Antarctica's White Wilderness Day 3

DAY 3 - Saturday, January 16, 2016 - Buenos Aires Tour; Plaza de Mayo; La Boca; Recoleta & Eva Peron Tomb; Economy of Argentina Discussion

We did not have to hurry this morning. After breakfast we met Seba in the lobby and were joined by María Soledad, our local city guide. At 9:00 we started our walking tour of the city of Buenos Aires.

Sole began by reminding us that the Spanish settled this port in 1580. Beginning with a small adobe government building and a simple church, the city grew and the population increased to over 3 million inhabitants today.

Now the democratic government is huge and that simple church is the Metropolitan Cathedral. A few years ago, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, was a humble priest, before becoming the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and then the leader of the Catholic Church.

As we walked, Sole pointed out the different architectural styles and we stopped to admire a towering statue of Julio Argentino Roca, a military general who then served as President of Argentina for two terms.

From the monuments on the Avenida 9 de Julio and the Plaza de Mayo, to the back streets of the city, we discussed the changes seen in this growing metropolis. Our guide spent a lot of time explaining the recycling industry of the city.

Men and women sort and pick the garbage clean. There were two levels of recycling in the city. The first are people with humble means who look for food and anything they can sell quickly.

Then the municipal workers or the official recyclers pick up all of the trash daily and deliver it to centers for sorting. The end result is a clean and litter free city center.

When we got to the Plaza de Mayo all of last night’s protesters were gone and the park was spotless. There were a few vendors selling souvenirs, people feeding the pigeons, and a tango dancer wanting to sell a photo.

Most protests happen in this square with the Presidential Pink Palace overlooking the demonstrators. Sole explained the history of the 30,000 “Disappeared People” during the Dirty War of 1974 – 1983. The military and right wing government killed or eliminated opposition groups.

Democracy was restored to Argentina in 1983 after the Falkland Wars with Great Britain, known in Argentina as the Malvinas Conflict. Veterans of this war are still protesting their lack of compensation for fighting or being injured in this war.

At 10:15 we met our driver Miguel and got into a large bus for a trip across town and to the Port of La Boca. On the way, we stopped at the river and toured the 1874 vessel Corbeta “Uruguay” from the Armada de la República Argentina.

In 1903 the ship was part of a rescue mission sailing to the Antarctic Peninsula to rescue the Swedish Antarctic Expedition led by Otto Nordenskiöld. Their ship, the Antarctic, had been destroyed by ice. Our Tour Director, Seba wanted us to see a more primitive but heroic ship before we board the Corinthian in a few days.

We arrived in La Boca, the colorful Bohemian neighborhood near the mouth of the Riachuelo River. The building materials for this settlement were scavenged from the docks.

Corrugated steel, wood, and metal grates, are all noticeable in the construction of shops and houses. The bright colors are leftover paint from the shipping containers and the vessels.

We only stayed in La Boca for 40 minutes but that was fine as we had been there several times on previous trips. We boarded the bus and drove to Recoleta, the cemetery where Eva Peron was buried.

Instead of going into the cemetery a third time, we had an ice cream at Freddo’s and an alfajor, a delicious dessert from Havanna’s Specialty Shop. The alfajores are two cookies with a center filling of dulce de leche dipped in chocolate. Yummy!

We reconnected with the group and rode back to the hotel at 2:00. As we were going up to our room, we met a man with a large Cannon camera that was going up to the 12th floor to take pictures of the city below. We joined him for a few minutes of panoramic photography.

The remainder of the afternoon was free so we had three hours to work on GarciaTrips before our 5:45 discussion on the economy of Argentina.

An American news correspondent from ABC News, Joe Golden gave us an hour’s presentation of his life and experiences during the past 30 years living in and working in Argentina. We were able to ask questions about this turbulent economy as it related to the political ups and downs of the country.

Instead of going out to eat a large meal, we walked to a nearby Carrefour to buy a few things for our dinner. Several in our group were going to the Tango Show and dinner.

They would not get back until midnight and because we had seen the show the last two times we were here, we opted for time to complete the journal and pack for our 6:30 am departure for the airport and our flight to Ushuaia.

Accommodations: NH City Hotel - Meals: B