Bolivia to Argentina

---

Friday 21 July - Bolivia to Argentina

We were collected at 03.45 for our flight to Buenos Aires via Santa Cruz, we were surprised at the items not allowed in hold luggage such as laptops, cell phones etc. our guide told us that this was to avoid the staff on the X-ray machines from stealing them. We were really quite tired when we arrived at our hotel, The Brick Hotel. We had decided that we would like to go to Uruguay on our free day, Sunday. We left Keith organising tickets for the ferry journey with Belen the concierge while we went in search of a coffee shop. Buenos Aires is very much a cafe culture and we were keen to partake in this local custom, especially when we discovered that they served wine. We immersed ourselves in the local custom and stayed in the coffee shop for wine and dinner. Very tired we intended to have an early night but after a few cocktails in the hotel bar with some friendly Australians we perked up for a while longer.



Saturday 22 July - Argentina



Today we toured Buenos Aires, we started off in a park with an amazing huge Tulip sculpture and a wide variety of bird life. We saw many of the Public Universities all free for the students and generally in different buildings throughout the city split by subject.

We walked around the cemetery in Recoleta where Eva Peron's mausoleum is situated, it is said to have been made bomb and fire proof. The cemetery was really interesting with hundreds of ornate marble crypts for the wealthy citizens although we weren't sure about the glass fronted ones showing the coffins which they held.

We drove up the widest avenue in the world, Avenida 9 de Julio, which although busy with traffic was not as bad as expected.

We walked round the plaza where the Presidential Palace Casa Rosada is situated, the balcony from which Eva Peron was famously photographed.

Argentina's sad recent military history was brought to life by the white headscarves painted on the ground to commemorate the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, who for many years after 1980 marched here every Thursday to demand information from the authorities about their “disappeared” children. We went into what is reputed to be the second best bookshop in the world Ateneo, which was a theatre and still is inside - just with bookshelves instead of seats!

We enjoyed a coffee in the area La Boca renowned for its colourful corrugated iron houses, Boca Juniors football club (which I had never heard of) and its connection to The Tango, we didn't dance.

Although there certainly are poor areas in Buenos Aires it felt a much more cosmopolitan and wealthy city than those of Peru and Bolivia, with a definite European influence. As we strolled down by the river in the Puerto Madero area we passed apartments in converted wharf buildings, we could have been in London.

---