A couple months worth of Fiestas and P-day trips around town

We have way more things to post than I have time to write about.  I thought I would fill this post with the pictures of some of the things we have done on our preparation days (Saturday is our P-day here since we all work in an South America South Area office).

Looking out for the balcony
of Casa Rosada

Casa Rosada - the upper center
balcony is where I took the next pic

Back in September we went on a tour of the Argentine president’s Casa Rosada (Rose House) equivalent to the White House.  They start you out in a hall of famous socialists of the Americas.  We did stand on the balcony that Eva and Juan Peron stood after their political victory. 

Our guide explaining some of the rooms

A mural of Gaucho life

News conference room

This is a room where they make official news declarations.  There is a picture of Eva on the wall.  There were a lot of elaborately decorated rooms, murals, and photos of famous people and events of Argentina. but this will give you a taste of their casa rosada.

The bricked areas are now below ground
level.  And you can see rooms on
the left ans what were rooms on the right

 Afterwards we went to their bicentennial museum 1810- 2010.  It was very well done.  It was originally built in the late 1700 on a point out into the ocean as a fort then used as an embarkation in 1835 for immigrants and customs.   The surrounding land was built up and later the top levels were torn down.  The area became a major port of Buenos Aires.  In the 1970’s during a military coup, the rooms were used to imprison the people that supported Peronismo and socialism and many were tortured and killed.

Argentina has had bad luck with government leadership.  Peron stole all of the countries gold reserve when he was forced out.  The military ruled with an iron fist. And what was supposed to be one of the top 5 economies in the world is still a third world country and still sucked dry with government graft.

Here we are part of history
Painting of the Perons and the original dress

As part of their bicentennial, they excavated it and used the original walls (that are now below ground level) to design a very impressive museum.  It is a series of part of the original rooms and in each depicts a different epic or ruler of Argentina in a multimedia display.  The center is open with clear glass flooring in sections so you can see some of the old building below.  They have the famous painting of the Perons and the dress that Eva wore at their inauguration ball and for the painting. 

Here we are by the statue of
San Martin (the George
Washington of Argentina)
in the plaza in front of the
Casa Rosada

One of the few cars designed in Europe but built here

For the last “P” day in September we went with 6 other senior couples to what is called Fiesta de las Colectividades. It was a party celebrating immigrants with 60 booths from many countries that had traditional dance acts and delicious food; we tried food from 5 different countries and watched several dance routines from both Argentina and other countries.

many kinds of meet
cooked many kinds of ways

Mom finally gets her German braut with sourkraut 

Some happy cooks

Some Argentine gaucho dancers

This little girl was one serious
Entertainer-see here in the next
two pictures

Here she is with her brother in the final part of their dance

Here is the four kids together

here she is posing with another group

Two cooks from Cuba with the dancers representing Arabia

Joan was impressed with the colors in this
Lady's cloths and booth

Chinese dragon dancers

The last event was called the "Mataderos" or the Butchers.  It was in the part of the town where all the animals were brought to be slaughtered and has since been converted into a regular fiesta where people come to dance the traditional dances and eat asado (Argentine BBQ).  We went there on Oct 14 and really liked a couple of the traditional dances.  I was impressed with one called the panuelo or handkerchief.

The Butchers fair

Joan and Sister Knapp with a Gaucho

Boleadores and other tourist keepsakes 

Bro and Sister Carelson, the US embassy doctor

You would think that all we do is go to fairs and museums but pictures of Joan and I sitting at our desks for 10 hours a day working on computers is not very photogenic.