Day 17 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Day 17. Sunday, December 7 – Exactly one year to the day that Todd proposed. The ship has docked in Buenos Aires while we were sleeping. We go to the dining room and stuff our faces with the free food for the last time so that we won’t have to worry about meals for the day. When we get to the theater to check on our status for checkout we are told that we can go right away. That sure beats sitting around. Once in the depot, we get our luggage and head for the exit. There are half a dozen doors leading outside but there is one that says “Taxis to local hotels” so we stand in line for that one. The price listed is $15 USD. While Denise stands in line, Todd heads all over the depot looking for a place to get some Argentine Pesos. We didn’t need them in Ushuaia and we were going to get some in Puerto Madryn after we were all done with the Chilean Pesos. There were no troubles getting Uruguayan Pesos quickly once we were in Punta del Este. We didn’t think it would be a problem to find and exchange location at the port. Well, think again! There was absolutely no place to do this. He asked everywhere; even the policemen. He ended up buying a small Diet Coke bottled for $3 with a $20 bill just to get pesos in change so that we could have at least something. After a little more waiting we make it to the front of the line and take the taxi ($20 after the mandatory $5 tip) to the Loi Suites Hotele in the Retiro district. We later find out that if we had just walked outside the port we could have taken a taxi for about $5 USD. Less than 10 minutes after getting in the room we get a phone call. It’s a man that Todd corresponded with while doing research for the trip. He makes us an “offer we can’t refuse”. Making a very long story shorter here – we end up in the front seat of a small car, Denise on Todd’s lap, with the man’s wife driving and the man and another couple from England in the back seat. We go on a whirlwind tour of the city where, because of being squished in the front seat, we don’t really see anything. Plus, with all the research Todd did, we already knew what was in this city and where it was. We are asked where we want to go for lunch. Todd says that we already ate on the ship, so just a nice salad would be great. Blah, blah, blah…. Todd’s egg salad consists entirely of hard boiled eggs and nothing else. Denise has a grilled vegetable plate. The other four have full meals with multiple deserts. Since we have no local currency we offer to put the tab on our credit card and take their cash. We pay more than 1/3 the total. Had our host actually acted like he wanted to talk with us or even cared we were there we would have offered to pay half of of their meals as well. But the other couple got virtually all of his attention. Once outside the restaurant our host, who seemingly couldn’t get rid of us soon enough, hails a taxi for us and we are on our way. Ready to finally start with the positive experiences in this city, we arrive in San Telmo, a district that is proud of its reputation as the guardian of the city’s traditions. When the city’s grand mansions were abandoned by their patrician owners after a yellow fever epidemic in 1871, they were converted into apartments for housing for immigrants. Every Sunday, this is the site of the San Telmo Feria; the Sunday fair. This place is bustling with character; cobblestone streets and street performers all around. This one café’s balcony looks very cozy doesn’t it? And there are people selling their handicrafts as well.
http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/argentina/buenos-aires/san-telmo-market
We bump into Al and Lori from San Francisco and walk with them for a while before saying goodbye.We walk a few blocks to catch a subway back to the hotel. Before going to the room we walk down the street and find a disco and go inside. This isn’t like the disco on the ship. This disco is actually a supermarket. We buy fruits, bread, lunch meat, water…etc. We go back to the hotel and take the scary ass elevator back up to the room. It jerks hard and heaves and groans wildly. Here is how it mismatches with our floor level. We enjoyed the rest of the evening alone until bedtime.

Day 18 - Recoleta District

Day 18. This is Monday,December 8, and there will be no heavy traffic or banks open today. It is a national holiday called Día de la Inmaculada Concepció, or Immaculate Conception day. The plan today is to go to explore the district of Recoleta- including the Recoleta Cemetery. In the early 1700’s this area was a perfect place for quiet recollection. This is where its name comes from. The cemetery is “a blend of architectural whimsy and a panorama of Argentine history.”
Here we find Evita.

It is seriously hot here today. Scalding hot! We find this humongous 200 year old tree.
We decide to have some soda and a snack at this world famous restaurant: La Biela:
http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/argentina/buenos-aires/la-biela
It is a little more expensive to order on the patio under the tree but it is gorgeous and peaceful here. You can’t quite see from any of the pictures but these branches are so enormous that each one requires a 8”X8” post to prop them up.
Because it is a national holiday, the Sunday fair at the Plaza Francia (the Recloeta Feria) is also going on today.

We walk along the path and peruse the vendor’s goods.
We end up buying
a necklace for Tim’s birthday before heading



back to the hotel. On the way back we take this photo through the gates of the Palacio San Martin. This is a national monument to the nation’s liberator. We stop at the disco for some dinner and bring it back to the room. We see our neighbors across the way enjoying a fireplace on their balcony. We enjoy our evening alone as we recoup from a long day of walking. What a beautiful city.

Day 19 - Palermo District

Day 19. Today is scheduled to be our hardest walking day of them all. We take the subway this morning to the Palermo district. This would also end up being our busiest picture taking day as well with an end total for the day being 222. We got off at the Plaza Italia and headed northeast. At one point we heard something in the tree overhead and looked up to see parrots.
They sure love their men on horses
here!
We come to this major

intersection and find this “Monument of the Spaniards” in the middle of the roundabout. It was a gift from the Spanish and is made of marble and bronze. The street

shooting off of this intersection is an 11 lane one way street. We take the underground crosswalk…
This passage is filled with really cool skateboard art:

And end up at a beautiful park. This guy can’t believe we’re here!The plant life is gorgeous here.

We find this graveyard for broken monuments – much like the land of misfit toys.

Nobody wants to play with a Charlie in the box! We make our way to the Japanese Gardens and end up taking pictures there for quite a while. Here’s a sampling that you can click on to get larger views:

Backtracking now, we come to rest at a bench across from the city’s zoo and take this one: And then we find a butterfly. And then the final destination of the district, the “Buenos Aires International Artisan’s Fair”.This comes only once a year for 2 weeks before Christmas and we hit it just right. Of everything handmade we have seen thus far, this is the highest quality merchandise. Really nice stuff. We take our time here and really soak it in. With Todd having been laid off, we certainly are not in a position to take advantage of this place, but we pick up some nice gifts with Paul’s graduation, birthdays and Christmas in mind, we are actually able to pick up some very nice items with a little more meaning, and save quite a bit. Plus, there are some at Denise’s office who helped out with formal clothing and luggage to thank. Here are the brothers and sisters to the keepsake box Paul gets for graduation.
And for Sean and Paul, this man...
plays the pan flutes that will be theirs.
Outside the entrance to the convention center is the Opera Pampa. It served as the parade grounds for the Sociedad Rural Argentina, an association of wealthy landowners from all over the country founded in 1866. During their annual meetings in Buenos Aires, they would parade their most prized animals, along with their gaucho workers, and compete for awards.
The subway is packed as tight as a trailer park tube top. We just eke in, grab a pole and breathe. When we get out we notice that it has started raining. It’s still warm though. We head to the disco for dinner again and pick up some local beer. It is very tasty and we thoroughly enjoy our beer night together. Outside there is a loud lightning storm as we drift off to sleep.