Arrived this morning to a cloudy BA and docked at a very busy container terminal almost completely occupied by MSC containers. There was also a Costa cruise ship in port which had, presumably, grabbed the only real passenger berth.
I walked into town, via the bus and train stations. These are always good places in which to get the rhythm of a place. BA is no exception. There are stalls and shops and food stands and people hurrying this way and that. From there on through the town and up the street named ‘Florida’ which is the main shopping street. This extends way into town and is lined with small shops and side gallerias all the way. I had no intention of buying anything so it was of little interest. I arrived at the main Avenida in the hope the famous Opera House, Opera Colon would be open so that I could, at least get a tour of the place. The last time we were here, a couple of years ago, it was under renovation, well guess what? It still is. So that was a bit of a bust. The simultaneous needs for a coffee and a toilet demanded a stop at a small cafe for both. I then walked on down to the Plaza de Mayo where there is the cathedral and the ‘pink palace’, the home of the President, Madame Kirchner. The cathedral is, I fear the usual gaudy, gold-leafed place with multiple religious statues in glass cases. There is also the enormous tomb of General Jose de San Martin, the national hero, which is guarded by guards in ceremonial uniforms.
Walking on behind the palace (the rear of which is being dug up as part of the subway redevelopment - not a very attractive view for the great lady out of her back door). I came into the area named Puerto Madero. This is a sort of waterfront development around some old docks with a lot of high end apartments and similar high end restaurants. Well it could actually be in a number of cities and has very little of the local color or imagination in its development. The development of the old, existing warehouses is OK but the new shiny, high-rise apartments may look OK now but I feel that they will not soon and even now, they do look a bit cheap and ‘flashy’ and not really in keeping with the area. I could name a number of cities with equally ill-advised developments. The docks were ‘decorated’ with two old sailing ships and perhaps these will be added to and the whole place made to look a bit less sterile, in due course.
I was due to meet some of my cruise mates there for a meal but as I passed the appointed meeting place restaurant, I realized this was far more high-end than I needed what with all the rich food on the ship. I was suddenly seized by a need for some street food. Some unidentified cooked flesh prepared in less than hygienic circumstances seemed to be just what I needed. Across the street was a small bus depot and there was the sight of a stall with smoke coming out of the back. This was just what i wanted. The guy in front of me ordered something and it looked OK to me so I just said - “I’ll have one of those too”. Neither my chef nor I spoke a common language but he understood. Problem!! The guy behind me ordered something which looked even better than what I had ordered. Well the language impediment as well as the likelihood of a ‘scene’ prevented me from changing my order so I persevered with what I had asked for which was some sort of meat, breaded and served on a bun with fried egg and cheese. It went down well enough.
I then started to wend my way back to the ship via an open-air market and a hypermarket where I picked up some local cheese, some salami, a bottle of local ‘champagne’ and what I call a ‘Billy Joel’ (a bottle of red and a bottle of white, for those not fans of the singer). Hopefully this will enliven one of the remaining nights of the cruise. I also bought some cat food for our cats as they like to think that they have cosmopolitan tastes.
Passing through the cruise terminal I was stopped by a young lady who was taking a survey and asked questions about my experiences in BA and then, via shuttle bus (we could not, of course, walk on the terminal), I was aboard for a cold beer. I had scarcely sat down by the pool with the beer when the heavens opened and it simply poured with rain, one of those late afternoon showers common here. I was lucky to have avoided being out when it happened. It was all over in ten or fifteen minutes but very heavy whilst it lasted.
At this point it would be remiss if I did not mention that my two dumb traveling companions are being thoroughly spoiled by the staff who attend to my stateroom. This will give an indication of the way they have been treated.
Getting home to cold snowy New York in a few days may be a bit of a shock to their systems!!!
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