February 26 & 27, 2012

Monday February 27, 2012

Breakfast was in the hotel’s dining room. The buffet was included in the room’s price.  Some members of the group were eating when we arrived around 8 a.m. After breakfast, we were ready for more exploring, so checked out and put the luggage in storage until we were bused to the airport at 2 p.m.

    Today is windy, and sunny, with a high of 27C predicted, so we slathered on SPF 60 sunscreen   and took our hats with us for the walk. We headed to the block to the south, Avenida Cordoba, and walked east over the old entrance to Puerto Madero to the yacht club, then headed south on Avenida Juana Manso in Puerto Madero, then turned west to get to the path along the east side of the old docks which are lined with modern apartment buildings, and walked all the way to the Casino in La Boca.  We crossed over the river and walked back along Avenida Alicia Moreau de Justo, with the old dock buildings, which we saw from the bus on Sunday, gave us shade and returned to the hotel 2 ½ hours later.

                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

 We saw a few members of our group, sitting in the lobby, but still had more than two hours before needing to be ready for the bus. So we headed west on Avenida Del Libertador to United Nations Square to photograph to steel flower, then found a western route to zig zag back to the hotel and stop for a frappe at a Havanna café half a block from our hotel.























































I took over 55 photos today which filled the memory card.  We were back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare having logged about 12 to 15 km today.

The bus arrived at 2 p.m. to take the group to the airport terminal. It only took 30 minutes to get to the international airport. We waited in long lines for about an hour, to check-in and clear  Argentine Customs and proceed through security and wait another 90 minutes to board the plane. We are sad the vacation is over, but glad to be going home.  The plane leaves Buenos Aires on time for Santiago.  We will fly over the Andes Mountains en route. In Santiago, we all get off the plane through the airport into Chilean Customs and Immigration and back on to the same plane for the 10 hour 30 minute flight to Toronto.  We manage to get a few hours of sleep on the plane. When we arrive in Toronto and we go to Canadian Customs and Immigration, get our bags, clear security and find the gate for the plane home. The wait for the flight home was about 45 minutes before boarding the plane. Then the plane was an hour late leaving Toronto, due a maintenance problem.  The flight took about two hours and 20 minutes.  After collecting the luggage, we took a cab home. We were safely home just 27 hours after leaving our hotel in Buenos Aires. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

We enjoyed our last breakfast in the ship’s dining room.  There were only about 15 people at 7:30 a.m. on this Sunday morning.  We were back to our room and checked out before 8 a.m. and went to our meeting place for disembarkation in Buenos Aires.  Since there was time before we left the ship, I gave Larr my carry-on bag then I walked up the 8 flights of stairs to Deck 11’s track, took some pictures and walked 1 1/4 miles.  There was a 15 km wind, but it was about 17C and sunny, promising a day’s high of 25C.  Since my watch broke the night before, I stayed too long walking and our hostess came to get me since everyone in our group was ready to go. She took the elevator down 8 decks and must have had some stops since we arrived at our meeting room together.  There were many groups in different areas of the ship waiting for their turn to disembark.  Our group of 42 disembarked to one of the shuttle buses taking passengers to the Puerto de Buenos Aires Customs Terminal to collect our luggage, pass through Customs and Immigration and on to our tour bus.  It was a short 20 minute drive to the hotel to drop off the luggage and then start the 3 ½ hour city tour. Our hotel was near the corner of Reconquista and Paraguay in the Centro barrio (neighbourhood) in Buenos Aires. Our first stop was San Martin Square, in honour of Don José de San Martin, an Argentine general and hero, who lead the people of the southern colonies of  Spanish South America in their successful independence struggle from 1812 to July 9, 1816 when Argentina proclaimed independence.                                                      
   In early May 1810, the Spanish population of Buenos Aires became aware that Napoleon Bonaparte had defeated and  replaced their king.  They did not want to be ruled by Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, so on May 25, 1810, in what later was called the ‘May Revolution’, the citizens formed a junta which started their struggle for  independence from Spain ending on 9th July 1816.
On our way to the Palermo barrio, we saw the Tower Clock, from the Argentine British community, commemorating the 1810 May Revolution centennial; the embassies of Portugal and Greece; mounted police; and wide avenues that were 10 to 14 lanes wide with two boulevards. We drove thorough the parks of the area. Then turning back and visiting the Recoleta Cemetery, with its walkways between mausoleums including that of Eva Perron.  Since it was Sunday, there were stalls of goods of many kinds along the pathways through the park to the cemetery. Here, a plot for a mausoleum starts at US$250,000.






                We stopped for about half an hour to wander the park and cemetery then, back on the bus and back to Avenida Santa Fe and on to Avenida 9 de Julio, a fourteen lane wide street with two boulevards.

Here in the San Nicolas barrio is the Colon Theatre, which is the Opera House, and the Obelisk, at the intersection of Avenida 9 de Julio and Avenida Corrientes. The Obelisk commemorates the fourth centenary of the first establishment of Buenos Aires.

                                                                                                                                                                                      
Next, we proceed to Plaza de Mayo for a stop of 20 minutes to see the colonial Town Hall, the pink Government House, the national bank and inside the Metropolitan Cathedral, where the mausoleum of San Martin is located.

 
 











 




 
















 




























































Back on the bus we go to the La Boca barrio, where the soccer stadium is located, as well as Caminito, where in a two or three block area are shops, restaurants and Tango couples performing on street corners for tips. Here, we had a 30 minute stop for exploring Caminito.  This is part of the city’s oldest port on La Plata River which is no longer used.



 

































Then next to it is Puerto Madero which was Buenos Aires’ port for a short time on La Plata River from 1896 to 1911, when larger ships made it obsolete. It was replaced by the current docks area, Neuvo Peurto.  Puerto Madero’s old warehouses have been redeveloped into a private university as well as apartments with main floor restaurants, movie theatres, offices and shops and at the south end there is a floating Casino.

There are places to walk, an old frigate turned
into a floating school that is now a museum,
old dock equipment and a pedestrian bridge.

 The pedestrian bridge is called the Women’s Bridge to honour the women whose sons, brothers, husbands or fathers disappeared during political troubles in the 1980s and 1990s. These docks are just a short walk from our hotel. 




 













The bus then returned us to the hotel in order to check in.  Our guide will return this evening with a  bus to transport us to dinner and tango show. We settled into our room which seems huge, compared to our stateroom which was only 176 square feet. Then we headed out to explore the Centro, San Telmo, Monserrat and San Nicolas barrios, starting by going to the pedestrian mall Avenida Florida. It is a long 14 long blocks.  Here we found the shopping mall Galleria Pacifico with a food court and had a lunch of tostados and a soft drink.  Refreshed, we continued south to the end of Avenida Florida, then west on Avenida San Juan to Avenida 9 de Julio to get a good picture of the Obelisk, but detoured to Congress Square, which was just 15 short blocks from Plaza de Mayo, that we had seen on the bus tour. We zig-zagged back to Avenida 9 de Julio and found the Obelisk then, walked the six short blocks and five long blocks to the hotel for a water break.  Then we ventured over a few blocks to San Martin Square and then a block further to take pictures of the English clock tower.                                                                                                   

 

There are many tall buildings along the main streets, which are apartments either rented or owned.  There are very few houses in these barrios. I have taken over 150 photos just today!  We walked over 14 km this afternoon. We returned to the hotel to see about Internet connections, but being low on Argentine pesos, decided not to get any Internet time, since we will be home in  two days.  At 8 p.m., we met the group in the lobby to go to the Esquina Carlos Gardel for dinner and a tango show, with dancers and singers.  The evening was enjoyable with lots of red Malbec wine, good food and a wonderful show.                                                    


We didn’t get back to the hotel until 12:30 and called it a day.

February 25, 2012

We docked at Buenos Aires early this morning. There was a thunder storm before sun rise. Deck 11 was wet when I went for a 1 mile walk and to take some photographs.  There was a 20 km wind, but it was about 19 C and cloudy.  We went to the dining room for breakfast, there were not many there.  Service was quick and we were back to our room just after 8 to get organized for the 9 a.m. meeting of the group for our excursion to the gaucho ranch Le Mimosa.

The bus left at 9:15, we drove part of the way on the Pan American highway. The price of the lowest grade of gasoline was 5.86 pesos per liter or about $1.17.  

Our excursion is to the working gaucho ranch. The gaucho is like the American cowboy.  The Yerba Mate, an herbal tea, is a drink of the gauchos.  After a rest stop where there were beautiful leather goods and silver items for sale, the guide made some Yerba Mate the traditional way in the gourde and with the metal filter spoon.  We were to share the drink and he would add hot water as needed.  Few tried it, since about half the group has been sick during the voyage. We passed agricultural land where the crops are soy beans, corn and grapes.  Sheep and cattle are also produced. There were many different kinds of trees planted over the past two centuries only the Ombo is a native tree.

By 11 a.m. when we arrived at the ranch, the skies had cleared; the temperature was about 25 C with a gentle breeze. We were greeted by gauchos offering glasses of red or white wine or soft drinks and a meat filled empanada.  Then as we walked through the tree shaded garden, we were greeted by a man who introduced four dancers who did an Argentine folk dance, then chose four people from the audience with whom to waltz.  We then explored the grounds and peeked into the house where the owners still live. The family has farmed there since 1869.  There were lovely bird calls coming from the trees and seven kinds of birds live there.  We saw the fire pit where the beef was being roasted. We joined three other tour buses to view the ducks, geese, chickens, sheep and horses. Rides on a horse drawn wagon or horseback were offered.  Then we watched some gaucho skill games. There were four gauchos who tried to put a twig through a small ring as they galloped past it and then they performed a similar event using a larger ring and a lance like stick.  The gauchos wear both hats and berets like in the Basque region of Spain. The Basque berets are more suited for head protection on windy days.  Lunch was served to the 200 guests when the games finished. The tables of 10 were set with two 750 ml bottles of Goyenechea Merlot-Syrah wine, a 750 ml bottle of Goyenechea Sauvignon Blanc wine, a 960 ml bottle of Quiling beer, a jug each of Coke and Sprite and two 350 ml bottles of mineral water, all which were frequently replenished.  The meal started with a potato salad, a lettuce and tomato salad and bread, followed by sausage, roasted beef, beef ribs, roasted chicken, ending with vanilla ice cream with a caramel sauce. Once we were fed the same Argentine dancers aged 14, 17, 22 and 28 danced again on the stage and open area in the dining hall.  They danced several dances including Tango then picked audience members to join them.  Larry and I were chosen among 18 or so others.  We ended forming a line that wound through the tables and back to the dance floor.  With the dancing finished people returned to their bus for the 90 minute ride back to the ship.

The tour bus dropped us off at the port terminal where we caught a shuttle bus to the ship. We needed to pack since we disembark on Sunday morning, but decided to have a nap instead before getting ready dinner. At dinner, we sat with Castagna’s table. Pat & Beth joined another table with two empty seats, since Carole was not coming for dinner. The Mackies did arrive for dinner, so they and Pat and Beth returned to our original table.  There were many empty tables in the dining room this evening, since many passengers went to Argentine Tango dinner shows.  We said our good-byes to our waiter, assistant waiter and maitre d’ and returned to the room to pack and update the blog.  We didn’t dance this evening, but when we went to the Deck cafeteria for a late coffee, we met one of the guitarists from Salsamore, the Latin band, who thanked us for dancing to his music. The ship is quiet with people either packing or still at the Tango dinner shows. Sunday we disembark, for one more day in Buenos Aires, take a city tour and check in to our hotel.  Monday evening, we start the long flight back to Canada.

February 24, 2012

We docked at Montevideo early this morning. It is sunny with a forecast high of 27 C.  Since our excursion is not until this afternoon, we went to the dining room on Deck 4 for breakfast. Having lots of time before the shops opened, we headed to Deck 11 for a walk of over 3 miles in 48 minutes. By 9:30 a.m., we were on the pier walking to the main street but, before we got to the street, we spotted an internet café and stopped to add photographs to the blog from the past 11 days.  That took almost 75 minutes, but only cost $10 American.  Larry returned to the ship to put the laptop in the stateroom and then we headed to the main street to explore for an hour.  There is a mixture of old and new buildings. We walked into Mercado del Puerto which has restaurants and shops.  All of the restaurants had huge wood burning fires probably to cook food.  It was hot enough outside that those fires were not needed for heat. There were many small vendors outside the Mercado selling amethyst, jewelry, hats, Yerba Mate packages and Yerba Mate cups and straws among the many items. Yerba Mate is an herbal tea popular in Uruguay and Argentina.  Most of the streets are one way which works quite well. We walked back to the ship, passing two security checks by port authorities, followed by the usual checks by ship personnel, one before the gangplank and the other as we boarded, that also included our backpacks and purses going through an X-ray machine and everyone stepping through a device, just like airport security. After lunch at 1:30 p.m., we met our tour group on the pier for a walking tour of the old town and proceeded to be bused to a location about a 10 minute moderate pace walk from the ship. 

We started at Plaza Zabala, and just across from it was Palacio Taranco, built as a mansion for a family in 1910. It houses the Museum of Decorative Arts.  Most of the original main floor furniture is there and the second floor walls contain the family’s art collection and newer pieces added since the 1980s.  We were fortunate to see a Tango performed by a couple who has been dancing at the mansion on Saturday afternoons for several decades. Tango developed in Montevideo and Buenos Aires at about the same time. Next, we walked down Sarandi, a pedestrian shopping street to Plaza Constitution and toured the Metropolitan Cathedral.  Then, we had a 20 minute break where we photographed buildings and bought ice cream from a vendor.  It was refreshing as the day was sunny and hot, about 29. Next, we walked through the gate of the original Citadel of Montevideo to Plaza Independence, where a small protect was taking place and saw the Canadian Embassy across the street beside the Radisson hotel. We stopped and took pictures before and proceeding to Teatro Solis for a tour of their concert hall and theatre spaces.  The main theater seats 1,100 people and has four levels of boxes, just like the European Opera houses.  It was built between 1840 and1856 and closed for 6 years in the 1980s to be refurbished. An addition was added to double the size of the stage area. It has a second smaller theater that is like Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange, which can seat up to 300 people. Our three and half hour tour ended and we were bused to the ship, there was no option to walk the mile back to the ship.

Once on board again, we fell into the regular routine of dancing before and after dinner and going the 9:15 show.  Tonight, it was a finale with a singer, the magic act and the aerial artists Suzanne and Sebastian, plus a salute to the crew. Tomorrow in Buenos Aires, many of the passengers will be at Argentine Tango shows which include a later dinner so many will be off the ship during dinner and the ship’s evening show.  The Casino and on board shopping will be closed while the ship is in Buenos Aires so people were buying photos taken during the trip and making other last minute purchase.  The time change for Uruguay changes back one hour tonight, so tomorrow’s tour time of 9 a.m. will not be quite so early. There are only two more nights on the ship.

February 23, 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012

We arrived at Punto del Este. It is overcast and windy.  After breakfast, we proceeded to the Celebrity Theater to get our bus assignment and wait for our turn to be tendered to the dock at the yacht marina.  The seats gradually filled and the crew advised us that there was a delay, that the Captain would advise them when the tendering was ready to go. Then, after a 30 minute wait an announcement came that the Port of Punto del Este had been closed due to the high winds.  All excursions were cancelled and credits issued to the stateroom accounts. The Captain will try to find another port or go early to Montevideo if possible. We returned to the stateroom to drop off our gear and went for coffee followed by a one hour walk which covered   3 .75 miles (200 steps per lap). There are 134 stairs from Deck 3 to Deck 10 and another 21 stairs to Deck 11.  Most sun lounge chairs were filled with sun bathers as the clouds thinned.  The temperature was about 22 at 11 and Deck 10 is sheltered from the wind.  There were a good many sun lounge chairs occupied on Deck 11 beside the walking track.  People were taking advantage of the unexpected see day to relax.  Rod Jory was asked to give a presentation that he was still creating about exploration possibilities to Mars at 11:15 a.m.   After we went to the dining room to see the dinner menu and found that it was open for lunch.  We sat with two ladies from Florida and a couple from Düsseldorf, Germany. The lady from Düsseldorf complimented us on our dancing.  Every day one or two people come up to us with compliments saying how many they enjoy watching us.  After lunch, we napped for over two hours then went to Deck 10 for coffee and to read before getting ready for dancing and dinner. An announcement at 4 informed passengers that there were no other ports available and that there was no berth available Montevideo until the morning so we will be hovering near off shore near Maldonado overnight.  After dinner we danced a few dances and wandered to the Photo Gallery to see if we wanted to but any of the photographs of us taken during the voyage.  Then, we went to a Daiquiri tasting until the show, featuring Irish entertainer, flautist, Gary Arbuthnot. We sat with Pat, since Beth has now come down with a cold.  After the show, a few minutes in the Casino then to the Theme Party “Carnival Parade” taking place at poolside on Deck 10 with Latin music and Mojito and Ice Carving demonstrations. We called it a night just before midnight.