2012.04.11-12 Only 36 hours ...

Here we go! 
Packed and ready to go! 
Off on an ORCHID TOUR with a few days of BIRDING.

First country?

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires

The rest of the group of 10 were being picked up at their various homes. 

Our travel companions were:
Christo & Aletta Page (Organisers)
Neil & Inanda Page
Dewald & Leezyl Niemand
Sarel Spies & Peter Greenfield
[Our serious orchid"ers".]

Down the gang plank ... into the unknown.

 Goodbye South Africa - the Cape coast north of Cape Town.

Nearly 12 hours later we saw land again - South America!

Our flight from O.R.Tambo to Buenos Aires covered +- 8730km?? A Spanish gallion reached the Rio de la Plata on which Buenos Aires lies in 1516. Fortunately, our flight was much easier and our suitcases arrived safely too.

Our pick-up took us to Hotel Las Americas.

These are some of the scenes we saw on our drive into town:
Beautiful fly-overs to facilitate the traffic flow.

Eva Peron's face on the side of a high-rise building - she holds a nearly sacred place in Argentina's history.

We also passed the Obelisk on Plaza de la Republica which commemorates Argentina's independence on 9 July 1816. Guess what's the boulevard's name? It's 9 de Julio Avenue. The eight (x2!) lanes are very impressive as they are interspersed by green squares with old leafy trees, beautiful fountains and sculptures.

At the hotel, Inge immediately checked whether the Internet worked - it did! Throughout South America WiFi is freely available.

After a short rest we were driven to our Tango Show (dinner included) at El Querandi. 

The music was a highlight as it portrayed the development of Tango dancing over the last century – the changes were explained on an electronic board. The dances and songs illustrated the various styles. The orchestra was superb!!

The next morning we had time too wander through the city. Mrad and I were amazed at the many beautiful colonial buildings which lined the street in the suburb Recoleta (the affluent suburb of Buenos Aires).

A sight that amused us was the "parking lot" for dogs - presumably their owners were having breakfast in a nearby cafe?

Another impressive sight was this 212 year old fig tree - can you see the supports for the branches?

Did I calculate the age of the tree correctly?

Close to the ancient fig tree, the Recoleta cemetery has been in use for centuries but only the rich and famous can afford to be buried here. See the old cobbled street?

 A well-known person who is buried here is Eva Peron.

The cemetery has rich architecture and amazing statues in row upon row of sepulchers. The coffins have spe0cial linings and extractor systems which prevent any odour. 

Some of the graves have ferns growing from their arches and doors.

Some are old and neglected, while other are brand new 

(dated 2011 - 

above right).

Most are magnificent works of art. 

Here a woman is filling a lamp with lamp oil - surely she must be breathing?

It was worth every minute.

Just outside the cemetery a school was performing the Passion Play. The narrators' and choir's voices boomed over the open area - wonderful to see such public worship. 

We popped briefly into the church of Nuestra Senora del Pilar as a sermon was being held.

We walked along the "Recorridos" of Recoleta and enjoyed the sights we found. 

This magnificent statue celebrated Argentina's 100 years of independence from Spain/France. 

Next we admired the Plaza de Evita.

Across the road, the Floralis 

Generica was impressive. It's an enormous mechanical silver flower 

23 metres high and weighing in at 18 tons.

One of the fascinating features of this sculpture is that it acts like a real flower in that its gigantic petals are open during the day (32m wide) and then close for the night (16m) with a red glow emanating from within!

It was time to sit down and contemplate all we'd seen on our morning walk. Shortly, we were due at the hotel for the afternoon city tour. 

The afternoon's city tour showed us many beautiful sights in the diverse neighbourhoods:

From upmarket buildings to recreational parks.

From government buildings to Igliesia San Ignatio.














The Plaza de Mayo seemed to be an ordinary square, but ...

the guide had timed our arrival well to see a weekly rally of older women all wearing white scarves on their heads.

The rally is held every Thursday at 4pm. This was the "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" procession. This association of Argentine mothers commemorates their children who   "disappeared"  during the Dirty War of military dictatorship between 1976-1983. Apparently +-25,000 young adults “disappeared” without trace. Their parents still mourn them.

Each mother carries a placard of her child's photo. 

Presumably, these white crosses symbolise the disappeared youths last resting place? It was all very touching.

We left the square and drove passed the habour area,  

a modern university, 

an elegant overhead section of the new tramway,

passed some elegant cement seats which appear in many of the parks.

as well as the Estadio Boca Juniors which is home one of Argentina's most popular soccer clubs. 

Our last port of call was the artist section "Le Boca" near the docks. Many immigrants settled here in the early 19th century. It's brightly coloured. This continues the poor dockworkers' habit of painting their homes with the left-over paint from the various ships which they painted as their daily job.

Today many artists hope the tourists will buy their wares.

We were dropped at the airport in time to catch our flight to Lima, Peru.

The next leg of our South American trip is documented at
mi60peru.blogspot.com.