Chapter 17: Disaster

After Jiang Jianlong returned to his room, he reorganized the path of tomorrow's tour, and then he took the map of his mobile phone and looked at the travel itinerary to Tierra del Fuego the day after tomorrow, and fell asleep after making detailed planning arrangements.

The next day, they got up, had breakfast in the hotel, and then each of them carried a duffel bag and set off for the planned travel plan.

They first followed the map of Buenos Aires to find a double-decker tour bus, and after getting on the double-decker tour bus, the first tourist destination they arrived reached was the Palermo district.

Palermo is home to high-end boutiques, bustling cafes and bars, cobbled streets, and art galleries, where Li and Jiang Jianlong walked and took pictures of each other. Li Suyun feels that this place is very suitable for taking a slow stroll.

They then went to the Museum of Latin American Art, a library with a curated collection of more than 200 drawings, paintings, sculptures and objects by 78 artists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Although the entrance fee is 100 pesos, once they enter, it feels well worth the visit.

Later, they came to the Athenian Bookstore, when Li Suyun and Jiang Jianlong first came to the Athenian Bookstore, they felt that this door was very ordinary, but when they walked in, it suddenly opened up, the lights inside were bright, and the layout was exquisite, Li Suyun sighed: "This is clearly a luxurious and elegant theater." Later, through further understanding, they found out that it was true.

The Athenian Bookstore was built as an opera house in 1919 and was converted into a bookstore in the 21st century, but the style of the opera house has been preserved. The stage in the theater is still there, but now it has become a bar, where people read books and drink cocktails. The audience seats have also been removed, all are bookshelves, the box seats have become a place to read, Greek-style marble beams and columns, beautifully carved, the dome murals present a classical style, after understanding them to know, this is the famous Italian painter Sana Reno Orlandi painted, the god of peace in the middle holds an olive branch, the dove flying among the clouds, the lion lying on the ground calmly, the surrounding people lay down their arms to pray for peace, a peaceful atmosphere. This makes the environment of the bookstore seem quiet and beautiful. In their impression, Argentines worship football and tango, that is, they are passionate and rough, but with such respect for knowledge and such an elegant cultural life environment, Li Suyun and Jiang Jianlong really feel it for the first time.

Spanning a century, the bookstore has grown from an abandoned theater to a bookstore, and is now a bookstore, café, and art center. It's a big turnaround.

They then went to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the third largest theater in the world, after the Metropolitan in New York and Lascara in Milan, which was designed according to the traditional architectural forms of European theaters such as the 19th-century Paris Opera and the Vienna State Opera, with a strong European classical theater style. There is both the Italian architectural style of the Renaissance, the grandeur and solidity of German architecture and the graceful generosity of French architecture.

When Li Suyun and Jiang Jianlong arrived at the interior of the theater, they found that the interior decoration was quite luxurious. After visiting the inside, they learned that in the old days, the locals were more discriminatory against widowed women and considered them to be ominous people. Therefore, although they are not opposed to entering the theater, they cannot sit in the formal audience, let alone enter the box. So underneath the bottom of the box, there is also a row of lattice huts, which are specially reserved for widows. In addition to the main hall, there are several small performance halls that can be used for small performances and conferences. When they arrived in the corridor, they found many sculptures of musicians and artists on both sides of the corridor, and after introduction, they learned that two of them had a bad relationship during their lifetime and often exchanged favors. As a result, here, it is deliberately arranged to face to face, glaring angrily every day.

The underground of the theater is even more unique. There are four floors of underground studios, and the materials required for the performance of the repertoire, from the stage backdrop, pavilions, to the costumes, shoes, hats, and accessories, are all handmade here and preserved for a long time, making it a complete stage art museum. There are more than 90,000 sets of costumes and more than 40,000 pairs of shoes and boots, including animal skins and beggar's costumes of primitive people to keep out the cold, knights' armor, missionary black robes and noble lady's dresses, etc., and there are archives that record the age of use, the repertoire performed, and the names of the people and actors in the play. Therefore, many art groups will come here to rent costumes and props when rehearsing a certain play, and they can borrow them all at once. It is worth mentioning that there is also a pair of colorful ancient Chinese boots, which were worn by Li Shaochun, a famous Peking Opera actor who played the "Monkey King", when the Chinese Peking Opera Troupe visited Argentina in 1956. When Li Suyun and Jiang Jianlong saw this, they couldn't help but feel a little overjoyed.

When they walked out of the Cologne Theater after visiting these destinations in the morning, it was already noon, and they were already feeling a little hungry, although they had planned to enjoy their food at noon, but they couldn't find a random place to eat on the main road, so they walked around and came to a small café, where they randomly ordered a cup of yerba mate and some local snacks. When they finished paying, they found a table and sat down,

When yerba mate was served, there was a filter straw on the cup, and Li Suyun took a sip with the straw in his mouth, feeling an indescribable taste. She didn't like the taste, so she took two sips and didn't smoke again. On the contrary, Jiang Jianlong loves this weird taste very much, eating dim sum and drinking such yerba mate at the same time, and there is an indescribable pleasure in his heart.

After their meal, they once again took a double-decker tour bus to the Bishopric of Buenos Aires, the largest and oldest church in the Argentine capital, where the mausoleum of General José de San Martín, the national hero of Argentina and the liberator of South America, is buried. The cathedral is typical of ancient Roman style, with 12 tall Roman columns adorned by an isosceles triangle at an acute angle of 15 degrees, a herringbone ridge formed by the triangle, and biblical stories carved into the triangular walls. The whole church building is quaint and magnificent. Walk up the steps to the front porch of the church, where there is a monument to General San Martín, where the torch was lit in 1950 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of San Martín, which also symbolizes the flame of the Argentine Freedom Stand, known as the "Argentine Flame". Underneath the flame is written in Spanish "Aquíestán los restos del General San Martín y de otros héroes desconocidos de la guerra por la independencia.¡Salúdenlos a todos!" Translated into Chinese, it reads, "Here are the remains of General St. Martin and other unsung heroes of the War of Independence." Hats off to them! ”

Walking into the church, Jiang Jianlong was shocked by the splendid dome of the church and the tall and gorgeous decoration of the columns. Overhead is the tall and majestic dome of the main hall, giving it a solemn feel, and underfoot is a mosaic floor with a long history but still clear and intact. The central aisle and dome of the church have been preserved from the 18th century, as well as the neoclassical interior of the 19th century. At the end of the central walkway is the altar of the sermon, with statues of angels carved on the walls on either side of the altar, as well as two pipe organs. Behind the altar is a resplendent 18th-century statue. Jiang Jianlong and Li Suyun were originally non-religious, but when they came to such a sacred place, coupled with physical illness, they naturally developed a kind of religious mentality of fearing God and expecting God's mercy and blessing. But all this was temporary, and when they left the church, they found that neither their bodies nor anything in this world had changed.