Month: January 2025

I have a confession to make.

It is not a sin of commission.

It is a sin of omission.

I have cheated all of you and just blew by a Port, not just any Port mind you….. this is the Port that we all loved in Grammar School Geography because of its weird sounding name……

Monty-Video

Or Montevideo (Monta-vi-day‘-oh)

I hope that you can forgive me.

“Now you’re pushin’ it a little too far don’t ya think Donny”?

Well….. I can make it up to you! I promise! I’ll share some of those little Chocolate Truffles that I get down in Vines, you know, the Wine Bar.

“What!!!???”

“There’re Chocolate Truffles on board!!!???”

(Uncomfortable pause)

Oops!  Well, ah…. yea…. hah hah hah 😊

“It’s 36 days into the Voyage and we’re just finding out now!!!???”

(Really uncomfortable pause followed by a gulp)

“You gots lotsa ‘splainin’ ta do boy!!!”

Ok…. it goes like this…. Once upon a time there was this guy on board a big boat that stopped at really cool places like the North Pole, Willy Wonka’s place, a Boat Store, National Geographic Headquarters, Motorhomes-R-Us, and a host of other similar fun places…… including a spot called Monty’s Video. Not only did the boat go to Monty’s Video once, but it also actually stopped back there after going to ………..

“Whoa there! You mean you went to Montevideo twice and didn’t clue us in!!!???”

I’m throwing myself on the mercy of the court, I have no defense, it’s just that the first time was on New Years Day, and nothing was really open, and the second time was directly after two days in Buenos Aires, with that second day spent on the Delta on Tomàs’s boat. We were bushed and needed a Sea Day, which actually was a Dock Day as we spent the whole day tied to the dock. And besides, there wasn’t anything that we really wanted to do in Montevideo.

I rest my case.

(Waiting for the Jury to come back)

“Ok…… so tell us all about this Day on the Delta and bring us lots of Chocolate Truffles and we’ll suspend your sentence, but we’re warning you, don’t try this again!”

Phewf! Thank you, you won’t regret this, and I actually do have a few pics of the first day we were here, so I’ll share them with you…… after I tell you about the Delta!

                        Not really knowing anything about this area we looked on TBL for another type of tour and found numerous Delta Tours. Just north of the city lies the Rio Parana de las Palmas and also the Rio Guazu. Together they make up a gigantic delta which is perfect if you are a pirate (they liked to hide in all of the streams and estuaries) or if you would like to have a second home for weekends and holidays, etc. You see, there are no roads that connect all of these hundreds of islands, just waterways and mostly shallow ones at that. But that does not stop thousands of folks from building nifty homes out there. This area has been popular ever since the early 1900’s and with their economy on the rise it is more accessible to everyone.

                        Tomás picked us up from the ship and drove us the hour or so north to the marina where his boat is kept. His boat is a little 19-footer with a 115 Evinrude hanging on the transom, and it’s a bowrider, just perfect for a day in these parts. Tomas is another fountain of Historical Knowledge which he regaled us with at lunch. More on that later.

                        After getting aboard we exited the marina and wound our way down and into the Delata proper. Interestingly, there are no Slow Speed-No Wake zones here. You can drive your boat in any way that you see fit, and I guess, not suffer any consequences except the dirty looks and formidable hand gestures that may be displayed by the numerous kayakers, swimmers, and small dock owners. There are no roads but there is electricity, and they use a combination of river water and bottled water. Even though the river is heavily silted and tinted brown, it is very clean. If you scoop up a glass full of it, it looks almost clear. It is the dissolved clay that tints it, making it just fine for washing dishes and bathing. I suspect that it would stain clothing, however.

                        We pulled into El Gato Blanco (The White Cat) for lunch. A guy met us at the dock and took the boat to another mooring area while we were there. This place is not only exquisitely located, it is also exceptionally spotless. They are only open for lunch every day, nothing else unless they have a wedding or something like that. Your first thought would be, “How do they get all the peeps there?” The answer is the Bus Boat! Old, really cred wooden boats ply the waters up, down, in, and out of the Delta bringing folks that do not have their own water-type transportation. Kind of like Venice.

During lunch Tomas gave us another History Lesson using a notebook that he scribbled in just to keep himself on track. This resembled the “circles and arrows with a paragraph describing each one” from Alices’ Restaurant fame. Completely from memory and very detailed, Tomas took us from the 1500’s right up to present day. This was accomplished between mouthfuls of our muy delicioso beef asada (again!) and another variation of the Provoletto. He finished just in time to get us out of there as the Bus Boats were starting at arrive, shattering our peaceful, solitary lunch extravaganza.

                        After lunch we continued down the main river to arrive almost at the bay across from the city. Here we stopped for gin and tonics and a little fishing. Nestled in a back cove we tied off to a stick protruding out of the water. It was just enough to keep us from drifting. Egrets, herons, and the like, abounded and they were easy to spot (and photograph!) as the reeds and sawgrass were only a few feet high.

 Our relatively short stay here brought zero fish to the line and as we were leaving Port in a few hours, we packed up and headed back to the Marina.

We arrived back at the Ship in plenty of time before sailing. One of the coolest things about Cruising is when they sound the horn to indicate what maneuver is going to be attempted. Three short blasts and one long one indicates reverse, three shorts mean forward, with many others in their repertoire. Then we get the captains that salute each other as they pass in the harbor or are near each other in Port. One of the great aspects of being on a Princess Ship is that they get to sound their horns playing the theme music from the Love Boat. It sounds so cool and no one else has anything like it!

I know…… it’s the little things!

And don’t fret none…. our trip to Monty’s Video is forthcoming!

                        We pulled into Buenos Aires yesterday morning.

                        I am down in my “work” area early today and as I watch; I see some of the crew arriving back on the ship. It is 4AM and they will soon need to report for work. Overnights are relatively rare and having them in 24-hour cities is even rarer.

I’m sure that they will “pay” for it later and I’m also sure that it was probably worth it.

                        I’m not sure where to begin with this one.

                        This may be a good example of why it’s so much fun and interesting to travel and at least try and meet the people of the area.

It’s easy to just ride around, see the famous sights, you know how it goes….

been there….. check.

done that……..check.

got the tee shirt?……

hmm… what’s the exchange rate?

            We are so fortunate that we try our best to travel in these types of situations with our fav’s, Tours by Locals. I know that I sound like a Paid Spokesperson….. (hmm?) but it is true. Yesterday we were with Paola, yes, she has the same name as Paula, only difference is that she can speak Spanish!

                        We were lucky because Paola has a degree in World History and of course has made her home country history a specialty. Maybe this is where History and the appreciation of cultures co-mingles, and the result is an understanding of the environs that you are visiting. I know that this seems fundamental, but until one or the other is missing you may not notice the difference. Paola is a fountain of Historical Knowledge and as such will readily deliver this information to anyone that is willing to listen.

            We were, and you probably are not, so it is up to me to sift through it all and give you the Reader’s Digest version, just so that to can get a feeling of what that fervor for their past is felt like.

            I will say just one thing and it covers every civilization that ever existed……

If you are really interested in the how’s and why’s of a culture, you need to know the what’s and the when’s.

            That’s what really illuminates the imagen completa (whole picture!) and Buenos Aires has got quite the picture to be seen…. this one is in crazy, vibrant colors, black and white do no justice to this old (1536) but that only recently (early 1900’s) has started to come to the international forefront. Often referred to as the “Paris of the Americas,” Buenos Aires is considered one of the top twenty-five most influential cities in the world and is a Global City holding an Alpha ranking in this category. I could go on but I’m sure that you get the idea….. Buenos Aires is a big deal!

Going back to that form and function of the how’s, when’s, where’s, and why’s, you can see how Ms. Eva Perón (Evita to her admirers and to the fans of her story set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber) helped shape Buenos Aires as it is today. Her influence, and the results of, can be seen everywhere. Her popularity at the time was used to do ostensibly good things from building hospitals, to giving basic things like mattresses to needy citizens. Love her or hate her, there is no doubting the impact of her tenure in the spotlight. Dovetailing into that is also the fact that even just recently (1970’s-1980’s) Argentina waxed and waned between military junta’s and free elections. As usual, when someone new came to power, they tried their best to erase what they deemed negative from the recent past. When Señor Perón was kicked out in the ‘50’s, his “replacements” tore down some of Evita’s enterprising projects. They turned a goodly amount of them into something else. But even today, a massive building that Evita promoted for the storage of those items deemed important (by her) for the basic needs of the “people” is still remembered by those people as being used for that purpose instead of its official status today as another federal building.

I got the feeling that there is an underpinning of suspense(?) that if things start to go south, that that “Military” option (junta) could arise at any time. But probably not for quite a while!  😊

It seems that the current new president has things under control, mainly the economy. Until just recently their inflation rate was astronomical, and they were ecstatic when it got down to less than 20%! Now it’s down in the single digits, their peso is gaining in strength, and everyone seems to be more comfortable….. for now.

This history of different governments, elected or otherwise, is central to the shaping of Argentina’s personality. There are monuments everywhere to any and all of these different times and tribulations. Back in the ‘70s when Juan Perón (yes, that Juan Perón…. again) died in office, his third wife and vice-president, Isabel, assumed the presidency for two years until she was deposed by a military junta. This “Dirty War” lasted until 1983 and during its reign killed thousands and thousands of people considered to be critics, activists, and leftists. The rub here is that these people just ‘disappeared’ and were never seen again.

This period is remembered especially by the mothers of the one’s who vanished. They started gathering and making speeches in the central square of Buenos Aires and when they were ordered to be silent, they took to wearing white kerchiefs as a sign of their solidarity with each other. This lasted until the newly elected government took over in 1983. This is still a sore spot in regard to the current population as many are still alive who suffered through this time and who had lost a loved one.  

Those expressions of discord, discontent, and solidarity can be seen throughout the city, but nowhere more prominent that in La Boca. Fittingly named, La Boca (the mouth) actually refers to one of the distinct sections of Buenos Aires that lies at the mouth of the Matanzas River. La Boca is an amalgamation of art and sport. Here many artists have taken up residence, similar to, let’s say someplace like a Greenwich Village in NYC, and then on top of that it is the home of La Bombonera, an enormous soccer stadium (where the HUGELY popular Boca Juniors play). This stadium is smack dab in the center of things with zero anything around it, no parking, no ancillary businesses, just neighborhoods alive with shops and restaurants. It gives La Boca an incredible atmosphere. Can you imagine having any of our famous stadiums just in the middle of a semi-residential neighborhood where everyone has to walk to the area because there is NO PARKING anywhere?           

As you may imagine and probably already know, fútbol (soccer) is practically a religion in Argentina with many of the world’s best players coming from here. Diego Maradona has risen to almost saint-like prominence since he went to that Big Stadium in the Sky four years ago. His jersey’s sell as many as Lionel Messi, the current player rising to legend-in-his-own-time status.

Paola brought us into the heart of La Boca. We roamed the streets and gawked at the sights. That’s really the only way to describe our behavior as I am sure that we stuck out like a compound fracture on a soccer field. But we weren’t the only ones, all of Argentina is on their summer vacation and the streets were filled with the Faithful so we were in good company. This is one of the times that I was glad that the crowds were there because there is no substitution for that proverbial vibe that comes from the masses gathering at hallowed sites for celebration. The jersey stores were making a killing!  😊

Part of that vibe comes from the ‘practical’ architecture of this section. Back in the day, this area was started by some of the sailors that came ashore from the harbor and river. Settling here they used whatever they could to construct shelters that morphed into housing. Their materials came from many areas one of them being the ships themselves, so corrugated metals and the like were transformed into walls and roofs. They used the “whatever was available” colors stolen from the ship’s paint lockers and thence began the colorful rainbow effect of the exterior walls. Throw in the blue and yellow of the soon to occur local soccer team and we get back to that statement that I made before about the crazy, vibrant colors.

As you may imagine, this works extremely well for an artistic neighborhood! They were all built in the conventillo style which actually translates to ‘tenement’, but when you look at the root word (convent) you can see that this type of design with small rooms facing a central courtyard fits it perfectly. And nowadays, it works flawlessly as the small artist’s spaces that are rented out here. In fact, you must be a resident here in order to show your work here.

            We had lunch at El Gran Paraiso, a traditional Argentinian café. Whenever you say ‘traditional” in terms referring to the cuisine down here it always includes beef. Argentinians eat their own weight in beef every year and Asado is the preferred method of cooking and that was fine with us as that meant roasting BBQ style! And…. not some gas-fired, fake ceramic briquettes….. it means fiery hot chunks of wood that never stop burning as there is a reservoir of readily burning wood right next to the grill to replace the wood that graciously gave up its life for the sake of incredibly seared, bark laden, Argentinian beef.

I hope that you have surmised that Asado may be the Second Religion of the country, and it is probably equal to soccer. Nowhere is the concept of a Melting Pot of cultures more prevalent than in Buenos Aires. That series of comings and goings of conquerors and allies has deposited a twist on everything from food, architecture, and even speech. Spanish is definitely the predominant language here, but it is spoken with an almost Italian accent (?) and is complete with those gestures and intensity.

It makes for a wonderful experience!

We’ve visited many, many places over the last four, going on five years of traveling, both in the Motorhome and on the Ship.

There are many that just get the aforementioned “Been there…” status. There are some that get the possible, maybe someday….. label. Then there are the special places that acquire the Love To Come Back To moniker because they are that special.

Buenos Aires comes under that latter designation, and is hereby awarded the title of, Return To!