Day 33 - February 5, 2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires day 3 photos
This is our last day in Argentina and our Exclusive Day on the Pampas. This evening/afternoon is also our Exclusive Event for Circumnavigators. There is still a lot of confusion over this at the Travel Concierge Desk. That is on top of the confusion over where tours will begin and end and whether buses will be at the ship or at the Terminal Building. It is not clear whether the issues here are due to the port and its procedures or if it is miscommunication with the local ground operator or if the problems with the Tour Desk are just getting worse instead of improving. In any event, you have to triple check everything before you leave, go, arrive, and then you just cross your fingers and hope for the best because you are bound to be in the wrong place with the wrong information. Debbie had double checked one last time this morning before we were ready to leave the ship about getting to the El Zanjon event after our estancia day. Debbie was assured that the Estancia day would have us back at the Terminal Building if not the ship by 4:30pm and that the last bus to El Zanjon would be around 5pm, so we would not have time to change clothes but would be able to do both. On the bus for over 2 hours to our estancia, Los Patricios, we spoke to several other Circumnavigators and they were pretty evenly divided among people who had been assured they could not do both and those who had been told they could absolutely do both. Debbie again spoke to the tour guide and she called in to her office and assured us that we would be back in time. After we arrived at the estancia, Veronica, our guide, spoke to the Padrone and told us again that we would be loaded on the bus by 2:30pm and back to the port by 4:30pm. Since the bus had left the ship at 8:40am, this was a little more than the 7.5 hours advertised for the tour and would get the Circumnavigators back in time. To end the suspense, we did make it but it wasn't very nicely done back at the Terminal Building.
It was a long drive and it was broken up with an almost 45-minute shopping/potty stop at a gas station/convenience center. It was a very nice place though and a good break. Our guide Veronica talked almost nonstop on the outbound bus ride. She served mate in the traditional fashion with one cup and one straw, nontraditionally she added sugar. It was still disgusting. Mate is clearly an acquired taste. Our guide, Mercedes, yesterday made it all day without any mate. We did see people with the thermos, gourd and straw, but they all seemed to be working men. The guards in the neighborhoods and the cleaning men in the cemetery. Not the ordinary people we saw around. Mercedes said that she did drink it and like it, but that she mostly only drank it at home and with her family, not all day long out in public. So, Veronica also passed around a bag of cookies and maps, and bolos and literature about gauchos.
We arrived at Los Patricios and were greeted by men on horseback with Argentine flags and by 2 small, friendly dogs. They served us meat empanadas and wine, or other cold beverages. The empanadas were the best we have had. Much better than those in LaVeranda. They had shopping set up with things from the pampas area (where we are) and from the Andes, where we have been. They had a lot of silver jewelry for sale as well. We had a lot of time for shopping because we were waiting for the 2nd bus to arrive before things could get started. There were additional problems here with communication. The tour description for a solid year said that there was horseback riding here and to dress appropriately and be prepared to sign a responsibility waiver beforehand. So, the Padrone, said no one rides his horses. They are not that kind of horses. Sorry. That answer was not well tolerated by a few. The owner/Padrone was stunned and shocked, the local guides acted like it was the first they had heard of it, the RSSC Tour Desk rep was clueless. A lot of phone activity was going on. The people that wanted to ride, insisted and so instead of the hospitality we might have enjoyed the confusion and animosity mounted. There were also about 5 people out with us who had not planned to be. They had missed their morning tours because of the miscommunications regarding when and where tours would depart and by the time it was sorted out only these Estancia buses remained, so instead of their perhaps half-day tours they found themselves with us. It was still a pleasant place to visit, but it was not what it should have been because of all the misinformation/miscommunication and all the hard feelings that creates on both sides. Sadly.
The Estancia did put on the horse games with the gauchos trying to catch a small ring with a small stick at a gallop, then musical chairs, then buggy rides to go view the main house and time to walk around, then lunch was served in the garage. They had a collection of old family carriages/buggies/motor cars in there and tables set down the center with a stage for the later performance of musicians and dancers. There was a covered place behind the shopping and between the bathrooms and the garage where the gauchos were cooking our beef, chicken, and sausages. That was interesting. The gauchos keep a giant knife tucked in the back of their belt and they used this as their cooking/cutting/dining tools. The food was very good and they had wine/beer/water/Coke. Clay would like to note that our table of 8 drank one Quilmes exactly like the one he had for lunch in Ushuaia! Then they brought a 2nd one. There was only red wine served a the table and no one at our table had any. The white wine they served when we arrived was good. There were some salads and some bread and they served some kind of fruit sauce on what tasted like homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert with coffee. After dinner they had 3 men playing a guitar, an accordion thing, and a fiddle with 2 dancing couples. The dancers came out and got audience people to dance with them on stage after every couple of numbers. Then it was time to go. It was not so hot out in the country and it was a nice day.
Debbie and Bob were warmly greeted by the first little dog on arrival. The 2nd dog, a Scottish Terrier, had ignored them. As we were sitting around waiting for the 2nd bus, Debbie tried to pose Bob for a photo with the Scottie. Bob wound up with his head in another dogs mouth and his body engulfed with paws. It was a misunderstanding (seemed to be the order of the day!) but it was not soon sorted out. Anyway, everyone wound up friends and no hard feelings, it was funny.
We drove straight through back to the Terminal Building before the confusion started again. We wound up staying out in front of the Terminal Building with a group of relatively irate people who had come directly from the ship. They were rallied around a man in a wheelchair because it was just too much hardship to send him back through security in the building and back out to the ship on a bus to get the bus to the event. Agreed it was just wrong, but people were disproportionately enraged too perhaps. Anyway, eventually, with all the hard feelings intact on both sides we did make it to El Zanjon and it was a really great evening there.
El Zanjon's chief feature of interest is the tunnels that must run pretty far from the building underground. They are early waterworks to divert the branches of 2 streams that once fed into the river which is now many blocks away. The streams are believed to have dried up, but who knows. It was really pretty amazing under there as well as the history of this house. It was originally built for a single family, after the yellow fever epidemic, the wealthy families all abandoned these houses and moved north of the city. Tenements sprang up in the big old houses and this one eventually housed something like 22 families with a single shared kitchen and 2 toilets. The renovations/excavations on this house have been underway for 23 years. All the lower levels with the tunnels as well as the first floor were just filled with the rubble and detritus of over 300 years of continuous occupation. It was really very interesting. Then we were guided back above ground and the cocktail party started. It was nice with waitstaff circulating with snacks and drinks as well as tables set up in the 3 different courtyard areas. There was a puppet stage with a street wino, there was a magician and there were tango couples. Debbie had great fun with the puppet guy as well as with the magician. The tango dancers were just amazing as usual with the fast footwork and kicking and spinning. We had a very nice evening. Then it was time to say goodbye to Argentina and take the bus back to the Terminal and the ship.
We had a light dinner in Compass Rose. We all had the Destination Dish this evening which was lasagna. It was good. Then dessert and we were off. There was a new, very big jigsaw puzzle out and Debbie and Margie spent a bit of time there. Margie's ankles have been really swollen up so she left early to put her feet up and try to get the swelling down. Debbie was not far behind and we were all pretty early to bed. The Constellation Theater had the Destination lecturer, John Tabbutt-McCarthy speaking on Montevideo and we all skipped it.
There has been no update on the status of the stargazing below the equator request and also our menus have stopped being delivered with this shift/cruise change. Debbie put in our new request for nightly menus and no one is sure what happened. Our names were still on the list and we got a voicemail from the Front Desk/Reception with an apology about it. Menus are back on our door. Good. Debbie may put in another request for stargazing since we have a new Captain now.
Buenos Aires day 3 photos