86 Countries and Still Counting: January 2020

I was asleep at 4:30 this morning when someone turned on the florescent light over my head. You know, the kind that flickers a few times before it comes on. What the hell? I was alone in my cabin when I went to bed, as far as I recall.

It only took a second to realize that I'd hit the switch by mistake. I sleep with my arm over my head and the buttons are right there in the headboard. I turned off the lights, said a bad word, then scooted down so I wouldn't do it again. I must have moved the covers because that triggered the motion sensor light that I put at the foot of the bed at night. After getting up to turn that off, I was awake. No chance that I'd get back to sleep. So I showered and got dressed.

After lounging around for awhile my new friend Carole came by and we walked into town. She wanted to buy a special kind of rosary for a friend of her traveling companion. We finally found them at the weekly market that I was hoping to go to anyway, so it was a long hot walk but worth it.

After getting back on the ship, I headed straight to the Lido. I was looking forward to drinking about a gallon of ice water. The water, tea and lemonade dispensers can be finicky and seem to break down regularly. On one side of the Lido, the ice dispenser hasn't worked for the 22 days we've been on board. Then I heard someone say there was no water. Nope, no water on the ship.

I got a notice last night saying they'd be doing maintenance on the water system in my cabin from 9-noon. They didn't mention that it affected the whole ship.

And just to whine some more - since we've been on the ship for three weeks, it's time for another mandatory muster drill. Hopefully it will be much easier than the one in Ft. Lauderdale when at least one woman passed out.

I'm now in my cabin, in the chilly air conditioning, with my hair and clothes sopping wet from the 90 degree heat and high humidity. Luckily I bought a bottle of water before I came back on board so I just finished that. If the water doesn't come on soon, I'll have to resort to drinking the pricey bottled water.

Ok, I'm cooling off and feeling positive about how many steps I've already walked today. Let's talk about Montevideo

I've been to Montevideo before, for a week. It's a small city but lovely. One thing to note - we started walking at 9:30 and most places were closed. As we headed back to the ship at noon things were opening. Like most of Latin America, things happen much later in the day. Enrique was shocked yesterday when I told him that most grocery stores opened at 7 a.m. "But why? Who would want to shop then?" Me.

FYI I'm having problems getting phone service so am not able to finish this now. Hopefully I'll have better luck in the Falklands.

Here are some photos...

I'm having a delightful day in Buenos Aires. Took a taxi to do some shopping and touring with Enrique - a great local guy. He didn't speak English so he also got to help me with my Spanish.

I've been having phone issues today, so very limited internet. I'll try to get this post all finished and labeled tonight so I can post when we get to Montevideo tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

A very early good morning from near Montevideo where we'll be docking today. But first, reflections on Buenos Aires.

I got off and met a man named Enrique who agreed to drive me around for four hours for $80. I suspect it would have been more if Enrique spoke English. And if I'd negotiated. But the price for me was less than a shore excursion with the freedom to do exactly what I wanted. And Enrique was happy. A win/win.

Luckily, Enrique was patient with my Spanish and we got along fine. Even more than my lack of knowledge of irregular verbs, we both found our accents a challenge at first. I learned to speak Spanish living on the Arizona/Mexico border, then a few years ago studying in Guatemala. In Argentina and Uruguay they sound more like Castilian Spanish. For example I say "yo", they say "jo". We made it work.

First stop - an ATM. Not sure why but had problems getting money out so need to take care of that.

Next, the San Telmo Mercado. By then it was 10:30 a.m. but most shops in the market were still closed. Luckily, I found a seltzer bottle, which was what I was looking for.

Our next stop - Carrefours Super Mercado - a grocery store. I wanted to get some dulce de leche and didn't want to pay the tourist prices at the shops in San Telmo or the port terminal. Happily, I bought the Carrefours store brand for about a $1 and it is delicious. If they sold that stuff in my grocery store, I'd be in trouble. If you're wondering what to do with dulce de leche - anything. Eat it with a spoon. Dip meringue cookies in it. But it on a baked pie shell then fill the shell with vanilla pudding and bananas. Dip a banana in it. Yeah, I'd take dulce de leche over chocolate any day.

When I walked in the store, I felt like I was at home. I'd been in the store several times before (on previous visits to BA, I rented an apartment and did some of my own cooking). The music, the smells brought back a rush of memories from earlier trips and also from stores in other countries where I've lived. I had a huge smile as I shopped.

I picked up the dulce de leche for about 1/4 of the price of the tourist places (store brand and delicious) and also got some candy for the crew. And the big score - cotton balls. They're not exactly balls but it's cotton batting that will be great for taking off my finger nail polish. Total bill - about $10.

I wanted to to the Puente de la Mujer - Woman's Bridge, in Puerto Madero. I first saw it in 2001 when it was new. Now, the area beyond the bridge, which used to be bare land, is covered with high rise buildings.

Then we headed to Palermo to see "La Flor" (The Flower) which is a beautiful statue of a stainless steel flower which opens then closes throughout the day.

Next to Recoleta, still one of the most beautiful (and expensive) neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. I'd decided instead of getting a steak, I'd prefer some empanadas for lunch.

Enrique raved about the food at the place he took me. He described each type of empanada - beef, spicy beef, chicken and vegetable. He said I shouldn't get the spicy beef because it was too hot. Much too spicy to be eaten. He'd taken one bite once and it burned his mouth. Challenge accepted. I got a spicy beef, vegetable (which turned out to be onion, spinach and a bit of cheese), and chicken.

I had the vegetable one for lunch. Dinner in my cabin was the spicy beef and chicken. All were delicious. And the spice level? Poor Enrique, he did not grow up near by Mexican border like I did, raised by parents who put pickled jalapeno peppers on the table at every meal along with the salt and peppers. I order the hottest levels at Indian and Thai restaurants.

The filling was medium spice level at most. And delicious. It had some green olives in it and a variety of spices. It actually tasted similar to the picadillo I make at home, just not as spicy.

After more touring around the city it was back to the ship. Enrique gave me his phone number and I'll definitely call him when I go back to Buenos Aires. And I definitely will go back. If you haven't put this beautiful, vibrant city on your bucket list, I recommend you do.

Now, the photos. Sadly, I was having technical problems. I thought I'd deleted all the earlier photos from my phone after saving on an external hard drive but seems there were hidden files that were waiting to be uploaded to Google Photos. So, a lot of the photos I took "disappeared". I'm hopeful that the random photos that I couldn't find may be on my Google drive, once I get internet.

My fourth seltzer bottle, which cost about $30. Not an antique. I have three others, each slightly different, some older, one from each visit to Buenos Aires.

The excellent empanadas. They are baked, not fried, although that version is also available. I paid less than $4 for all three.

For safety reasons no one is allowed to walk through the port. Instead there is this free shuttle bus. The port workers were very patient with us older tourists slowing down their commute to work.

BA is a mix of modern high rises and historic architecture.

No, it's not the Beatles. Traffic was light because this is vacation season and many people are out of town to escape the heat. It was a humid 90 degrees.

I'd love to live in one of these apartments. I can't afford to live in one of these apartments.

A typical street in Recoleta.

I took this photo looking into a bar/restaurant in Recoleta. Warm, cozy style, typical of BA.

This is where Enrique assured me I would get the best empanadas in the city. They've been doing it for more than 50 years.

In addition to the dine-in option, the take out counter was doing a brisk business - and they had been open for five minutes.

There are many monuments and statues throughout the city. Most dedicated to military events and political figures.

We drove past the Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta. Very formal, very elegant and very expensive. I had high tea there one afternoon on a previous visit. I recommend it but bring your credit card.

I opted not to stop for each statue. I only had a day.

There are parks all over the city. And lots of large shade trees on wide boulevards.

When I was first in BA I was intrigued by the professional dog walkers. This guy was trying to herd at least 12 dogs. Enrique said that it is only legal to walk four at a time and this guy risked a big fine but it was never enforced. In this case, the dogs definitely seemed to be in charge. They do have dog parks there, just like in the USA.

We circled this statue twice after I declined the offer of getting out and crossing multiple lanes of traffic to get a better photo. It's Enrique's favorite.

La Flor, which is huge, beautiful and moves, opening during the day and closing at night.

I'm sending this photo to National Geographic. Awesome thumb, eh? Oh, and a museum.

Another dog walker.

And another!

Next year I'm hoping to see the statue in Georgia (country, not the state) of a similar statue - but it is a man and woman who start out standing apart but then come together throughout the day to form one person.

This boat is a tourist attraction in Puerto Madero.

My first trip to BA was 2001. Those buildings weren't there then.

These brick buildings in Puerto Madero are old factories that have been restored and turned into shops and restaurants.

The river and the start of the Woman's Bridge.

If you're worried about not liking Argentine food, relax. In this row of buildings you will find McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, TGI Fridays and, of course, Starbucks.