Time to catch up as we wait for our 2am taxi to the airport - and I really must catch up before the next adventure begins.
La Boca and Caminito are such intriguing and colourful places - could have spent ages there but we just did a quick whip around. Most of the shops sell same or similar tourist 'stuff', but the buildings are really interesting. We wandered through several and climbed dilapidated stairs to get a better view.
There were lots of opportunities to have your photo taken - posed with a tango dancer or a statue of one of the famous football players - all for a fee - I think it was 5 pesos. Nothing really - but much more than the Senoras with alpacas get paid in Cusco (1 sol) No we didn't bother - Jill had already had hers taken with a tango dancer on her birthday. But we did our own ...
On to Recolettta - where we'd been a couple of years ago and Lex remembered a brewery bar. Research for Zac of course - had to check out the system as well as the beer offerings. Just a tasting plate!!!!
Then on to the cemetery at Recoletta. An interesting place - probably more interesting if I could remember the stories we were told on our last trip.
Next achievement was to find out about a local bus to home - Thanks Lou. For 1.25 pesos we could catch No 17 bus to a stop close to our apartment. Brilliant .... I had read a little about the bus system, but until you see and experience it, it doesn't make a lot of sense - and being from a place where we don't have public transport, I'm not even up with any forms of ticketing. First thing you notice is that people line up in orderly fashion, waiting for a bus. Most people have a card - but you can use coins - ONLY coins. First you tell the driver your destination, he hits one of the keys on his keypad, you then drop your coins into the the coin slot just past the driver, and take a small ticket from the machine. It all works rather swiftly, and where only a couple of people hop on, the bus moves off quite rapidly.
Sounds easy ... but none of us could remember the name of the stop we were told was near San Telmo .... and the driver was rabbiting on in Spanish - before I recognised his question, (a donde vas?). Lucky we got on before the bus became crowded, afterall it was peak hour by this time. Safely on the bus, and sitting up the front, we had a comfortable ride, until an elderly gentleman seated near us, hopped up and gave up his seat to an elderly lady - and then tried talking to us, explaining (we think) that the seats we were occupying were for elderly or disabled people. 'Hey.... I've just sent in my retirement forms....' Still we did feel a little bad, and promptly gave up our seats to a mother with small child soon after - and joined the growing crowd with standing room only. Everything is a learning experience - even catching a bus.
The advance party left this morning for Ushuaia - and apparently experienced long delays at the airport due to dust from a volcano in Chile. I wonder what tomorrow will bring when we leave???
Time to check out the Ecological Reserve near Puerto Madero ... and strolled in to the Casino along the way. An interesting looking building at the front, but most of the casino is located on 2 paddle steamers - so it's a floating casino with lifts up and down 4 levels of gaming..... apparently. We had lunch there and made use of the free wifi.
Finished our walk, along through a 2km stretch of the Ecological Reserve. Just walking around is interesting
So many jacaranda trees in bloom .... beautiful!!
1 comment:
Love the tango shot. Go you good things!!
K
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