What a wonderful time we had at Mariel's in Buenos Aires the past week. She took such good care of us especially in the preparation of delicious dinners each night where we loved speaking Spanish with her and her other guests and friends! We hated to leave but the city is so large and world bigger still, so we had to leave the cozy nest and cross the huge River Del Plata for Uruguay. Thank you Mariel for allowing us to join you in your home, it was the highlight of our trip so far!
Last night it was a fiesta with gaspacho, homemade swiss chard ravioli, fresh fruit salad and wine. Keith taught our new friend from Brazil, Val, how to respond when people ask if she speaks English with "Of course, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Once we had a sing-a-long, she could pronounce it nearly perfectly. We had a great evening, just one of many interesting meals at Mariel's table. Muchas gracias!
Monday we took a bus to the giant train station in Buenos Aires. From there we took one commuter train to another more touristy train, Tren de la costa. Our destination was the town of Tigre up river from BA. We walked for miles watching boats and barges and pausing for breaks in the shade provided by the trees in the gardens lining the sidewalks along the riverfront.
When we returned to Buenos Aires we were amazed by the number of buses that begin their circuits at the train station, WOW! To drive around Buenos Aires you must need nerves of steel! Seriously crazy roads between the thousands of buses, taxis, motorcycles swerving in and out, trucks... They speed from light to light paying little attention to the lane markings.
Tuesday, our last day in the gigantic city, we visited the Palacia of Agua Corrientes built in the late 1800s to house the huge tanks that stored the purified water supply for the city, the first in Latin America to have systems to deliver potable water to homes and businesses. It was built during the hey day of Argentina when the economy was one of the five strongest in the world. Many of the incredible buildings come from those glorious days of plenty. Mariel and her friend, Mateus, told us during dinners how the city has changed in their lifetimes, many colonial and classic buildings have been destroyed for new development and others have not been maintained in a sufficient manner, but we have loved walking and riding the buses pointing out the beauty to each other. It's hard to imagine how lovely this city must have been back in the day!
I had planned a tour of a couple of art museums using the subway on Tuesday but as we descended into the D line the subway was closed because of some interruption, we never found out why. That forced us back out into the heat of the day to figure out how to take various buses to our desired destinations. We walked through the Botanical Gardens located in Plaza Italia filled with replicas of sculptures found in Italy past the Zoo to the Evita Museum. Here a one-side story of Eva Peron is told with many of her personal artifacts and many videos of her life as an actress and presidential partner.
The museum is housed in one of her many social projects, a transitional home for women and their children in need. At dinner we were able to ask Mariel more about Evita which was interesting. Although her parents were anti-Peronists, Eva Person came to the school where Mariel's mother was principal when Mariel was very young. She remembers clearly how charismatic young Mrs. Peron was. She agreed that many good projects were started for poor & working people of Argentina during the Peron's time in power, but those social works were not continued by the leaders who took over, unfortunately, as many people were helped with the ample funds of the country in those days.
It was so hot yesterday that we were melted by the time we returned to the apartment. After a short rest we enjoyed the rest of the evening with new friends!
We are pleased to have air conditioning in our room, summer is here!
How do you say that is Spanish?
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