Development in Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires is a happening city, with huge, rapid development.

Juxtaposed to what's happening in Ottawa, there don't seem to be many barriers to arriving at the finished product, and in record time. Case in point, Puerto Madero an entirely new neighbourhood in what was a long forgotten, abandoned industrial port area. It is touted as one of the most successful recent waterfront renewal projects in the world. Numerous new residential high-rises of up to 50 stories have been built facing the Rio de la Plata since 2000. (Link to wiki if this is your cuppa tea, it's interesting to me: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Madero#New_high-rise_construction. Article somewhat outdated but impressive nonetheless).

Where warehouses once stood are now high-priced, condos with pricey shops and shiny cliquish new ground floor restaurants along the river. As a catalyst for development, the Hilton Hotel chain built the pedestrian bridge across the old harbour to kickstart facilitation of pedestrian accessibility and development. The swing bridge, Puente de la Mujer or Women's Bridge was designed by a major architect, to resemble the curve of a tango dancer's back and is quite spectacular.

Of course we visited the mandatory futból clubs for the now obligatory photo op. One of which was CABJ or Club Atlética  Boca Juniors, who had just smoked their cross town rivals 5 - 0 in a major championship final so spirits were high all over the city. More  futból mania to follow. Of course Rainer took every opportunity to drag it into conversation....kidding, it's always a great groundbreaker.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina!

February 1, 2015 - Buenos Aires

We took a few different tours, so much history and culture to take in. We've had good luck with our tour guides and some fun on our treks. Sabrina showed us around in a private tour by car, customizing it as we went, to avoid duplication and to add what was of interest to us.

Highlights included the infamous balcony of the government house palace Casa Rosada (pink) where Eva and Juan Perón made some sort of scene and numerous public addresses....hum along folks, "Don't cry for me Argentina, the truth is I never left you". We also visited her final resting place in the enormous La Recoleta Cemetery (her body went AWOL for years, was found in Italy and returned to Argentina). This was a beautifully maintained space of family mausoleums of more prominent Argentinians including the graves of notables including presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners, the founder of the Argentine Navy and a granddaughter of Napoleon.

Safety

Every new city we arrive at we're warned to guard our valuables, and do. We've been lucky so far however others have not been so fortunate. We spoke to a guy (from Ottawa), who had his entire backpack stolen at knife point in Santiago (tourist area but took a back path instead of the ascensore), a woman whose necklace was ripped from her neck, again Santiago, and another who had a wallet lifted in Valparaíso just outside the port. Just this week, a Swede who lost his wallet to a low down thief at a restaurant in Rio. We felt safe in Santiago, took the LRT there, walked around with friends etc., so were somewhat surprised to hear of so many having issues but we are aware safety is definitely an issue.

Notice the blue pashmina I'm wearing, versatile, great to wrap around my waist and purse so less likely ripped off, or to look like Bonhomme Carnaval...also keeps sun off in sweltering rides atop buses! It has come in handy. I have a few with me - free travel tip.

Sad State Of Affairs - Street Children

In stark contrast to the upper class development, major conglomerates and headquarters of numerous worldwide organizations, screams the ugly side, the huge problem of homelessness. An estimated 15,000 people are homeless in Buenos Aires, 4,500 are children.

We witnessed a dirty, scrawny, street-worn woman huddled in the heat of a major pedestrian walking mall, an old flattened mattress and a heap of what were no doubt all of her worldly belongings beside her, and two young children, maybe two and three years of age, both clad only in diapers running around and playing in the street, barefoot and filthy.

Later on when we passed by again about 10 pm, the woman slept with one of the toddlers, and a haggard man sat nearby, seemingly at watch, as the other toddler, still in diapers, kicked around a big chunk of cardboard box, oblivious to everything around her.

Another day a young skinny girl, maybe 8 years old, sat on her butt, lifting it only to scoot forward crab - style down the walking mall and kicking a box along with her foot. She never stood up to walk, although we assume she could. Her leggings were filthy and full of holes, her shirt never washed, along with her hair. A store owner must have given her the box as it was new, and looked like a dollar store box you might buy for a birthday gift. It was for begging purposes and had a few coins in it, maybe a bill or two which kept spilling out. She continued to kick the box, and a girl, maybe 15, impeccably dressed in her McDonald's uniform with her hair all pinned back in a neat bun, had come from her restaurant and was leading the child toward it to give her some food.

We inquired about the child at McDonald's. It was almost too much to choke out the question, why something like this could happen, why kids on the street? The young girls explained that homelessness is a huge issue, that beds are available but have to be vacated by early morning, and that the government should do more, but that the government will not separate a chlid from its parent, even if it means the children sleep on the streets. Very sad.

Another day we took the subway and a girl, about 7 years old and her baby brother of about 3 years got on. The little girl was almost zombie-like in her monotone chant, continuously turning slowly around in circles and saying in Spanish, something along the lines of, 'we are poor and need food, if you can give us some money we would appreciate it, my brother is giving you a card, if you can help please pay him for the card', over and over as her sweet little brother handed out a small baseball-sized card to each passenger, beamed a huge smile and blinked his big brown eyes, then returned to each passenger to collect. It was just the two of them riding the subway. Most didn't give. At one point he got confused and handed money someone had given him to another passenger instead of a card. They smiled and gave him back the money. Then they moved on to the next subway car to begin the routine again.

When we got off the subway, an emaciated child was sitting in the subway hallway underground selling small packs of Kleenex for whatever coins riders could throw at her. Not a pretty sight.

A sad a state of affairs. The inequality smacks you right in the face as in tandem, the sightseeing tours are offered, the malls are bustling and big business rolls right along.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - (Almost) The Last Tango!

February 1, 2015

Our ship has come in! Last port of call for the Celebrity Infinity on this run. A great cruise with some good entertainment, including tango dancers and gauchos who came aboard for our last night and put on quite the show. Tango of course, being the dance of Argentina. We spent one day and night on the ship here before disembarking on Sunday.

Our first day, we opted again for the Hop On Hop Off bus. Some glitches with headphones and sound but we got where we wanted to go and saw all there was to see, with a few side trips (hop offs to tour fútbol stadiums etc.). A big city with so much history and much to see. Back onboard, we took in the tango show then packed our bags for our 4 night hotel stay. Back on land!

Buenos Aires the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after Greater São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the continent's southeastern coast. The Greater Buenos Aires has a population of around fifteen and a half million.

Sunday morning our guide Diego met us on time as planned at the ship, loaded our bags into his van and dropped us to the NH Crillón Hotel. He was very helpful and had maps and suggestions on what we could do for the remainder of the day and left us on our own to wreak havoc on Buenos Aires.

Argentina is in quite a state economically and their currency (Peso) is rapidly decreasing in value, so much so that it is being dealt on the Black Market. Some have made it their 'profession' to sell 'Blue Dollars' on the street and you cannot walk for 5 seconds, literally, before someone doesn't yell "Cambio, cambio, cambio, dollars" at you. It became quite a joke. If you agree to their exchange rate (for US dollars), you go with them to an undisclosed location to complete the transaction, could be a back alley or corner of a restaurant, called caves. The bank rate is roughly 8 Pesos to 1 US Dollar. On the street you can do as well as 13 or 14 to 1. Our tour guide gave us 12 to 1 and we were happy not to deal with the street dudes.

We explored a bit and ended up at a Sunday market, a very long cobblestone street, closed to vehicles on Sundays for vendors to sell their wares, mostly handicrafts. The highlight of the market was a place we stumbled upon. As usual, head toward the music and there will be something fun to do or see, in this case, a few musicians, some BBQs set up selling steak or chorizo on buns, traditional Argentinian fare, and best of all, tango dancers. It was a space normally used as a parking lot, pretty primitive, some shade cover but very rustic.The beer was just a bonus. We grabbed a bun, a beer, sat in the sweltering heat and took in the local entertainment. Every now and again they would put down a bucket should you wish to make a donation, which we did.
It was awesome - our kinda fun.

Punta del Este, Uruguay - International Incident

January 30, 2015

We started off our day with a knock at our cabin door as we were preparing to hit the city of Punta del Este. A lovely lady came in rather apologetically to say she had to deliver some news and felt badly about it. It would seem that our beloved Canadian flag we so proudly displayed from our balcony at various ports had to be taken down as it was A, a fire hazard in the event someone threw a cigarette overboard and it blew onto our balcony but, more importantly B, an international fox paws (faux pas en Français) to fly other than the native flag of our port country! Yikes! Leave it to a couple of redneck Canucks to ruin diplomatic relations in Latin America. Revolutions and upheavals have started over much less.

Punta del Este is referred to as Little Miami Beach and we could see why, with its beautiful beaches, sailboats galore, people jogging or walking mutts along the pristine boardwalks. It is a popular vacation spot for Argentinians but very expensive, as we learned. We walked around with ship neighbours Rich and Carla from New Hampshire (Nouveau Jambon Transparent en Français), and stopped for a cerveza on a hot sticky day. We were shocked at the bill for four large beers - equivalent to $50 US, which in Valparaíso was $16 US. Almost as bad as at a Sens game!

We bit the dust on that one and moved on....the place was too 'touristy' for us at any rate (pun intended)! Punta del Este is famous for its fingers monument, gigantic fingers sticking out of the beach.

Montevideo, Uruguay

January 29, 2015

Montevideo, the capital and largest city of Uruguay on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata, has a population of 1,319, 000. It was established in 1724 by a Spanish soldier, and it was also under brief British rule in 1807.

With only one day to spend exploring a city we tend to look for the Hop On Hop Off tourist buses to maximize our time, which was our choice in Montevideo. We also walked around quite a bit and at one point stopped to watch a dog who would chase a rock thrown into a fountain. He never tired of this game.

I didn't carry my tablet today as was warned that it wasn't a safe city so carried minimal valuables and took pictures on my phone. All my jewellery is back in Ottawa.

We also witnessed passengers missing a Costa cruise ship in the harbour the same time we were in port. Some young girls coming back happily with shopping bags until they realised that their ship was slowly sailing away. We heard the shriek let out by one as they frantically waved their arms in desperation and another collapsed in shock on the pier. It wasn't pretty. We realised we wouldn't want this to happen to us - we've had some close ones...so when we went out to get wifi, we cut it short and headed back to the ship a bit earlier than usual.