Thursday 6th February A Last Tango in Buenos Aries

Just a footnote to yesterday. We had decided to visit another famous “meat” restaurant for dinner and absolutely had far too much to eat. We had learnt that you don’t go out for dinner here until at least 8.30pm so that’s when we headed out. We successfully ordered the cuts of meat and salads we wanted but far too much. The meat was brought to us on a large metal platter that was heated from below with charcoal. The boys had sirloin steak and Millie and I were meant to have a ½ portion of flank steak each but think we ended up with two ½ portions! It was delicious but we had so much left over! We got a take-away container and gave it to a homeless woman when we walked outside.  This morning, we awoke to clear skies and were up early to catch the “hop-on, hop-off” bus. The drive seemed to be much quicker this morning. Originally, we were going to stop at “Holy Land”, a massive theme park replicating Jerusalem and recreating Bible Stories, much to Rob’s distressJ, it was not open, so he had to endure a longer stop at our next destination, The Cemetery of Recoleta! This cemetery was the first public cemetery in Buenos Aries and opened in 1822. It is spread out over 5 hectares and is full of majestic pantheons and mausoleums. We were keen to visit Eva Peron’s mausoleum which compared to some, was surprisingly small. Some of the more spectacular ones were for army generals, ex-presidents, doctors, founders of organisations like the jockey club etc. Millie, Geoff and I spent a lot of time wandering through the laneways and looking at the incredible sculptures and constructions. More than 90 of them have been declared National Historical Monuments. Rob lasted well too although he needed a toilet break and we agreed to meet home back at the entry area, later. Once we’d completed this we hopped on the bus again and this time headed to our next stop, La Boca Caminito, a working-class area, close to the original soccer stadium for one of the popular teams here and full of street artists, cafes, brightly coloured and decorated buildings, many with either a tango theme or soccer theme. There were many shops, selling soccer memorabilia and many crafts and artists displaying their wares along the narrow streets and alleys. We stopped for lunch in a small café where it was a little tricky to translate what we would like for lunch, but we got there in the end! We once more hopped on the bus to take us back to our hotel, to prepare for our night out at the theatre for dinner and a tango show! Tomorrow we will be heading to the airport in the afternoon for the long journey home after what has been an unforgettable and wonderful holiday.