Buenos Aires – Central and Docklands. Districts of- La City, Montserrat, San Nicholas and Puerto Madero. Including Avenue 9th July – similar in size to the Champs Elysees, with about 10 car lanes in each direction, plus metro and bus lanes, but divided by lots of trees and grass making it feel fresh and airy. This also had a large mural of Eva Peron painted on the façade of the Ministry of Social Development. Most of the city has trees growing from the pavements – Plane trees mainly, but also purple Jacaranda, pink Pallo Barracho (pink with a ‘drunken’ belly) and loads of Hibiscus. The city was renamed ‘Buenos Aires’ i.e. good air, with the breeze coming from the River Plate docklands area. Its design has deliberately added in lots of parks and wide roads, with a ‘street café’ culture. Its wide boulevards, some Parisian-style buildings, fashion and art, generally give a French impression. Lots of statues etc to General Lavalle (9th July 1816 hero during Independence from Spain)
The Argentinians are a very passionate bunch with strong
opinions, so lots of demonstrations take place, mainly around the Cathedral
area in the Plaza de Mayo. Unfortunately they also tend to graffiti and/or
throw flour/eggs/paint etc which causes damage to some lovely buildings. They are very proud of Pope Francis, but
still manage to regularly damage the Cathedral during fiery political rallies. We were in the Cathedral during the changing
of the Guard over the mausoleum of General San Martin. He created the
Grenadiers (grenade throwers!), and they’ve guarded this tomb since 1880 –
lovely uniforms, horse-riding boots, and a photo-bomb with Roberto the Bear!
A very sad bit of graffiti was white handkerchiefs painted
on the pyramid square in front of The Pink House (president’s office). Every Wednesday, mothers and grandmothers
walk around the square anti-clockwise with white handkerchiefs on their heads.
They are the ‘abuelas de los desaparecidos’/grandmothers of the disappeared –
in the 1970s the military dictatorship took hundreds/thousands of their
children if there was any suspicion they were against the dictatorship. They
‘disappeared’ – many of their
whereabouts are still unknown today. Also the children of the dead were given
as adoptive ‘gifts’ to military families who were childless. This era of murdering people for their
political beliefs did not end until the collapse of the military government after
the loss of the Falklands Islands war in 1982.
It was also unlawful to congregate to protest, so the women peacefully
protested individually and not communicating, but walking en-masse, which still
happens to date. 
Coffee break at the superb ‘Café Tortoni’, (Ave de Mayo), founded
in 1958 and based on the Paris café. This place was oozing with history, and
has been a meeting place for artists, journalists and home to various magazines
founded in its cellars. Downstairs is a
hall and stage for artists and book presentations. Very atmospheric, and caused
me to quaff a cold beer whilst taking in the pictures and decorations. Roberto
had a coffee con leche. 
Onwards to lunch where we found an old convent cloisters
with massive tree giving shade. Simple but very
cheap Caesar salad with Loretta and Mary.
Lots of walking today – about 9km according to my
‘fitbit’. Iain did more as he attempted
to find a camera shop to mend his Canon camera which unfortunately took the
brunt of tripping over an unseen step whilst glued to the viewfinder of his Nikon D800. This protected his teeth and glasses, but the hot shoe gouged a large hole on his top lip. So it looks as though he has a big bloody
bogey underneath his nostril. Hopefully that will repair in due course. While he was doing that, we continued with a
docklands walk, including a fabulous swing-bridge – El Puente de la Mujer
(women’s bridge) – a footbridge designed by Santiago Calatrava and supposedly
representing a couple dancing tango…looks more like a fish-hook to me. Artistic
licence but very futuristic nonetheless. The whole dock area has been re-vamped with lots
of red-brick ex-warehouse apartments with restaurants and cafes on the ground
floor. A very posh yacht club with usual
boats moored but also some very swanky superyachts and multi-masted thingies
(Iain wasn’t with me, clearly).
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