¡Feliz Día de la Independencia, Argentina!

IMG_2555The 9th July 2016 marks the 200th anniversary of Argentine independence from Spanish rule. Monday through to Sunday is a public holiday and yesterday we wandered about the city centre and saw some of the preparations for the day itself.

 

The roads were closed off in the city centre and we couldn’t resist following the example of the locals and taking a tacky sitting in the middle of the road photograph. The road is aptly named 9th July Avenue and is the largest avenue in the world; it’s not every day such a large road is fully closed off.

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One thing that I still can’t get over is that the new 50 Pesos banknote features the Falkland Islands (known in Argentina as the Malvinas.) Given that the islanders themselves voted overwhelmingly to remain a British territory (a grand total of three people voted to join with Argentina) it is cheeky for Argentina to use land they technically don’t own on their notes. However, I wasn’t even alive in the 80s and don’t really know much about the conflict, perhaps I’m passing judgement too quickly.

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Unfortunately we didn’t see much of the festivities themselves because we spent much of the day up in the air flying to Santiago, Chile. Other than the insufferably chirpy pre-recorded English announcements, our flight with the rhythmically named Aerolineas Argentinas was pleasant and involved free sandwiches, which is always good.

My next update will come from Santiago!

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One thought on “¡Feliz Día de la Independencia, Argentina!

  1. Thankyou for that information Erin, it is great you all are able to visit all those countries and see all the different cultures and enjoy yourselves as well having fun!!!
    Talk to you soon!!
    Lv Anne x

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