Manzana de las Luces

We were collected promptly at 7am yesterday morning for our flight north from El Calafate to Buenos Aires. It was a lovely drive out to the airport and the signs were that the weather was set fair, for here at least. Small, but modern airport and we set off on time for the three hour flight.
Shortly after take off the cloud cover thickened and we saw nothing until close to BA where the rain was torrential. This will be a first for us on this trip. We were met at the airport by the local guide Julieta who remarkably had been our guide ten years ago on our previous visit to BA. Our hotel is in the Palermo district of the city and took about twenty minutes to get there through the pouring rain!
Very comfortable hotel with only about twenty rooms. First of all we had to find our waterproof clothes and go out to lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the hotel for the rain never stopped.
In the evening we had booked a dinner and tango evening which was excellent. We were driven to the other side of the city for dinner at 9:15 followed by a tango show at 10:30. Dinner was good, massive steaks as is so often the case in Argentina. The show chronicled the evolution of tango through the ages. There was a four piece band, piano, double bass, accordion and violin. We had seats on the front row so had an excellent view of the dancing and singing. The dancing was really good, dare I say it, better than Strictly!. The show finished shortly before midnight and we were met outside to return to our hotel.
We woke up this morning and were thankful that the rain had stopped. It was overcast but dry and about 16c.
We set off from the hotel to walk into the city centre. BA is a fascinating city. The architecture, boulevards and trees are not unlike Paris. It is a very busy and vibrant city. After about an hour’s walk we arrived in 9 Julio Avenue which is reputedly the widest boulevard in the world. In its centre there is a large obelisk and at the far end a skyscraper with a huge image of Eva Peron on it. Allegedly, last December, in celebration of Argentina winning the World Cup there were 5 million people in this boulevard.
From here we continued to walk down to Plaza de Mayo where the Pink Palace (Casa Rosada) home to the President is, together with the Cathedral, whose past Cardinal is the current Pope Francis.
Our guide had recommended a good coffee house called Ideal and it certainly was. It is reminiscent of Betty’s tearooms in Yorkshire. We had an excellent lunch here - empanadas and cake.
We then got a taxi back to Palermo and our hotel. It started to drizzle a bit so we stayed inside for a while until it cleared. We then went out again to explore Palermo which is very upmarket with boutiques, shops and restaurants.
BA like other South American cities does have its share of poverty and we have seen a number of instances around the city which is sad and quite upsetting.
We have another early start tomorrow as we leave BA to fly to Rio and Copacana Beach. Caipirinhas here we come.Les mer