ANTARCTICA / SOUTH AMERICA  - DAY 3/4/5 - BUENOS AIRES / MONTEVIDEO

Blogs: Day 1-2 Iguazu and Itapu | Day 3-4-5 Buenos Aires | Day 6-8 Falklands | Day 10-14 Antarctic | Day 15-16 Ushuaia | Day 17 Punta Arenas - Patagonia | Day 21-23 Santiago | Day 24 Valparaiso

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Much of day 3 was spent getting back to Buenos Aires. Car ride to airport, 2 hour flight and then a car ride to our new hotel which was in a trendy, busy area close to downtown.

Our hotel (the tall white building on the right)

The view from our window, the famous Recoleta Cemetery where Evita is buried.

The cemetery was our first stop being close by. Below you see Eva Perone's (Evita) mausoleum.

Eva was the much beloved First Lady who died in 1952 from cervical cancer at the age of only 33. In her short life span she achieved a lot including getting woman the vote for the first time in Argentina as well as rights for the common workers.

Much controversy surrounds her death as her body disappeared 3 years after her death as it was taken by her enemies - a military coup. For a time it was put in a van and moved around place to place to keep it hidden as she was such a symbol of the people. But, somehow people found out and flowers suddenly appeared no matter where the van parked. So the military finally shipped her body to Italy where it was buried under a false name for almost 20 years.

Finally her body was returned to her rightful grave in 1973 after yet another military coup.

Argentina has a pretty dark past with six military coups in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966 and 1976. Mostly establishing dictatorships that were taken down by the next tyrant.

After the British defeated Argentina in 1982 the dark period ended and the last dictatorship fell, but no country declined as rapidly or as severely as Argentina. There were some months in 2000 and 2001 when the average inflation rate in Argentina approached 5,000%. THAT's scary!

They did however elect the first female president in 2007.

The cemetery does not have gravestones, instead it is an above the ground mausoleum, where a family buys a plot of land and builds the mausoleum of their choice, from basic to extremely extravagant with multiple sculptures and decoration. When family members die, their coffins are laid to rest in shelves in the mausoleum. Here are some examples.

Some are in perfect condition even though the dates go back 50 to 120 years.

Others not so much. Note the drawers with coffins in, some are busted revealing the coffins.

Most all have deep basements with many coffins in them.

Others just a gate or broken glass door where you can see the coffins clearly.

And we have a brand new mausoleaums next to a much older one that is about to fall apart.

On the left an extravagant mausoleum with intricate sculptures.

Every one is different. There are 4700 mausoleums in the cemetery!!!

Very interesting to walk around for a couple hours, it goes on forever... it's a labyrinth with alleyways in every direction.

After that we went for a walk to see the giant rubber trees that are hundreds of years old. Their branches stretch so far out that they have had to install steel arms to support them and in some cases they got creative with sculptures!

Argentina is very affordable and they are all about MEAT!! A regular size steak is 400 grams which is 14oz! A larger steak is more common at 600 grams (That's 21 oz - well over a POUND of meat on your plate!!) They are about grilling, restaurant menus have 2 sections, one is called "From the kitchen" and the other is from the grill.

Here Wendy chose the smallest tenderloin on the menu (300g which is 10oz). I went for pork chops (double rack nothing smaller). That and 2 beers, 2 glasses of wine was $30.

Beers in a restaurant are $2ea and in a regular pub are $1. I bought a 750ml bottle of 100 Pipers Whiskey for $6 at a wine store, bottles of wine started at $3.

For lunch, 2 empanadas (meat pies) and a large 600ml beer to share cost us $3.00

Even at a our 5 star jungle lodge dinner was about $12/plate. Gas is not so cheap - about $3 a gallon.

DAY 4 - BUENOS AIRES

The next day it was overcast with 100% of rain predicted. We had booked a tour by locals and our first stop was the flower sculpture. What makes this unique is that it is mechanically controlled with light sensors and it opens with the level of the light just like a real flower. Here it is semi open because the skies were overcast.

Every where you go in Argentina there are buskers. Some are doing juggling acts and even tight rope walking at traffic lights, others like the ones below bring a boom box and perform tango dances and will happily take your picture with the pretty ladies for a price!

Then commenced a city tour going from neighborhood to neighborhood, each one uniquely different. Buenos Aires is a very large city with a population of 14 million. It is spread out with tons of green space. The city is actually larger than the country of Belgium!

When asked what the biggest problem the city had, the answer from our guide was unexpected... she said demonstrations! Demonstrators are not to be touched or arrested or harassed in any way, even if they block major highways, trains and other transport. And they do regularly! While we were in the city center we saw a group marching into downtown. What are they protesting you ask? Well apparently they are unemployed and on social welfare.  They do not believe the government gives them enough money and they want a Christmas Bonus.  A bonus equivalent to $10,000 US Dollars per person!  Our guide indicated these are people that are completely capable of working, they choose not to because the government will simply support them.

Everything is free in Argentina; education, medical, unemployment. Plus you don't need to be Argentinean to collect, all you have to do is speak Spanish, then you qualify, hence many, many immigrants moving in from poorer countries. Sadly the country has run out of money. This was originally financed by taxing the rich, but it's not enough any more so regular people are seeing their taxes sky rocket.

The colorful buildings and statue filled area below is known as La Boca.  Once the poorest and most dangerous part of the city, now a hustling and bustling middle class neighborhoods with restaurants, cafes, galleries and shops lining the narrow streets.  It has become one of the cities biggest tourism centers.

Buenos Aires is known as the Europe of South America, and with reason. Everywhere you look the architecture has been influenced by Italy, France and other European cities.

They have markets, note the vegetable store directly next to a bar!

Finally it was time for us to be dropped off at the ship to head off for the next adventure.

DAY 5 - MONTEVIDEO

Well, after the captain consulted with the harbor pilot in Montevideo, they decided that due to extremely high wind conditions, we were not going into port. Bummer, this is all we saw of Montevideo!!

So instead we get an extra day at sea and the cruise line saves money in fuel as they can now run at half the speed!

Personally I think the captain did  not want to crash into another ship like Carnival did this week!

And finally...

We saw them in the restaurants outside and they sure like their beer!!

Either that or the plumber has a great sense of humor!