Welcome to Argentina!

After a week of cold weather and snowing, Blacksburg started to look like spring the Saturday before Spring Break. It was sad leaving the beautiful weather of Virginia Tech but worth it knowing that in less than 20 hours we would be in Argentina. We flew out of Roanoke to a layover in Dulles before arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Sunday morning. Our group was welcomed by open arms by the Hillel in Argentina. They drove us to Belgrano, the barrio where would be staying for the week.


We dropped off our bags at the Cristal Palace, our hotel for the week, and took us to the Hillel House, a local hangout with Jewish people in the area.


We met the groups from University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and Kenyon College, and headed to Recoleta, an open air market in the middle of the city. It felt like the entire town of Buenos Aires was celebrating their Sunday off from work. People filled the field listening to musicians, shopping in the flea market, watching Capoeira (a Brazilian street fight-dance), and laughing at the street performers. With the help of a local Argentine friend we met at the Hillel House, I bought a leather passport case and a container for drinking matea, the local tea that everyone in Argentina socially drinks.

The architecture of the area was beautiful and the history was rich. We browsed through a collection of above-ground graves, including the famous Evita whose grave was lined with flowers for National Women’s Day.

After a full day of shopping, we took the bus to Palermo, a local collection of bars, stores and restaurants. We shopped, drank water and ate some empanadas. We ended our day with falafel at the Hillel House and a full night’s sleep at the Cristal Palace.

Alex Weaver