Back to Buenos Aires

Back to Buenos Aires. 

On the flop here, we stayed in a very nice hotel, The Alvear Palace. 

A great room with a great view.

You can't beat it.

They also have a beautiful rooftop bar:

We did a lot of walking around again, and saw several of these beautiful Ficus trees:

We wandered down to the Galleria Pacifico on Florida Avenue (where you are plagued by money changers) and saw these mural by Berni, a famous Argentine painter.

We also saw what used to be call the English Tower, but now (for obvious reasons) is called the Monumental Tower, across the avenue from the Monument to the Malvenas War.

 That evening we had a snack in one of the Bar Notables (Notable Bars, an official designation) and saw these two jokers:

 We had a nice conversation.

This is a view of our hotel at night.

The next day we walked to La Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita Duarte de Peron is buried. (or is she?)

parts of the cemetery are in ill repair.

Another famous Buenos Aires site - the Obelisk.

 We could not stay away from San Telmo, and made it back to another Choripa place.

 This one is the Hierro Parrilla (the Iron Grill)

Oh my goodness, it was delicious.

 They work like dogs!

And that night, after a great meal at a place called Roux (No photos, sorry.  The food was great) we headed to Cafe Los Angelitos for a Tango Show!

This was the grand finale.

 The Matre d'!

Years ago I worked in Latin America. 25 years ago to be precise.

One of the great people I worked with was Nicolas, who now lives in Punat del Este, Uruguay, but comes to Buenos Aires frequently. I was very lucky that Nico and his wife were in town and we were able to have dinner with he  and Madeline.

The food was very good, but largely incidental to the conversation.

Great seeing you again, Nico!

Then on our last day in Argentina (the flight to Houston leaves at 10:00 PM!) we took a cab over to La Boca.

This is the birthplace of Buenos Aires, and the home of the Boca Juniors, one of the most famous football teams in the world.

It is also a place where the buildings a brightly painted, and every Porteño you meet will tell you how dangerous it is.

We were there during the day, and felt no ill ease.

It's quite a place.

There was an Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Fundación Proa museum in La Boca.

Crazy stuff with wax! An air cannon that shot huge cylinders of wax into the wall. It was very loud and impressive.

Looking down the barrel of the cannon:

And a huge cube of wax (it was about 10x10x10 that was moving on tracks, and smashed into the wall, leaving a big wax smear.

Then back outside.

Our last stop was the Palacio Barolo, a building completed in 1923 as a monument to Dante's Inferno.

Yes, you read that right. Catnip to Doreen! Off we went.

Here is the view,

 The top of the building

 and the elevators.

 With that, we say goodbye to Evita

 and Buenos Aires.

It was a good trip.

One last thing - thanks to my friend Claudia, from Buenos Aires and now living in Perth, Australia. She provide some great tips!

Riding Horses and Salta

The next morning again we had a great breakfast, but we followed this with a horse ride.

Victor, the gaucho, saddled the horses

and helped us on. Doreen looks like a natural.

Me, not so much. But I did get a view from the horse's back!

We had a nice ride.

Even though my horse laughed at me when we were done.

Then we drove to Salta la Linda, about an hour away.

More interesting colonial architecture

and some pre-Colombian pots.

I love this one:

 And this one!

 Lots of arcades.

We helped out the estancia family:

at a cafe on the square.

While having our beers, we saw this dog making the rounds with the local police force. He was following them everywhere they went.

As we made our way home, he followed us, too. It was sad to leave the poor guy in the street.

That night, we had  empandas and other local delicacies at Doña Salta, a local hangout.

Nice way to end this part of the trip.