Today was another great day exploring the city and experiencing the culture of Buenos Aires and Argentina. We began the day at 9 am by taking a walking tour of the Recoleta neighborhood in the Buenos Aires province with a nice tour guide. We started by touring the plaza in Recoleta which features a very cool clock tower and has nice scenery. After seeing the plaza, we walked across 9 de Julio Avenue which is the main avenue that runs through the Buenos Aires city and this is when we entered the heart of the Recoleta neighborhood. Recoleta is marked by beautiful architecture and it is a middle to upper class neighborhood according to our tour guide. This impacts the neighborhood because it is filled with nice hotels like Melía and attracts a certain type of person which makes it distinct from others. However, the landmark of Recoleta is the cemetary within the neighborhood.

Recoleta Cemetery is home to Argentina’s most important people like Evita Perón who was the wife of Juan Perón, president of Argentina. Evita was loved by everyone in Argentina and she died at 33 years old and was mourned by the entire country for 14 days. Grand mausoleums are what make this cemetery so special compared to any in the world. Every person buried in the cemetery has expensive mausoleums and some cost upwards of 6 million dollars to build according to our tour guide. The cost of these graves shows the significance and importance of being buried in Recoleta cemetery. Our tour also discussed some of the tension surrounding the cemetery since many of the mausoleums are abandoned and not being paid for by tax dollars. As a result, many people want space to be cleared for more people to be buried in the cemetery that are paying to be there.

We finished our cultural tours by going to the Museo de Evita which is an entire museum designated to Evita Perón. Evita was so loved by the people because of her tactful ability to take a secondary role to her husband Juan while also beginning many initiatives that impacted the country, especially in healthcare. For example, she fought for women’s suffrage in Argentina which was gained in the 50s here and was a major milestone in Argentina. She also began a school of nursing in Argentina which contributed to the large role of women in healthcare in this country and opened many pathways to enter the system that did not exist before. Also, many initiatives were established under the idea of Peronism in Argentina which was the ideals that governed the country during Juan and Evita’s term. One major initiative under Peronism was the establishment of public health and public health initiatives in Argentina. The public health system has grown exponentially since its establishment, providing care to 35% of the Argentinian population today. So, many of the Argentine health initiatives and systems we are studying during this trip were first established under Peronism during Juan Perón’s presidency and it is cool to see its transformation over time.

Finally, Happy Mother’s Day Mom. I love you.