We started our journey in Buenos Aires. At the airport we were greeted by our hired car. The driver wore a black suit, looked like a bouncer and drove a Peugeot. He drove us to our hotel and we were glad to have a nap and a shower. Dinner was recommended by the concierge, at La Chauvrasquite, a very typical restaurant and excellent.
The next day would be our day to board the ship, so had most of the day to explore downtown Buenos Aires. Our hotel was within walking distance of most of the interesting historical buildings in the core of the city. Buenos Aires has a population of 3,000,000 in the actual city and 13,000,000 in the greater metro area.
The city square is the Plaza de Mayo which contains the Casa Rosada which is the presidential mansion. Today the military presence was intense, with the military setting up barricades, spray painting the manhole covers ... obviously setting up for something important. When we got to the Plaza de Mayo, the heat was intense, with little shade. We had a geocache to do there and happened to meet up with several other geocaches. It was Feb 29th and we were able to take part in a "Leap Year" event.
We were also able to cross widest street in the world "Agenda 9 de Julio", with an imposing 16 lanes. It typically takes at least two traffic light rotations to cross.
We both have been reading a series by W.E.B. Griffin, which is a historical fictional series taking place in Buenos Aires during and after WW 2. It is a wonderful history of this area and brings to life the places we visited. It is also a great series.
Mid-afternoon we took a cab to the port and boarded our ship, Star Princess, for the start of our 31 day cruise "Around the Horn".
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| Our ship "Star Princess" |
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| The very busy Buenos Aires Harbour |
Can't wait for more instalments! Right now I live vicariously through all you travellers :)
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