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Published: July 17th 2017
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Brenda, arranged through Tours by Locals, was waiting for us at the port terminal exit exactly as arranged. She greeted us with a smile as we recognised her from the earlier trip through to passport control - she had worked for HAL all morning but with a half hour break had eaten lunch - we hadn't had time but did not feel hungry in the heat. She took us to a waiting vehicle she'd arranged and introduced us to the driver, both were at our command for the next 4 hours.
Brenda started by warning us about crime against tourists, checked that we were not wearing jewellery or expensive watches and asking us to be aware of anyone around us at all times. She was happy to tell us all about life in BA from a personal perspective and we learned that she grew up in a poor, mixed race family with limited opportunities. Her skills and knowledge are pretty much self-taught as she (and others we met) says the public education available is limited.
We started the tour at the Plaza de Mayo as a key information point telling us about the history of the area, the famous
pink building, Casa Rosada, the many happenings there including her own family's experience and she even had a book of illustrations showing how it has changed over the years. For me the most interesting part was the monument to the disappeared where mothers still meet on Thursdays to walk around the May Pyramid. Demonstrations and protests are still happening in Beunos Aires frequently and they can disrupt the city as we were later to experience.
We took a look around the Metropolitan cathedral fronted by Greek style columns and inside saw the many Madonnas in chapels. One is the mausoleum of San Martin and the unknown soldier with grenadiers on duty at the entrance. Over all it is an impressive building with a long and fascinating history but I was aware that we had only 4 hours to see the city - a week there would enable more detailed investigation of so many parts.
Next we drove on to the famous La Boca and Caminito area. As with all tourist areas police were in evidence and we walked down colourful streets with small shops and cafes and of course saw the typical brochure image of the painted buildings
- they were not as fresh as the brochures show! We did however have a delicious refreshing orange and banana drink from a street vendor created with an electric smoothie maker. As we returned to the car I thought I heard thunder and we turned a corner to see a black stormy sky in the north. Within minutes the heavens had opened and we ran the last few steps to get into the dry.
The main place I wanted to see was the Recoleta Cemetery so we headed off in that direction. It was not long before traffic came to a stand still even though we were on July 9 Avenue, the widest in the world. Our driver was excellent at navigating between and through other vehicles but even he was unable to make much progress. After a while both he and Brenda used their phones to see if there were any routes we could take but apparently there was a protest march happening down the avenues and the torrential rain was causing flooding in many areas. For more than an hour we drove in various directions at which point I suggested that we give up the idea of visiting the cemetery (and getting soaked) and head back to the ship. Once our guide and driver accepted this it took another hour to get back and in the back seat, Brenda sketched and painted a delightful scene of Caminito to give us. We said we'd experienced BA as locals for half our trip and Brenda was kind enough to offer to take me to Recoleta early next morning (I declined).
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Loril
non-member comment
Beunos Aires
Sounds like you need to go back to BA for a more thorough visit.