What we saw of the city yesterday in our barrio (neighbourhood) was sufficient to suggest that the city is no longer the splendid place it must have been once; it has a decidedly rundown feel: pavements in serious disrepair, dog poo everywhere; very down-at-heel. Will go explore a bit more after breakfast.
Well, it turned into an action-packed day!
Andrew & I had a leisurely breakfast & then wandered off to find the hotel I had booked for Kathryn & Regis nearby (ours having been booked out by the time they planned to meet us in Buenos Aires). I had already checked the web & knew their plane had arrived at 1:00 a.m. (as per schedule) from Panama City. It was by now about 10:00 a.m., so we thought we'd check if they were up yet. They were, so we were able to join them for their breakfast & then together we explored the barrio, Palermo Soho.
By about 1:15 p.m. we had circled back to our B&B as planned; and were picked up jby a mini-bus for a city tour. We did the main sights: past the monuments, the port, the swanky hotels; the main square (Playa Mayo) with the President's house (Casa Rosada) where Eva Perón stood at the balcony to address the crowd below in 1951 when she gave her last speech shortly before she died; also here is the Catedral Metropolitana where the current Pope was the local Archbishop for 15 years; then through the lovely suburb of San Telmo with its markets, cobblestoned streets & lovely colonial architecture.
Finally on to La Boca with the famous local soccer stadium & the nearby colourful Caminito Street where the Italian immigrants from Genoa painted the outside of their homes with the leftover paint from the shipyard – as nothing else was available or could be afforded.
 |
 |
 |
The tour ended at La Recoleta where there is the famous cemetery where many famous Argentinians are buried including Eva Perón; the cemetery is very beautiful.
We had just some time for a short walk through the market outside; but the wind was up & it was FREEZING. Can't believe I am wearing 2 layers of wool tops plus scarf in Buenos Aires. We had coffee & cake at a nearby cafe to warm up & fortify ourselves for dinner, having only had an icecream (which was delicious) & some mandarins since breakfast. We were looking forward to our parrilla for dinner. Kathryn & Regis had this on their to-do list as apparently the steak in Panama is very ordinary.
It was by now nearly 6 p.m. Our last stop was the Museo Evita. A quick taxi dash before the museum closed at 7 p.m. And it was very worthwhile (only maddening at times because the museum staff kept trying to move us through: they obviously wanted to go home!). The museum is a tribute to Eva Perón who used her position as Argentina's First Lady to fight for women's rights.
So, Bill, to get the story right: when Eva died, her body was pinched by the Military & by stealth whisked off to Milan where it was buried under a false name. Her mother meanwhile tried to get the authorities to release the remains back to her but this did not happen until after the mother's death in 1971; whereupon the family discovered to their horror that the body had been mutilated at some point during this mysterious journey: her nose had been bashed in, there were gashes on her face & a finger was broken. She was finally laid to rest (in the very real sense of the expression) in the cementerio in Recoleta. What an amazing story!
Another taxi to take us home & after a little rest, shower & freshen-up we went to a nearby restaurant for our much looked forward to parrilla which was absolutely delicious. Cooked to perfection, the steaks arrived accompanied by a Salentein Malbec from Mendoza.
No comments:
Post a Comment