Buenos Aires, Argentina

We arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina at 6:30 a.m under sunny 70 degrees skies.

Buenos Aires is just southwest across the Rio de la Plata from Montevideo.  The difference in cities is quite stark.  Buenos Aires is a very cosmopolitan city with sweeping boulevards, public artwork on display, lots of pretty belle epoch style buildings and the birthplace of the legendary Evita Peron.

We had booked a ship shore excursion and were required to meet at 8:00 a.m. in the main theater of the ship.  The port authorities required us to take a port bus transport from the ship to the port terminal where we then could board our tour buses.  This slowed our getting off the ship quite a bit but by 9:00 a.m. we were underway to La Recoleta Cemetery.

Recoleta Cemetery is the last resting place for many of Buenos Aires’ most influential people, including Evita Peron.  There are 6,400 Neoclassical, Neo gothic, Art Nuevo and Art Deco-style mausoleums laid out like a city with street names and a town center.  There is a lovely park area leading up to the cemetery’s entrance.  It is quite a sight seeing so many large, I guess you could call them “homes”, grave plots still well maintained.  Evita is buried in the Duarte’s plot, her father’s name.  We spent about 45 minutes here and it is really all you need unless you enjoy reading the names on the gravesides.

Next up was a drive around Plaza de Mayo, where Buenos Aires began.  Near the plaza is Casa Rosado (the Pink House) which is where the office of the president of the republic is located.  It’s odd color came from mixing beef fat, blood and lime.  Yuck!  The center of the plaza is used for protests, the current one being the fact that the government is refusing to pay for the healthcare of the soldiers who fought for the country during the Falkland Islands war.

We then went to La Boca for a walk around the colorful buildings.  Immigrants supposedly lived in this area and used paint leftovers to paint their homes.  This created a multi-hued decoration style since there never was enough paint of the same color to finish a house.  Nowadays, the area is basically a tourist trap and I wouldn’t suggest wasting your time going there unless it is already part of a tour package.  The weather was so nice and there was a slight breeze off the river, walking around the tourist shops was enjoyable.

We then were taken to a lunch with a tango show.  The restaurant sat a few hundred people at long tables radiating out from the stage.  The performance was terrific.  There were five musicians and six tango dancers along with a few singers and a mandolin soloist.  They performed for about 90 minutes showcasing all the various styles of the tango.  The only ridiculous thing was when they finished the show with “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”.  I think the entire room groaned but did give the performers a standing ovation.

We were skeptical that lunch would be any good.  It turned out to be fantastic.  We both had appetizers of empanadas followed by two huge NY strip steaks.  They were pouring a Malbac and left a bottle for every two people.  I noticed on other tables that if you wanted more wine, they gave you another bottle.  Desert was served and then it was time to leave.  We were all very happy.

Once outside, we discovered our bus had broken down but a replacement bus was there in a matter of minutes.  The tour company offered to drop us off at a shopping street (Florida Street) but all of us had too much wine and needed a nap back onboard.

Our sailaway was beautiful.  Since we were on a river, there is not a lot of water depth underneath the ship.  We very slowly pushed ourselves sideways into the center of the port channel before backing out of the channel.  This process took over an hour and we came closer than I’ve ever seen to other cruise ships docked alongside the pier.

Good night!