We Explore the Big Apple

Since most of our group will only have two days in the huge city of Buenos Aires I looked for some way to give them the very best introduction to some of the unique sights and experiences this place has to offer. I finally came up with an all day sequence of activities that seemed to encompass the best aspects the "Big Apple".

At 9.00 am our group was gathered in the foyer waiting for our guide and bus to arrive. Fortunately we did not have to wait long before a young, blonde Argentinian girl walked in the door and introduced herself as Mercedes. "Just like the car", she added.

We climbed into a very comfortable bus and headed out into the streets of the city. Even though it was a Saturday morning, the traffic was very light and the driver had no trouble making his way from place to place. Over the next 4 hours we were able to experience a wonderful succession of fascinating locations.

The first of these places was the large manicured parkland, situated quite close to our hotel. Apparently it had been designed by a French architect and this certainly showed in the beautiful layout. Another nearby huge sculpture featured a huge stainless steel flower which apparently opens and closes its steel petals according to the amount of sunlight falling on it.

The next stop was the somewhat macabre Recoleta Cemetery. The most famous "resident" of this place is of course Evita Peron, however it is well worth visiting for its curiosity value alone. Over the course of over a century, the wealthy and powerful citizens of Buenos Aires had huge mausoleums constructed so that they could be buried in the style to which they had become accustomed during their lifetimes. Many of these structures are massive and even feature multiple levels and basements. The sad thing is that the process of decay is unstoppable and all of these tombs are steadily deteriorating and returning to dust and ashes. Some still contains the fragile remains of flowers that were placed there following the funeral, so many years previously.

Of course no visit to the Recoleta would be complete without visiting Evita's grave. Every day passionate admirers still adorn her mausoleum with fresh flowers and gifts. Considering she died over 60 years ago, this is quite incredible.

Unfortunately Evita was not the only dead item in this location. While taking my photos, the memory card in my camera also decided to die. Perhaps it was some sort of curse for poking my head through some of the broken doors to old graves, or maybe it was just bad luck, but the card just failed for no reason and, along with its demise, went all the pictures I had taken that morning. Fortunately I had backed up all the previous images the night before, or else I really would have been quite upset.

We then proceeded to visit the central plaza, featuring the Casa Rosada. This is the official office of the President of Argentina and was most famous as being the place that Evita addressed her adoring supporters from the balcony.

Also in this location was the main cathedral of Buenos Aires. We entered just as a mass was taking place. Somehow we seemed to take a wrong turn and sort of got involved in the liturgy, much to the chagrin of the organist and cantor. I had to admit I was more than a little embarrassed, although I did enjoy the amazing acoustics of the place. It took all of my self control not to break out into my famous Benedictine chant of "My Father can play dominoes better than your father".....

We slowly worked our way out of the city and finally ended up at the town of Tigre (tiger) situated some 35 km from the heart of the city. It was here that we climbed aboard a powerful cruiser and headed off through some of the myriad of channels that make up the river delta. The most amazing feature of this location is that around 4000 people have set up residence here. They have built a kind of hippy world of stilt houses and piers, all steadily sliding back into the mud of the delta. This was an entirely unexpected and fascinating insight int this alternative way of life.

After returning to our hotel for a rest and a change of clothes it was time for our entertainment for the evening. We had booked a dinner and tango show at the famous El Quarendi. According to my research this is one of the best tango shows in the city. Since I know nothing about the tango, I had no idea what to expect.

When we arrived at the sumptuous restaurant/theatre we were ushered to the very front table. That was a surprise since I thought we would be given the cheap seats. The waiters started serving various types of wine which was good for the drinkers in our group but not very exciting for me. Since I had idea about the food I decided to just accept the waiters suggestions for each course.

By 10 pm the final guests had arrived and the music started to begin the tango show. Over the next hour we were entertained with some extreme high speed tango dancing and brilliant music. Since I was at the front, there were times when I could feel the swish from those long fishnet stockinged legs, just a few cm from my face. It was certainly enough to make a simple guy feel all hot and bothered. It was soon clear that the real secret of the tango is that it is really all about sexual excitement and stimulation. Even though it was well past my normal bedtime, I managed to stay awake for the whole show.

When the show ended and my heartrate started to subside we were told that "our bus was waiting outside". We piled out into the cool night air and laughed about what we had just seen. It was a perfect beginning to our time in this captivating city.Read more