Day 7 Buenos Aires via Hop-on, Hop-off Bus Tour

Wednesday, March 25th -- A free-form Hop-on, Hop-off Bus tour of the city.  We walked toward the Recoleta neighborhood and had breakfast at a congenial cafe, Le Pain Quotidian.  We then wandered around for quite awhile trying to find the "red-line" tourist bus stop.  We connected at 11 am and started on a slow ride through congested city streets accompanied by decent narrative.  We sat on the upper deck and were able to get some photos of the buildings, and other sites.  We toured most of the neighborhoods from the upscale commercial districts to the lively but seedy artsy district of  La Boca.  

After passing through the Puerto Madero, we decided to deboard and visit the adjacent nature reserve.  After walking a ways to the entrance of the reserve, we walked out to the river and then around an inland lagoon, searching for birds, in particular, and other wildlife.

Basilica Nuestra Señora del Pilar, built in 1732.  Next to the Recoleta Cemetery.

Plumeria tree we admired while waiting for the bus.

One of the many statues and monuments to famous Argentinians scattered throughout the parks and green spaces of Buenos Aires.  The city seems to have many such parks and green spaces.

This is Monumento a Carlos Pellegrini.

Embassy of France.

Teatro Colon, the famous opera house.

On one corner of the opera house.

The Obelisk celebrating Argentine's independence from Spain.

One of two sides of the Health Ministry Building with Eva on the outside.  The story goes that when people first saw this they wondered why Eva was "eating a hamburger."  This is the angry looking Eva talking into a microphone.  The smiling version is on the other side of the building and was posted in an earlier blog.

Central government area.

The President's House - Casa Rosada.  It has a balcony where Eva gave speeches.

Tallest clock tower in the city atop the Congress Building.

One of the murals that decorate the San Telmo and La Boca neighborhoods, which were settled by Italians immigrants and later became artistic, creative areas.

Ditto.

In the middle of La Boca, there is one of two significant soccer stadiums in Buenos Aires.  Argentinians take the game very seriously.

More murals

A bit difficult to see, but this is typical overhead wiring, probably communication lines.

The corner of this building resembles the bow of a ship.

Two bridges, one historic which became a National Monument (the silver colored one in front) and one newer one that replaced the first bridge, which was built in 1940.  They cross the Matanza River, which is the southern border of the city.  On the other side is the Buenos Aires Province.

A typical fruit market.

Palacio Canale, a factory that made Bizcochos Canales, a wafer-like cookie, now housing government offices.

Maqueta Barrio La Boca - constructed of tin, etc and painted by residents.

The Women's Bridge.  It pivots on the center, conical pier.  The endpoints of the moveable part are the two other cylindrical piers.

We have now arrived at the nature reserve - Pargue Natural Y Reserva Ecological Costanera Sur.  This is a Side-necked Turtle, I think, about 2 feet wide.

Betsy and I walked around one inland lagoon which had views out in the ocean estuary.  Note the ocean- going ship on the horizon.

The nature reserve was a surprising place to find.  It occupies a vast piece of land that was cut by the port development in the creation of 4 large interconnected, rectangular basins and two entries.  (The post did not last long as a freight harbor since it had to be dredged regularly and was replaced by a bigger facility further west.)  The Buenos Aires Yacht Club is located in one basin, with plenty of room for a line of sailboats.  On the west side of the water are the historic brick port buildings, now offices, and the like, and on the other side of the water  there is a dual highway and some very tall buildings (see photo below).  The nature reserve occupies part of the land further east toward the ocean.  The port area is named Puerto Madero.

Context for the nature reserve's location next to the Port and the city.

The nature reserve is noted for its many birds and other wildlife, most of which we did not see on our walk.  Although we did startle a very large reptile, which turned out to be an Argentina Black and White Tegu (see photo taken from the Web).  We were on an elevated walkway and the Tegu immediately hustled off under the nearby vegetation, but its size and coloration was observed.

Argentina Black and White Tegu.

All of the potential birds reported as present in the nature reserve.

Some sort of contraption that chews up the duck weed (or what ever it is called in Argentina).

Green Parakeets that we did see just outside the nature reserve.

We re-boarded the bus and continued on the rest of its route, though it did not follow the route shown in the map.  The traffic was congested and we moved slowly.  We passed some notable sights -- River Stadium, home of the other local soccer team, a planetarium, a horse racetrack and polo grounds (no meets scheduled while we are in town), and numerous parks.

We also went by the Floralis Generica - named in homage to all flowers.  Twenty meters high, this aluminum and steel sculpture unveiled in 2002 is "probably the world's first mobile public sculpture to be controlled by hydraulic and photoelectric sensors."  It opens at 8 am and closes at midnight.

We got off the bus at a bus stop nearest our hotel and walked a half-mile back to the hotel, passing through an area with numerous practical shops (as opposed to touristy gift places), restaurants and residences.  We spotted a pizza place that looked promising and we returned there after cleaning ourselves up.  We ordered a "medium" pizza with two different sides and a big salad.  Our friendly waiter dressed and served up the salad and later brought us a "small"pizza with the same toppings - free.  He must have thought we looked famished, although we were mostly thirsty after a long day in the sun.  The pizza was very tasty.

Home to blog writing and bed.