Dec 31 - Jan 1

January 1, 2014

Happy New Year from Buenos Aires!!!

We had a long day of travel to get down here but we made it. The brisk early morning in Sioux Falls was a nice send off, and then we had a very long layover in Atlanta that gave us plenty of opportunity to people watch, which can be pretty interesting when you are in the international concourse. Yes, it is still possible to see ladies with pink sponge curlers walking around...who knew?! Then we boarded our flight to Buenos Aires and found we each got plenty of room to spread out in a fairly empty plane, unfortunately first class wasn't empty, so no upgrades. We landed in Buenos Aires and made it through immigration and customs in record time. Then we were able to meet up with Alejandro (our tour guide), Miguel (our bus driver), and we have even picked up a Jackrabbit Ty that will be with us most of the trip.

We were able to take a driving tour around the city and grab some pictures in front of the Club Ateltico River Plate stadium. This is one of the largest and most powerful soccer teams in Argentina, and Alejandro's team! Then we were off to the hotel to get checked in a gain some much needed showers.

In the afternoon we were took a bus tour with stops as some of the most famous places in Buenos Aires. Our hotel is on the 9th of July Avenue, which is named for the independence date of Argentina and is the widest roads in the world. One thing we noticed is that the traffic was very light today because many people were home late from New Year's parties and almost all of the businesses were closed. It made a really busy street look pretty quite.

Our first stop was at the Cathedral of the Buenos Aires which was built in 1826. It is a magnificent building with beautiful art and architecture throughout. We also visited the main square which is in front of the "Pink House" which serves as the business office of the president. It is pink because when it was built there were 2 political parties, one used red and the other used white as their colors. The president at the time wanted to show unity so the colors were combined and they ended up with a pink building.

Then we were off to the harbor area that is where many of the immigrants used to arrive. It is also the home to many tango houses and several shop that made for good souvenir buying. Finally, we stopped at one of the oldest and most famous cemeteries in Argentina, founded in 1822. Here families build crypt that house many members of the family underground. When walking around it looks like a small city, but each crypt is very specific to the family it represents.

We have been having a great time promoting the ReFrame campaign of the SDSU study abroad office. You will see several of our pictures include the ReFrame theme.

Our last event of the day was getting dinner at a soccer themed restaurant. Ty and Alejandro helped to pick out some very traditional pizzas, and we were all very impressed with the cuisine. We are turning in now after a long day and a half of travel and will be off for more tours in the morning. Hope everyone is staying warm at home and keep watching our progress. Good night, and again, Happy New Year!

Stacy M. Scramlin