Wednesday 14th
February 2013 “Valentine’s Day”
After leaving Rio de
Janeiro, we had two days sailing on milk pond seas before reaching the sea port
and city of Buenos Aires the capital of Argentina. It was a warm and hazy day
of about 28 degrees. Buenos Aires is situated on the Rio de la Plata, {River
Plate}, which is regarded as the widest river in the world, approx. 40 miles.
Buenos Aires, known as
the “Paris of the South”, is a very big
bussling metropolis of about 13 million people. It is a fantastic city with
wide thoroughfares, avenues of trees, and lots of parks and gardens The city
itself is a mixture of modern and old areas, easy to get around and generally
clean and tidy . But like most of the South American cities it has it’s pockets
of poor areas and ghettoes.
Our land excursion took
in a fairly extensive city tour, and visits to the colourful La Boca area, the birthplace
of the tango dance and the Recoleta Cemetery . What a tour, it was good value
with the city tour giving us a great insight into most areas around the city, however
it has to be said that the traffic was diabolical.
La Boca is located in
the southern poorer area of Buenos Aires and is a mixture of old dilapidated
colourful buildings and streets of restaurants, bars and shops for tourists. It
was a good look and an interesting tourist area.
Recoleta Cemetary was a
revelation , and is known as the “City of the Dead”. It is actually a walled
area in the centre of the city and contains the mausaleums and ornate crypts of
the rich and elite of Buenos Aires dating back hundreds of years. The cemetery
is set out like a city with streets and lanes and includes the internment and
final resting place of Eva Peron the wife of the former Dictator of Argentina.
All round it was a good
day, and Buenos Aires deserves a big tick and is certainly a city you would
have to come back to.
We now overnight to
Montevideo in Uruguay which is on the opposite side of the River Plate.
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