Today, we took a break from lectures and hospital visits and headed to two museums in the city. Before that though, some friends and I headed to La Boca, one of the neighborhoods that we visited earlier in the trip. We spent the morning walking around and shopping at the variety of vendors that lined the colorful streets. It was really fun exploring the neighborhood, which was bustling with people, both tourists and locals. There was even more art and jewelry out this time, although many of the same artists were still there from the previous time we went. After we spent a few hours there, we headed back to get on the bus for our first museum of the day, el Museo de los Inmigrates.

The museum was built in what used to be a four story hotel where immigrants would stay while awaiting approval into the country. The bottom floor used to contain a massive cafeteria that would feed 3,000 people per meal. The next two floors were for men, and the top floor was for women and children. The was more space for men because typically, the man would come first to get established in the country. Because immigrants weren’t allowed to leave the hotel until they got a job, they would spend more time in the facility while job hunting. To help with job acquisition, the hotel would train families to farm, as that is where they needed the most help from immigrants. They also had offices on the campus to help workers find jobs and get them set up. The hotel also took a lot of progressive measures in terms of cleanliness, such as having tile floors and walls and leather cots that made cleaning much easier with the products they had available at the time. There was also a hospital and infirmary on the campus to help the sick. All of these amenities made it not such a bad place to stay temporarily. Although it may sound harsh to make people wait here until they had a job or family in the country, it kept the rate of immigration at a healthy level so that the country could slowly adjust to the burgeoning population. It also helped with disease control, as immigrants who brought foreign diseases could be quarantined and helped in the hospital until they were able to continue the process of immigration. One of the major differences between Argentina and the US in terms of immigration is that in Argentina, immigration is written into the constitution as a human right. This means that any person coming into the country was guaranteed entry, no one was rejected unless they had a criminal record. In the US, though, many people were rejected because of disease. Of course the other major difference was the hotel, which with the level of immigration into the US would probably have been nearly impossible there. Much of the immigration into Argentina was driven by economic crashes in Europe, which caused many factory workers to lose their jobs. The US also had immigrants from these situations, but it also had a much wider variety of situations in which immigrants were coming from including war, famine, etc.

We headed next to the Museo Etnográfico, a museum focused on archeology and anthropology of Argentina and beyond. They had a lot of really incredible exhibits featuring objects from all different cultures and locations. We saw a Buddhist altar that had absolutely stunning metal and wood work. One of my other favorite exhibits was the room with two dancing costumes worn during catholic celebrations by the aboriginal people of Argentina. They were wing like shapes covered in intricate silver plating. During the day when these celebrations would be held, you wouldn’t be able to make out the shapes on the silver wings because of how brightly the sun would reflect off of them. I also really enjoyed seeing all of the textile pieces they had throughout the museum. It’s amazing how intricate people could weave tapestries and clothing with very basic tools. There was also a loom from hundreds of years ago which was showing the process of weaving such a piece. After our second museum of the day, we headed to a dinner with two Pitt alumni who are living in Argentina now. It was really great to get to talk to them and hear about their experience with Pitt and the Argentine healthcare system. They were both very high level physicians in the country, and I’m very grateful we got the opportunity to meet them. And with that we finished up our second to last full day!