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Published: January 22nd 2008
Tuesday 22nd Ship time 1300 Home time 1500hrs Temperature now struggling to get into the 20s.
Our next port of call is Buenos Aires, Argentina. To enter this port we had to navigate the River Plate, you must all have heard of the famous Battle Of The River Plate. To navigate this a pilot had to be put on board as the river is very shallow and a specific course had to be taken. The river is continuously dragged and a vast amount of sand is dredged which is then sold on for building purposes.
The city of Buenos Aires is home to 3.2 million inhabitants known as portenos and the metropolitan area has a population of 13 million, or moire than one third of Argentines population. It is the capital city and is situated on the banks of the River Plate. Famous people associated with the city include Eva Peron, Carlos Gardel, king of tango and of course, Diego Maradona.
We arrived at around 0800hrs and on our first day we did a bit of shopping, yet more t shirts, and lazing about. In the evening we went to one of their famous tango shows. What a
great night it was, the way the women were thrown around, in the dance that is, was incredible, also plenty of wine flowing. We stayed overnight in the port and the next day took a tour of the city. Passed many sites but I found the tour guide to be to informative. She did not stop speaking from start to finish and all I could her here say was look to the right, look to the left, look to the right, Not only were my ears burning with her talking but developed a pain in the neck. Nevertheless a good trip, even the cemetery we visited to see the tomb of Eva Peron.
Left there at about 1800hrs and arrived at our next stop, Montevideo, Uruguay, next morning at 0700hrs, again having to navigate the River Plate with a pilot. Today, Montevideo, a city of about 1,800,000 residents, almost entirely of European extraction, chiefly Spanish and Italian Stock. It is the the largest city in the country and home to half the of the country's population.
Took a trip to a leather factory and yes, money passed hands there. Decided to do our own thing so mainly walked
along the main shopping drag and visited the statue of El Gaucho. Uruguayian sculptor Zorrilla created this monument and the famous statue represents a typical gaucho on his horse.
In the evening went to the show, a drink and then an early night, bit of a throat coming on, think I could be coming down with man flu but I will, as usual, struggle on.
We have two more stops this week and then we will be heading for the Antarctic, where after temperatures of around 30c it will be a bit cooler so now going to unpack the thermals.
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Tot: 0.415s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 14; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0809s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
pauline&mick
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Sounds great, did fred manage to get a new set of marracas in Argentina? Might come in handy in antartica to keep your hands warm.Winter draws on!looking forward to the next instalment.