Saturday, 5 October 2014
I had great difficulties waking up this morning because I only went to bed at 3 am yesterday. But the tour to the ranch was at 8.30 am so I dragged myself out of bed at 7.30 am, showered, breakfast and then I went to the reception area to wait for my pick up, but I was told that there was no tour today, because they only organized it on Sundays to Tuesdays. The girl at reception yesterday through whom I booked the tour must have gotten it wrong. So now, I had no idea what to do. This other girl at reception suggested that I go to a tango performance at night. I told her I would think about it. I went back to my room, did some research and came up with a plan of action.
I booked a tango show for 8.30 pm. Then I went to a tour agency to book a tour to Iguazu Falls. I checked them out on the Internet and their prices were good compared to all the other tour agencies, so I decided to book a tour with them. They had an office near Plaza San Martin so I took a cab there. It was closed, despite the Internet telling me that they were open on Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm. They had another branch in San Telmo, so I took a cab there, and no one was in but at about 10.15 am someone arrived to open the office. I guess they do not have a lot of tourists coming in on Saturdays. I booked a tour for Iguazu Falls, but I had to come back another day to collect the vouchers and tickets, as apparently nobody works here on Saturdays.
I also wanted to book a tour to Colonia and Montevideo in Uruguay, but I was informed by the guy at the tour agency that the only tour agency that handles that tour is Buquebus, the same company that operates the ferry to Colonia and Montevideo. A monopoly! The other option was that I just buy the ferry tickets from them, and book my own accommodation in Colonia and Montevideo. But first I wanted to see what Buquebus could do for me, so I took a cab there. They could arrange everything for me, including city tours in Colonia and Montevideo, and the price was ok for me so I booked the entire package through them.
Having sorted all that out, I wanted to walk the streets of Buenos Aires and see some of the things that I missed whilst on the bus in the city tour yesterday. So first I went to the San Martin area to see the monument of San Martin. I was already in Plaza San Martin but I couldn't see the monument (what can I say, I am a blind bat!) and when I asked people for directions different people led me in different directions. As a result, I ended up at the Retiro train station, where I got to see the building up close. I liked the architecture of the building a lot, it looked very old style British, this is because it was designed by British architects. I knew it looked similar to our train station in Kuala Lumpur!
From there I passed a clock tower, this was a gift from the British community in Buenos Aires to the people of Buenos Aires in response to the Falkland Islands War, and is known as the British Clock Tower and sometimes as the Argentine Big Ben. Passing the clock tower I arrived back in Plaza San Martin where I saw a memorial for the more than 700 soldiers who died during the war with Britain over the Falkland Islands in 1982.
Further up the plaza, finally I saw the monument of San Martin! Forget about asking people for directions, I discovered that I was getting really good at reading the map, something that I never thought possible because not only was I blind, I was also born without any sense of directions. Overlooking the plaza I chanced upon the Circulo Militar building, it is an impressive building originally meant for the Paz family (it was known as the Palacio Paz) but is now home to the Circular Militar, an elite organization for retired military officers that bought the building in 1938. I also saw a grand marble building which is now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but once was a mansion belonging to a wealthy Argentine family, the Anchorenas.
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