Most of Sunday was taken up with travelling from Foz do Iguazu to Buenos Aires. This time we flew from the Iguassu Falls Airport in Argentina so that meant yet another tedious border crossing - and the Argentine customs also decided to x-ray our bags. Before we left Brazil we had the opportunity to do a bit of souvenir shopping at an artisan warehouse. Brazil seems to be big on precious stones which are indeed lovely and t shirts. Lunch at the airport and then our flight which arrived in Buenos Aires around 5 pm. We flew into the downtown airport and had a good view of the city - it is enormous! Not surprising as we found out from our local guide, Natalia, that 13 million people live in the greater Buenos Aires area - three million in the city centre. There are 45,000 taxis in BA! They are very inexpensive too. The airport is on the banks of the Rio de la Plata (River Plate) and it looks just like the ocean - you cannot see the other side. At certain points the river is 140 kilometres wide.
Our hotel is the Sheraton in the Retiro area near the port and we can walk to many shops, restaurants etc. from here. Most of the group followed Mauro's suggestion of having dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, Broccolinos - nothing to do with the vegetable, but named for Brooklyn in New York where many Italians settled. Forty percent of the Argentine population is of Italian descent. Natalia tells us that Argentinians are a lot of Italians who speak Spanish and think they are French! Certainly the architecture and boulevards of parts of the city are reminiscent of Paris. Dinner was ok - calamari entre and ravioli (enormous servings - two could share one meal and still not get through it all) but the wine was fantastic. An Argentine cabernet sauvignon - absolutely delicious.
Monday, 22 April, 2013
Our first day in Buenos Aires consisted of a city tour in the morning, a free afternoon and a dinner and tango show in the evening. We began our tour in the main square, Plaza de Mayo where the President's Pink Palace (Casa Rosada) is located, as well as the cathedral and a famous obelisk where the mothers of the missing children gather regularly to remind us of the atrocities that took place under the military junta. The balcony from which Eva Peron spoke to the people is on the front façade of the palace. Everywhere throughout this city are reminders of Evita.
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| Modern building features Eva Peron |
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| The Casa Rosada and Evita's balcony |
We visited the cathedral, where the new Pope was Archbishop, and saw the tomb of General San Martin who liberated Argentina from Spanish rule. He is a big hero here.
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| Buenos Aires Cathedral |
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| Plaza de Mayo Obelisk - site of protest and remembrance |
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| Rooftops of the Russian Orthodox Church |
Next stop, La Boca, home of the famous football club and of course Maradona who led Argentina to victory in the World Cup. Messi has a lot to live up to!
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| Maradona features prominently in La Boca |
La Boca (the mouth) is the area around the old port and was an immigrant and working class part of the city. Many of the houses are painted in bright colours and today it is home to a lot of artists. We were able to stroll around this colourful neighbourhood and see some artists at work. The tango is also an important part of life in this area.
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| La Boca |
Caminita - Little Street, La Boca |
| Carminita houses |
La Boca street café
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| One of the famous Havanna cafes that are found all over Buenos Aires |
We drove through a shanty town near La Boca and then to the north side of the city where there are beautiful parks, wide tree-lined boulevards and lovely belle epoch buildings which evoke a French ambience. Obviously this too is a city of contrasts, just as Rio is. Our next visit was to the cemetery in the area known as Recoleta. The cemetery is one of the finest examples of funerary architecture anywhere, so we were told, and I can quite believe it. Some of the family tombs are like small, elaborate houses. It is a private cemetery and most tombs are immaculately maintained by the families that own them. A few have fallen into disrepair because there is no longer anyone in the family to care for them. About thirty are maintained by the government because of their historical or architectural significance. Apart from the splendid architecture we of course came here to see the final resting place of Eva Duarte, the famous Evita, wife of former President Juan Peron, and a woman who has such an important place in the history of Argentina.
Brenda and I decided to walk back to our part of the city - a very pleasant stroll through the leafy streets with pretty shops and charming apartment buildings. We stopped for coffee at one of the many Havannas cafes -they are famous for their biscuits as well as coffee. Haven't had a bad coffee since arriving in South America. En route, we went into a tourist shop where Brenda had a lesson in brewing Yerba Mate - the local tea drink that is taken through a silver straw. She wants to take some home to her son. It is really popular here but looks disgusting - like sawdust. When we checked out the supermarket shelves we discovered an enormous range of options in Yerba Mate - fortunately the girl in the tourist shop had advised Brenda what to buy.
In the middle of the city is a huge boulevard, July 9 Avenue. Crossing over is quite hair-raising - 4 sets of lights to negotiate and there doesn't seem to be a speed limit for the traffic so it all hurtles by at high speed . There is no way to get right across in one change of lights, so pedestrians have to stop in the middle to wait for the next "Walk" - white man, not green man.
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| On half of 9 July Avenue |
Well we got to the other side and headed for Florida Street, a pedestrianized shopping paradise. Bought a couple of trinkets at a souvenir shop, checked out the very up-market Galerias Pacifica shopping centre - all the usual shops that one finds all over the world - all with nice hefty prices. Actually most things are quite cheap in Argentina when one has US or Australian dollar purchasing power. Our last stop on the way back to the hotel was the newly developed riverside area of Puerto Madero - old brick warehouses converted into loft-style apartments for yuppies (Natalia's description!). There is a pleasant riverside walk along each side with heaps of restaurants and cafes - a bit reminiscent of Darling Harbour but on a larger scale. Next to Puerto Madero is the ferry terminus and harbour with a quaint old lighthouse. Beyond this the Rio de la Plata stretches away to the far horizon. Home for a rest before a big night out.
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| Puerto Madero |
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| Old lighthouse at the entrance to the ferry port - Rio de la Plata beyond |
Our first treat was to have a tango lesson with two charming and good natured teachers. Lots of laughs and lots of fun as we all attempted to master the basic moves. Quite a bit of really good red wine helping us along here!
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| Tango lesson. Intense concentration required to master these moves! |
After that we sat down to a three course dinner - pretty good food it was too - and then the highlight, a two hour tango show. I cannot think of enough superlatives to describe the skill and artistry of the dancers and two singers who presented us with a night to remember. They were accompanied by a band of musicians who were equally talented and skilled. The girls were very beautiful and exquisitely dressed, the guys were very dapper and athletic and their dancing was mesmerising. Well as you can tell I loved it. Like all good South American nights out, this one finished very late - and another big day ahead.
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| Tango show - graceful, exciting and beautiful. |
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