Buenos Aires

After two more days at sea, we docked in Buenos Aires, Argentina, our port of departure from the ship.  In contrast to the hectic embarkation in Fort Lauderdale, getting off the ship was a breeze.  In the first place, only 500 of the 2,600 passengers left the ship in BA; the rest were staying on while the ship went around Cape Horn and up the pacific side of South and Central America.  The final stop for this trip is in San Francisco.  We booked the first leg only; we had previously sailed to Cape Horn on our voyage to Antarctica three years ago, and before that, we had sailed from Valparaiso, Chile to San Francisco.

The "White House" of Argentina

Buenos Aires is located on the Rio de la Plata, or Silver River.  It is actually a huge estuary, part of South America’s third largest river system.  The capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, was founded in 1536 in a malarial, swampy area alongside the river.  The present city of eleven million people was not developed until the 19^th century; much of the construction was based on French models and the city is reminiscent of Paris.

We caught a taxi to our hotel, the Claridge, where we stayed on our previous visit to BA.  It’s not new but it’s very comfortable and the staff is great.  It’s only a half block from Calle Florida, a major pedestrian shopping street with many fine shops.  After getting settled in the hotel, we set off to explore the area.  Work crews are installing a new storm drain system in the center of Calle Florida, so it’s much noisier and more congested than three years ago.  Goods and services are more expensive, also.  Inflation is high; the government says that the Argentine peso is worth about 20¢ US, but exchanging dollars for pesos at one of the many street cambios or money changers results in 7 pesos to the dollar instead of 5.

Provoleta on right side of grill

Argentina is known for its large quantities and high quality beef, so we decided to have dinner at a ‘Parilla’ or grill.  A ship’s passenger had recommended ‘La Estancia’ as the best parilla close to our hotel, so off we went with John.  Judy wasn’t feeling well, so she decided to stay in her hotel. La Estancia is a large restaurant with wood-fired grills in the front window.   On one side was a flat grill for cooking steak; on the other was a circular ring around a central fire.  A number of spits were mounted on the ring; each spit held beef ribs, whole baby goats, whole suckling pigs or other large cuts of meat.  When we arrived at about 8 PM, the restaurant was mostly empty; just three or four tables were occupied.  By the time we were finished eating at about 10:30, there wasn’t an empty table to be seen; they eat late in BA.  Debbie ordered a filet, Tom had a t-bone, which actually was a porterhouse, about 1 ½ inches thick and as large as the dinner plate.  We also each ordered a salad, which was a mistake; one salad would have been more than enough for both of us.  We tried an appetizer that we enjoyed on our previous stay in BA; ‘provoleta’ or grilled provolone cheese.  They cut a 1” slice of provolone and put it over a cool part of the grill.  They flip it over and baste it with olive oil and oregano until the outside has a firm skin and the inside is almost liquid.  Yum!  After completing this sumptuous meal, we waddled back to our hotel for the night.

The next day we accompanied John, Judy was still not feeling well, to the Palermo district of BA, in search of a restaurant they discovered on the last trip.  It was about a 20 minute taxi ride to the district where we began walking and found the restaurant.  It was not yet open for the day, so we walked a couple more blocks and stopped at a coffee house for lattes and medialunas, a small, sweet croissant.  After that break, we continued walking through the neighborhood of small shops and residences.  Eventually it was time to head back to the hotel, so we caught another taxi that dropped us off at John & Judy’s hotel, which was about 5 blocks from ours.  Later that afternoon, Chris and Nancy, longtime friends of John & Judy, joined us for the rest of the stay in South America.  We walked a short distance to an excellent pizzeria for dinner before retiring for the night.  ‘Pizzeria’ you say?  BA has a large settlement from Italy left from after WWII.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and went to the airport to catch an early afternoon flight to Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil.  We were able to store the majority of our luggage at our hotel since we were coming back for another night before flying home.