I made friends with such a great girl during my first days in Buenos Aires – Bex from the UK. We hit it off and together we had several adventures in Buenos Aires. We decided to go on a city tour, but Argentinian strikes decided otherwise. Me, Bex and a guy who also became one of my Buenos Aires besties – Adam – had to run around town trying to get a bus to take us where the tour began as the subway was closed. We managed to make it in just the nick of time for the free city tour. The tour was fun, interesting and so eye-opening.
ARGENTINIAN FIRST LADIES
One recurring theme was the role of Argentinian first ladies. Of course the most famous first lady of Argentina will always be Eva Peron (Evita) made more famous in pop culture by Madonna’s depiction of her in the musical “Evita.” Who can forget passionately singing along to “Don’t cry for me Argentina” as a child despite not really knowing much about why this song evoked so much emotion even continents away? I am guilty as chargedJ. I will write a whole section on Evita, but for now let’s focus on the fact that Argentina’s current President – Christina Kirchner – is the wife of the previous president – Nestor Kirchner. Yes, mull on that for a few minutes. It’s pretty cool that Argentina has a female president and sort of bizarre that prior to that she was the first lady. Ok, we are on the same page? Guess what, she is not the first female President of Argentina. Uh huh, and the other previous president was also the wife of a previous president…..yep, you see the pattern? Argentina’s first female President was Isabel Peron – the third wife of former President Juan Peron. This is the same Juan Peron whose second wife was the legendary Evita Peron – undoubtedly the most famous and most loved Argentinian. My advice to any Argentinian woman who wants to become the President, would be to marry a future President….tricky to predict which of the thousands of politicians could be head of state in the future, but you might end up betting on the right horse – hee heee!]
PINK HOUSE
One of our first stops during the trip was the Pink House – the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. It’s best known for the balcony where Evita gave her speeches to the people of Argentina even when she was close to dying. It gets it’s pink color from the cow’s blood that was initially mixed with paint to prevent the building exterior from being affected by humidity. Yep, you heard me right – cow’s blood.
More to follow in the next blog post
