A Private Tour of the Casa Rosada

Last Sunday, a few days before leaving for the US, I was giving a friend of mine from Brazil a tour of San Telmo. On the way back to catch the subte, we stopped briefly at the Casa Rosada so he could take a few photos. In case you haven't read my past postings, the Casa Rosada is Argentina's White House and is the building in which the President has her official office (the Presidential residence is actually located in Olivos - outside of Capital Federal).

Well, as we got closer to the Casa Rosada to get some photos of the exterior, the guard at the front accidentally mistook us for a group of VIPs who were getting a private tour of the interior of the building and we were shuffled inside. After passing through the metal detectors, we joined the small group and were escorted throughout the different public rooms. We were even allowed to stand in the balcony where Eva Peron often addressed hundreds of thousands of citizens and (more famously for those in the USA) where Madonna performed "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina."

In one of the photos above, I'm standing on that same balcony. Other photos above include the room where treaties are signed with foreign governments and the staircase leading up to the 2nd floor of the spectacular edifice.

I have no idea how we were able to join up with this private group, but it was certainly good luck that we did. I was told later that week that the Casa Rosada has been closed to the public for many months due to reconstruction/renovations in preparation for Argentina's bi-centennial on May 25, 2010 and, that even when parts of the building were open to the public, only photos of the courtyard were allowed. Go figure!