January 8, 2024 - Everybody Tango!

 

More tango to come, but first, we jumped on our bus and did a tour around Buenos Aires. Our first stop was on what used to be the widest street in the world (Brazil recently created a wider one). Avenida 9 de Julio has 16 lanes plus landscaped medians and is 110 meters wide. It was built to resemble the Champs Elysees, but instead of having an Arc de Triomphe, they built the Obelisco de Buenos Aires.

Here we are at the corner of Avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio.

From there we headed to what was the first Opera House in Buenos Aires. Today, in addition to being a heritage building, it is also a bookstore.

Built in 1919 and converted to a bookstore in 2000.

Our next stop was La Recoleta Cemetery. This world-famous cemetery is 14 acres in size and has 4,691 vaults. 94 of these vaults have been declared national monuments, including the vault where Eva Peron rests.

The various vaults come in different styles and sizes holding 2 to 20 coffins  


Some vaults have glass doors or gates, allowing you to see inside


Eva Peron rests here with a number of her family.


We came across this vault built for a Nobel Prize winner and his family. One of the family members was cleaning the vault and allowed us to enter and have a look. This vault had two levels and was built to allow for 20 coffins. Currently, there are 14 coffins in the basement of this vault. The family member asked us not to take photos inside, but I managed to get this one as we were leaving.

Before our next stop was lunch, which was a set menu unless you had made different arrangements in advance...


Sheryl made different arrangements in advance.

After lunch, we were led to a unique home with a maze of tunnels below.


Here is what the entrance looks like today


And this is what the inside looked like when they discovered the tunnels.


And with a little bit (AKA a lot) of work, this is what the tunnels look like today.

Oh, and I promised some tango, so let's end with that. As a final treat, we met some tango dancers who took it upon themselves to teach us this art.


Even in running shoes, Sheryl did great (me, not so much).

Tomorrow we head to the southernmost city in the world.



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