Buenos Aires, muchas tardes!

I say that because we are four days late to pick up our guests who are embarking and late to disembark the guests that were supposed to get off on the 9th of February. Buenos Aires, from what I can tell is a great city. The guests who spent the four days there should be happy and the guests who got to stay an extra four days on board our ship are also lucky. When we arrived and I picked up the guests in the terminal, you wouldn’t think so. I was immediately shouted at by an irate man, and in my usual calm way just stared at him until he would stop. Instead, another passenger defended me which ended in a screaming match and came close to a fist fight.

The day previous, was a very busy one. I was volunteered for a Panoramic Buenos Aires bus tour. This is one which doesn’t stop and is for the guests who have little or no mobility. I think, perhaps it’s also in the Shore Excursions’ form as only suitable for the crabbiest guests on our ship. Oh well, they paid $100 dollars and I slept through half of it for free! One of the shoppies*, Carolina was at the end of her contract and is from Buenos Aires, so after she disembarked a few of us went to her house for Empanadas, Argentinian wine and a beautiful setting. We enjoyed a great afternoon in broken Spanish and English with Carolina’s family and friends.

That evening I was volunteered for a much better tour, one that made up completely for the morning one. We went to El Viejo Almacen for the most beautiful tango show. The performers included: professional tango dancers, two full Argentine tango bands and a folkloric band (pan-flute and all). Free drinks topped off the tour and perhaps made the two OTHER disabled guests hitting each other in the line-up before the show fade away from memory. For those friends who know how I feel about children, know that I do indeed work with them all day long. I think that it’s a little more ridiculous to tell a grown man to stop smacking the lady in front of him and her to stop shouting and budging.

I came back from the tango show around 10:00pm and headed out with the crew for a night on the town. After starting the evening in yet another Irish pub, we ended in the Ricoleta area and danced the night away. Many of the crew members who never get to work with one another, or even see each other, finally had a chance to mingle. All in all, I think I could live in Argentina. It’s a gorgeous city: European architecture, a tonne of green space, clean and diverse.