Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires City Tour. Hotel Loisuites Recoleta. Guide: Hector

Hector picked us up and we walked three blocks to the Recoleta Cemetery. Considered to be one of the most unusual cemeteries in the world, the site was declared the city’s first official public burial place in 1822. It is completely unlike a normal cemetery because the majority of the people are not buried in the ground, but in above ground in mausoleums. The tradition is to bury additional family members on top of the last body buried, normally 6 per unit.

Occupying 4 city blocks, or about 14 acres, it is located on a hill in the lovely neighborhood of Recoleta You almost need a map at the entrance because the cemetery contains no less than 6,400 mausoleums. Each one is unique, constructed in a wide assortment of architectural styles –there is everything from Greek temples to miniature Baroque cathedrals. We even saw one monument that had both a cross and a menorah. It is a showcase of the times when important and wealthy families built incredible “monuments “, in various styles depending on their religious beliefs or lifestyle. And one of the most famous Argentinians is, of course, Evita (Eva Peron). We took a picture of her monument.

After the cemetery tour we drove downtown, and Hector showed us the Plaza del Mayo. We needed some more Pesos, so Hector took us to a big bank, Santander, but once again, the machines were out of money, so we had to go to a different bank across the Plaza.

We visited the Cathedral de la Cuidad de Buenos Aires located overlooking the Plaza de Mayo. Built in 1580 the Cathedral has been destroyed, rebuilt and modified many times, the latest renovation being the Italian mosaic floor completed in 2010.

Inside the Cathedral, we saw a Mausoleum containing the remains of General José de San Martín which were brought from France in 1880. The black sarcophagus is guarded by three life-size female figures that represent Argentina, Chile and Peru, three of the regions freed by the General. The mausoleum also has the remains of Generals Juan Gregorio de las Heras and Tomás Guido, as well as those of the Unknown Soldier of the Independence. It was guarded by two military guards that remain on duty for two hours each. Just as we were leaving, we saw the actual changing of the guards. We then went to see the lovely pink Presidential Palace, Casa Rosada, at the end of the Plaza, built in 1882. It was from the balcony here that Juan and Eva Perón addressed their supporters through the years of 1940’s to 50’s. It was in 1951 that Eva famously addressed the throngs of impassioned supporters, packed into Plaza de Mayo, who wanted her to become their president.

Hector pointed out the white scarves painted on the Plaza walkway. He told us about the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a movement of Argentine mothers who campaigned for their children who had "disappeared" during the military dictatorship. They have been pursuing the government for answers since 1977. Every Thursday a group of women wearing white scarves parade around the Plaza.

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city with wide, tree lined streets. The population is 3mil. but including the surrounding areas it mushrooms to 16mil.The buildings are massive, mostly built in the Spanish colonial style. Many of the glorious old homes have become residences for various embassies. Argentina has free education including university plus free medical services.

The main street is named 9 de Julio Avenue, named after the date of Argentina’s independence July 9th, 1815. It is reputed to be the widest street in the world, at 110 metres wide with up to seven lanes in each direction. They stagger work hours each day to help with traffic.

After our city tour, Hector suggested we take about a 45-minute break where we could have lunch or take our own tour of La Boca, a neighbourhood known for its artists, colourful houses and bars. We grabbed some empanadas to save for later and chose to walk around the area. Lots of people posing for money to do the tango or pose with you for a photo opportunity. Some of the women were quite seductive and persistent. Lee saw some jewelry made from the national pink stone of Argentina, called Rhodochrosite, and bought two necklaces for Lilah and Callie.

We then headed for the starting point for our bus and boat tour of the Tigre Delta but realised that we had completely mixed up our starting point. Fortunately, the solution was a six-dollar taxicab ride back to the Hotel. It gave us plenty of time to be picked up to start our next tour. It was a very bumpy ride to where we would board the river boat. We stopped in the city of Martinez at the river where there were lots of people fishing. The next stop was in the City of Isidro, a very affluent suburb of Buenos Aires, at The Cathedral Isidro built in 1898.

Our guide said that the Tigre river was the widest in the world, but that depends on definitions. The Amazon is generally considered the widest. She also told us that the official National sport of Argentina was not football(soccer) as might be expected but rather Pato. It is a rather bizarre game as outlined below.

Pato is Spanish for “duck”, as early games used a live duck inside a basket. The playing field would often stretch the distance between neighboring estancias (ranches). The first team to reach its own casco (ranch house) with the duck would be declared the winner. It became a very violent game both for the duck and because of knife fights. In the 1930’s new rules were formed and in 1953 Juan Peron declared it Argentina’s national sport. Modern day Pato is played with two four-member teams riding on horses, they fight for possession of a ball which has six conveniently sized handles, and score by throwing the ball through a vertically positioned ring located atop 7.9 ft high pole. A closed net holds the ball after a goal is scored. The winner is the team with most goals scored after regulation time (six 8-minute "periods").Les mer