Julie Nagler – Argentina & Uruguay – Jewish Excursion
As usual, it’s been a whirlwind of a few days it is absolutely loco to think that this is our last official week in Argentina! The dialogue is flying by at an incomprehensible rate, and the thought of saying goodbye is bittersweet. On one hand, it feels like we have finally gotten our bearings in Buenos Aires and made it our home so the abrupt departure is difficult to contemplate. I will miss my daily walks through the plaza San Martín and down la Calle Florida to the Galería Pacífico, a gorgeous mall and cultural center where our classes our held. I’ll also miss Dos Escudos, the cafe that became my second home (specifically their medialunas), and my host mother and her delicious dinners. On the other hand, I am thrilled to be so close to embarking on the next segment of our adventure in Uruguay.
One thing I wanted to make sure I did before leaving Argentina was go on my own mini-excursion to explore the Jewish parts of the city. The country sports one of the biggest Jewish populations in the world but the real hot spot for Jews is a neighborhood called Once. To get there, I left my apartment in Retiro and walked for about a half hour down Corrientes, one of the main streets of Buenos Aires that in certain parts has a lively New-York-City ambiance. After walking for a bit, it became obvious that there was a shift in demographics — there was suddenly a plethora of yarmulkes, tallitot, synagogues and many other scatterings of indicators of a Jewish area. At some points, it was difficult to tell if I was still in Buenos Aires or if I had teleported to Brookline, Massachusetts. I stopped specifically to look at Gran Templo Paseo, one of the oldest synagogues in Argentina that sports gorgeous exterior architecture. I then made my way over to the Pasteur Amia subte stop. If you’re wondering why I prioritized visiting a train station, as you probably should be, it is because the entire station is actually a memorial that commemorates the victims of the AMIA bombing, an attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina that occurred in 1994. Albeit a bit difficult, the station was a beautiful tribute to such a tragic event. To lighten the mood a little bit, I lastly stopped at Taam Tov, a Jewish bakery and a chocolateria that sold creamy milk chocolate in the shape of Stars of David. The calories don’t count if I’m simply exploring my culture, right?
We spent the last full day doing a scavenger hunt that forced us to explore random sights of the city that we hadn’t had a chance to see yet. Our group definitely moved at a leisurely pace, but we still managed to pass la Avenida de Julio, the widest avenue in the world,, walk down la Avenida Santa Fe, a huge shopping street which is the equivalent of New York City’s fifth Avenue, pop into el Ateneo, an enormous cafe/bookstore that was converted from a theater, and finish off the day at La Biela, one of the city’s best cafes that I have been eager to try. It was a great way to spend our last day in Argentina and it definitely reinforced my confidence that this won’t be my last time here.
