Day 22 - Around Buenos Aires

A sunny morning greeted us with the forecast high of 76 for today. We'd docked in Buenos Aires early.

Outside the port we connected with our tour guide for the walking tour we'd arranged. As we headed out by bus to pick up more people, our guide explained some things. The Argentine inflation rate last year was more than 450% (in Uruguay, it was 4.8%). She explained how it is hard to cope with such inflation - especially since the new government has frozen salaries. She, herself, is going to Uruguay next month to begin working for Hyatt Hotels. We picked up the rest of our group and went to the start of the walk - the La Boca neighborhood.

La Boca (the mouth) is the site of the first settlement in Buenos Aires. It's now a bohemian area with nearly all the houses planted with extensive, colorful street art. We walked through the barrio, past the stadium of Argentina's biggest soccer team, Boca Juniors, and into the the San Telmo neighborhood. This is one of the upscale areas and we stopped for a break. The houses are a mix of old (1880s) style and somewhat newer (1930s) style buildings built right next to each other. We had a Pesi and soda water at an old bar whose wood paneling was carved with patron's names and initials. We hadn't changed money but they were happy to take dollars - even eager. In the square where we stopped, a couple danced tangos for the crowd.

More walking past churches and hi-rises to Plaza de Mayo. It was here, in 1810, that the country declared its independence. The obelisk in the center commemorates the event. One one side stands the pink presidential building; on another corner stands the municipal cathedral (where Pope Francis worked before being raised). The Plaza is famous, also, for as the meeting place (every Thursday) of the Mothers of May. These are the mothers and grandmothers of some of the 30,000 people who "disappeared" under the last dictatorship.

We walked on to Plaza Liberador. Here, in a large green space, a grand statue honors the general who led the fight against the Spanish, Jose de San Martin. Down the hill from the statue is a memorial commemorating the fallen from the disastrous Falklands war - strategically placed opposite the British Tower. We caught a bus up Santa Fe street and got off to visit the famous bookstore, El Ateneo (Athens), housed in a former grand theater.

More walking (it was billed as a seven-hour tour) took us to the square in front of the Recoleta Cemetery. We had lunch in an open terrace. Gail was done with walking so, even though the tour was to take a guided tour of the Cemetery, we opted for a taxi ride back to the ship.

Since we were disembarking tomorrow, we packed our suitcases and overnight bags. Before going to the show, we set our suitcases out to be delivered to us at the terminal tomorrow. The show was four Gauchos performing percussion and dance with some whip cracking in between - not so impressive. We had our last dinner with our German table mates, Hans and Ottie, and exchanged contact information. Our California table mates didn't show, Silvia being still too fluish.

Tomorrow off the ship and to our apartment for seven days.Read more