Buenos Aries, Argentina

Nov 7-8th 2015 Buenos Aries, Argentina

We are finally at the end of our journey from San Diego to Argentina, via Cape Horn. The first day in Buenos Aries we took a culinary tour that was delightful. After a tour of the city by bus, we went to 3 small cafes for different tastes. The first place was a hole-in the wall, like a take out place for fresh, hot beef empanadas. They were piping hot, juicy and served with a nice chardonnay wine. So delicious. The name of the place was La Zoila and the wine was Cafayate. The 2nd place we went was bigger and had the BBQ oven to cook the meats.We had tenderloin steak and sirloin, grilled potatoes, eggplant, peppers, and onion. Very filling. Alswo a red wine called Dada de Finca Las Moras, a blend of malbec and bornada grapes. This place was several blocks from the other one and called El Bagual. This city has a population of 14 Million and there are many statues and parks and beautiful architecture  from the French in 17 and 1800s. The US Embassy is in an old French Building. The architecture inspired the term "the Paris of South America".

The building that Evita Peron spoke to the people from.

This is thick slices of cheese that they also grilled .

Evita's family tomb.

La Boca Soccer

La Boca is an artsy section of the city that was settled by Italian immigrants. The Tango also came from here when it was filled with bordellos.

Evita's face still graces this building.

Tango- the National dance. We saw a fantastic show. Everyone learns Tango these days.

And so our journey was over and came home. South America changed alot of my misconceptions of this part of the world. So many amazing cultures and countries we would love to go back and see even more...Machuu Pichu, Patagonia, Ugauzu Falls, etc...Anyone interested?

Uruguay

Nov 4th-Sea day

Nov 5th- Punta Del Oeste, Uruguay

This is a pretty beach resort city so we decided to just walk around on our own. It is a vacation area for people from Buenos Aries which isn't too far away.  We had a map for a walking tour so we followed the "Rambla", a walkway along the rocky shoreline. There were many beautiful homes and manicured lawns along the shore. Bushes of sweet smelling flowers were everywhere. There was a small square in this area with a lighthouse and catholic Church, very pretty. Then we walked through town along the main shopping street, very modern. We walked all the way to the beach with the sculpture of the fingers was sticking up out of the sand and then we stopped for a lunch of pizza and beer in a sidewalk cafe. Italian immigrants settled this area 100-150 years ago. Chuck bought some Mate and the mug made from a gourd with a silver straw as a souvenir. Everyone in South America drinks Mate, not coffee or tea. It's a dried leaf that you pour hot water over and sip on. People carry their mug around with a thermos of hot water all day. We had to tender and ride the boats in to this port so there were not all the vendors around like in some ports. It was very nice with restaurants along the beach and places were still shuttered awaiting the summer tourists in Dec- Mar.

Can you find Iron Man? Chuck spotted him here.

Nov 6th- Montevideo, Uruguay

We followed a map here for our city walking tour. We walked the pedestrian only streets as the vendors were putting out their wares and stopped in several small plazas with old architecture and buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.There was alot of European influence here as well in the past centuries.  

Finally we reached the very large presidential Square with Presidential administration buildings, hotels and a statue of General Artigas, the founder of Uruguay.

The Teatro Solis was a very old, ornate theater but we couldn't see inside because there was a play in progress.

The Cafe Brazilia, founded in 1877. We stopped for cafe la leche and fresh croissants. It is known for it's Brazilian style coffee. Don't ask me the difference. There was a distinct style of art deco here and in other buildings from the 1920s. We stumbled upon a free museum that used to be the Presidential Palace in the early 1800s. This was a lovely city and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Down closer to the port, the restaurants had come alive for lunch and everywhere they were selling huge hunks of beef roasted over an open fire, BBQ. Large cow bones were being shaved of meat. These people love their beef too!

Fun- we saw a few communist protesters wandering around the squares with their flags flying.