Advertisement
Published: February 26th 2010
Homeless in BA
Like any major city, Buenos Aires has a continent of homeless.Montevideo, Uruguay
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Our visit to Montevideo was on a Sunday and during carnival…kind of a double whammy for tourism in a Catholic country. Fortunately the ship was docked right at the Old Town…an area rich in wonderful architecture and quaint streets developed in the 19th century. The weather was perfect for leisure strolling.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wednesday & Thursday, February 17 & 18, 2010
Argentina had a near total economic collapse in 2000. Today, that topic is a prevalent part of the narrative offered by our guide. The country is become more fiscally secure but they are not out of the woods yet. Buenos Aires is a busy city where most people travel by bus; there are some cars but many households still do not consider car ownership economically viable.
The town is clean and there are some construction projects but most of them were government projects…private enterprise is apparently, not quite ready to invest. All that said, there is a vitality and spirit that stronger than any economic or political challenge. Perhaps it is the tango that keeps them going.
Punta del Este, Uruguay
Friday, February 19, 2010
What
Refurbishing Opera House
This was just one of the beautiful colonial buildings that is being refurbished in Buenos Aires. a difference one day and one country can make. Yesterday we visited fiscally crippled Buenos Aires and today we were in the playground of the rich.
Punta del Este, Uruguay is a seaside resort reminiscent of the French or Italian Rivera. Beautiful hotels open air restaurants, ocean view condos, palatial beach homes and Mercedes, BMWs or Porches in most of the parking places. The bay was full of pleasure boats and jet skis.
There is some commercial fishing here. By midday there were about a dozen dock side ‘markets’ where the days catch was offered for sale.
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Monday & Tuesday, February 22 & 23, 2010
What will we remember the most about Rio? It was H-O-T. Not terribly surprising when you remember that this is late summer here. That said, it is a beautiful city.
We visited the Christ Statue - and we were lucky that it was a clear day. A 2 ½ mile journey on a cog railway took us through rain forest enroute to Corcovado (mountain) where at 2000 feet above the city this amazing statues guards the city.
Carnival was officially over last Thursday but the informal
The Days Catch
Fish market on the commercial pier at Punta del Este, Uruguay partying continued through the weekend. The City was quiet on Monday morning with locals either returning to work or recovering from the biggest party of the year. According to our guide traffic was very light….good for touring. By our second day here, we witness to significantly increased traffic and congestion. There is a little bit of work that need to be done traffic flow before to 2016 Olympics.
No visit to Rio would be complete with visiting the beautiful beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana, seeing the famous sand castles on the beach and of course the beautiful people of Brazil.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.254s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.1257s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Lenni
non-member comment
Brings back memories
Hi Becky and Dick....I'm always thrilled to get your travel updates. Your description of the Buenos Aries and Rio have brought back memories of my trips there several years ago. Are you going to get a chance to go to Iguassu Falls? I hope so...that is an impressive destination. Hugs to you both....Lenni