Buenos Aires, La Recoleta Cemetery

H. and I visited the most famous tourist attraction in Buenos Aires, the La Recoleta Cemetery. It is located in the Recoleta neighbourhood, and contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Peron, Presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, the founder of the Argentine Navy, and a granddaughter of Napoleon. It has been often hailed as one of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries. It is chockablock full of magnificent statuary, and equally jammed with tourists. 

It takes hours of walking and quite a few miles to see it all.

Buenos Aires, Walking Round The City

H. and I did a lot of waking today. Took the subway to plaza de Mayo to see the big church, which was impressive. We then walked down to the harbor, up one side and down the other, looking for a good eatery for lunch. The place we selected didn’t live up to our hopes, but then did serve a decent beef carpaccio, and the shrimp I had weren’t too bad. There were two tall ships moored at the harbor. Those old sailing ships still hold a certain fascination in my heart. From the wharf we walked all the way back to our room, stopping along the way for ice cream. The day was cooler with a nice breeze so walking wasn’t as bad as yesterday. Still, we had to stay out of the direct sun as much as possible.

Florida Street, where all the money changers hang out.

A portrait of Evita Peron on the far building.

I would love to cross an ocean on a ship like this.

Buenos Aires, The Malba Museum

Didn’t do much today. Woke late, had breakfast in the room, and hit the streets by 10am.  We planned to see the cemetery, and the Modern Museum. The day was already extremely hot and muggy, so we walked by the cemetery but didn’t go in because it was already packed with tourists and offered little or no shade. We continued walking to the museum, which didn’t open until noon. We waited thirty minutes before it opened. By then H. was suffering stomach cramps and diarrhea. Funny thing, this was the first time this trip that my gut felt fine, but now H. was suffering.

The art exhibit was wonderful, particularly the creative work of Pablo Suarez. The other exhibits of the Malba were also good. We walked back to our room, and were soaking with sweat by the time we crawled into a cold shower and then a long nap to recover from the heat. 

El Calafate Day 1 part 2

We then hiked to the lake and a boat took us to the glacier. While gazing up at the seventy-meter-high ice cliffs, (2,100 feet) I enjoyed a glass of 12-yr-old scotch chilled by 400-yr-old ice. Yes, we got close enough to an iceberg to chip off some ice for our drinks. 

Luckily the sun came out and the temps rose for our tour of the glaciers. What can I say about that amazing wall of ice? Magnificent. Stunning. Awe inspiring. All that and more. We were up close and saw ice chunks much bigger than our house break off. The calving was spectacular. Each one sounded like a cannon going off. 

This picture was taken from several miles away. To give some perspective, that little speck of a boat down there holds two to three hundred people. 

One of the most striking features of the ice fields is the lovely blue color of the ice. Apparently the ice sheets absorb the sun’s rays and only refract the blue light waves. It’s amazingly beautiful.

El Calafate Day 1. part one

One of the best days of our trip so far. An okay breakfast followed by being picked up at 9am by a driver and guide. We were to have a private tour, unlike the hordes of other tourists sandwiched in big vans and buses. We first drove to a private ranch where we witnessed a sheep shearing. Very interesting. The ranch was once a huge sheep spread, but now only maintain enough sheep to do a brisk tourist trade.

We were then treated to a lunch of grilled lamb (killed on the ranch) and a whole bottle of lovely Malbec wine. A fantastic meal, and the lamb was some of the best tasting meat I’ve ever had. Of course, true to form, I got drunk on the wine and paid for it that night—sleepless with much tossing and turning.