It started out as a good day - we slept in until about 7 am, got up, had a late breakfast, got a few Argentinian pesos and headed out to the Botanical Gardens. It was a bit of a haul walking there, probably a little over an hour, and I don’t walk slowly. We got in, and saw dozens of cats just wandering about, almost felt like home (except we only have 3). We wandered around the gardens, which were filled with lots of lush greenery, and many statues, but the majority of the exhibit houses were closed and under repair, so we only spent about an hour inside.
One nice thing about the walk up to the gardens, there are trees, and lots of them, on every street. It gives a nice suburban feel to a big city. After that, we walked across the street and headed to the zoo. It is decent sized, and the cages are also fairly well appointed. They house the Buenos Aires aquarium (don’t hold your breath, only 3 exhibits!), and a good number of cats, to include a white tiger and white lion. But, as Darien advised us, it just felt worn down. It seems about 4 years beyond its scheduled maintenance.
After that, lunch at the cafe across from the gardens and off to Casa Rosada (who could ever get that song out of their mind after seeing Evita?) for a visit. Unfortunately, when we were on the subway, I was feeling a little crowded by a male passenger, so I sat down, clutching my belongings to me. He moved forward towards me quickly, but I think made it to me too late. Wayne chose that time to move in away from the door, and was distracted by someone, and the man who had been casing me lifted Wayne’s iPhone and jumped off the train just as the doors were closing. As the car lurched forward, Wayne realized what had happened, and I finally registered the con. Not much we could do, so we went to the Casa Rosada, which is behind formidable gates, and protected by fencing in the May Boulevard square, and then headed back to the hotel. There we went online and got a new iPhone for Wayne, a new case, and then did some general work. Note to self, make sure that anything of value is not merely secured by velcro (which is hard to open silently, btw!), but also by a zipper. Hard to believe that both of us have been hit in the past month - my cash, his iPhone. Back to not trusting the majority of humanity, I guess.
At 6, we headed to the Mac Geek pre-cruise party, met a new couple by the names of Ira and Liz (hailing from Canada), and had some pleasant conversation and dinner. We are very much looking forward to reuniting with Ivan and Sue on the cruise tomorrow.
We are now just winding down, having put our luggage out for pickup. Up early in the morning, and off to the cruise by 11 am. We’re almost on our way!
