Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Valentine's Day - and of course, Crystal had hearts and flowers all around the ship for the occasion. Annie and I were to change our cabin from the 8th to the 9th deck the day we arrived. There's no difference in the cabin size, amenities, etc. - it's just that our cabin on the 8th overlooked where the gangway was stored when we were at sea. Not really a major thing, but since we were on for so long, we thought we'd like a bit clearer view. So...we arranged to change cabins. Looking back on it now, since the only thing the gangway "obstructed" was our nosey view of who was walking below us on the promenade deck (Deck 7), I'm not certain it was worth the "re-organizing". We didn't need to re-pack though -- they sent bellhops down who took everything on hangers out of the closet on 8 and brought it up to our new cabin on 9. Of course, we still had to empty the drawers in the bureaus, etc. but we've been optimistic and say we're much more organized with the move -- we'll see how long that lasts!

We had done the tango show ashore last time in BA, so opted out this year. They had tango dancers and singers come aboard and put on a show for us, and the night before we arrived they had a special segment where the captain (a rather large hardy Norwegian) did a tango dance with the principal female dancer. But to top that, the cruise director impersonated a female and did a seductive tango number with the featured male dancer... hm mm. It was great fun and a good show that we've all seen again and laughed over.

On the second day, we went into town for a bit - It's a really dynamic city with a lot of facets. BA is known now for Evita (Eva Peron) and we saw the famous balcony at the Casa Rosita where she made (but didn't sing!) the famous "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" speech. There's still dissent over the past military regimes and the "disappearance" of thousands (like in 30,000+) of people who were dissidents -- or thought to be. Every Thursday afternoon, people hold a type of vigil march in one of the city squares for those who disappeared. It was started years ago by the mothers and wives who had lost their sons or husbands. Those mothers are now grandmothers and great grandmothers ...and they still don't know the fate of their loved ones. It's hard for me to realize that we are talking about events that happened in my lifetime --- in the 1960s-1980s -- not hundreds of years ago.
Buenos Aires was the end of this second segment. We head now to Rio and Carneval -- check back soon for more!!