After walking a ridiculous amount yesterday, we decided to take the subway. The subway is very easy and cheap, less than $0.50, one way. We went to the Puerto Madero section of the city. As we came out of the subway we were looking at the map, trying to figure out what direction to go when a older gentleman asked us if we needed help. It turned out that he had married an Argentinian woman 50 years earlier and now spends 6 months a year in the US and 6 months a year in Argentina. He told us that the government had invested a lot of money to build the port but it had many problems and was never successful. More recently the government had developed the area into a very nice residential and commercial area. He said it was a desirable place to live because it was run by the navy which is less corrupt than the police who are responsible for the rest of the city.
Based on his suggestion, we walked out towards the river and found the ecological reserve. We walked through the old/revitalized port area.
This is the Puente de la Mujer or bridge of the lady which was opened in 2001. A number of streets in the Puerto Madero district have women’s names, thus giving the bridge its name.
Finally we arrived at the reserve which is amazing. This 360-hectare ecological reserve was created on top of the refuse of a former dump site. We didn’t feel like we were in the city as we walked the dirt paths. It was very hot. Eventually we came to a break in the foliage and could see the river. It is very muddy and expansive, we couldn’t see the other side.
Puerto Madero has many very modern buildings. Here’s a picture of a couple of the big buildings as seen from the reserve.
I thought the reflection of the one building in the other building was cool.
We had lunch at a restaurant in one of the renovated dock buildings. We watched this little boat clean up the water; essentially it was an aqua street cleaner.
We continued walking and were trying to get to Plaza de Mayo but once again got a little lost and ended up at the other end of Plaza San Martin. Here’s a picture of the clock at the Plaza.
By this time we were very hot, sweaty, tired, and our feet hurt so we took a cab back to the hotel.
That evening we went to dinner and a tango show. The food at the restaurant was ok. We sat next to two ladies from Spain who spoke no English but we managed to have a conversation with them even so. The tango show traced the history of the tango. It was well done and enjoyable. Below are a couple of blurry pictures from the show.
