Buenos Aires and Tigre

After about 25 hours in transit, first to Montreal, then Sao Paulo and finally on to Buenos Aires, we arrived at the ship at about 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. The Air Canada flights were all very comfortable, although we only managed to snooze for about 5 hours of the 9 hour Sao Paulo flight.

There were 14 people from our flight heading to Silver Moon, so after waiting a while for one last  couple, we finally started toward the port.

Leaving Montreal

It seemed like we might have been the last flight to come in for the cruise, and since there weren't that many people going through the check-in process, our bags showed up within a half-hour after we found our suite. This suite is quite spacious and comfortable, with room for both of us to work on our computers at the same time if needed. Here are a few photos of the suite:

The bathroom has a separate WC with a second
entrance from the hallway between the suite door
and the dining table.

The balcony is quite large, with 2 walkouts,
2 lounges and the table and chairs in the middle.
Should be very nice on sea days.

After unpacking, we had arranged to meet Mary Ellen and Ed at the main bar, Dolcevita, and then have dinner together. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed our dinner at Le Terrazza. This dining room is the breakfast and lunch buffet, but it is turned into an Italian Restaurant in the evenings.

Caprese Salad

Lentil Soup

Eggplant Parmigiana

 

Lasagna

It was an early night, so we could catch up on our sleep as we had a tour on Monday afternoon.

Monday morning dawned bright enough, but rain was expected. There has been an exceptional heat wave in this part of Argentina, with temperatures reaching 38C, and they have been praying for some rain to break the weather and provide some much-needed irrigation water.

I was just about to get into the pool at 10 a.m. for a swim when all of a sudden the sky fell. There was thunder which we could hardly hear over the loudness of the port equipment. We were docked in the container port, and they were busy loading and unloading large container carriers. Eventually the thunder settled down to a few rumbles, and although it continued to rain, I had my half-hour swim.

We weren't overly hungry but knew we'd have to eat something before our 1:30 tour departure. We stopped at Spaccanapoli for a freshly baked Pizza Margherita. It was smaller than it looks from this photo, quite delicious, and just enough to keep us going.

 Our tour in the afternoon took us to the Tigre River delta for a cruise around the islands there. The Tigre is one of the rivers that flows into the Rio de la Plata, the very wide river that runs between Uruguay and Argentina. An indigenous tribe had been living on the islands of the delta, mainly fishing and farming, but they were moved out when the Spanish arrived in the early 1500s, and took over the economy of the whole area. The Tigre River was used by smugglers from Uruguay to move goods without having to expose themselves to the Spaniards on the Rio de la Plata. Eventually Spain allowed free trade, the smuggling ended, and the town of Tigre became a major port on the river for agricultural goods.

 The area of the delta has been, since the mid-1800s, the place for the wealthy and aristrocrats from Buenos Aires to have country homes. Now it is more like cottage lots, each with a long pier of its own out into the water. There are some very nice small houses, along with rowing clubs and the odd hotel that dates back into the early 20th Century.

Fixer-upper, anyone??

Some of the very pretty houses on the islands

These boats are used for tours or as water taxis

One of the rowing clubs had their boats out

The Tigre Museum of Art had been part of the
Tigre Hotel that was opened in 1911. It is
still a very impressive structure.

After our boat trip around the islands, we stopped in the nearby town of San Isidro on our way back to Buenos Aires. Here we visited, for a short time, the Cathedral of San Isidro. It celebrated 400 years of consecration in July of 2022.

Our two buses were the last ones back to the ship. That wasn't an issue for leaving, but there was a mandatory muster briefing at 5:30 and we were late!!! They must have known we were coming, as the briefing started just after we all got to our muster stations and sat down.

We left Buenos Aires at 6:45, headed for Montevideo, Uruguay.

We had dinner at Atlantide, which might be called the main dining room, but 1) there really isn't one on this ship with all the available venues, and 2) it is much to plush and fancy. We were asked if we wanted to join a shared table and we said yes...only to find that the other four people at the table were also Canadian, and didn't know each other before they sat down! One couple is from Vancouver, and the other from mid-town Toronto.

Larry's caviar appetizer

Monica's salmon main course

We were so busy talking that we missed the show - an Argentinian guitar duo that is supposed to be really good.

So far the internet has been pretty good for posting this blog post. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way.......