Buenos Aires Day 1

We are docked in the middle of a cargo port and have to take a shuttle from the ship to the port entrance. From there we walked about a mile or so to the ferry stop to buy tickets for the ride across the river to Montevideo on Wednesday.  The ship is leaving here for Montevideo on Monday evening, but we've booked a hotel in Buenos Aires and will catch up with the ship on Wednesday.

From the ferry station we continued walking toward the center of the city. Along the way we withdrew some pesos from a bank and soon thereafter had our first Argentine empanadas from a little shop along the street.  We walked down the Calle Florida which has long been a pedestrian mall with lots of stores.  One of the first things we noticed is that people are not dressed near as elegantly as they were thirty years ago. We're not sure whether it's a result of the economic collapse here a couple of years ago or more reflecting changing tastes.  The people look much more Americanized and less European in their manner of dress.

We visited the Plaza de Mayo, the main square in front of the Casa Rosada which is the President's office and residence.  This is where the famous Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo march weekly demanding to know what has happened to their disappeared children.  The only demonstrations yesterday seemed to be a group of wounded veterans from the Malvinas War.

From the Plaza we took a half-hour subway ride that took us to within six or eight blocks of the seminary where we first lived after we were married and where Barry studied.   In the last several years, the subway line has been extended so there was no need for a long, long walk or a bus as was the case 30 years ago. 

The seminary is 3 blocks off Rivadavia, a major street through the middle of B. A.  Thirty years ago, it impressed us for its beauty, but we'd have to say, in general that the city seems warn out compared to before.  The streets and sidewalks are in worse repair and somewhat dirtier.   The street to the seminary seems not to have changed.  It's almost as if the same Bolivian woman was sitting along the way selling fruit. The Disco grocery store that Jayne shopped in was still there.

The seminary itself followed the pattern that we've noticed throughout the city; it seems a bit warn out and in a general state of disrepair, at least by comparison to the way we remember it.

Because it was a Friday afternoon, there was hardly anyone at the seminary. Barry had thought he would call on the rector and the professor who is responsible for his field lab on Monday, but they were not in.  We did talk some to a professor from the U. S. who has been in Argentina for fourteen years with the Presbyterian church.

From the seminary we walked back toward the subway looking for a place to eat.  We found nice little place on a corner where Jayne was able to get some beloved gnocchis and Barry had a veal "milanesa."      It was all very good, including the flan for dessert.  

We took the subway from there back to the Retiro station nearest the ship and walked back to the ship exhausted. It was a long day of walking and it's quite hot here, in the 80s.

We're always taking pictures of food markets.  These two fruit vendors insisted we take a picture of them too!