Thursday, April 25, 2019

Don’t cry for me.... Argentina! ๐ŸŽถ


You know it’s going through your head so just sing it out!

Yes, I think the entire city tour for us was based on getting to the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried.  Now, I know that when I think of cemeteries, I think of vast lawns, crosses, plaques and grave markers.  Not so here!  Mausoleum is the way to go and we are not talking a wall with a slide in for coffins.  We’re talking buildings decorated with fabulous art, sculptures and pillars.  



I am standing beside one of these mausoleums and the paths  go on  and on.  There are 8 of these spikes from a center monument with many side  paths. Think of a pie, cut into 8 wedges then many waNt a piece just with interior pieces and no crust!  Each wedge ends in a beautiful sculpture.   Our lovely tour guide said they had recently tiled the streets.  Previously they were soil.  


The depth insIDE goes 5 meters down and some extend under the paths.  Each can hold 20 to 50 of your most beloved ancestors.  There is no electricity so any light in the depths must be provided by natural light (or your cell phone flash light).  Many of these had incredible stained glass, gold leaf, and sculptures found only in the best museums and done by world renowned artists. 



Here are two of the caskets sitting for all to see.  They themselves are works of art. Some of you may see morbidity in this but we were fascinated by this cultural tradition.  Our tour guide told us most people are 'buried' in this manner.  I would imagine some not as richly or decoratively.  At this cemetery, it takes them 100 years to 'kick out' any family not paying their fair share or not keeping up the mausoleum.  I thought.... heck, in America we turn off peoples heat and electricity after a months arrears!  

And that brings us to the reason for the cemetery.  This is Evita's grave.  She is finally at rest in her beloved Argentina
 after being located across the globe due to political crisis. 

 She is a hero to the country and women.  For you younguns', get the movie Evita starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas,  

Jim at Evita's
 grave.

Next to the cemetery was a beautiful church in the Roman 
Catholic tradition with side chapels and beautiful artworks.  There was a cloister that cost 40 pesos to get in.  I was like, 'I’m not paying that much to get in'.  We finally figured it was about a dollar!  In we went to see some old artifacts and a Gregorian Chant book that was 300 years old.  It was the only one surviving after a fire destroyed the other 5 volumes.  
Here is a view of the Recoleta Cemetery from inside the Cloisters.  



Mostly we cannot figure out why a 15 minute taxi ride should cost $2 or a dinner with two cocktails, a bottle of wine, appetizers and main course would cost less than $80.  Inflation is rampant apparently so the US dollar is strong.  People seem very grateful for American dollars.  

Until tomorrow, sleep well and Buenos Noches.  
๐Ÿ’œ








Buenos Aires day 2 Don’t cry for me Argentina!

Our second day has been filled with touring the city on theBA version of 'hop on hop off' bus.  Hi we’re, before I give you more pictures than you wNt to see and more details than you ever wanted to know, here is a picture from the streets last night.
There was some information today about where Tango originated, and we passed that on the bus tour.  It is a very physical and sexy dance- full of innuendo and suggestive movements.  However, it is very slow as perfectly timed.  Argentinean culture wants to preserve that dance.  

I did imbibe in a cocktail suggested by a bartender in Winter Park.  It is called a Pesco Sour.  It’s very tart a lemony and I love it.  The biggest problem is that it was so small. 

Here Jim is waiting for the tour bus:
And riding on the tour bus...



And a picture of the cobblestone streets.  They sure were bouncy!
Don’t cry for me Argentina will continue after we go to dinner.
๐Ÿ’œBarb 

BA side item

Good Morning All,
For those of you who try to post comments and fail... I am sorry because I cannot figure it out either.  I think it has something to do with screen size, Apple vs Microsoft, or ticked off internet gods.  I appreciate you trying and if someone figures it out, let me know.  Please feel free to email me your responses.  
We’re off today on a city tour and hopefully will post lots of pictures later. Have a wonderful day.
๐Ÿ’œ

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Buenos Aires- day 1

Wednesday, April 24– I think!

It’s true!  It’s true!  The drain drains counter clockwise.  Does that mean that time goes backwards here?  I tried to take a picture but  I don’t think you’d actually be able to see it.

We survived our long flight to Buenos Aires.  It really wasn’t too bad  except for the terribly ill man behind me who constantly called the flight attendant and caused commotion in the aisles!  My faithful and obedient companion is probably 

oblivious to this.


  Every time I fell asleep ๐Ÿ’ค someone was dangling something into my head or shoulders that
 woke me up.  Maybe it was his outrageously loud coughing that made me crazy and made me want 
to have added vitamin C.  I felt sorry for him but 
didn’t understand all the conversations in Spanish 
that were going on to help him.  It’s a strange 
thing to be mono lingual in a multilingual world.  I was thinking it would be a good thing to have Melissa or Diana along to help figure out what was going on.  
Anyway, we are tucked into a lovely hotel.  After 
a three hour nap, cocktails in the lobby, 




 a walk along Florida Street,  (which reminded me of Canal Street in NYC) and dinner at a wonderful
 restaurant  



 we are ready to watch some Spanish TV and fall asleep.  Any one else want to watch Big Bang Theory  in Spanish?

Tomorrow we hope to tour Buenos Aires.

Traffic here is equivalent to any very 
large US city and we are staying I the town center.  Did you all know that Argentina is 7th in square miles to the entire world?   I didn’t! This is a picture of us waiting for a taxi at the airport.  


The errors on this post are due to it’s incapacity to deal with my iPad.  The internet  is fabulous and frustrating!
Until next time,
๐Ÿ’œ
Barbara


Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Begin Argentina April 2019

As some of you know we have decided to continue our life’s adventures by traveling to Argentina!  Jim has always wanted to go to South America and thankfully we have friends in Vermont who gave us such great information and a map.  We are departing for two weeks, since who wants to fly for 13+ hours for a short period of time.  Of course no airline flies direct from Denver so the first leg is to Atlanta.   Our travel time from departure from home this morning until arriving in Buenos Aires tomorrow will be about 24 hours- I wonder how chipper we’ll look then?

Jim putting two of our bags in the car.



A last minute selfie with the continental divide in the background.

We will miss our mountain home  but are so looking forward to our Argentinean adventure!

Until next time, make every moment count!
  1. Barbara


Friday, April 19, 2019

Hey hey hey!  Amazing that it’s been since forever since I revived this blog.  Now my sister is encouraging me to blog our upcoming trip to Argentina so I will try and blog our 'foreign' experiences with you. It will include pictures of our trip as well so... if you are interested, please stay tuned.
As always,
Peace!
Barbara

Monday, March 31, 2014

Ski Vacation Reading

Hello Readers,

Yes, we are on our ski vacation to Winter Park, Colorado and having a fabulous time.  The entire family has been in and out and enjoying this beautiful ski resort at 9000 feet.  I am thankful for medication that helps me with the altitude sickness.

As far a vacations go I have completed two book and have started two others- always a successful time when books are read - don't you agree?

Innocence by Dean Koontz, one of my favorite authors was a page turner and the concept of the story was secret until the end.  Koontz's prose and writing style are superb and I highly recommend his books.  I find that he pulls me into each paragraph with words that surround me and lift and frighten at the same time. Much of his work is religious in theme as this one contains many references to catholicism and Christianity and yet is not some of the soft religious themed writings you sometimes find.  Definitely a strong good versus evil writer and you know where he stands.  (Koontz is from coal country in PA)

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly is the final book in the Rose Trilogy.  This is a 'saga' book and I really am not  so fond of them but since this was the last in the series I felt the need to read it.  Donnelly spins a good tale in interweaves real life characters into the book but I wouldn't call it historical fiction, although Churchill, Shackleton and Lawrence of Arabia make prominent appearance in this book set in WW1 era Europe, Asia, and Africa.  This would be a great beach read, light, fantastical, sometimes unbelievable and yet compelling.

The low battery on my IPad required me to switch from reading The Color War by Jodi Picoult to Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.  The later was given to me by Debbie as a 'have a happy vacation' book and I am on the prologue and sucked in already.  The book doesn't seem very 'happy' to me at this point!  The former has been on my IPad for a while but surprise, surprise - all the books I have read on this trip have been actual physical books!

Oh, did I tell you about The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George?  I finished it one day before leaving for vacation and wow, what a long, long book.  I really enjoyed it and found the historical descriptions informative and instructive to a time in history I didn't know much about.  This is definitely historical fiction and although very long, well worth reading.

Time to get moving on another vacation project.  Take care until we meet again.

Barbara