By jtmanley
The 25th of May is probably the most important date in Argentine calendar. On May 25, 1810, the citizens of Buenos Aires expelled the Viceroy of the Río de la Plata (roughly modern-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay), Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, established the Primera Junta government, and began the Argentine War of Independence. For 203 years, Argentines have gathered to celebrate this seminal event in world history. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people took to the Plaza de Mayo, the place where all those events occurred, to celebrate "Argentina, the Fatherland, Liberty, and Equality."
Because I go to school a few blocks away from the Plaza de Mayo, I had the opportunity to see the day-to-day transformation of the national landmark in the weeks leading up to the main event. Gardeners tended to the lawns. Construction crews created a wall of metal pipes in front of the Buenos Aires Cathedral (I thought that the Cathedral was undergoing external renovations, not being prepared to show around two dozen political banners). The Casa Rosada needed to be blocked off to build a stage large enough hold the 30 plus musical performances. After finishing classes for the day on May 24, I said to myself, "They're probably working overtime because it still doesn't look ready. It would be a shame if they can't complete everything in time." But to my surprise, everything was in place when I got to the Plaza de Mayo around 4 p.m. the next day.
When I arrived at the Plaza, it was filled to capacity. Street vendors were selling everything from t-shirts to hamburgers to political merchandise. In terms of socio-economic status, there was a nice variety of people. After feeling my way through the crowd, I found a good spot and was glad to hear that I had not missed President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner' speech. As an international affairs student who loves Latin America a little too much, I knew I had to check that off my to-do list. Cristina (as she is called by her supporters) spoke for an hour, but I definitely lost track of time. I hung onto every word that came out of her mouth (directly enrolling at UCA through GW Argentina has definitely improved my Spanish proficiency) and was moved by how thousands of people stood in silence to listen to their head of state. That sense of unity was so impressive to me. Young and old, rich and poor, college educated and non-college educated gathered in one place in remembrance and celebration for the future.
After Cristina ended her speech, an amazing fireworks display topped things off. I decided to leave the Plaza after the speech because I did not want to stay there for another five hours of musical performances. Now one would think that the closest form of public transportation would be open whenever a huge mass of people need to leave one spot. That did not happen last night. The Catedral stop on the Subte's D line was closed, so I had to find my way, sans map, to Avenida Corrientes to take the B line to the Carlos Gardel stop. After getting of at Gardel, which is located right next to the Abasto mall I wrote about a few months ago, I had a straight shot to my apartment on Avenida Córdoba. It was a little bit of extra work, but it was a fun way to end a night that I can call another highlight of my time here in Buenos Aires.