February 21

February 17, 2009

Buenos Aires, Argentina

It has just surprised us that every port we have been to so far has a skyline similar to New York’s in the early 1900s with 29 low skyscrapers. Buenos Aires is Spanish for “fair winds” and is now our favorite city! It is so nice for us to be back to a country that speaks Spanish so we can talk to the people! It was difficult communicating in Brazil – not many people spoke English. Buenos Aires has a European feel with gorgeous architecture, beautiful parks everywhere, extremely clean and very few homeless in the city center. The most amazing thing is the people….very nice looking and they stand in straight lines for everything unlike the Brazilians or Mexicans who are comfortable with chaos. It was funny, while we were in Brazil the people always talked about what snobs the Argentineans are but we found them very friendly and helpful.

Looking at the map places looked very close so Bob & LuAnn and Bobby and I decided we could walk everywhere, we meandered through a neighborhood with several Embassies and the Presidential Palace (they really knew how to live in the early 1900s!). We walked up Avenue 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world (11 lanes each way!) and enjoyed checking out the wonderful shops. The people in Argentina drink a tea out of a gourd called mate. They fill the gourd (which is about 8 oz) half way with the tea leaves, then fill it will hot water, let it steep and then drink it through a silver straw that has a strainer on the end. When you are about half way done, you put in more hot water from your thermos. Everyone has their own gourd and in the morning you see everyone drinking this. Of course, LuAnn and I had to have one so we were on a quest to find one at a good price.

In the center of the Avenue 9 de Julio is an Obelisk, similar to the Washington Monument – so we felt right at home. We met a tour guide in the morning who recommended a restaurant where the locals eat. By the time we arrived we were extremely hot and tired so it felt great to just sit down. Bob got a big beer but water cost the same as wine so that’s what LuAnn and I ordered and Bobby got his standard Coke. The main item on any Argentinean menu is steak because it is said they have the best in the world. Bob is a vegetarian – he hasn’t had meat in 10 years so LuAnn asked him what he was going to eat and he said “steak” which just shocked all of us! Each couple shared a tenderloin, which was plenty. We agreed it was the BEST steak we had ever had!

Cabs are so cheep here; we took several and at the end of two days paid about $10 a person. After lunch we took a cab to La Recoleta Cemetery. Not only is Evita Peron buried there, but the ornate mausoleums of the rich and famous that line the labyrinth of the walkways provide a unique historical glimpse into the wealth and opulence that was once Argentina. Buenos Aires is divided into 47 distinct neighborhoods or barrios. La Recoleta is reminiscent of Paris with fashionable shops, wide avenues and sidewalk cafes. We walked to their library and then to the Museum of Decorative Arts that is housed in a beautiful mansion from 1857. We decided to take a cab back to the ship since the afternoons seem to be really hot and steamy!

Today the guests who were only taking the first leg of the cruise departed and new guests arrived. We noticed there are quite a few more children. We requested and were able to keep our same table for dinner. We think we have the best waitress on the ship. She is from Thailand, remembers everything and is always laughing. Since many of the guests were going to a Dinner & Tango Show they had open seating in the dining room. We had totally different servers so this made us really appreciate Chutima and her assistant Jerome! After dinner, we went to the show and were thrilled to find out the entertainment was a local dancing family – Mom, Dad, 3 boys and 3 girls from about mid teen to late 20s. They performed folkloric dances in beautiful costumes. One of the brothers & sisters was the 5x national tango champions for the country – they blew us away with their dance!

From Buenos Aires, Argentina 1

February 18, 2009

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We are so fortunate to be able to spend two days here – we could spend a month; in fact, we just might come back and rent an apartment and motorcycle and see what we’ve missed! We got off at 8:45 and took a cab to Plaza Congreso, where the magnificently imposing Congress building is located. We arrived before it opened so we went to an Internet café to kill time. I was thrilled because I could now take some time to put my photos in my blog. On the ship it is about $ .40 a minute yet here it is about $ .30 an hour! Unfortunately, the photos on our flash drive came up as numbers and Bobby wasn’t quite sure what to do so we just stuck them in. Later I’ll try to fix it so you know what you are looking at. So, right now good luck trying to figure out which of the preious blogs they are from….sorry! We went to the Congreso and found out they didn’t give tours today – DARN! We decided to ride their Metro on the A line which is the oldest with wooden cars dating back to 1913 – that was really neat! We rode it to Plaza de Mayo to see Casa Rosada where Evita and President Juan Peron gave their famous speeches from its balcony. We also went to the Cathedral that is on another corner and the Town Hall on another.

We took another cab to the colorful barrio of La Boca to Caminito Street that is famous for its brightly colored buildings, street fair atmosphere, outdoor cafes, vendors, shops, tango dancing and music in the streets. LuAnn and I found the deal of the century here and bought a mate (gourd with silver trim), silver straw and a good size bag of tea for $3! We can’t wait to try it!

LuAnn was kicked out of the gym on the ship because she didn’t have “proper” tennis shoes so we decided to take a cab to the most exclusive mall in town, Galerias Pacifico. We all had an excellent lunch in the food court and she was able to find bright orange Keds that look great on her feet – mission accomplished! It was now time to head back to the ship. We walked down Florida Street checking out all the wonderful shops, through a park with lots of dog walkers, lovers and people enjoying the day to the port. Another incredible day!!!

From Buenos Aires, Argentina 2

February 19, 2009

Montevideo, Uruguay

Another beautiful city! Montevideo is the capital of the country and called the “Switzerland of South America.” It is considered by many to be the most beautiful city on the continent. They have an excellent standard of living; considered to be the highest in South America. They have a high literacy rate and low crime rate (they seem to go hand in hand). The four of us took a cab to the Gaucho Museum in the old city and were pleasantly surprised to learn museums are free! The gaucho Museum had and excellent mate exhibit. After seeing that we noticed everyone was drinking out of them....shopkeepers, police (who were on just about every corner) and people on the street. Mate is an herbal tea


We loved Montevideo!!! Very walkable and very affordable. The guys split off from us at the Theater since they wanted to check out stores and LuAnn and I wanted to see all the museums. Most were located in beautiful, old mansions.

For lunch we had to have this great looking quiche but we were disappointed to find that the Mercado del Puerto which was recommended for lunch only had grills and lots and lots of meat. As we were standing on a corner a local woman who spoke English asked if we needed directions to the downtown. We explained that we were looking for quiche and she said we could follow her daughter to the cafe. The daughter was 12 and named Sophie. We zigged and zagged through the city and found the best quiche ever and it cost $1.36 US a slice. Quite a change from th $9 lunches in Buenos Aires. Turns out after all that zigging and zagging we were back where we started our day.

We found Montevideo to be unlike any of the travel documents we read. They said there wasn't anything special to see. We found it would be a great two or three day stay.

Since we were not returning to Uruguay we needed to get rid of our pesos. We decided on buying local wine. That was a lot harder than we first thought. We only had $6.00 and wine was between $2 and $20 per bottle. The young man helping us obviously thought we could afford more. We finally showed him all the money we had and ended up with 2 bottles of wine and one 1.5 liter soda.

From Montevideo, Uruguay