Wednesday 5th February A Rainy Day In Buenos Aires

We awoke to rain which was a little disappointing but considering we’d had near perfect weather in Antarctica we couldn’t complain. We had a lovely breakfast before heading out on a tour of the “Delta Tigre”. Our driver, Pablo picked the four of us up from the hotel and drove us through the very busy streets of Buenos Aries to the harbour. The rain was constant for most of the morning, but this did not dampen our spirits. We boarded our large catamaran and sat in comfort as we started our tour. The first part took us out into the very wide and open area of the delta which although still classed as a river, seemed more like the ocean.  After about 30 minutes of travelling along the coast and despite the rain, picking out many of the highlights along the coast of Buenos Aries we turned into one of the small rivers that make up part of the delta. Here we saw many homes located on the banks of the river. The majority are much like holiday homes or shacks we would see on the river but there are a few permanent residents. The only way to get to these homes is by boat. There are water-taxis which will take you from place to place, a rubbish collection by boat, a grocery delivery by boat, a doctor who you can visit, and even a hospital, all accessible by boat. It was a fascinating tour. After an hour or so on the river we arrived at a different marina. Here our boat docked, and our driver was there to pick us up. Pablo was from Buenos Aires but had spent several years in the US studying and was an excellent guide (apart from the crazy driving). We were meant to go for a walk around the area near where the boat had docked but the rain prevented this. Instead, Pablo was keen to drive back to the city to do a tour of the city. He was worried that areas near the river were going to flood because of the constant rain (and poor infrastructure). Anyway, he did a great job showing us many interesting parts of Buenos Aires and telling us much about the history of the place. We worked out not to ask too many questions if you were sitting in the back of the car because while driving (and with one hand on his phone) he would turn his head around to the back seat to answer your question. Not such a great thing to do while driving in very fast and congested traffic and while it’s pouring with rain! Once Pablo had safely returned us back to the hotel, we purchased tickets for the “Hop-on Hop-off” bus. There was a stop close to our hotel, and we set off to do a complete round of the city, taking in all 23 stops. This exercise was to take us close to 3 hours…and apart from changing buses, we didn’t get off. Anyway, we did learn a lot from this activity and luckily the rain had ceased. Buenos Aires is a city of contrasts. There are many magnificent parks, gardens, wide boulevards, beautiful sculptures, statues and monuments. There are areas with modern, glass fronted high-rise buildings, beautifully maintained and restored older buildings which have a heavy European influence. In fact, in some places, you would think you were in Paris or Barcelona. In contrast to all this there are areas of extreme poverty with people living in buildings that are crumbling around them, crammed in small apartments, with poor infrastructure. We saw many homeless people. By the time we returned to our hotel, we had worked out places we would like to visit tomorrow when we once again take the Hop-on, Hop-off bus.