Buenos Aires and Home
Arriving back in Ushuaia, we had the option of going directly to the airport to wait for more than five hours for our flight to Buenos Aires, or spend the time further exploring Ushuaia. We opted for the latter, as we really wanted to walk around and use our legs, since we had little exercise while cruising. We had a nice walking tour, spent time watching the boats in the harbor and again realized how fortunate we were to have traveled to Antarctica on a small ship, especially when seeing it next to the huge cruise ship at the dock. We stopped in a chocolate shop for hot chocolate and churros and gazed at the southern end of the Andes before preparing to leave that part of the world.
Arriving in Buenos Aires, we were greeted by a downpour making us appreciate how we blessed we had been with good weather throughout our trip up until that point. Our flight had been delayed more than an hour and we waited another hour for our luggage in a very gloomy, dark area of the airport -- a portend of things to come! Our guide who met us at the airport could only go halfway with us to our hotel, due to the flight delays so our driver alone took us to the small elegant hotel which was a renovated Victorian house in a fairly "bad section" of town. We were told that it was safe to walk around the area during the day but not at night.
Early the next morning we began a three hour city tour that was full of more information that we thought we could take in. Only later when we explored the city on our own, and went to a tango show, were we fully appreciative of all that information.
There were many interesting things to see in the main square of the city, including city office buildings, a cathedral, the palace and a large open area where there were various signs from political rallies and protests.
This is the balcony of the palace from which Eva Peron greeted her throngs of admirers. Years after her death(1952) there is still a segment of the population that remain fervent supporters of her legacy because of her social programs which aided the working and lower classes. We saw a monument to her in Ushuaia. Her reputation easily surpasses that of her husband, Juan, whose reign was cruel and repressive.
Later we would go to the Recoleta Cemetery to see where she is buried in a cement vault 27 feet below ground. (Her body was the object of rivalry between opposing political factions and was stolen and reburied on several occasions.) This cemetery contains more than 6000 mausoleums of the rich, powerful and famous of Argentina and is a popular tourist attraction. It was opened in 1822 and was always a prestigious location for the elite of society to be buried. Our guidebooks said that if someone wants a plot, assuming one is available, it would cost $20,000 a square meter.
This stenciled bandana in the square near the palace is a tribute to the "mothers of the missing", who silently demonstrate here. They are the mothers and grandmothers of young men and women who disappeared in the 1980's during a despotic military rule. A few still show up every Thursday, even though the military regime has been overthrown.
The streets of Buenos Aires are wide and all one-way, making it easy to cross the street when walking. The city boasts the widest street in the world and lovely spacious parks are scattered throughout the city. Here you see a woman sitting near three bottle trees.
We watched a father and two sons playing soccer in a small park and children feeding pigeons. We were entertained by street musicians and explored Florida Street, famous for leather goods, where we searched for our friend Claudio's leather store in order to meet his wife and look for a souvenir from Argentina. We had met Claudio on the Mare Australis, where he was third mate and we felt as if we had made a new friend shortly after meeting him. Since he lived in Buenos Aires he was enthusiastic about helping us decide where we might want to eat, shop and explore. His input was invaluable now that we were here.
We had heard about the Sunday market and were fortunate that it was only a few blocks from our hotel. There we saw all kinds of things for sale, including many antiques, artwork, and just about anything that you can think of. It went on for blocks and blocks and was crowded with shoppers and tourists. This is a booth that sold old phonographs and old, vinyl LP records.
Later we stopped for ice cream, for which Buenos Aires claims to be famous. We stopped in a neighborhood store and were delighted by the warm reception we got. The proprietor, with a wonderful, warm face, welcomed us and didn't even want us to pay him for our ice cream. While we sat in the shop enjoying our treat, three children came in and ordered a kilo of ice cream (that's how it was sold!) to take out. We wish we could have captured their vibrant faces and the owner's sweet kindness in filling their order. This is one of those moments that we will keep in our memories forever.
La Boca is the riverfront neighborhood where the tango originated among the houses of prostitution. La Boca is known for its colorful houses, its street performers, and artists. It was interesting to wander around for a little while and take in the ambience. However, we carefully avoided the raucous tango dancers who posed suggestively with tourists in order to sell pictures.
The La Boca is also the site of the stadium of Buenos Aires' most popular soccer team, the Boca Juniors. We passed the stadium on game day and people were lined up for blocks waiting to buy tickets. Later that day we happened to tune our TV to what we thought was a game. The narration was exciting and the shots of the crowd engrossing, but we kept waiting to see the action on the field. It never happened. Only views of the hyper fans and lots of talking by the commentator famous for announcing goals by shouting goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal! interminably. Never saw the game! Later we asked the desk clerk about it and he explained that the team had a contract with another station to show the game on Pay TV. What US television network would get off by doing the same thing with an NFL game?
Our last evening we attended a dinner and tango show. It was great. The talented dancers and tango singers gave an absorbing show tracing the beginning and development of the tango from its origin in the red light district to its refinement in France and its further development in Buenos Aires. It was a great finale for a great trip.
We must say that leaving Buenos Aires via the international airport was probably the hairiest airport travel experience we have had. In this city of 12 million, the airport is the size of one you might find in small cities in the US. It was jammed with people and and it was a bad sign when we were informed that they had no tickets for Marie, even though we had the e-ticket receipt in hand and the return flights had been reconfirmed. After that mess was taken care of, we had to proceed through five different lines including ticketing, airport tax, customs and several for security It was confusing, people weren't very nice and in fact some were downright nasty -- especially the customs agent that we had to deal with. Even though we had more than three hours to go through all this rigmarole we still were barely done in time to make the plane. We had been warned about all this by a traveling companion who had been there previously but we still weren't prepared for what we had to endure. We loved Buenos Aires and would have liked to spend more time there but when we left we vowed we would never go there again if we had to use that airport.
However, in almost any trip something isn't as a traveler would hope, and even this airport experience has "retell" value. So it hasn't left a bad taste in our mouths as we relive and process what was truly a journey of a lifetime!
Once again we want to thank Kontiki for putting this trip together for us and for their patience and support. After two aborted attempts we made it!! We look forward to working with Kontiki again on our next adventure.
Adios for now. Meet you next in Guatemala!
