A hope to sleep in late was dashed by the strip of sunlight that sneaked in between the curtains, but we were still able to take it slow this morning. Breakfast was a huge spread of pretty much anything sweet or savory one could want, which was quite a change from the rather spare morning meals we’d had on the road. We took our time, but had a plan for the day’s exploring, and set out around 10:30 for the Sunday market at San Telmo.
The streets were empty and quiet — Sunday morning in BA — as we made our way south to the famed marketplace that fills up the streets in the Monserrat section of the city. Just south of Plaza de Mayo we encountered the first stands along the street called Defensa.
At Plaza de Mayo is the Casa Rosado, the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. The legend says that Sarmiento who beautified the drab building with patios, gardens and wrought-iron grillwork, had the exterior painted pink reportedly in order to defuse political tensions by mixing the red and white colors of the country’s two opposing political parties: red was the color of the Federales, while white was the color of the Unitarians.An alternative explanation suggests that the original paint contained cow’s blood to prevent damage from the effects of humidity. Also on that Plaza is the Metropolitan Cathedral, the main Catholic Church of the city. It was not very imposing from the outside, but quite grand inside. The mausoleum of San Martin is in one of the side chapels, and guarded by cousins of those at Buckingham Palace!
Along the avenue Defensa were scores of booths selling everything from mate gourds to Star Wars t-shirts. Some of the items seemed to be hand made, but many seemed like something we’d seen in the previous block, and it was easy to think that many of these markets get their supplies from the same place. One difference were the antique markets/stalls that were interspersed along the street, again selling everything from silver to crystal to vinyl and old colorful soda bottles. We walked and walked and found a few little things to take home with us, and eventually decided to head back towards the hotel.
And then a text came in letting us know that Bob was in the hospital with a hernia! We went to the hotel and arranged access to their room to take some things to them at the hospital as they sorted out the next steps. Surgery? Katherine seemed in good spirits and with a positive attitude, but had to spend the entire day waiting for decisions about Bob’s care.
We headed to the National Museum of Bella Artes, not far from the Hospital, but far enough that the walking was taking a cumulative toll! The museum has a wonderful permanent collection of many Argentinian artists which help to tell the story of the history of Argentina. The rooms were organized by time period, so although many descriptions were in Spanish, it was possible to follow along and learn a bit about how art played a role in various political and social periods of this country. And there were two special exhibits — Rodin and Miró. So we were treated to some works that we hadn’t seen lately, if at all.
And then a long walk back to the hotel and some further feet resting. We’ve decided to call tonight a very early one, and with Bob and Katherine out of the picture we cancelled our Tango show reservations. The effect of all these days of short sleeps and long days has caught up, and we are happy to have a night of no big dinner or extensive chatting!
