Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1921-11-24
BUENOS AYRES
IS DISCUSSED
IN GOOD PAPER
LEAGUE MEMBERS HEARD OF
FIRST IMPRESSIONS THAT
CITY MADE
Mrs. Rodriguez Told
OF Her Home city

ing here with her parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. Simon Messenger, at the last
meeting Of the Civic Improvement
eague, read the following paper on
her impressions Of Buenos Aires,
which will probably prove Of interest
to readers of The Record:
my frst impression of Buenos
Aires was that it was very much like
any Of our large cities up here in the
States, but soon | discovered that
there were differences
There are no sky-scrapers in Bue-
nos Aires or for that matter in any
Of the South American countries. The
highest building in Buenos Aires is
l9 stories. The other so-called high
buildings are not as tall as this and
there are not great many Of those.
There are no great apartment or Of
flee buildings. The style Of archi-
ecture in the older portions of the
city is Spanish. These houses are
made Of brick, covered with cement
and built up to the street for the most
part. These all have the latticed
windows and through the open door
one sees the patio, kind Of corridor
which is turned into an inside garden
Of beautiful, well-kept plants and
flowers. In the larger homes these
patios take on vast proportions
containing fountains, statuary, great
palms, etc., and are very beautiful
Every home, il matters not how
humble ii may be, has its inside gar
den, and whenever possible its out.
side garden also. The roofs Of the
houses are all fat with a stone par
apet all around and many uses are
made Of them. Sometimes a small
laundry room is built in one corner
and the washing is done and the
clothes dried up here. Again it il
used for chicken or rabbit park
However, it is more often used as q
roof garden and many families enter.
tain on them in preference especial
ly during the very warm weather) tC
the garden or rooms below
There are more parks in Buenos
Aires than in any other city | have
ever visited and due to climatic condi
tions as well as careful cultivation
The tropical growth of trees, plants
shrubs, etc, takes on great beauty
Statuary is used to a great extent il
the parks as well as on Some of tn,
public buildings. Many Of these lat
ter are truly magnificent, as for in
stance the Teatro Colon, and hav,
justly attained worldwide notice
Some Of the boulevards also are yer,
beautiful. One of them in particular
being 900 feet wide and fringed OF
either side by the palaces Of men whc
have become wealthy principally b,
means Of their great "estancias" Of
farms.
ITO return to the parks: | wish
could present to you word pictur,
OF the beauty of these. Here on,
sees great eucalyptus, rubber, mag
nolia and every variety of palm tree
and our varieties of foliage and man!
Of our plants grow into much large
proportions there.
Il shall try to give you some littl
idea Of one Of the beauty spot of Bue
nos Aires. II is said to be one of tn
most beautiful and complete Of it
kind and covers great area of on
of the largest parks. 1t contains per
feet specimens Of every rose grown
The bushes and trees are planted Of
raised green grass plots separated b.
well-kept pathways on the edges o
which are placed benches. On on
plot Of triangular shape there will b
rose trees covered with. blossoms i
different shades, planted at the cor
ners and at regular intervals and be
tween these great pink roses of per
haps two, varieties will be interwove
and gatlanded from near the base O
one tree to another. In the very cen
ter Of this garden is great noun
completely covered with pansies i
every shade of violet and at the to
fountain Of artistic design. Agains
this background the roses make a pic
ture Of indescribable loveliness. Tn
garden Is bounded on two sides b
artificial lakes on which glide gor
! dolas as well as black and whit
swans and other water fowl. Step
from which the children feed thes
extend from different parts of tn
! garden down into the water"
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