Travel with Indigo

In an earlier entry, I mentioned the pedestrian bridge crossing from the east to the west side of Puerto Madero.  The name of the bridge is Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman) and it opened in 2001.  It is a white suspension bridge and a whole piece of it moves out and to the side when necessary for a boat to pass through.  There are a couple of party boats–one is a casino boat–on the waterway but I never did see the bridge open, probably because I was asleep when the boats left!  The money here is the peso and right now it’s about 3.2 pesos to the dollar so you can see this is a good time and place for Americans to visit.

You may remember from my note of yesterday that Grant went out with the two Kyles last night to Club Rumi.  They came home this morning about 7:30AM–yes, they were out all night!–after having breakfast at the Hilton Hotel which is just down the street.  As you know, I am not used to that type of thing but I have to admit that here in BA, it’s normal–just not normal for me!  But Grant was fine–they all stuck together–and of course, he had a wonderful time and even thanked me for letting him have the experience.  He said it was quite something when they stepped out of the club and it was daylight.  The club closes at 9AM–very different from our nightlife in Jacksonville.  All three of them professed to feeling great but of course, around 10AM, they all fell into their beds.  Even the young can’t stand too much of this nightlife!

It was a beautiful day so I decided to go for a walk, and it ended up being about two hours long.  I went across the bridge to the City Centro to the Plaza del Mayo which celebrates the time when the city gained independence from Spain in 1810.  It is a beautiful square with tall palm trees and flower gardens and is a couple of blocks long.  It is famously used as a place for protests and to celebrate important events.  On the Plaza is the Cassa Rosada where the President lives.  It was named for the pinkish color of the building but now I could see only one pinkish wall; it looks like they are doing some restoration work on the building.  I then went to the Catedral Metropolitana, which is the main Catholic church in the area and the church for the Catholic archbishop of BA.  The tomb of Jose de San Martin, the liberator of Argentina and several other South American countries, is located in the church and guarded by two impressively dressed guards.  I then strolled down Florida Avenue (yes,that’s the name!) which for several blocks, is for pedestrians only and very crowded.  It is a major shopping area even though there are no really nice shops; those are in the Recoleta barrio.  Along that street is the Galerios Pacifico mall which is an enclosed mall with some very nice shops.  The architecture is stunning with very nice art work inside and lots of light–worth going to.

Phil and I had lunch at a little cafe around 2:30PM–empanadas and coffee.  Phil had gone to look for local art for the boat; found some good galleries; and came back with some great ideas.  The three of us had dinner that night at las Lilas, reportedly the best steak house in the world.  The food was good–and there was lots of it– but I can’t say it was the best ever so we’ll keep searching for the best.  Another beautiful evening.