Buenos Aires, Argentina
Someone suggested last night that we aim for a get-up time of 8am. I happened to be awake and up by then but it was almost another hour before everyone rolled out of bed. That’s ok. Nowhere we had to be and we did spend the previous night on the plane.......
It was a beautiful sunny and hot day in BA. Minus 30 in Calgary last week seems a long time ago! Three of us spent the day touring and the other two spent the day wandering. Seems they found a great art museum where they spent quite a while. Joan, Jill and I did another free walking tour in the morning and joined a bus tour in the afternoon. Both were pretty long tours so it was after 6 by the time we got back to the hostel.
The walking tour included: Teatro Colon, Plaza Lavalle, Avenida 9 de Julio, Plaza San Martin, Retiro, Torre Monumental, Avenida Alvear, Plaza Francia, Iglesia del Pilar, Cementerio de la Recoleta. It ended at the Recoleta cemetery where all the famous folks from the history of BA are entombed. I’m not really sure what the proper terminology is, as it is unlike any cemetery I have ever seen before. Established in 1822, the cemetery is jam-packed with elaborate crypts and mausoleums. The last stop was to see the final resting place of Eva Perón, who is still revered in the country even 68 years after her death. BBC has an interesting article on-line from 2012 entitled "The 20-year odyssey of Eva Peron's body." A worthwhile read. The walking tour guide was again very good and he took the opportunity to educate us on both Argentinian history and current affairs.
The bus tour lasted over 3 hours and covered many different neighbourhoods throughout the city. Very interesting! Some of the neighbourhoods were: La Boca, San Telmo, Puerto Madero, Palermo and Montserrat.
There are so many parks and green spaces. Very beautiful! One type of tree in particular caught everyone’s interest. It’s huge! A quick google search tells me that it is a rubber tree (gomero in Spanish). We’ve seen many throughout the city but google tells me that this one near the cemetery measures 20 metres high by 50 metres around.
Out for dinner (the portions are huge!), then back to repack for a flight to Iguazu tomorrow.
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