Reel 1 - Buenos Aires

Plaza Lavalle.

Libertad and Lavalle.

Teatro Colón.

A complete stranger at the big BA sign at Plaza de la República. Pose in front of my camera and you will probably get your picture taken. You can see El Obelisco behind the A.

My sister at the big green BA sign.

Catedral de San Marón

Plaza Dorrego. This is where our Uber dropped us, and so is where we started walking around the market. I had some tiny pasties (empanadas) outside a café there.

San Telmo Market, Buenos Aires. To my sister's horror I took this because the stall is selling what appears to be knitted beachwear that amusingly reminded me of a particular scene in Ben Wheatley's brilliantly funny film, Sightseers.

The first point of call in the journey was Buenos Aires. Although technically it was not. Since BA no longer run a direct service to Buenos Aires, the plane landed in Rio de Janeiro where some passengers disembarked and others joined the flight like it was a bus. Those of us going the whole distance remained on the plane, extending what was already a pretty long flight. A cleaning crew arrived on the tarmac and filed in through the rear of the plane. One of them swept at the cabin's ratty carpet with one of those hopelessly ineffective mechanical carpet sweepers. Someone walked the aisles and sprayed insecticide into the air. Time passed frustratingly slowly. We would be returning to Rio for a proper visit at the end of the trip, but that seemed far in the future at the time. 

Once we arrived in Buenos Aires we had our first taste of how spoiled we were going to be for going on holiday again. We were met outside customs by the first of our handlers and whisked away into a waiting car which thankfully had working AC. It was hot and humid, due partly to recent rain. The rain had brought more complications, as our handler explained that there has been an unprecedented explosion of mosquitoes. The shops had run out of bug spray. Fortunately we'd planned ahead and brought some with us. I'll get into the complicated pack list another time. 

Despite said precautions we were savaged by mosquitoes that evening. Walking down the street I could feel them bouncing off my face. Drinks at the hotel's roof bar were hastily abandoned as it became alarmingly apparent that our ankles were on the menu.

The next day we were more diligent with the bug spray and things settled down. Buenos Aires was great. The weather was sunny and the atmosphere laid back. It's a cliché to say it felt very European, but clichés don't come from nowhere. 

We only had one full day in Buenos Aires on this leg of the trip, booked as a safety buffer for the cruise. We didn't want to chance literally missing the boat as there would be no second chance to board. Accordingly there aren't many photos. There are a few from generally wandering around the area where we were staying, including El Obelisco and the Teatro Colón. We made a note to visit the latter properly on our return and spent a very pleasant Sunday walking the length of the San Telmo street market, which I highly recommend. It is vast and sells a huge range of items from antiques through bric-a-brac to art and crafts. 

Being a View-Master collector I was hopeful that I might find some reels for sale. Initially I found a market stall selling a generic-looking stereoscope and some photo cards but aware of my already tight luggage space I gave them a miss. I had more luck with a shop in an indoor market, where I found a pile of reels and fragments of packets. After a somewhat fraught time trying to check my spreadsheet of owned reels over a temperamental mobile connection I settled on a selection of single reels. They were all filthy but cleaned up well enough when I got them home. Surprisingly none of them were local to the region but I was pleased enough with the score. It's unusual enough for me to find anything new in the wild and the price was cheap.

Currency was a tricky thing while we were there, with the peso plummeting on a daily basis. Larger shops and cafes accepted cards, with some employing the COVID-era QR coded menus to avoid having to reprint as prices rose. Others accepted US dollars, but smaller traders such as those at San Telmo market preferred pesos. There were plenty of currency exchange shops around so we just exchanged dollars as needed and tried not to worry about having a thick wedge of pesos left over. 

That's about all I have to say about Buenos Aires for now. I will revisit it after saying hello to some penguins. Next stop, Ushuaia!

Bonus selection of digital 3D and 2D shots on Flickr

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