If this is Wednesday we must be in Buenos Aires.

Today we have a tour that was arranged through Cruise Critic. We met the group at Explores longue and all disembarked together. The cruise terminal is new and so modern and clean. We were met by our guide and taken to a van that holds 21 passengers. It is modern and air conditioned and the tour guide is a very articulate young lady. Her English is great and she is very personable indeed. Buenos Aires is the capital city of Argentina, one third (11,000,000) of the population lives here. The government is a democratic republic, the currency is the Argentine Peso and the language is Spanish. Our first stop is the main esplanade. This is supposed to be the widest avenue of any of the world’s greatest cities. It is amazing. Everything is here. We stop at Metropolitan Cathedral. It is magnificent but because it is As Wednesday they are celebrating mass and e cannot take pictures. They have a homeless problem here also and a homeless person has their cardboard box and their shopping cart on the steps of the cathedral. The main government building which is like the White House is here but it is the Pink House. Amazing and large and strange to see because of the pink color. The color came from a mixture of lime and cattle blood. They learned that this mixture protected the building from the effects of the heat and humidity here. They no longer use blood but the color has been maintained. Another intriguing thing about this culture is the use of Mausoleums. People with money have these large crypts in which the remains of family are placed. The latest to die has their coffin in plain view inside the door. When the next person dies the top casket moves down a level and the latest coffin takes the top position. The most famous one is at Recoleta. This cemetery has the crypt containing the remains of Eva Peron. We visited there and I was very surprised by the number of people visiting. There are washroom there and when you go inside…. Make your way to the front of the long line….you are expected to pay one dollar for a piece of tissue. This has to be the best paying job in Buenos Aires. That lady had to be making at least 600.00 an hour. We rode the Tren de la Costa, coastal train, which overlooked the Rio de la Plata and some of the wealthiest mansions in Buenos Aires. We took a trip on a catamaran through the different delta Islands. These are a result of silt accumulation at the mouth of the river. More wealthy people have wonderful homes here and there are resorts as well. After the boat ride we toured the city a little more. Our final stop was La Boca. This is said to be the birthplace of the tango. It has lots of little shops selling souvenirs. There were lots of street artists, colorful houses and interesting things to see along this little cobblestone street. We were back at the ship around three o’clock.