1-6 Puerto Madryn – PENGUINS!

Today – another tour with our cruise critic pals. This time we are with Melanie and Jeffrey, Marianne and Norm (who have been organizing all the cruise critic events, lists, etc., thank you!!!!), Theresa and Colin and another couple (who sadly, we can’t remember their names!).

We were out and off the ship post haste, found our tour driver, loaded up and were the first ones out of the port headed to Punta Tombo – an ecological preserve for nesting Magellanic Penguins.  It is a 2 1/2 hour ride to Punt Tombo, with 1/2 hour over “bumpy” roads.  We’re not too thrilled about that – but to see 800,000 (yes, almost 1 million!) pengiuns?  We’ll handle it!

As it turned out, it was an easy ride. Sebastian, our tour guide was totally informative and interesting. He gave us tons of information about Patagonia, the penguins, their mating behaviors (they are fairly monogamous, always coming back tot he same nest and the same mate), the baby chicks, feeding patterns – you name it – he told us. We covered the paved road in no time at all – and hit the “bumpy” road which was all gravel and more noisy than bumpy.  (Although there was one time when it was more “sliding” than bumpy when we passed another vehicle and got caught in the middle of the road where there was lots of loose gravel…we all breathed a big sigh of relief over that one.) There were other groups at the park when we arrived, but not so many since we were still the first group from the ship to arrive.  So, we had a great time walking through 2 KM of paths and trails looking at all the penguins – without a bizillion people crowding around.

This place was just mind boggling.  Everywhere you looked, there were these little penguins. Waddling here, waddling there, in their little burrows, with their chicks, chicks by themselves, chicks with other chicks, chicks crying to be fed by their mommas (and watching one momma feed them).  It was absolutely amazing to see these little guys everywhere – as far as the eye could see.  When we get to post the pictures (when we get bandwidth!!!) you’ll see landscape photos with these little black specks everywhere – those are penguins! You won’t believe it. 

The ground rules are:  We’re not allowed to touch the penguins; when they want to cross the path, we have to let them go in front of us; and if we get too close and they start shaking their heads, we have to move away because that means that they are scared, and they may bite – but more important they may be too scared to continue doing whatever they are doing (like going for food or to their nest), and we don’t want to confuse them. Otherwise, just stay on the path and take pix!

The emerald blue skies are dappled with clouds, there’s a cold, stiff breeze blowing, and we are walking among thousands of penguins.  How cool is this?  There were more photo opps than you could possibly ever take advantage.  We took as many pix as we could, and then just stopped and watched.  They were swimming at the beach, sunning themselves by their nests, picking the fuzz off each of the chicks to let their adult feathers show through, or waddling around looking for their mates.  It was magical and so worth the long drive!

We headed back along the path, taking in all the penguinicity around us – and congregated at the road side bar near the entrance of the park.  The owners of the ranch who gave the property to the government for the preserve were allowed to keep the road side bar/restaurant as compensation – so they’ve made out.  We had lunch there – which consisted of 3 lamb empanadas and 2 beers for under $10.  it was a great “semi-local” way to end our Punta Tomba experience.

Back in the van, we headed toward Puerta Madryn, with a stop in the valley around Trelew (the main town in this area) to visit Gaiman – an original Welsh village. The Welsh settled here (for what reason, we don’t know – or don’t remember Sebastian telling us!) and they have a Welsh church, school and tons of little Welsh tea houses nestled in this little picturesque valley by the Chubut river.  We stretched our legs a bit in Gaiman and used the facilities at one of the cute little tea houses, then headed back along the highway to Puerto Madryn. 

What a fun day!  And it’s only the first of the penguin visiting we’ll be doing on this trip.  Can’t wait for more penguinicity!

1-4 Montevideo, Uruguay

First port – Montevideo!  We teamed up with some cruise critic pals (great group on this ship – lots of folks our age with common interests – we’ve had a great time meeting everyone at the meet and greets) who found a fabulous winery tour for us.  Alan and Barb found the tour, and we signed up for it with Kim and Bob, and Melanie and Jeffery. 

Everyone met at the appointed time and we huffed it off the ship. Had to walk out of the port to find the van, because they weren’t allowed inside, but it was an easy walk and they were right there waiting for us when we arrived. We all piled into the van, and CiCi our guide and sommelier with the vineyard introduced herself and gave us a guided tour of the city.

We drove through the commercial district of town, saw the principal government buildings, the shopping district, and the richer areas of the city out by the water.  We even drove past the president’s house, which is just a normal house!  One police car was sitting at the corner of the block and that was it.  CiCi said that they have a couple of guards there, but nothing more than that because it’s just not the kind of place where they’d want to kill or bomb the president.  Incredible!

We wound our way through the neighborhoods then finally out into the countryside to the Varela Zarranz vineyards.  It took us about an hour or more to reach the beautiful little lane lined with Olive trees that led to the vineyards.  The trees were planted over 100 years ago by the original founder of Varela Zarranz – and they have thrived in the climate and environment, as have the grape vines (but the vines are a tad bit younger than the olive trees).

The vineyard makes two different sets of wines: fine wine and mass distribution.  The fine wines are marketed under Varela Zarranz, and the mass market wines under the name VUDU (which originally stood for Viticultores Unidos Del Uruguay – the original union of winemakers, that disbanded, but the winery got the rights to keep the name).  They make hundreds of thousands of liters of mass market wine, and only a small amount of fine wine.

It’s a small, compact little winery operation with great steel vats for the mass wine, and old (1900’s era) oak barrels for the fine wine and champagne.  We walked past rows of vines, were shown through the separating and fermenting process/machinery and into the bottling side of the operation. We had an excellent explanation of how they make/ferment/cork their champagne, then back to the cellar area for lunch and wine tasting.

The cellar was a gorgeous little basement area completely constructed of old field stone with wood beamed ceilings. There were seating areas at the front of the room, then a table set for eight with a fabulous array of antipasti set out and waiting for us.  We dove into the salami and ham and olives, accompanied by great bread – rolls, pita and crunchy flat bread – and whet our whistle for the main event:  the wine tasting.

We had 3 different bottles – The first, a white is their most popular, a blend called Petit Grain Muscat.  I was worried it would be too sweet, but it wasn’t at all. Almost like a soft Sauvignon Blanc, it was incredibly good. The next 2 were red wines (only Kim and I liked whites, so we went with the group on the rest of the tastings!) – the first a Cabernet Franc – Tannat blend. Tannat is the main local grape in Uruguay – it is a very strong grape, but when blended with the other grapes, it smooths out the flavors.  This wine was actually very good, and Ed and I both enjoyed it. The last wine was the full Tannat bottle – which was a little too strong for my taste – although Ed did enjoy it. 

All this was accompanied by a traditional Uruguayan pie (almost like a dense quiche type pie) – one made of leek, one of chicken.  It was delicious – with slices of chicken piled upon one another and a delicate crust. The perfect food to wash down with wine.

We all had a fantastic time – enjoying each others company and the food and wine.  As we ate, the skies opened up and a huge storm blew in with thunder and lightening.  But we couldn’t have cared since we were happy and dry and satisfying our taste buds with the delicious offerings from Varela Zarranz.

Sadly, it was too soon time to go. We each bought wine to take back with us (at $5 US a bottle – you can not beat it!), and we got an apron as well, then we all tippsily boarded our van in the pouring rain.  After about 20 minutes of driving, CiCi got a call from the vineyard that someone had forgotten something.  Oh no!  It was our camera!  We couldn’t believe we had done that!  We were so embarrassed!  So, the van duly turned around and made the trek back to pick it up. Thank heavens they noticed it, even if it did mean red faces for us!

In the end, all worked out well, because by the time we made it back to the ship, the rain had stopped. The 20 minute delay might have actually helped us!  We all trundled back aboard, and headed to our cabins to drop our purchases before going up on deck to watch the sailaway. The skies had cleared, and the temperature was lovely as we sailed out of the Montevideo harbor and onto the open seas headed for Puerto Madryn, Argentina.

1-3 The Norwegian Sun (AKA Noro-ship)

NOTE:  We’re going to give you the 6-day-to-date review on the cruise in this posting – instead of daily – so you can get a feel for the ship – then not be interrupted with the travelogue blog postings.

Embarkation day!  It’s another gorgeous day in BA – we waste away the morning doing tedious packing and organizational chores.  Had our cute little breakfast, and finally hauled our stuff down to the lobby at 11.  Called a cab, ran to the grocery store for one last supply (instant coffee for the ship just in case), and finally ended up heading out to the port about 11:15.

Easy 10 minute ride, conversed in pigeon Spanish with the driver. Easy luggage dump, then the line began for the ship. They weren’t letting us on until 12:00, but they did start the passport lines a little earlier.  As we waited in line, NCL staff passed our first NCL Freestyle Daily, information about what to expect when boarding, our Uruguayan customs form and our health form.  As we leafed through the Daily, uh oh!  There’s a letter from the Captain telling us that the ship has had Norovirus on the past cruise and if we want to cancel and re-book another date we can.  Argh!  That’s not happening for us – so we’ll have to tough it out.  Here goes nothing…..

Embarkation: It really wasn’t all that bad once the lines opened – maybe only 15 minutes wait, then right up the gangway.  We were greeted with folks spraying our hands as we boarded – they are everywhere!  You can’t go near a restaurant or buffet without having your hands sanitized.  Rooms won’t be ready until 2 (then they delayed it until 3pm) because they are sanitizing again – so we head up to the buffet.  It’s a terribly small buffet – and – horrors – they have to serve you – we aren’t allowed to touch ANYTHING!  That’s fine on ships that are set up that way – but this place is not even remotely set up for that.  The salad line is so slow….. and nobody is really aboard yet!  Eek!  Can’t get your own drink – they have to give it you, no salt/pepper on the table, no condiments at all – nothing!

This will be interesting! 

Ship Layout:  We roam the ship and get our bearings. The Sun is kept up very well – maintenance looks pretty good considering she’s almost 10 years old (a heck of a sight better than most Celebrity ships – that’s for sure!).  But the deck plan is totally chopped up. Only 2 sets of elevators and some don’t go to all floors.  You can’t get to the back deck without walking through the buffet, which means being sprayed, you get stuck in the front on deck 12 at the observation lounge (an awesome venue) if you go the wrong way you’re out on the deck and can’t find the elevators. 

After a few days we discovered a set of what we call “sneaky” stairs. They are this bizarre set of stairs that lead to Adaggio (the extra cost Italian restaurant) and the back of one of the large dining areas.  They come out on deck 4 not more than 3 doors down from our cabin. They have been a huge bonus when we are trying to go somewhere. Our cabin is dead mid-ship – so either elevator/stair bank is a hike.

We’re now used to the ship – and while it’s chopped up – it’s not bad. Excellent choice of venues with music.  2 great party bands (Latin and American), 2 pianists, 1 acoustic guitar gal who’s really good (and makes us miss Buckeye Ken in Sanibel even more than we already do!!!), a sports bar with popcorn!!! Yay!!! and real sports!!! double Yay! Pretty big theater – we’ve seen one production show which was fine.  Huge cast though – we were shocked at how many dancers and singers they have. 

Food/Dining rooms:  There are 2 main Freestyle dining rooms (no set times, ever).  We’ve settled into one of them, and every night they give us a window table.  It’s different than Princess though, their wait staff doesn’t have assigned tables, they rotate. We’ve sat in the same section almost every night and had a different waiter.  Odd – it works – but it’s different.  The food is good, but basic.  Nothing to rave about or write home about, but nothing to turn your nose up at either.  We keep calling it serviceable.  Good portions for us, meaning small.  You can get more, but they don’t overload the plate like Princess – which suits us fine.  The funny thing is that because of the Noro – there is NOTHING on the table – no salt/pepper, no bread/rolls (they serve you individually), no flowers or table numbers or anything but the silverware and glasses.  There is butter, but it’s changed after every guest.  It’s too funny. 

There are tons of alternate dining options though, if the menu looks boring. Extra Charge dining rooms are:  Adaggio @ $10(which we’ve tried and it was quite good); Le Bistro @ $15 (French, their original alternative dining), Teppanyaki, Sushi and the Steakhouse all @ $25. Plus, there are free options such as  Tapas – which has a changing menu of little Tapas every night, and Pacific Heights, which has lighter fare.  And of course, there is always the buffet, the hamburgers and pizza.

Crew/Staff:  Everyone is very friendly and sweet, but the restaurant servers seem beat.  They have to be hating life because of the Norovirus thing.  They are working doubly hard, and doing things they normally wouldn’t do, and it really shows.  But you know, we have to hand it to NCL – they have taken every precaution and they have done it really well.  Is it a pain to keep cleaning our hands and asking for food and condiments?  Heck yes! But have we heard of any outbreak yet? Heck no – and if this is what it takes, then by all means, a little inconvenience is worth saving the cruise.  We just feel for all the staff who have to put up with all the extra precautions, making their daily lives so much harder!

Oddities:  So, the communication aboard isn’t exactly stellar.  There are no announcements.  Well, maybe one or two – for the art auction and bingo – but otherwise – nada!  The captain does come on at noon to give us the weather (oh, and an advertisement the other day for a shore excursion to the Antarctica because they haven’t reached their minimum number yet – well yeah, it’s $2599.00 per person – yes – you read that right, for an 11 hour excursion!), but otherwise – those loudspeakers don’t get a work out. We have now sailed out of 4 ports, including BA, and not once have we had any announcements regarding people missing, or sailing or anything. We just pull away, and off we go.  Wow!  Talk about different!

Oh, and the best was the night we sailed from Montevideo – we had to turn the clocks back 1 hour.  We had moved forward for Montevideo (our only time change) and needed to correct it. Ed and I thought it would make sense to do it that night, not the next when it was right before a port, but what do we know?  There was no little time change card in our cabin, and nothing in the Daily. So we didn’t change.  Got up the next morning – and what do you know?  All the ships clocks were changed.  Hmmm…..do you think?  So, we take our walk on the promenade deck, then go into ask Guest Relations.  Did the time change?  “Yes.”  It wasn’t in the Daily.  “Yes it was”.  Oh, no it wasn’t.  “Yes ma’am it was.”  Ok, we’re not arguing, we turn our clocks back. We go back to the cabin and look through all the Daily’s.  Unh uh. not there.  So we call – and have the same conversation except I get to say I’m holding the Daily’s in my hand and it’s not there. “Well,” she says, “it was supposed to be.”  As I said earlier – this will be interesting…..  LOL.

People:  We are the minority. The vast majority of this ship is Argentinean or Chilean (at least Spanish speaking). There are some French and German, and of course us English speakers, but it’s a Spanish speaking circus out there.  It’s not been all that bad for us – actually it’s a bonus.  They eat really, really late (which has to be a huge drag on the wait staff too!!!), so when we go to eat around 7:30 – we’ve had no problems with tables at all. The restaurants are open until 10 or 10:30 and that’s when the South American's are there – so the poor crew don’t get out of those restaurants forever!

The kids are a pain though. They run rough-shod all over this ship and no one stops them. They’ve stolen our do not disturb sign once, but Marcel (our cabin steward) said it happens all the time and then he gets in trouble because he disturbs the guests – not knowing they had a card out.  We actually chased a gang of them down the hall one night when they were switching cards and taking them. Ed took off after them and told them to stop switching/taking the do not disturb cards or he’d have them thrown off the ship. They weren’t more than 8 years old and one of them looked at him and said “you don’t speak Spanish”. Ed said, “no, but you sure understand what I’m saying!”  You hear them running up and down the halls.  That’s not fun – but – not much you can do – except chase them when you can!

1-2 Tango the night away

Our friends, Ada and Renato, from the Constellation Baltic Sea cruise, have given us recommendations for a Tango show, Taconeando, they really enjoyed when there were here in BA.  It sounded right up our alley – small, good food, not touristy at all – so we asked the hotel to make the arrangements for us.  We were lucky and got reservations, plus transportation to and from the show.  Works for us!

Our ride showed up for us right at 8:45 as scheduled, a plain 6 seat van.  We were worried that we might have to cruise all over the city for other folks, but after only one stop a short distance away, we headed to San Telmo and Taconeando.  We passed tons of restaurants and garishly lit Tango shows on the way.  Huge Vegas-like signs and glitz.  We were really happy when we arrived at Taconeando, on a little side street, with a very unassuming entrance and maitre de (or the owner, more likely!) standing out on the street waiting for us.

We were checked off the reservation list and led to a great little table for two up on the riser about 10 feet from the stage.  The whole room didn’t seat more than 80 people – it was so small and intimate – even though we were technically “behind” the stage – we were so close – it didn’t matter, we could see everything!

The place was only half full at best, and only a handful of people were eating. We sat wondering what the protocol was, and how this all worked.  Looking around – we knew for sure we were the only English speaking people there, so we were hoping for the best!  The couple next to us ordered and got their bread – we didn’t have a menu or silverware yet – so we hoped the reservations were correct and were for dinner and the show.  Eventually the waiter came over to get our drink order – and thankfully we could communicate enough in English to get the menu and figure out what we were doing.

The dinner choices are veal with tuna sauce or empanadas for app’s (although we could only have the veal for some reason – we couldn’t have empanadas – but everyone else got empanadas – couldn’t quite figure that one out…but whatever!); steak or chicken for dinner, and ice cream, coconut cheesecake, peaches or flan for dessert.  Drink choices – again – were beer and only bottles of wine.  Since I really didn’t want a whole bottle of wine for myself, we choose to share 2 beers (they were the only thing not included in the total).

We placed our order and waited and watched.  There was a huge group below us, a big family, as it turned out celebrating grandpa’s 80th birthday, and they all wandered in at different times. Other people kept coming in and sitting down – so that everyone was at all sorts of different stages of food and servings.  We couldn’t figure out the strategy here, so we just sat quietly and watched and waited! 

Our food came out fast – the veal was good (the tuna sauce too strong for me – but that’s me and tuna sauce – I’m not a tuna casserole kinda girl either – so…..I scraped it off and at the veal!), Steak was pure Argentinean – good, strong flavor, cooked well, french fries – well – while they are so bad for us, they were so good!!!  We ordered more beer and water, and continued to watch the parade of people and the food orders streaming out of the kitchen.

We couldn’t figure out if the show would start after we were all done with dinner – or while people were still eating.  As it turns out, they wait until the room is full – and they obviously have
“hustlers” going out and getting people to come in for the show. We watched one lady coming and going with a walkie talkie, and always bringing back people. The show started around 11pm when she had filled the last table.

Meanwhile we’re watching the interaction of the owners (an older lady with white hair, the guy who greeted us, our driver, and some other folks we thought were friends who came in and sat in one corner) and everyone else, just enjoying the whole atmosphere and soaking it in!

Finally, the lights dim and the show begins. Oh, oops, didn’t figure in the fact that everything would be in Spanish!  Oh well!  They are telling the story of Tango (that part we got), and since we know the story, we could sort of follow along!  But, regardless of the language, the show was fantastic.  Because the place was so small, you could really see the dancers and their moves and how incredibly choreographed and in step they were.  There were 3 sets of dancers who were all fantastic.  Two singers – a male and a female – again fantastic. Then a special guest singer – and older gentleman who reminded us of a Argentinian Charles Aznevour (a famous French singer).  It was quite the show – and the crowd, including us, just loved it! 

After about an hour or more (we lost track of time!), the emcee came out on stage and thanked everyone for coming and went on and on about what….we don’t know!  But everyone loved him.  So eventually he turns to every single table and asks them where they are from. Oh, ok, so that’s part of what he’s been talking about probably – how international, etc., etc.  Well, he keeps up this running conversation with virtually every table, and there is one couple sitting with 2 others at a table that says “Seattle, Washington”.  No way do they speak Spanish (but as we’re leaving they are with the other couple who are definitely Argentinean, and they are thanking them for bringing them here – so we figure they translated for them). So, anyway, the emcee finally gets to us – and bless his heart – instead of talking this non-stop stream of whatever, he just puts out his hand to us, like “and now…..” – so Ed says “Estados Unidos” – everyone claps and the emcee moves on!  Phew! Made it through that one!

After the introductions, there were a few more comments, then the dance crew came out for last introductions and we all paid and started to file out the door.  We wandered outside to wait for our drive, and the owner put the couple we had been with in a taxi.  Hmmm…. he paid the taxi driver, but then he didn’t say anything to us.  Finally we asked in our pigeon Spanish, and he basically said we were waiting for our driver.  No biggie. We waited a little bit, and he came out, we walked to the van and started home.

As we were heading out of the parking area, the driver’s daughter hopped in and started speaking rapid fire Spanish to us.  Once she figured out we spoke English she practiced on us the whole ride home. She was a doll!  Spoke incredibly well – except for one whole long dialogue about the politics of Argentina, where we got totally lost – but otherwise – she was great. And she learned it all from TV.  From CSI and “Dr. House” and Criminal Intent……we’re renting Spanish subtitle movies from now on! Amazing!

We were deposited safely at our hotel a little after 1am.  What an amazing evening. It was fantastic and we’re so glad we got to go to a true Argentinean tango show, one that was native and not touristy and not all in English.  It was really an experience, one we’ll remember forever!

Next up…..NCL and the Sun.

1-2 Biking through Buenos Aires

No sleeping late for us today – we are up and out early to take a bike ride around the city.  It’s a clear, crisp morning without a cloud in the sky.  From our balcony though – we can feel it’s going to be a scorcher.  Sun tan lotion and light clothing are the rule for today.

We strike out across Recoleta to the city center. A nice 20 minute walk, but it was already getting hot in the sun. We found San Martin plaza without a hitch and with 45 minutes to spare. So we wandered around the large open park area, looking for a coffee shop to grab a quick caffeine jolt. Very different here than in Europe – there were no cafe’s or even restaurants around the square itself.  In Europe, the place would have been packed with choices, but here, the only place we could find was a McDonalds 1 block off the plaza on Calle Florida (the big pedestrian shopping walk).  We passed on the Micky D’s coffee, but did use the restroom.

Walked back up to our meeting place by the horse statue and hoped the tour would happen. As the appointed time approached, a few other people joined us, so we figured we were safe.  And we were – our guides met us at the statue, took care of the paperwork and escorted us down to a parking garage to pick up our bikes.  We had a good group of folks with us:  An American gal, early 30’s, who was with her family for her brother’s wedding; an Australian couple (he from Melbourne, she from Sydney); some American guys (early 20’s) and a French guy traveling together for 19 days all over Argentina and Uruguay; and an Argentinean couple. 

We took off out of the garage and began our trek through town. We stopped at the Malvinas War memorial (Falkland islands war – it’s not a good subject for Argentineans), rode through the new port area of Puerto Madero (used to be the bad area of town, no one would go there, now it’s redeveloped into the in place to be – with new high rise flats, hotels, offices and entertainment – the more we rode around it, the more we thought it looked like Dubai!  Same architecture – same overdevelopment – hope it doesn’t turn out like Dubai!).

From Puerto Madero, we cycled into the Ecological park – a huge preserve of land the government took and made into a preserve for wildlife.  Right on the river (which is nasty, dirty, by the way – it’s not a swimming kind of river), it’s an oasis of green and wildlife with tons of people out walking, jogging, biking and enjoying the nature.  One thing BA has – is a lot of green areas – which is really nice in a huge city such as this.

Next, we headed south through a lovely park area with cement and brick walk ways, flower gardens and trees (and people sun bathing all over).  On to La Boca – the original working class neighborhood of BA. This is the place where all the working people lived in corrugated tin houses, all painted in different colors (they used left over paint from the ships, so none of the colors matched and it became a symbol of the neighborhood – these brightly colored houses).  It’s not a good area to be at night, but during the day, it’s a tourist haven.  The center of the neighborhood, La Caminito, is packed with tour buses and people.  There are craft stalls, food stalls, people dancing the tango (you can take a picture with them for $$$), stand up cut outs (put your head in the cut out) of dancers and other odd poses to have your picture taken with, just an assortment of hurly burly, craziness.  The colored houses are almost an after thought to all this hubbub.  But you can still see, if you look hard enough behind the Disney-like show, the old style houses, the laundry hung out on the front step, the patchwork homes and lives of what was traditionally the backbone of the working city.  It was fun – but it was enough after about 10 minutes.

After corralling our group, we headed back into the center of town, via San Telmo. This is the real Tango district, with the main square a huge attraction on the weekends. There is a craft and antique market here that is supposed to be the best, and real people (not shills to take your picture with) dancing the tango at any given moment.  Today, being Saturday, the square isn’t as jammed as it will be tomorrow, but it’s still vibrant and full of people and life.

Our final stop is Plaza de Mayo, which we’ve already explored, but it’s nice to stop under the shade trees and listen to our guides give us an explanation of the presidency, the palace (where the president doesn’t actually live!) and the history of the whole area.

What a great way to see the city – on the ground, up close, and at our speed.  Add in the local commentary, and it was a great way to spend the morning sightseeing.

So, by the time we get back to San Martin, our original meeting place, it’s around 2 pm.  The guys want to go on the “north” tour – so they make arrangements to do that, our Australian friends are going to lunch on Ave. de Mayo, but we’re pretty hot and tired.  My cold is full force, so we beg off and decide to head back to the hotel for an afternoon of rest.  Plus, we have to figure out if we have reservations for the Tango show we asked the hotel to make for us!  Tango in BA!  Next post.

1-1 New Years in BA

Started off the new year right – slept in until around 8! That’s pretty amazing for us!  Got up, had our instant coffee in our little kitchen and dining area, then went out for a morning walk to explore the neighborhood.  A cold front had obviously come in last night (it was windy and pretty cool – on the balcony for the midnight NY celebration, I had to put on my new $6 long sleeve shirt I got in the Atlanta airport).  It was brisk with a nice cool breeze as we walked along the cemetery walls, looking into the church and watching vendors set up their craft stalls around the park outside the cemetery.

We wandered around the block, just getting a feel for where we were. Stopped at an appliance store to window shop – and were attacked by mosquitoes!  Uh oh! We didn’t spray!  Who would have thought it?  We ran back to the hotel, slapping and shooing and swishing our arms and legs to keep them away.  Bad enough in Iguazu – we never figured we’d have problems in BA.  So glad we brought both bottles of Off and Deep Woods Cutter. 

Back at the hotel – we showered and sprayed up!  Ordered breakfast which  comes in a cute little tray with strawberry and regular milk, cereal in little cellophane bags that are individually tied with ribbon, muffins, brownies, bread for toast, ham and cheese slices, coffee and orange juice.  It was so cute!  After we snacked on the treats – we headed out to Recoleta Cemetery in search of Evita’s grave.

It only takes a minute or two to walk to the cemetery – it takes days to explore it fully and really see everything properly!  Maggi – you would be  in heaven (excuse the pun!).  The mausoleums and the crypts in the cemetery are spectacular. Even the small relatively unassuming crypts are amazing.  We walked through the main avenues heading in the direction of Evita. we were fortunate that we were there early on New Year’s Day and had the place mostly to ourselves.

We found Evita’s grave with the help of a chatty guard who is stationed right outside the row for the crypt.  He and I had a lovely conversation in Spanish about the cemetery and how different cemeteries in the US are – how bodies are “interred” not normally above ground. I couldn’t go so far as to tell him about New Orleans – I had pretty much exhausted my Spanish by that time!

So – Evita’s grave is a small black crypt on a side alley with tons of flowers and people around it.  Totally unassuming and stark in comparison with some of the grandiose marble and granite behemoths that crowd the cemetery lanes.  We took some pictures, listened to a tour around the corner explaining her life, death and burial, then went back and took more pictures (this time with Pietro who refused to sit nicely on the stone – so a nice little oriental man who was there filming the grave tried to help, but Pietro still wouldn’t cooperate. Then a cute little old Argentinean man finally figured out he could hold Pietro up while I took the picture.  How sweet!  All for the Evita photo op!).

After the Evita pix, we just wandered aimlessly through the rabbit warrens of mausoleums.  It truly was amazing in there.  One larger than the next. The stairs and ladders that go deep down into the crypts, stained windows inside throwing colored shadows onto the caskets.  Ornate marble statues of everything from angels to horses to military men at attention in front of the soldiers crypt. 

After the cemetery we wandered around Recoleta – taking a walking tour through the tree lined streets, looking at the art museum (which didn’t open until 12:30). browsing some of the craft stalls, generally just wasting time. We decided to head into the center of the city and explore Plaza Mayo (the main plaza where the catedral and president’s house are) – so we hiked up to the subway and caught the train.

Easy and cheap!  like 30 cents US a ride.  Train came right away, 10 minutes and we came up into the fresh air at Calle Florida – the shopping pedestrian mall.  Being that it was a holiday everything was closed – and the streets were a mess from the new year’s eve celebration – littered with bottles and cans and strips of paper that turned out to be last year’s calendars.  Obviously a tradition here is to take your old year calendar and throw it up in the air at midnight to welcome in the new year.  Pretty fun idea actually!

We walked through Plaza Mayo, looking at the cathedral, taking pictures of the pink palace ( the president’s home – but not really where she lives), the museums and other buildings that surround the square.  Most of  the streets had lanes blocked off for the Dakar 2010 race start – we saw something about the route on TV, but of course, only caught part of what they said – so we had no clue about start times or anything!

By this time it was getting to be around 2 and we decided to get something to eat – not a lot of options, but we did manage to snag a sidewalk table at Le Junta de 1801.  Really?  Named after a “Junta”?  Ok – well….when in BA…..Turned out to be a great spot to eat, people watch, and see the start of the Dakar!  We started with empanadas, then shared a pizza which was excellent.  Even got to order 1/2 a bottle of wine, not the whole darn thing!

As we sat eating, the motorcycle portion of the Dakar paraded by – so we got to see them and watch the crowds scream and yell as they lined up at the stanchions to watch.  After lunch headed back to the hotel for a nap, yes, a nap! Our wandering was taking it out of us!

Later that evening, we headed out looking for a place for drinks and dinner.  Found a bar – 1771 (Uno Siete Siete Uno) - actually one that Ed had read about and wanted to visit – right outside our hotel – so we sat there for drinks and had pocos (popcorn!).  Then tried to find a parilla that was really highly recommended on Trip Advisor – but they were closed.  So we ended up at Clark’s – right around the corner from the hotel.

Sat in the sidewalk cafe portion and shared chorizo and fried provolone for app’s – both were excellent!  Then I had a rib eye steak and Ed had sirloin – again both were excellent!  The beef here is just so flavorful – and different. And the way they cook it over the grill and the coals and the smoke – all really bring out the flavor even more.

We had one more drink at the 1771 bar, then headed back to the hotel for the night.

12-31 New Year’s Eve in Buenos Aires

We arrived at the Ayres de Recoleta Plaza in a snap.  Didn’t take hardly any time since the airport is not that far away and the traffic wasn’t bad since it was about 8 pm.  It’s great here though – it’s still really light out so it never feels that late!

We checked into the hotel (after a long wait while the couple in front of us argued that they had pre-paid for reservations online – but the hotel didn’t have their reservation and said they never ask for payment online), and got a great room on the 7th floor overlooking the Recoleta cemetery where Evita is buried.  The room is fantastic – it’s a studio suite with a little kitchenette, glass dining table, faux leather chairs, a huge couch and chair and a king size bed.  Great bathroom, excellent A/C, and a balcony that has a view of the cemetery, plus the river and the park and is wide enough for 2 chairs.  Fantastic!

We dumped our stuff and ran to the grocery store right across the street before they closed to stock our kitchen.  Managed to grab beer and wine and some snacks which will keep us going for the evening.  Back at the hotel,  we showered and changed and wandered out into the night.  The area around the hotel is great – packed with restaurants and  cafes and little stores.  We looked all around at everything – trying to decide where to eat. Unfortunately it was so late, that all the little cafes were closed and the only options left were the big expensive Prix Fixe meals.  We didn’t feel like a huge meal since we had the huge lunch – and didn’t want to pay $100 US each for a dinner – so we ended up snacking in the hotel room.

After our dinner/snack, we headed back out to explore and found a great bar down the street where we could get just drinks.  Sat on the sidewalk people watching  for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel for the New Years celebration.  We took our chairs out on the balcony with our beer and wine (and crackers for snacks) and listened to a band that was playing at a restaurant in the Park.  They were great – playing a mix of Spanish and English songs.  We counted down the New Year with them – then got to watch fireworks being set off all along the river and in other districts of the city. 

What better way to celebrate 2010?  We called it a night around 1 or so, and hit the hay for a good night’s sleep so we can start exploring BA tomorrow.