Buenos Aires, Argentina
25-30 July 2011
__________________________________________________________________________
Buenos Aires aka Malos Aires
Buenos Aires was founded and settled in the 1500’s as a port city for the Spanish to load all of their precious booty (silver, gold, etc.) looted from other South American regions onto ships for transport back to Spain. It is located on the Rio de la Plata, which is the widest river in the world. It is so wide that you can’t see land on the other side. It takes 3 hours on a slow ferry or 1 hour on a fast one to reach the other side (Uruguay). Eventually, the river opens into the Atlantic Ocean.
Buenos Aires literally means “good air”, but I think Malos Aires or “bad air” would be a better name for the city. There’s lots of choking car, bus and truck exhaust. Add to that the second hand smoke from lots of people smoking on the street. But, wait, that’s not all! There’s a volcano in Chile near the border with Argentina (Puyehuye, I believe the name is) that’s spewing ash and blowing clouds of it in this direction. Lots of flights have been cancelled here over the past couple of months. Vehicles have a grayish, gritty covering on them. And, it certainly doesn’t enhance the air quality.
We’ve taken a city tour and walked lots of miles. Buenos Aires is divided into many neighborhoods, each with its own personality and character. For example, “La Boca”, once an Italian immigrant neighborhood, now has trendy clubs and restaurants, lots of tango shows, brightly colored houses and life size caricatures of the tango dancers and characters who used to live there—all displayed on the buildings’ balconies.
“Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”
We happened to be in the city for the 59th anniversary of the death of Evita Peron. When her husband, Juan Peron, was president of Argentina in the 1950’s, Evita played a central role, caring about the plight of working men and women in Argentina, and helping them through her foundation. She was and still is very beloved by her countrymen. We walked to the Recoleta Cemetery where her remains and the remains of many important figures in Argentine history are interred. This cemetery is one of the most visited sights in Buenos Aires. Each family buried here has its own mausoleum. They resemble small chapels, some with beautiful and intricate carvings on the exteriors. Others have sculptures adorning them. When we finally found Evita’s grave, there were flowers lining the entire block of graves on the narrow street where her unassuming, dark granite mausoleum was located.
The Pampas—Home of the Gauchos
I first heard about the Argentine Pampas in high school Spanish class, so when we had a chance to visit this area, I was eager to do so. The Pampas is a flat, grassy plain northwest of Buenos Aires, resembling the midwestern farm country of the U. S. The land is very fertile, so farming and ranching are the 2 big activities. The numerous large cattle and horse ranches are called estancias, and the cowboys are called gauchos. The gauchos were originally nomadic, traveling the Pampas on horseback and herding cattle. When the lands were apportioned to the ranch owners and fenced in, the gauchos settled on the ranches to do their jobs. They still wear traditional clothing from a former era.
The setting of the ranch was very tranquil and bucolic. The house was rather grand and Italianate in style, with a long, treed driveway. It reminded me a little of the drives leading up to southern plantations in the U. S. We were greeted with wine and delicious empanadas. As an aside, we should mention that the wine here is very good. We’ve enjoyed several good Malbecs, products of Argentina. As it turned out, being fortified with a little wine was a good idea for the activity which followed—horseback riding. We assumed that we would be taking a carriage ride, having age on our side and being nonriders. Renee had some lessons as a teenager; that’s all. David had been on a horse maybe a couple of times in his early life; that’s all. After being reassured that the horses were docile and obedient, we decided to be good sports and go for the horse option. As it turned out, it was a lot of fun. The fresh air was invigorating, vistas stretched to the horizon, cattle and llamas were grazing, and a little black and white ranch dog ran with excitement the whole way along side of us. Upon our return, we sat down to an elaborate barbeque with meats and salads, and, of course, more wine. The weather was perfect, and it was a great day!
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
Another day trip was spent in the UNESCO world heritage site of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. We took the high speed ferry across the river and meandered the cobblestone streets of this historic town. Originally a Portuguese city established in the 1600’s, today you can wander through the old city and enjoy stepping back in history.
A final thought, having to do with travel in general is this. It’s about the places you visit, for sure. But, it’s also about the people you meet which expand your horizons. The day of the ranch visit, we met a family from Guatemala on the same tour and enjoyed having lunch with them. They were very cosmopolitan and well educated, as well as friendly and spoke much better English than we could speak Spanish. Another day on a tour of the Central Synagogue of Buenos Aires, we met a young, pretty girl from Cuba. Her boyfriend, also Cuban, was Jewish, and she was learning about Judaism. We discovered, through her, that there are 3 synagogues in Havana and the Jewish faith is practiced openly. Who knew? We also met a delightful Swiss couple in the Brazilian Pantanal. They had traveled widely and lived for a year in Virginia. Finally, we keep running into an American couple on the same outings that we’re on—they’re from Leesburg, VA, just up the street from Gainesville, where we live.
Tomorrow, we depart Buenos Aires and head for Cape Town, South Africa. There we will spend some time with David’s cousins before our next adventure in Madagascar.
Pink House (Presidentail Office) & La Boca (little Italy)
Dave & Renee
Evita Grave & Plaque
Gaucho & Horses
Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay
