Day 27(Jan 31)- Buenos Aires, Argentina

Another day, another new country. Today we are in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Buenos Aires means good air.

What a wonderful, busy day. Today I went on the ‘Highlights of Buenos Aires’ tour and saw Recoleta Cemetery, Plaza de Mayo with the Metropolitan Cathedral & the pink presidential mansion, and El Caminito (a historic street known for it brightly colored buildings). Then I walked on my own to the most amazing bookstore, El Ateneo Grand Splendid. The bookstore is in an old theater. I loved the Tango/Milonga show I went to in the evening.

Today’s tour was with a smaller group- we had 23 people this time. There was minimal traffic in Buenos Aires since many (almost all) families are on vacation during this time of the year because of the ‘summer’ school break. Between less traffic and less people in the tour we got to spend extra time at each tourist spot.

The tour was a combination of following the tour guide around a tourist site and having free time at a tourist site.

Buenos Aires uses school buses as classrooms during school breaks. This way children with working parents can be taken care of during the summer by going to summer classes. Very similar to our summer school classes but in a school bus instead of a room.

We had to take a bus from the ship to the port terminal since we were docked at an active dock. It was incredible to see all the containers and how they were stacked and moved around.

Buenos Aires Trivia:

  • Most are Catholics
  • 5 million people were on the streets celebrating Argentina’s 2022 World Cup Soccer win.
  • Not much street art. More ads on buildings
  • Mafalda is a girl comic strip figure that is very popular and was on many t-shirts. I’d never heard of her before and was confused by how often she appeared and how I kept trying to see her as a Disney character.
  • Education is free
Recoleta Cemetery where a plot costs about the same as buying a condo
Amazing tile work in the Metropolitan Cathedral. The tile work covered the entire floor.
Colorful building in El Caminito
Street Sculpture in Buenos Aires near where I saw the Tango show
Active and busy Buenos Aires dock
Tango dance and drumming at Milonga show. Notice the amazing leg movement during the Tango
Boleaderos at the Milonga show. Boleadoras(Boloas) are basically a 2 inch rock ball surrounded by leather attached to a string. You can imagine how much it might hurt if they hit you at speed. Boloas were originally a weapon used for hunting.