Argentina ~ Exploring Buenos Aires

Our friends George and Robin joined us here in Buenos Aires.  All went well until George injured his back, what a  colossal bummer! Unfortunately it will not be a quick recovery and we've missed our buddy George during our daily exploits. Lo Siento George.

                                              

Where else but Buenos Aires can you find tango on one corner and the new Argentinian Pope on the next?  The Pope's inauguration was at 5 am and thousands crowded the plaza in front of the Cathedral, we wisely slept in and only made it in time to buy the bottle opener which we are sure was blessed by the Pope.

 

Blessed by the Pope

It’s standard in most big cities to have wonderful architecture, theater, and good art .... 

Colon Theater

Theater turned bookstore

 

                             

but it’s the individual events and festivities that happen during travel that make it even more fun.  So, in search of fun we went to the races and the rodeo! The urban horse scene was all a bit too civilized for us and where were those cows to rustle? Only in bronze or on the dinner plate. 

                                   

Biggest horse we have ever seen! 

                                                               

Then we happened to stumble upon the March 24th demonstration to remember the beginning of the dirty war where more than 30,000 people were 'disappeared' in horrific deaths between 1968 - 1983.

Sculpture of a 'Disappeared' at Memorial Park located near the shore where the drugged but not dead victims were dropped from airplanes into the sea; walk around it and the image disappears.

                        

The crowd was huge (over 100,000) and included every human rights organization in Argentina and it was completely friendly. Everyone honored each other and crowd control was cooperatively handled by the people not by any visible police force. Amazing! No guns, no riot squads, no tanks with fire hoses or machine guns mounted on them.... the complete opposite of what we have seen in other South American countries. Apparently demonstrations in Buenos Aires are quite common and totally acceptable.

 

So we got to see all the customs and passions of Argentina in one event...Kids playing soccer, street side 'parrilla' (bar-b-que) and friends sharing 'mate' or enjoying a nice glass of wine while watching the demonstration! 

'Mate' a tea ritual shared with friends

And the best event of the month was Janet's birthday! March 25, 2013!

Argentina - Feliz Cumpleaños Juanita

Aplauso Fuerte y 58 años buenos y más por venir! .... for my beloved Janet!

Argentina ~ Northern Journey

Argentina is a very big and very long country so our northern journey from Tierra del Fuego to Iguazu Falls was a rather long not to mention odoriferous experience during the two!! twenty plus hour bus rides with the final leg being one blissful 2 hour flight.

                             

 ¿Why didn’t we fly the whole distance, good question?! The simple answer was...to see more penguins.

                

We wanted to see the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in South America at Punta Tombo and the bus was the most direct albeit v e r y long route.

           

They were quite entertaining waddling to and fro the sea and their nests and really fascinating to watch but the question remains...was the ratio of arduous bus travel time to the penguin viewing time worth the effort? In the short run (like after the second twenty hour bus trip)~ No!

                               

 But in the bigger picture (aka-a few weeks after the fact)....Yes, seeing all these penguins was incredible and we'd do it again but hire a private plane to get us there.

Next stop, Iguazú Falls where we were blissfully back in the tropics again loving the moist warm air, and lush green environment!

  

Living in Maui we are admittedly waterfall snobs but Iguazú Falls are beyondananda over the top even to our snooty expectations. These majestic waterfalls (all 275 of them) that divide Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay are a totally mesmerizing sensory overload.

             

                                    

                     

Winding catwalks traverse over, under and around the falls providing excellent viewing from both Argentina and Brazil.  We did it all, and got drenched in the process.

Yes, we too agree with all the guidebooks that Iguazú Falls are a must see in South America.