Hola amigos! We’re going back to Buenos Aires and taking our trip to Patagonia! This trip has been rescheduled twice since we returned on Mar. 13, 2020 when the world shut down but finally we are on our way. (See post https://retirementadventureblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/buenos-aires-the-end/). Our plan is to see a bit more of BA then continue further south to Ushuaia and onto the ship Australis for an adventure cruise around the straits of Magellan and Cape Horn. Continue reading and you’ll see what’s in store. (Hint: penguins!)
Three years have passed and we have returned to Buenos Aires. Our trip began from JFK on a direct flight to BA’s EZE airport (thanks again to Allen and Jeanette for parking privileges and to Greg for business class seats). After a 10 hour flight we arrived in sunny, warm BA and returned to the Hotel Emperador in Recoleta. We departed from here in 2020 and liked the location and their service enough to return. That first afternoon we headed out for a walk through the Recoleta neighborhood filled with city parks and monuments and then on to MALBA, the Latin American Art Museum. Our airport cab driver, Marcello, was excited about the Frida Kahlo exhibit so we went to check it out. Luckily it was open this day, Monday, and would be closed the next day, Mardi Gras. We were a tad surprised that all of Argentina was celebrating the holiday on both days but that meant less traffic and more relaxed residents lounging in parks and restaurants. The vibe was superb.
So Latin American art is not my thing, although I did really enjoy the Diego Rivera murals at the Whitney in NYC. After visiting MALBA, I’m still not into LA art, but we did stand in line to see Frida’s work. I must say it was pretty compelling and much better to see in person than in photos, especially ‘Diego y yo’, her last self portrait. The museum was very popular, especially Frida’s exhibit. We continued back towards Recoleta through the parks and settled for a beer at Buller Brewery across from the Recoleta cemetery which we’ll visit tomorrow. We people- watched and enjoyed empanadas.
On our way back to the hotel we found Peter on the corner. Argentina’s inflation is so high and volatile that exchanging currency has become a game. Official exchange rates fluctuate enough that the government tolerates the ‘blue’ market, an acceptable black market currency exchange. Marcello, our helpful cabbie, suggested we find Peter and change money with him. So we did, furtively standing on the corner, handing over $100 USD for $36,500 Argentine pesos in $1000 peso notes. (The bank rate is $100USD per $19,300 Arg pesos). And that’s where my currency exchange knowledge ends, well, except for that shopping thing I do.
We were pretty beat after our travels and touring so we enjoyed a few more empanadas and drinks at the hotel bar and hit the hay.
Tuesday morning was sunny and warm in the low 80s, as the weather tends to be here in late summer. We walked back towards the cemetery stopping for breakfast along the way. My high school Latin gets me far enough to order basics and understand directions. Greg is hopeless with foreign languages, as well as my kids. Christina thought she finally understood French after 4 years when her teacher started speaking English with a heavy French accent. Dan took several years of many different languages, mastering none. Greg studied German and can read the Bielstein but that’s about it. I think immersion learning would likely be best for them.
The Recoleta cemetery was first begun by the Franciscans who built the neighboring Church Nuestra del Senora Pilar in the 18th century, which we visited before. The cemetery has become public since then, housing the mausoleums and sarcophagi of stateswomen and men, scientists, military, and people of cultural importance and wealth. Notably, Eva Peron is buried here though I didn’t recognize anyone else. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to stroll around and enjoy the different architectural choices made by the grieving. Many of the structures are at risk of collapsing though some are fairly recent (as from the 20th century). Lots of tour bus groups tramp through but we had most of the place to ourselves.
After another $$ exchange with Peter (I’m getting comfortable with the seedy underworld) we started exploring the neighborhoods of Recoleta through to Avenue July 9 revisiting parks, the Teatre Colon Opera house, and the Obelisk on our way to the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis’ home church (it’s his 10th anniversary of his elevation to Pope btw). We stopped in to rest and reacquainted ourselves with the mausoleum shrine to General Jose de San Martin, one of the liberators of Spanish South America. We crossed the Plaza de Mayo, past the Pink Government Palace and down to Rio Darsena Sur where we stopped for a beer and a gin and tonic and some crappy nachos at a place near the Puente de la Mujer.
After our snack rest stop we headed back to Plaza Mayo to attend the Carnivale festival. We were on the early side, enjoying the first musical acts on stage and the street performers and kids spraying foam on everyone. That was enough fun for us as there was no need to get stuck in thick crowds. Marcello had assured us that Argentinians were largely vaccinated for Corona virus, he himself with Sputnik, Moderna, and Pfizer variations and that anti-vaxxing is not a thing there. Masks were largely absent. We strolled back to the hotel with sore feet and relaxed before dinner and worked on confirming the next day’s hotel (not relaxing, as it turned out). Logging 40,000 steps in a day and a half will come in handy in the near future. We felt compelled to celebrate our return to Argentina with red meat and red wine, successfully accomplished at restaurant Fervor in Recoleta. Tomorrow we head south to Ushuaia.
My new reality 