Buenos Aires II

Welcome back!  Now where was I?  Ah, yes.  Boca Juniors.  The Argentinians take their soccer very seriously.  You'll notice if you look closely that the coke sign isn't in the company colours because red and white are the colours of the rival team, the River Plate.

The barrio of Boca has as colourful a past as the buildings.  The original port area, now moved to deeper water, was home to a seedier lifestyle.

Our guide seemed a little nervous of the area which was thick with hawkers and pick pockets

Tawdry, I know.  The tango was invented in Boca among the prostitutes servicing the wealthy aristocrats.  Any allusion to the above couple is purely a fiction of your imagination.  Shame on you. 

Buenos Aires isn't all sidewalk cafes...

The colours of the Boca Juniors.

Its modern aspect

An aptly named building, don't you think?

The Recoleta Cemetary has some of the most exclusive real estate in the city.  Trouble is there isn't a lot of turn-over among the residents.

The day's most acclaim architects designed these mausoleum, which are the finest mini examples of architecture in Buenos Aires.  The styles follow current fashions from neo-gothic to post-modern.  This deco-style version was breath-taking.

Really important big-wigs found their final resting place here.

Some even had their own gated community

Eva Peron is buried here 30 years after her death.  Her body had been stolen by a deranged admirer, shipped to the pope, buried in Spain and Italy, and finally made its way back to Buenos Aires in the early 1980s.

A sad tale haunts this art nouveau mausoleum.  The story goes that the young woman was buried alive.  The wistful statue really doesn't want to go.

When families renage on the maintenance fees, the buildings begin to crumble.

Shelley's Ozymandias came to mind among these magnificent edifaces. Death and time is the great leveller.

A stroll along the cemetary street.

A weird place to end this installment.  Something more upbeat next time...

Love

Grace

Buenos Aires I

I usually start an new blog post by reviewing pictures.  It's a bit overwhelming to think about doing that about Buenos Aires.  We've been there for 6 nights so far--so many impressions, so many sights, so many miles walked, so many glasses of wine...  And so, in no particular order, here goes.  You know what it's like to think of a place  where you never been.  You gather ideas and mental images you know isn't probably all that accurate.  Buenos Aires is what I'd expected, but nothing at all what I'd thought.  Forgive me, if I sound like a complete idiot, but my siblings will know that somewhere in our collective memory banks, Saskatoon is a leafy city where Grandma Hatlelid wears smart hats and walks briskly to visit her interesting friends.  For me, Buenos Aires conjured up images of the tango, passionate people, a divide between wealth and impoverishment, a checkered past of military juntas and 'disappeared' persons.  All of these were confirmed, but I will leave the city with so much more, including mausoleums designed by the world's finest architects, the best beef just shy of the Fitzpatrick ranch, buildings not out of place in Paris's 7th arrondisement, pick pockets, leather shops, broken sidewalks, dog walkers, a friendly relaxed elegance, pride of place.  Whether or not these are a true representation of Buenos Aires, you'll have to see for yourself.  I'm sure you'll be glad that you did.

To start a little geography.  Buenos Aires appears to be on the ocean, but it's actually near the mouth of an enourmous river, La Plata separating Argentina from Montevideo, Uruguay.

Dog walkers hanging out in the park.  They seem to do a lot of it.

Ruthie, does this remind you of anything?  I'm not sure that these are cherry blossoms.

A typical urban corner.

Urban reflection

On a central square in San Telmo

A traditional Argentine grill.

I'm not sure that Matt Groening is getting any royalties from this beer.

Our first feast of meat in Buenos Aires

The traffic on the 9th of July Avenue (Argentina's independence day) is 18 lanes.  Dad, do you think that town council might change Morin Crescent to 9th of July Avenue in Gravelbourg???

The original town hall and rare example of Spanish colonial architecture

Across the square, is the more typical Parisian style

Eva Peron gave her famous speech to the crowd from this balcony--on the left side of the building

Obelisk commemorating the founding of Argentina

The circle wraps around the above obelisk, known as the Grandmothers' path of the Plaza de Mayo.  Following the disappearance of their then young adult children in the 1970's and early 1980's--along with their grandchildren--the grandmothers of Argentina gather to walk this circle in Plaza de Mayo to bring attention to their missing grandchildren, now adopted into other families.

Buenos Aires' Russian church

Stadium home to the Boca Juniors, one of Buenos Aires' favourite junior team...  We had to be content with listening to some of the game on the big screen, as even our guide wouldn't want to go to a game without an experienced insider.

I am coming to the end of our evening together.  I know it feels as if we're in the middle of something, but you'll just have to check back again soon for further posts.  I'm not nearly done yet...

Love to all,

Grace

To the Inca Bridge and Back

This should really be called the Andes part II, the previous installment merely the foothills to the Andes.  Dad, you'd said how much you liked the pictures, to keep them coming, and so this is especially for you.  For the rest of you, welcome to the Frank living room.  Pull up a chair while I share these pictures with my dad.  He's got some beer in the fridge for us, too.  Crack open a cool one.  I think there might be some chips in the pantry cupboard.  Not to worry about getting greasy fingers on the photos.

 

What struck me immediately when the snowy peaks came into view was not so much the height of the mountains--they are like the tall backbone of an old giant.  No, what was so amazing were the colours.  For us Canadians who've travelled through the Rockies, the Kooteneys, the Cascades, the Coastal Mountains--and for others who've driven through the cathedral peaks of the Alps--there is a sameness to those familiar ranges.  The Andes are a riot of colours, red and yellow and green and blue and grey, rocks, drifts and crags running and overlapping each other.  Vegetation, where possible in this barren landscape, adds another depth of complexity of colour.  Yellow grasses on green gravel or red gravel, or green cacti on red rock.  Each turn of the road opened one incredible vista after another.  The pictures don't do it justice.  You'll have to use your imagination, too.

The only valley we drove through where people actually lived.

The traditional roast chicken was delicious.

The scale was enormous.  I felt a little like Bilbo Baggins on his formidible adventure.

Along one valley a enormous river bed had carved out perfectly vertical walls, as though man-made.

The mountain in the background looked almost transluscent.

The concrete power pole is probably a couple of stories high.

At the top of the road the highest peak was obscured in cloud.

This is known as the Inca Bridge, a natural phenomenon. The purpose of the long-disused building in the previous picture wasn't immediately obvious.

It was bleeping cold.  We had to support the hardy vendors stuck outside in the freezing wind.

This is the same 'walled' riverbed.

We're almost back again into the plain near Mendoza, back to the warm temperatures.  It reminds me little of the American southwest, yet unlike anything there.

 Next time...Buenos Aires...

Love to all,

Grace