Patagonian Grand Adventure

Day One – February 13, 2014

Weather: Sunny with some cloud, 26º

Nothing like being able to sleep in on the first day.

I didn’t bother with breakfast. I was still feeling stuffed from the flight down and wearing capris and a t-shirt had reminded me of just how much winter insulation I’ve put on. I was hoping to walk some of it off on this tour.

I was up at seven and watched the Olympics till nine. I went down to meet Marcello at the TT desk and got a reusable TT shopping bag with my Whisper system, the evaluation envelope, a magazine and a detailed itinerary for the next four days which I really like.

He has some tips as well – like to wear our name tag when we were with group but not out and about on our own. Also, it says to avoid the tap water.

Oops.

He gave me a map of the area and I headed out to work off some of that winter insulation. I started down Florida Avenue which was a long pedestrian shopping street.

I walked all the way down to a building that has an outline of Eva Peron on it. It was on 9 de Julio Ave which was named for Argentina’s Independence Day and it’s the widest avenue in the world. I like how the four centre lanes are for buses only…but you have to watch where you’re standing because it could be the road and not the sidewalk.

I walked back along the centre of the avenue towards the Obelisk.

Then I turned down towards Florida again, found a Subway restaurant and used my best sign language to order a sub.

All along Florida Avenue there were guys trying to exchange money and shouting, ‘cambio, cambio, cambio.’ It sounded like an echo as they were all within earshot of each other. I was told to avoid them for what should be obvious reasons. I picked up a few more pesos at an ATM no problem.

I got back to the hotel and at 1:30 I headed down to the lobby for the city orientation. The group was mostly couples. Fifteen were from the US and the other female solo was from Australia. I was the only Canuck, which explained why there were no others on the flight from Toronto.

We got on the full sized bus which was great with only seventeen people. We could all have our own seats if we wanted. I went to the back where I could jump from left to right depending on what there was to see. Marcello said nothing about a rotation and I didn’t expect one to be enforced. There were simply too many available seats. I never bother with the front seat. It’s an uncomfortable seat with no leg room and the side windows have glare or a decal that obstructs the view. The front window can also have glare and bugs, so photos are not always the best. With four seats side-by-side to myself in the back half of the bus, I could see everything.

Marcello started with the usual video from Gavin then showed a detailed safety video. While we watched, he handed out a Havana. My first thought was why is he walking down the aisle handing out cigars then he handed me a square thing wrapped in foil. It was what we used to call a Wagon Wheel, only much better.

I had a feeling I was going to be adding to, not subtracting from, my winter insulation.

So off into the traffic we went. We started by driving down the sixteen lane Avenue de 9 Julio where traffic moved pretty fast. We passed the Obelisk, Eva’s portrait and the Opera House.

Marcello told us that Buenos Aires means Good Air.

Yes, it was one of those moments when you go Ahhhhh!

Kinda like when the guide in Croatia told us that Montenegro means Black Mountain. D’oh!

The city has three million people with another seven million in the environs. That’s a quarter of Argentina’s population right there. Buenos Aires is a very green city that gets more than 1200 mm of rain a year.

Marcello went on to tell us about Eva Peron and noted that little was known of her outside Argentina until Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the play. She was mummified when she died of cervical cancer in 1952, and some even speculate it was actually caused by HPV since Peron’s first wife also died of cervical cancer. It’s possible that Juan Peron was likely a carrier.

At one point, her body was moved to Milan in Italy for three years before being moved to Spain. It was finally returned to Argentina after Peron died with the stipulation that they would not be buried together. So, Eva is in Ricoleta Cemetary where there are about six thousand monuments, but no one knows how many people are entombed there since most are cremated. Cremation was used as a way to prevent the spread of yellow fever in the 19^th century. Eva was entombed in the Duarte monument.

The monuments were works of art.

And yes, there were cats.

And yes, I’m not the only one who takes pictures of cats.

Buenos Aires was settled by the Spanish as a way to stop Portuguese expansion in South America. A fort was built at the current location of the Casa Rosada (the Pink House). Eva often used a balcony here to address the crowds, and this is where the “Don’t Cry for me, Argentina” scene was filmed for Evita (1996).

The area was barricaded so that protesters couldn’t get close to the Casa Rosada.

From here we headed to La Boca where the colourful houses were located.

I was expecting more, but coming from one of the most colourful cities in the world (St. John’s), I’m used to hundreds of houses like this. La Boca was quite small.

One street hid the colours behind umbrellas and canopies for pubs. Some of these pubs had a couple dancing the tango in front.

We had forty minutes to check out the area, watch the dancers and buy a fridge magnet.

From there we headed to the Women’s Bridge which had the Armada Argentina docked next to it.

We took a leisurely stroll across the bridge and then plunged into the five o’clock traffic as we headed to a downtown pub for our welcome drink/cold plate snackfest.

The traffic got so heavy that Marcello elected to have the bus pull over and we walked the last three blocks much faster than the bus would have managed. The pub, Cafe Tortoni, has been around since 1858, and apparently, it hasn’t changed very much.

We got a drink and then plates of cold cuts, cheese and bread were laid out.