We do love Buenos Aires!!

Hi Again!

On Thursday we opted for a trip to Tigre which is the delta area of rivers and islands near Buenos Aires. Marina had hired a private boat for us to tour down the waterways with a lunch stop. But first we stopped along the river for a look back at town; it was quite hazy so it’s not such a great shot.

I took a picture of the map that the captain of the boat furnished us with his highlighted route of our days’ journey — one direction to the restaurant — and then back another way to complete a circle:

I believe that we boarded at the bottom around 22 and had lunch about 16.  But do notice that it is all land that is surrounded by flooding waterways.  However, it is not reclaimed land, but the owners do shore up the land with concrete barriers or lots of trees (read roots) to hold the encroaching water at bay.

Then, just before we boarded the boat, I stopped at a waterfall picture/sculpture of the controversial Malvinas……or, as we call them, the Falkland Islands. It’s a pretty rendering of them, but what does it signify? Marina just laughs and says the Argentinians never get over something they never really had. The islands have always been British; they want to remain British today, but they are geographically very close to Argentina so that caused the Falklands War – Argentina decided they should own those islands. (Argentine history 101).

So, since this river has tides and since it had rained a lot the night before, it was flooded. The houses are mostly built on stilts or over garages. If you look back at the map of the area you will see that there are major waterways and smaller creeks.  First, the water bus:

Lots of rowing clubs:

A casino (I think!):

Owned by a Dutch family:

The grocery store boat:

John driving me crazy with the pictures:

How to get from one island to another without a boat:

The captain took our photo (following John’s lead)…..

These homeowners built themselves an artificial beach…..but the most amazing thing is that their dock (second below) cost about $100,000 to build!!!!

Now it was time for a well deserved lunch break.  Marina had reserved us a table at Gato Blanco (white cat).  We sat outside at a corner table and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.  By the way, our entire time in Buenos Aires had been in the 70’s and low 80’s without much humidity — very, very pleasant and unusual for summertime in Buenos Aires.  Needless to say, we loved it!

And then we were off again:  another grocery boat, a tree that has been growing sideways for over 25 years and a construction boat.

The Sarmiento House is a National Historic Monument in the northern suburb of Tigre, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the former residence from 1855 until his death in 1888 of Domingo Sarmiento, the 7th President of Argentina. It was declared a National Historic Monument in 1966 and is now a museum.  (Wikipedia….and Marina)

By the time we returned to the hotel we were exhausted — haha — by all that fresh air!  We skipped dinner — lunch was fabulous and huge — and opted for Freddo only!

On Friday, we had the day to ourselves; and it was out last full day.  We did designate the morning for “enforced culture” (as we say to our grandkids).  First we visited the Teatro Colon, the Buenos Aires Opera House.  National Geographic ranks it as the third best opera house in the world and it is acoustical considered to be among the five best concert venues in the world.  And it was lovely!

John had to take this pic with Nureyev’s name:

We got our tickets around 10:15 a.m. for the 11:00 a.m. English tour…..so some waiting:

Loved this:

And then we went inside.  It was pretty dark so the pictures reflect that.

I was intrigued to learn that there are places to stand in the ring around the center lights in the ceiling……and that sometimes during a performance, singers will just sing from there, causing surprise!  Apparently, that a normal “trick” of musical performances.

Here it is from the outside and a few pics from the neighborhood.  Then we walked to a one hundred year old bookstore that was originally a theater — another clever and attractive thing!

And now the bookstore, El Ateneo Grand Splendid.  The are really fabulous pictures of it on the internet if you’re interested.

We ended the day with a trip to our rooftop pool.  We went into the very warm indoor pool; it is actually entirely stainless steel — very unusual and very nice!  But we sat outside and enjoyed the sunset and the views and did look down and see a second outdoor pool one level down…….but it was cooling off enough that we were happy with our first indoor plunge!

Covering the wall was a vertical garden which you see often in Buenos Aires — smart way to improve the view.

We were pretty tired of eating a lot so had planned a trip to a nearby empanada place.  It was tiny and quite busy but we got a table and the food was great.  I had a cheese & ham and a cheese & onion; John had the former and a mozzarella and basil.

 

Of course we had to pass by Freddo’s one last time on our way back to the hotel:

The next morning was our “pack up and get ready to go home” day.  Our plane was not until 9:15 p.m. and we were being picked up by Marina at 1:30 p.m.  But there was a market going on next to Recoleta and the Church we showed you earlier.  So we did a little shopping there and then received a call from Marina; she had a client in the hospital and was going to have to be late.  Our driver from the first day picked us up and took us to the pre-arranged lunch sight.

John had told Marina earlier that he wanted to eat somewhere that the tourists didn’t go, but where the locals would go.  She chose this great sports restaurant and there was a game (soccer) that day so there were lots of people out and dressed in their colors — sound familiar?

Marina had said that she would meet us there and I knew that we were meeting a professional street art guide at 3:00 p.m., so John and I went ahead and ordered……after a few or more minutes of getting someone to come to us….sitting by ourselves at a table for six!  Anyway we ordered a ravioli with tomato sauce AND pesto sauce (sounded weird but was fabulous) and a chicken Milanese covered with ham, cheese and tomato sauce.  Both way too huge and wonderful.  When she arrived Marina made a full meal out of our leftovers.

And then we were off to see more street art with Anna.  As best as I can I will give a little background.  The first graffiti was gang art, but it has evolved in some cases into political messaging and a way of reclaiming the streets by the neighborhoods.  Wow, what an over-simplification!

Okay, first we were shown a couple of random pieces, then we were driven around a factory whose owner had commissioned a bicycle series around his entire building.

The paintings above were meant to inhibit graffiti artists from writing on his building; it seems to have worked. Then the first two below are about the animalistic nature of people.

A homeless boy sleeping with his dog:

Next we went to visit Pol.  He is an activist and artist and has written a beautiful book about the street art of his neighborhood.  First of all, I should mention that this area is next to the river — a very polluted river that can have a distinct and strong odor and that this is where the poorest immigrants were settled.  These people lived in horrible surroundings and had little hope for advancement so for artists to come into their neighborhood and make it more beautiful was quite welcome!  Pol was an interesting guy (and yes, quite easy on the eyes!).

Pol and Anna:

We then looked at a huge mural — not the largest, but certainly close.

You can’t see it in the picture above, but a man was sitting outside his door and in front of this wall who is in the mural; he is pictured below.  When the artist was painting this, children — and adults — came around and said to him, “put me on the wall”.  Apparently some of the kids will come outside and pose near their pictures when tourists like us come by — a nice sense of pride for those with little else!

Our last stop on this tour was at a factory that was abandoned “in the night” by the owner when times were difficult in Argentina.  The workers in the factory bonded together and kept the factory going and formed a co-operative to own it.  When times improved, the owner returned trying to regain his company, but the president of Argentina passed a law that made ownership pass to the workers.  The forty-one ice cream cones represent the forty-one worker/owners and the many hands the working together.  Great art!!!

As we were leaving there, I reached down to get something from my purse.  To my horror, there was no purse in the car-both our passports and my id and money were inside.  I had left it on the floor of the restaurant between my and John’s seats!!!!  Marina called and they had it.  She told me that I was really fortunate that it was there; that that was not such a hot neighborhood.  I am SO lucky.  Anyway, we went from there to the airport and then to home.

It was a wonderful, magical trip for us.  Unfortunately, we got home and both of us got sick.  I have bronchitis and John has an old-fashioned cold.  Oh well, at least we are at home for this part!!!!

Thanks for coming along for the journey,

Beth