Tuesday, March 19, 2019 – Happy Birthday, Mike Porter!
I arrived at my hotel around 2am, and it took a while to get settled in and settled down enough to go to sleep. My guide was scheduled to pick me up at 8:50, so it was definitely not a long enough sleep for this girl. I managed to wake up before the alarm went off and get a quick shower and go downstairs for breakfast before the day started. COFFEE!!
It took a long time after I was picked up to go around the Palermo and Recoleta barrios to get the rest of the 10 passengers and get to the dock for our boatbus ride to Tigre. I admit to taking a short nap, but then forced myself to get up and move around to stay awake. The Delta of the Rio de la Plata (River of Silver) is amazingly extensive, with the boat moving through multiple rivers during the cruise. The first segment was along the Buenos Aires skyline, though far away. Then we came to the delta section. Lots of summer and weekend homes line the riverway. There homes along the way on delta land that has been deposited over time from the sediment in the tributary rivers. Some are old and run down, and others are relatively new and modern. Interesting to see the various homes and surrounding gardens, etc. The only access to many of the homes is the river, and in addition to the “summer homes”, there are many families that live there full time. There are schoolboats that take kids to school, medical and dental boats, police and fire boats, ambulance boats, and even ice cream boats in the summer!!
We got off the boat at Tigre and walked to a nice lunch of empanadas. After which we boarded a bus and made a couple of stops. The first at the fruit(less) market, which used to be a big citrus market, but is now just a little marketplace for household goods, and the obligatory church stop in San Ysidro, the passengers were taken back to our respective hotels.
I came back and felt like a nap, but want to be able to sleep tonight, so I just had a glass of wine and started the final packing process that I love so much! Dinner is served late here, but I found a place to get a Calzone and glass of wine within walking distance of my hotel. I thought it was fitting to have Italian food, since the barrio I’m staying in is called Palermo!
I hope to remember to edit this to talk more about the neighborhood and my feelings about big cities, but I’m dog tired tonight, and want to get this posted so I’m not behind. Just two days to go before I fly home. Tomorrow, I’m going to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay on the ferry, which should be a great adventure. Thursday, I have to be packed and out of my hotel room by 8am, when I’m being picked up by a private guide recommended by my friends Jaccoliene and Nico that I met way back inTorres del Paine! Gabriela, the guide, is taking me on a driving city tour, so I’m really looking forward to that!!
Travels with Nance 