The Lemmers Lynns, Lachine, QC, CA - SA Cruise 2004, Buenos Aires

The Lemmers Lynns
Lachine, Quebec, Canada
Bienvenue! / Welcome!

South America / Antarctic Cruise 2004
Thursday - Saturday, February 12-14, 2004 - Cruising and Buenos Aires

Thursday and Friday we sailed the Atlantic Ocean from the Falklands to Buenos Aires. Here the South Atlantic was blue under blue skies and the air temperature in the mid twenties (F). Amazingly to me, the water temperature was reported the same or higher than the air temperature. I did not think anywhere in the Atlantic could be that warm, but I did not get a chance to check it out.
We did discover that the cabin stewards' good humour could be attributed to their vacuum cleaners.
Friday evening we passed Montevideo, Uruguay, on our way up the River Plata to Buenos Aires. At Montevideo a river pilot came aboard from the vessel Child's Dream. At that point we could not see the other side of the river.
We then sailed up the Plata over night to Buenos Aires, where we got a brief shot of the skyline as our ship docked.

In Buenos Aires, "Paris of the Americas", we took a bus tour which included a brief look at the city before heading out to a ranch.
The city has some wide boulevards. Our guide told us that they had torn down many old buildings to make space for one particularly wide one with lots of trees and flowers - a large cut above Montreal's Décarie expressway.
We had a brief stop at a square to see the cathedral, and got a shot of the pink government building on the way by.

Our next stop was at the area called La Boca (the mouth), an old part of town built at the mouth of a river that (I believe) flowed into the Plata. This old part of town is not affluent but is being fixed up for tourism, with artists' and artisans' wares for sale. Perhaps one day it will become a yuppy area like Old Montreal.

We stopped next in a more affluent section of town where we saw a church, a dog walker (and London-style phone booths), a huge tree, and lots of people at sidewalk cafés.

Then we headed out of town along a good four-lane toll road. We stopped at a service centre similar to those on major highways in Canada.

Then on to a cattle ranch where gauchos served us a huge meal including several kinds of meat, vegetables and copious quantities of wine.

At some point we learned about the Gauchos. In the very early days Spain brought over horses and cattle to start farming, but soon abandoned the effort. The cows and horses multiplied in the wild, and later on Spanish settlers desperate for income went out to the plains to ride the horses and capture the cattle for hides and meat. There they developed an independent life style and mixed with the natives. Ultimately they began to export their products to Europe, bringing in significant income to the colony. Now they are more a tourist attraction.

Following the meal the gauchos put on a display of a sport in which they try to spear a small ring (about 1" diameter) with a tool like a thick pencil, while travelling full speed on their horses, four abreast. Needless to say, not too many speared the ring.

Tour member David Morrow was pretty pleased to win one of the spectator prizes.
Ernest Borgnine happened to be visiting the same day on a Celebrity Cruise. When we told the young official photographer that he was there, she said, "Ernest who?"
Jean & Garnet Sills of Renfrew, Ontario were among our group.

When the show was over we headed back to the always waiting buses, to find one member airing feet.

Back at the ship we found that it was Valentine's Day, with appropriate décor.

In the cabin after dinner, a rose for our lady.
And somewhere on the ship a bear with feet in the air. I think he was there all the time - not just for Valentine's Day.