Buenos Aires Recoleta Cemetery Day 10

Recoleta Cemetery 

Our very busy and interesting day started with a visit to the Buenos Aires Recoleta Cemetery.  My first thought?  This is just like the New Orleans Metairie Cemetary. But, after a few minutes, I realized the Metairie pales in comparison.  The Recoleta is like a well cared for monument city.  It covers 14 acres, all of it above ground. The most noted occupant is Eva Peron.  Condé Nast does a much better job of illustrating the wide avenues and mausoleums than I did.  

Our schedule in Buenos Aires changed two days ago when Gaston received word that massive anti-government protests would take place on January 23, the day of our flight.  Tauck arranged the flight change for this morning.  It was chaotic at the airport and when we arrived in Chile our bus and guide were not waiting.  It seems Tauck had not verified the change in arrival with them.  After a long wait, lunch on Gaston, and and even longer walk to the arrived bus, we drove 2.5 hours south to Vik Chile in the Millahue Valley which is in the heart of the Chilean wine country.  As you will see in my Flickr photos we got to see the beautiful Andes against the sunset.  The hotel very generously waited dinner for us about 10pm.  My Buenos Aires and Hotel Via pics at Flickr.

Estancia and San Antonio de Areco, Argentina Day 9

Gaucho presentation at Estancia

We headed out early this morning for San Antonio de Areco about a 2 hour drive. It has been declared a city of historic national interest by the Argentine Government. Here we visited the Draghi Silversmith Museum where Juan Jose Draghi was the forerunner of the revival of traditional gaucho silversmithing in Argentina. On view were traditional gaucho belts, sabers, stirrups, as well as contemporary jewelry and high relief placards.  The shoppers in our groups spent a great deal of time in the gift shop.  Wayne and I walked to the park and listened to the birds. 

After listening to the birds, we boarded the bus to Estancia, which is a ranch (normally for rearing sheep or other cattle) that in this case is a place for Polo horses and Guachos. All the Polo horses were on sabbatical. But we had a nice glass of wine and then an impressive gaucho show.  The first show involved 2 gauchos racing under an arch with a keyring size ornament that they tried to spear with a stylus. They were extremely fast and pretty accurate.  If the ornament was speared and remained on the stylus, the gaucho held it aloft and then presented it to a señorita he desired.  I got one!!!   Then the son of a gun got another ornament and presented it to another señorita...the two timer.  They also played a game much like football and one gaucho presented his horse as he had trained it.  Check this link to read about him and Flickr to see the photos of both placed we visited.      

Buenos Aires Day 8

 

No, that is not me on the left.

I absolutely love Buenos Aires.  It is very sophisticated.  We began our fabulous day with our guide Alejandro leading us on a walk through Plaza de Mayo where we saw The Metropolitan Cathedral and the Casa Rosada. The Plaza de Mayo is a city square and the main foundational site of Buenos Aires. It was from the balcony of the Casa Rosada in Plaza Mayo that Eva Peron address the masses shortly before her death. We did not go into the Casa Rosada, but we did go into the Metropolitan Cathedral. Pope Francis was the Archbishop here for 15 years before moving to the Vatican in 2013.  There is a museum of his personal and liturgical items.  We did not see that.  This tour is more about brief observations of culturally important places or customs.  I haven't even known who the artists were in the cathedrals nor have they been pointed out. 

Lunch was at Cafe Tortoni, a beautiful Fin de siecle named after the Parisian cafe of the same name. It was where the elite of the Parisian culture gathered in the 19th century.  It still emanates that feel. It was selected by UCityGuides as one of the ten most beautiful cafes in the world. 

Tonight was a blast at the Tango Porteno Dinner Theatre.  We had a designated front row balcony area where each person posed with one of the dancers for photos.  I couldn't stop laughing.  The show was quite good.  The footwork was so fast I could hardly determine how it was done.  Oh, dinner was included.

Pictures at Flickr.

Iguaza Falls, Argentina Day 7

 

Rodents, Crows and Falls

I spent the last few months walking 5 miles a day in order to be in good shape for this tour.  What I should have done was readjust my sleeping patterns.  We have had to be ready to roll no later that 6:30 am every day.  Today luggage had to be ready to roll by 6:30 which meant I had to roll by 6am.  My regular roll time is 8am.  But, it is all worth it.  We rolled across the Tancredo Neves Bridge over the Iguacu River and into Argentina. The falls are still beautiful but the crowds are huge here.  We had to option of taking an upper trail and lower trail.  We skipped the lower trail just because of the heat (90*) and the crowds.  Everyone was very considerate but you could hardly move.  After lunch we headed to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires where we will be staying at the Alvear Palace Hotel. 

The hotel is another Belmond.  They are all a bit different but all elegant.  Buenos Aires has a very European feel as does the hotel.  Dinner tonight offered the best tenderloin so far.  We sat with Jeannette and Pete.  It was great food, good conversation.  Pictures at Flickr

Iguaza Falls Day 6

 

The Very Wet LaGues

We became one with the Falls today. The approximately 1 mile walk took us up close to some of the 275 drops. Hopefully my pictures will give a tiny understanding of the magnificence.  The group coalesced at the wonder of it all.  Each and everyone exclaimed they had never seen anything to challenge the Falls.  There is one walkway the stretches over a fall.  This was so much fun (and a bit damp lol)

Next, we visited the Bird Rescue Sanctuary.  Most of these birds are born in the sanctuary and will never be released. The parents were rescued from poachers. The Park is one of the largest bird parks in Latin America, whose main job is the conservation of the 120 species of birds of the Atlantic Forest in some danger of extinction.

This was becoming quite a full morning as we returned to the Falls, took a funicular down to the river and boarded a jet boat.  We traveled for miles upstream to feel the spray and hear the thunderous water at the vase of the falls.  THEN the boat went UNDER the falls at Devil's Throat.  The spray was so strong that I couldn't open my eyes.  But, what was there to see expect spray?  What fun!!!

Tonight we had a special private dinner at Casa do Chef.  Fabio, the chef, had been head chef at out hotel before deciding to create his own restaurant.  The dining room is located in his home with one side completely open to the enclosed garden.  He creates dishes using the gastronomic history of the diverse regions of Brazil.  At each serving he explains the origin of the dish and the ingredients. It reminded me very much of our Aboriginal lunch in Australia. An extra treat was his flute playing.  Also, the very cute children appeared.  Pictures at flickr.