Buenos Aires dates back to 1526 when Spanish explorers landed here when navigating the River Plata from the South Atlantic Ocean. By 1776, this city became the capital of the new Viceroyalty of the River Plata. Today the sprawling city is full of modern day skyscrapers mixed with impressive colonial buildings from the past. Outside the city limits, you will find prairies and fertile valleys still run by gauchos, or the Argentinian cowboys that ride in the pampas.
Since these ports have come so close together, we have not had the time to catch up on the port talks to pass on the current statistics on the city. All we can add is that this is a massive city, and as in all cities of this size, there will be crowds and traffic. Extremely difficult to be able to see even a fraction of the sites in one day. Usually we have two days here, but we guess it did not work into the planning.
Most of the tours we took over the years are still being done. The ship's excursions included site-seeing in the heart of the city, visits to museums, theaters, and a famous cemetery. One special tour took folks to see a private tango show with or without lunch. We did a dinner show the last time we visited here, and is was thrilling. A few out of town excursions took the folks to see the gauchos with lunch, or go horseback riding with a lunch. Wonder if anyone did that last one?
Our day began with a load of well-wishing cards from wonderful friends onboard for the one of us that happens to have a birthday today. The card from the Captain even contained a chocolate candy bar. Then at breakfast, a package awaited with a most special card from Susie and Woody. Susie is an artist, and paints with water colors. The card she created was a colorful zebra, which took hours to paint for sure. Knowing that I love the silky tunics, they gifted me one from Brazil. How sweet. And a wonderful way to start the day. All of the waiters we know and Asep came over to wish the birthday girl a special day.
So, we have never had the chance to go off on our own to explore. Making it easier, but mandatory, everyone had to take a transfer shuttle to the port gate. From there, we boarded very nice buses took the passengers to Florida Street and Plaza San Martin. Calle Florida is an elegant pedestrian shopping street. The bus dropped us off near the Plaza, then we walked down to the beginning of the pedestrian-only avenue, which was lined with all types of shops….expensive and affordable. Right in the middle of this avenue was the fairly new Galerias Pacifico, a three level indoor mall with high end boutiques and shops. And nice restrooms. Besides walking past the shops, we did use the restrooms.
Not really shopping for anything, we did come across a mini-mall, and for no good reason, walked down one side. There were a series of tiny shops selling souvenir-type items like we saw being sold in the cruise terminal. One shop by the name of Oriana & Madison Co. was selling very nice clothing that included suede cloth. The poncho-style jackets were designed with famous paintings on the front such as Rembrandt, Dali, Monet, and even a young American lady. The prices ranged from 2500 to 4000 Argentinian pesos. But when converted to the US dollars, which they did accept, the vendor used 70 to the 1 US dollar. Our port card had listed the exchange at 59 to the dollar. So this was even better, with the one we chose by the American artist costing about $32. Good deal and a perfect birthday gift. The next shop was selling leather purses of all sizes and colors, so we did buy two of the smaller ones that will match recent purchases, including this one.
The time was zooming by too fast and we knew if we wanted to find a place for lunch, we needed to move on. The shuttle buses were running every half hour from the port to the mall and back again. So by the time we got there, we missed the bus by 2 minutes. Which was good, because that gave us a chance to stroll Plaza San Martin right across the street. In the center of this spacious elevated square is the statue of Argentina's national hero and liberator, General San Martin on horseback. This forested knoll was once used as a bullring, but is surrounded by giant architectural buildings today. The shade created by the massive old growth trees provides much needed shade in this jungle of concrete.
Back to the coach, we went back to the cruise terminal, arriving about 1:40pm. Earlier, we had been handed two vouchers for free beers at one of our favorite restaurants, the Hard Rock Café. We were surprised to see a kiosk set up in the terminal selling their t-shirts and souvenirs. There was one located in the Recoleta district, and also a newer one a bit closer in the Puerto Madero area. The vendor indicated that the walk to the Puerto Madero area was 10 minutes. So we chose to walk there. He was off by 30 minutes, as it took more like 40 minutes to find it.
We never felt it was dangerous to walk in this area, since we were passing a well- guarded port area, as well as a military complex. Thank goodness for a detailed map, we found the right streets that took us to this really nice area of the river channels. Now all we had to do was locate this café among the dozens that lined the estuary. We had already crossed over the bridge that led to the opposite side of the water, before we realized we needed to go back. But suddenly bells began ringing, and we noticed that the side street was blocked like on a railroad crossing. The bridge was in the process of swinging in order to let a fishing boat go out to the river. Fun to watch, but we did lose 15 minutes waiting for the bridge to go back.
OK, we were on the right track, but could not spot the Hard Rock signage on the series of restaurants. Walking down the street, one of us spotted a young lady carrying a bag from the Hard Rock, so we asked her where it was. She laughed and indicated it was 1/2 block up the street. We thanked her and found it… good thing, we did need to re-hydrate soon, since it was plenty hot outside today. Those beers were sounding better by the minute.
Seated immediately, we ordered a bacon cheeseburger to share, and two local draft beers. Both really good, and not very expensive. They were happy to take credit cards or cash, which included the US dollars. Using the credit card will more than likely get us the best rate, and it worked. Then we paid a visit to their Rock Shop, choosing two t-shirts. But the same card would not clear. They tried it twice, but no luck. Guess we attempted the purchase too close together, and the company takes the precaution of a temporary block. The vendor said this was happening all day in the restaurant and store. Not wanting to wait, we paid in US dollars. And pricing on their city t's had to be the least we have paid compared to ones we bought in Oslo or Copenhagen, for instance.
All aboard was 5:30pm, and now it was after 4pm. Thinking the last bus back to the pier was 4pm, we walked back to the dock. Why is it that the distance seemed half as long when we hiked back? The only bothersome element with this walk was the heat. Once we cleared the metal fencing along the road, the breeze helped to cool us off.
Back at the cruise terminal, people were shopping big time now. By the way, today is the end and beginning of another segment, so many guests knew from experience, that they could purchase one bottle of wine to bring onboard without paying the corkage fee. While checking the extensive stock, we could not help but hear one lady asking fellow guests if they would carry one bottle onboard for her. Must have been the $10 price for each bottle quite tempting to break the rules. Don't know if she was successful. Of course, we checked out the leather purses, to find they were much more expensive here.
The shuttle back through the dock area was jammed full of guests, who were happy to be back onboard, as were we. There was no organized sail away today, mostly because it would have interfered with dinner time in both the dining room and the Lido. After 6pm, many people still came outside to watch us back up, flip around, and head out into the murky river. Sure reminded us of being on the Amazon River. We will go back down this river to Montevideo, Uruguay, our port for tomorrow.
Dinner for us was in the Pinnacle Grill, our first visit there on this cruise. Most of the wait staff was still there from the Tales of the South Pacific, with the exception of the manager and wine steward. Tina is back, replacing Arlin, and Oliver came back as the wine steward. The waiters remembered exactly what we had ordered on the previous trip, and brought us the same this time. The wedge salads have been reduced in size, but served on a much smaller plate. This s a good thing, because this particular salad can double as an entrée. We always add the clothesline bacon, served right on our salad plates. So tasty, but filling. Our entrees were one 7 ounce filet, and one serving of the halibut. This time the fish was cooked perfectly, moist and tasty. The steak was as tender as always, but a bit overdone. Better than too rare. Desserts of key lime pie, smooth as silk, and one scoop of Cherry Garcia ice cream finished our excellent meal.
We worked on photos and reports until late. Also, we had asked for a better TV, since our old one was really getting bad. It seems that there has been a problem with the signal, and everyone's sets were flipping. According to Henk, some parts should be delivered tomorrow to fix the problem. Better news, is that all of the TV's will be replaced during the upcoming dry dock in May. That will be most welcomed.
Bill & Mary Ann
