Laserenisima la verdad lactea

Today we started off at the Yamaha factory and then ended up at the Laserenisima plant. It was an interesting day getting the chance to see how dirt bikes were assembled and then learning all about the biggest dairy company in Argentina.

This is the Oldest dairy plant at 87 years old in Argentina.

At the plant they purify millions of gallons of milk a day and also produce cheese, powdered milk, and yogurt. This company is very successful due to their quality of milk that has given them 70% of Argentina's milk industry. Professor Srdan was telling Griffin and I that the company is probably worth well over 400 million dollars. 

This is an example of how there facility and equipment resemble the high quality of products that they produce and export around the world. 

Antonino Mastellone and his wife are the founders of Laserenisima.

Our tour guide was very nice and funny. He made the tour lively and took away from the exhaustion everyone was feeling from the heat. He also was very welcoming and showed the quality of the company by how personable he was. At the end of the tour he brought us to the cafeteria in the plant and let us experience first hand exactly how delicious their products were. 

We were all enjoying fresh chocolate milk, cheese, and yogurt. 

The trucks that transport all of the dairy products to the supermarkets in Argentina. 

Group photo. 

Estancia

İBEUNOS DIAS BUENOS AIRES!

Today we started off the day a little shaken up, but recovered quickly after eating breakfast and hydrating. On the way to our destination for the day, we stopped in a small souvenir store for a few minutes. It was here that we discovered a parrot, so the day was apt to be a good one! Everyone made their way around the store, purchasing many interesting items to show their love for the local culture, and to bring some of it home to friends and family. 

After this, we continued on our adventure to the traditional Argentine Estancia, “Santa Susana.” As we arrived we were greeted with open arms, empanadas, and plenty of beverages. From there, we were given the choice to ride horses or ride with friends in the back of a carriage being pulled by two horses, who were under the control of the one and only Cirilo. 

After both riding the horses and sitting in the carriage, we all took a break for lunch where we enjoyed many different types of salads, meats, and beverages.

Steve Hannigan said that he enjoyed all the food, including the chorizo sausage!

As we finished up our lunch, we remained in our seats and were entertained by both music and traditional dancing performed by Santa Susana’s finest.

Casa Rosada and Plaza de Mayo

   Plaza de Mayo

           Casa Rosada      

      
In the city games, which my team (Los Ganadores) won, one of the places we visited was the Plaza de Mayo. In the Plaza de Mayo, there stands a stratue with the date of May 10, 1810. This marks the day of the May Revolution in Buenos Aires which started its path toward becoming a country. It started the route towards independence. Also in the Plaza de Mayo is the Casa Rosada. This house is the office and mansion of the President of Argentina. The reason for the house being pink is that it was painted a combination of white and red to combine the colors of the two governement parties in the country and defuse the tensions between the two. In order to get the pink color, it was painted with cow blood.

San Martin's Mausoleum and Recoleta Cemetery

  La Recoleta Cemetery      

       Evita Peron's Tomb

    La Recoleta Cemetery

       

 San Martin's Mausoleum

Another destination on our city game trip was the La Recoleta Cemetery. This cemetery houses 4,691 graves of the dead. One of the most significant of these deceased people is Eva "Evita" Peron. Eva Peron was one of the former Presidents of Argentina. Near La Recoleta Cemetery is San Martin's Mausoleum. This is the memorial grave for Jose de San Martin. San Martin was the general ho led the independence charge back in the early 1800's. The Mausoleum is located in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral. There are guards at certain spots around the cathedral and they change everyday at 2 pm and 5 pm.

The Metallic Flower at the United Nations Square and Graffiti Bridge near by

Metallic Flower at the United Nations Square

Metallic Flower at the United Nations Square

Graffiti bridge near United Nations Square

The last place we visited for the games (after 10 miles of walking) was the United Nations Square. On our trek over to see the Metallic Flower, we crossed a cool bridge with graffiti on it that we all took interest in. The Metallic Flower is molded in a metal with an element that is so light sensitive that it opens and closes as the day goes on. When the flower is most open, or at full bloom, is at midday when the sun is highest in the sky.

The Beginning of an Adventure - El Comienzo de una Aventura

Time for a flashback:

All forty of us students and four faculty members got off the plane in Buenos Aires early Sunday morning and headed for the Meliá Hotel downtown. I was thinking to myself that Buenos Aires smelled particularly poorly, especially having caught unpleasant whiffs from the airport all the way to the orientation room in the hotel. But then it struck me that the forty-four of us were the ones who passed our expiration dates a little bit after all those hours travelling. We were all tired and simply wanted to clean up and nap until we had dinner in the evening. I know all I really wanted to do was to shower and sleep. That was it! Luckily enough for us though, immediately after orientation at around 10:00 AM we were deemed fit and safe enough to go around all of Buenos Aires and compete in a scavenger hunt. 

We were grouped into teams of six and given a stipend of 500 Argentinian pesos ($41.67 at the rate the hotel provides us). My team was Chelsea, Marta, Morgan, Jon, Kevin, and myself. Strongly desiring to just shower and sleep, we headed off anyway onto what became not only the first adventure of many, but a stellar time too.

One of our many stops was the Obelisco (Obelisk). We were tasked with taking a selfie with the monument. Constructed in 1936, it was built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the foundation of the city of Buenos Aires. It is placed in the center of Avenida 9 de Julio which is the widest avenue in the world, consisting of up to 7 lanes in each direction flanked on the outsides by parallel streets of 2 lanes each. 

Avenida and the Obelisk
http://www.buenosaires.travel/avenida-9-de-julio/

Our most costly stop was at the Café Tortoni where we spent four hundred of our five hundred pesos. Stepping inside was like being whisked into the past. The location that it sits at at present was constructed in 1880. There is beautiful wood walls and columns and marble all around. It even appears that they host shows as there were small theaters and other rooms down corridors and behind velvet curtains. At the advice of our Spanish-speaking group member Marta we ordered a sort of hot cocoa that was rich and delicious and similar to nothing I had ever had before, combing hints of coffee, what we know as hot chocolate, and the richness of a hot fudge. Served with freshly baked croissants, there was hardly a peep at the table as we were all in awe with this simple Argentine snack. 

Los Ganadores at Café Tortoni

Entrance to Tortoni

Jon and I are here in our room about to go out to dinner tonight writing about this day because our team, fittingly, Los Ganadores (The Winners) won the "city game" out of all the groups. I was really pleased with the whole experience and look forward to maybe (probably) seeing Chelsea and Morgan tasked with writing about the Chilean city game after we bring home that trophy too. 

Congratulations to us! (Courtesy of Sofia)

In the moment we were mostly happy that we did not clean up prior to the game because it began to rain and ultimately we stayed feeling rather icky, but more generally, looking back on the experience I had a great time with Chelsea, Marta, Morgan, Jon, and Kevin and I firmly believe that the best way for us to have seen and become familiar with Buenos Aires was exactly how we were commissioned to go about it, effectively a free-for-all. The city became our oyster, and we found many pearls.