Feb 21, Buenos Aires day 2

Got organised then went and had our last breakfast before disembarking. Our disembarkation time was 9.45 and as always, the way with HAL went extremely smoothly. Can’t say things stayed like that after we left the terminal, we ended up having to get a small bus to take us to our hotel the Recoleta Grand and were assured it would only be 5 to 10 minutes after Pete spoke to them twice and 25 minutes later the bus arrived. Took another 20 minutes to get the bags onboard and then they realised they couldn’t fit them all in so had to move seats so they could put bags on the first 2 rows of seats as per usual very disorganised, one couple couldn’t even get on with there little boy so they had to wait for another bus. Then off we go problem was the bus driver only spoke Spanish so he couldn’t figure out where everyone was going just kept reading out the same number which is the number on every one’s ticket. Lucky for everyone there was a Canadian lady on board who lives in Mexico and she could speak his language so she then gave him instructions and he eventually managed to find every one’s hotels don’t know how things would have ended if she hadn’t been on the bus. It took us over 2 hours from getting on the bus to getting to our hotel but as check in here is 3 O’clock it didn’t matter. Early night tonight getting picked up at 3.45am tomorrow for our flight and tour of Iguazu Falls.

Feb 20, Buenos Aires - day 1

Arrived in Buenos Aires, docked in the commercial dock so must get a courtesy bus to the terminal that takes 10 minutes. After navigating our way through a very large terminal we have booked to do a 3-hour city tour in an air-conditioned bus as they are expecting a top temperature of 36 today. They advised the tour guide would do it in English which he managed to do some parts of in English he also couldn’t tell his left from his right the first hour or so he kept saying things were on the right but we worked out they were on the left everyone just seemed to get the hang of that when he managed to sort out his left and right sides.  The tour was quite good would have been better but, the majority of the group constantly didn’t come back in the allotted time, so he spent ages chasing them up while we sat on the bus. We saw Government House it’s a pink building which is quite grand and located in Plaza de Mayo a 19^th century central square with beautiful buildings around it, it’s the foundation spot for Buenos Aires in 1884. We also saw the Metropolitan Cathedral, Obelisk 67mtr high, San Martin Square, Buenos Aires University and next to that in a lovely park is the newest sculpture Floris Generica inside a reflection pool which is a large silver flower with stamens that light up at night, this is the new symbol for them. We went past Boca Jr, Stadium which is huge but in a seedy part of the town wouldn’t want to walk around there at night. After this we went to La Boca which is colourful neighborhood very interesting lots of brightly coloured shops and markets outside one restaurant on the steps a couple was doing the tango. The city is huge and parts of it are beautiful a lot like Paris in a few parts with very wide boulevards and all the high-end shops you can think of and more. We went past Teatro Colon which is the main opera house for here and considered one of the ten best in the world it opened in 1908 and we hope to go have a closer look before we leave here. We finished this tour and made our way back to the port which was good as the temperature hit 40 degrees it was lovely to get to the Crows Nest for our last happy hour and say goodbye to Kate Sara and Chris the lovely girls who served us on the cruise, after this time to go to the cabin and pack bags ready for disembarkation tomorrow. After a lovely dinner off to the theatre to see Pampas Devils Gauchos 2 guys and a girl was who gave a very entertaining show covering the Tango, Tap Dancing, Drums and Bolas which is a Gaucho ball/rock on a string that they used to kill prey when horse riding.

Feb 19, Montevideo

Today we are in Montevideo founded in 1726, its going to be even hotter today than the previous few days. After breakfast we made our way along the wharf and hired a taxi for 2 hours to take us to the old city of Montevideo and to look at the new city. The taxi driver was great he had a machine that allowed him to speak into it and it would transfer what he said into English and the reverse if we wanted to ask him a question. He was very friendly and gave us a wonderful tour we went to the park that is dedicated to the founder of Montevideo and also saw the founders house which is opposite the park, after that we went to view the Metropolitan Cathedral which is a eighteenth century Neoclassical Church it’s a beautiful church very ornate, opposite the church was another lovely park. After this we went to see Teatro Solis which is the original theater for Montevideo, it's a set of beautiful buildings and on top of the main building is a blue light which they used to put on when there was a performance, as it is so flat around here this was to let the people know there was a show on at the theater. We then went for a drive down to see the beaches which are lovely, this is a freshwater inlet which they call sweet water, on the other side is Buenos Aries it has a mouth of 200 miles. Then off to see the soccer stadium which was built in 1930 they had Ed Sheeran setting up for a concert, then to see a sculpture made purely of bronze that took 5 years to complete that is dedicated to the bullock teams who founded Montevideo,  after that a few more buildings and back to the ship it was 36 by now and getting very hot. Where we docked is quite interesting on one side you can see the navy ships and on the other side there are so many rusting hulls of ships it’s like a ship graveyard. After dinner, time for the show first up was Devlin a magician who was quite good then Brett Cave a pianist who was very entertaining he played songs from Elton John, Billy Joel, The Eagles and the best Peter Allen song, Tenterfield Saddler, just love this song.