A-C-B: Buenos Aires and Home

Today, November 3rd, Joan and I spent the day exploring Buenos Aires on foot before our flight home at 9pm. We started by walking to the Teatro Colón, a world-class opera house, to buy tickets for a tour. The web site mentioned tours every 15 minutes, available in both Spanish and English. We discovered on arriving that English-language tours were only twice a day, so we purchased our tickets for the afternoon tour and headed towards our next destination, the frigate Presidente Sarmiento, considered to be the last intact training ship from the 1890s. From the theater it was about a 2¾ km (1.7 mile) walk, dodging road construction near the renovated and gentrified old dock district where the ship is moored.

Getting closer.

After paying a modest fee Joan and I leisurely explored the Sarmiento.

She must have looked grand under sail.

The Sarmiento carried weapons including torpedoes. The armaments, used primarily for training or naval salutes, may never have been fired in anger.

A more complete history and inventory of the ship was posted, if tricky to photograph under glass.

Click on the image to enlarge, yes?

On leaving the Sarmiento Joan and I decided it was time for a snack. We skipped the sit-down restaurants lining the waterway in favor of a shop where we purchased small treats and a bottle of water. Then Joan and I headed for the Museo Casa Rosada, also known as the Museo del Bicentenario, an underground museum on the site of the original fort of Buenos Aires and later the customs house. It's recent, having opened in 2011. We knew it was associated with the Casa Rosada, the executive mansion and offices of the Argentine president,

but were unsure of its exact location. We learned at the gate that the museum was a separate structure around back. The entrance and security check is above ground, but visitors take an escalator down to the exposed foundations of the old customs house. This was an intriguing place to visit, with varied and extensive exhibits, but no photography was allowed.

On our way back to the Teatro Colón we next visited the Catedral Metropolitana, or the Metropolitan Cathedral, the main Catholic church in Argentina. It is impressive, but I have only this one photo for you.

In the square outside a political rally was growing louder. Joan and I walked on, to reach the Teatro Colón in time for the afternoon English-language tour. This popular and thriving urban tree outside the opera house caught my eye.

Just inside the doors, the grand entryway.

The upper-level hallway was peppered with statues and busts of operatic themes and composers.

Lots of lovely skylights.

A small group prepared to rehearse in a side gallery. We were allowed to briefly listen if we kept quiet.

Here's a wide view from near the main stage of the opera house.

This panoramic shot distorts the circular nature of the interior.

A vertical look, from the same spot. How would you like to have all those people watching you?

Then it was time to tromp back to the hotel, retrieve our luggage, and wait for our transfer to the Buenos Aires international airport. Everything went smoothly, including the exit interview at check-in (what did you see during your visit? etc.) that often happens at overseas airports, for U.S. bound flights at least. We landed in Atlanta in the morning twilight, and waited for our flight to Columbus.

Atlanta sunrise.

Joan and I thoroughly enjoyed our birding, geological, and cultural exploration of the high country in Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia despite our initial nervousness at traveling independently, that is, with just a guide and not being in a group. Hats off to Trogon Tours for arranging the journey and to Carlos, our exemplary guide. If you've just come across this post, the series about the trip starts here. My apologies for taking almost a year to complete it.

A-C-B: On to Buenos Aires

Joan had been perusing tours that included the Atacama Desert of South America for a few years, but they either didn't go to places we wanted to go, or included places we didn't want to go, or both. Then, at the 2016 American Birding Expo in Columbus, Ohio, she made contact with Luis of Trogon Tours, an Argentine company. After working through vanishing emails, schedule issues, and such, we arrived at a custom tour arranged by Trogon that would include time in Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, much of the time in the desert regions. This tour would include some birding, but also geology, pre-Columbian cultures, and other topics. The trip dates were set, and after working through immunizations and visa issues (Bolivia and the United States aren't the best of friends at the moment) Joan and I were ready to go.

On October 17th 2018 we boarded a Delta flight to Atlanta, our first connection. The flight attendant making announcements had a full quiver of humorous patter:

"If you can't get your carry-on into one of the overhead bins, I'll tape it to the wing myself."

"We have a tradition here that the last person to get off the plane has to clean it."

 From Atlanta it was a ten hour flight to the Ezeiza International Airport outside Buenos Aires, and we were numb on arrival. Passport control and customs went smoothly, including having a photo and thumbprint taken. Laura, from Trogon, met us at Arrivals, and Gustavo was our driver.

At first the ride into Buenos Aires went quickly, but the traffic grew more and more congested. We were barely crawling as we reached downtown. Laura mentioned that this was the final day of the Youth Summer Olympics, which made it worse than usual. 

At the Lafayette Hotel we had time to drop our bags in our room, splash some water on our face, so to speak, and then rejoin Laura and Gustavo. Laura lunched with us, and then Gustavo dropped off the three of us at the Natural Park and Ecological Reserve Costanera. Argentina is only one or two hours ahead of Eastern time (it does not observe Daylight Savings Time), so we weren't suffering from jet lag, but it had been a long day and an uncomfortable night. This was a wonderful opportunity for sunshine, fresh air, walking, and observing. Being outdoors appealed.

The large park is wedged between the skyscrapers of Buenos Aires and the estuary of the Río de la Plata.

Gustavo dropped us off at the southwest corner entrance, and immediately we were seeing wildlife, such as this male campo flicker, a largely terrestrial bird.

Here's an adult plus youngster coipú, known in North America as nutria. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

The nutria co-exist happily with the birds.

Through the foliage we spotted (part of) a Rufescent Tiger-Heron sitting on its nest.

The view was best through binoculars.

Our path in the reserve was wide and green,

even though we were adjacent to the city. Note the apartment windows behind this bird!

Caught this one in flight.

Just took off from the stick.

A vegetation-scooping boat plied the water between the reserve and the city.

There are about three dozen species of hummingbirds in Argentina ... this is a Glittering-bellied Emerald.

There were occasional viewing decks allowing spotters to check out the reserve grasslands.

Laura was thrilled when we spotted a Vermilion Flycatcher, and she wanted us to document it even though was far away.

An Ash-Colored Cuckoo, at the edge of its range. (Click on the image to enlarge, and perhaps you can see the red rim around the eyes.)

We turned onto the path that led across the reserve to the Río de la Plata.

There were picnic spots along the way, and a Crested Caracara.

Then we arrived at the shore, where paths cross and games are played.

That's a river, and over the horizon is Uruguay.

We returned the way we'd come, and the city towered ahead of us.

We passed several mud nests of the Rufous Hornero, the national bird of Argentina.

Returning to the original trail, we headed north, and stopped at a viewing deck over the edge of the wetlands.

Striding through the water's edge ... a Wattled Jacana.

A male Rosy-billed Pochard earnestly followed a female through the vegetation.

Laura recorded sixty-two species of birds during this expedition! After the hike it was time to return to the Lafayette, have a light dinner, and crash into sleep. Tomorrow an Aerolíneas Argentinas flight would take us to Tucumán, in northwestern Argentina, to meet our guide for the trip, Carlos.