Buenos Aires, Argentina: 34.6° S, 58.3° W; 32°C (90°F), humidity 71%

We arrived in Buenos Aires mid-morning, eventually circumventing sufficient traffic jams to reach our hotel by noon.  Following a quick settle-in and light lunch, I departed with many others of my group for a brief tour of the city.

First stop:  Cementerio de la Recoleta.  Forty-seven hundred families own mausoleums in this cemetery including the Familia Duarte where Eva Perón’s remains rest.  The cemetery is set out like a small town with streets and avenues, mausoleums forming the houses on the street.  Some of them do look like smallish houses while others look like the Parthenon before its ruination or decidedly religious monuments.  Many have been excavated three or more levels into the ground to house the remains of families.

The Duarte family’s mausoleum is conservative relative to its neighbours.  There is a plaque on the front wall in memory of Eva Perón but it does not stand out.  Nevertheless mourners still visit, and leave flowers for Eva in the mausoleum’s gate.

From the Cementerio de la Recoleta we visited the Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires’ town square.  It is large and bustling with green grass and two fountains and several monuments honouring various historical figures.  One end of the Plaza de Mayo is formed the Casa Rosada (also known as the pink house), the office of the President of Argentina.  This is where Eva Perón delivered the speech made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita.

The Plaza is surrounded by other grand buildings in the Spanish/Greek tradition, and is a focus point for protests.  Each day at 11 am and 3 pm, mothers of the disappeared march through it.  They are often joined by writers and artists and other sympathizers.  Small vendors ply their trade too.  Do not fear Argentinian electrical systems: one enterprising entrepreneur has everything you need to get hooked up.

We ended our tour at La Boca, a colourful barrio home to many small shops and restaurants and, on Sundays, a substantial flea market.  It caters to tourists during the week however with artists displaying their work on the street and an orange juice vendor squeezing fresh juice on demand.  In today’s heat, I was certainly tempted to succumb to that vendor’s call.

Dinner was our own, or “at leisure” as tour groups like to say.  Shirley and I decided to go local and found a pleasant restaurant nearby that served us tender Argentinian steaks and a fine bottle of Argentinian Malbec.  We have no idea what is to come food-wise in the days ahead, so we were happy to chow down on this tasty repast.

Tomorrow we have an early start for our flight to Ushuaia (pronounced oo-swaya) in southern Argentina where we will board the MV National Geographic, our home for the next eight days.

The Lindblad literature assures us there is satellite internet access on the ship and I hope to keep you up to date.  Please bear with me if I cannot put up daily posts.  Good-bye for now!