San Telmo

Today was dedicated to acquainting ourselves with San Telmo, Buenos Aires' oldest barrio (neighborhood).

We started off at El Pasaje de la Defensa. This is a mansion owned by the Ezeiza family (who the airport is named after!) that has since been turned into a gallery of antique shops. Seeing it made it interesting to imagine a ton of families living in these rooms years ago, especially since it's still a pretty livable place. The sinks still work, the tiles are beautiful, and each section of the mansion is based around one of three courtyards--named Plaza del Arbol, Plaza del Ezeiza, and Plaza del Tiempo. Definitely a historical site to see in Buenos Aires!

The mansion

Me, Elizabeth and Stacey on the second floor

Iglesia de Belen

After some market shopping, Stacey and I used a guidebook to find all the notable places on a walking tour of San Telmo. This huge church makes San Telmo stand out from a distance, and was just as gorgeous on the inside.

Museo Penitenciario

When Stacey and I saw that a penitentiary museum exists, we immediately found directions and headed there. Stacey can now tell all of her criminal friends at her internship (she's making a documentary about a group of criminals that leave jail to take acting classes) that she saw this place! We walked in to see this, an old penitentiary/jailhouse:

It was founded and named after Antonia Ballvé, who had a mission to collect, preserve and study the heritage of penitentiary activity.

Here Stacey and I pose in one of the preserved cells.

Actual equipment used to institutionalize people.

This museum was so cool because not only was it free, but it was like nothing I've seen in the United States. Each room was themed and unique with its own objects and equipment, going from things confiscated from criminals, jars of drugs used in institutionalization and psychiatric centers, books and more.

Parque Lezama

This park is said to be the place that Pedro Mendoza first set foot on to declare the city of Buenos Aires his. At the edge of San Telmo close to Río de la Plata, the park oversees a lot of Buenos Aires and is a popular hang out spot for mate-drinkers and Argentina citizens everywhere. Below is a statue of him at the entrance of the park.

Pedro Mendoza

Other sites we conquered include:

• El Almacen Viejo, a popular tango cafe in Buenos Aires
• Casa Mínima, the smallest house in a line of mansions on Paseo San Lorenzo in San Telmo. It's only 2.5 meters wide!
• Although we didn't take a tour, we stopped by the El Zanjón de Granados, underground tunnels of Buenos Aires. So much history in San Telmo.
• The market of course!

To kick off the week, Jordin, Stacey and I got some red meat for dinner at a nearby restaurant called Duero. Yay for affordable steak with sides and capuccino ice cream for dessert...without even having to walk that far!

And now for my loyal readers...some funny quotes to start the week.

• "So the criminals kept asking me questions about the judicial system in the US…and I like, didn’t have answers.” –Stacey, 6-9
• "Guys it was family day at work! Everyone and their mother and their kids were there. I had to give so many kisses/besitos!" -Elizabeth, 6-10
• “Everything we’ve done outdoes the last crazy thing that we did.” –Stacey, 6-12
• “Patagonia has volcanoes. In Buenos Aires we have… strikes." -Carolina, our trip advisor
• "Just take a nap and then drink some mate!" -Jordin, on instructing us how to stay awake and caffeinated