being the delicacy of Argentina! We also tried some empanadas at the San Telmo market, where I tried the famous combination of onion and cheese. It was from one of the most highest rather shops in the city, and it was definitely one of the best I had ever had. We went on walks through the financial district, the botanical gardens, and shopped our hearts out along the way!
Although my day was mostly full of fun, I did have a spot of education during my day. This was during the March of the Mothers, which happens every Thursday afternoon at 3:30 for decades. The whole march started as a result of the abduction of children during the infamous 70’s Argentinean dictatorship. These children were either abducted and killed or simply raised in a family that supported the regime, but regardless were never reunited with their original families. Today, only two of the original mothers are alive, and are marked with the white scarves adorned on their heads, but hundred still march alongside them.
Although many of the fun activities originally planned for today got cancelled due to the strike, today was a blessing in disguise and I am excited for what tomorrow will bring!
