Today after a long 48 hours of on and off travel, we finally arrived in Buenos Aires (BA), Argentina. My first impressions immediately after we left the airport were the horse farms alongside the highway, how different the car brands are from the US (a lot of Volkswagen electric trucks and something called Peugeot??), and so many apartment buildings. This is different from the US, especially my area outside of Philadelphia,  there are homes in the suburban parts of the city outskirts and I did not really get that feeling driving into BA. Also, oftentimes there are BMWs, Hondas, Fords etc. which I saw none of in this area.

We started the day on the airport as of 11pm Saturday. From 11pm-9am ET, we were in the air. Once we landed 10am Buenos Aires time, retrieved our bags and met up with the Laura and Ileana from IES Abroad team, then headed off to our hotel. Once we put our bag in our room, we had the IES welcome Churrasco lunch which took place looking over Avenida 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world). We had plenty of meat and veggies along with dulce de leche ice cream desserts. Then later we had some down time to shower and unpack, then the rest of the evening was spent exploring Buenos Aires. Some key sights seen were The Casa Rosada, the Obelisk, and much more of the Retiro area we are staying in. We ended up eating at Guerrin, which is a famous delicious pizza place. We ended the night having a blog-writing-party and are all looking forward to a more comfortable and restful sleep as compared to last nights plane sleep to prepare for the long day ahead tomorrow.

And of course, I cannot forget that today is Mothers Day. Each time I saw a cool new cultural aspect of Argentina, I wished my mom was in South America, not the US, now with me to experiencing it. Happy Mothers Day mom, along with all the other mothers in my life!!