There is an Obelisk at the Plaza de Republica, which is a public square at the city center where three main streets all intersect. The Palace of Justice is the supreme court of Argentina. The Palace of Flowing Waters is an amazingly beautiful pumping station for fresh water. At the time that it was built, in 1897, Buenos Aires was the only city in Latin America to have clean running water. The Columbus Theater at one time was one of the world's top opera venues.
The buquebus is a large ferry boat that transports people from Argentina to Uruguay. Our journey took us from Buenos Aires to Colonia. It was a very pleasant and relaxing boat ride that took just over an hour.
Colonia is an ancient city that was founded in 1680. Over the years, there were many battles for the city and ownership kept changing between the Spanish and the Portuguese. We are standing at the city gate and drawbridge. The old section of town still has cobblestone streets.
The remains of an old bullfighting ring are in Colonia. The ring opened in 1910 and actually hosted 8 bullfights before bullfighting was made illegal in Uruguay in 1912. We saw the lighthouse and ruins of an old convent as well as the Basilica of the Holy Sacrament.
We saw lapwings hanging out by the beach and a black throated blue warbler in town by one of the fountains. There was also a large number of monk parakeets building nests in the palm trees.
The red ovenbird builds a large thick mud nest that looks like an oven. The nest can take anywhere from 5 days to a couple of months to build.
As we left Buenos Aires and headed further south to Calafate, we took one last look at the city through the window of the airplane. It looks pretty spectacular all lit up at night.
Calafate is a charming little mountain town in the heart of Patagonia. Many homes are built around Lake Argentino or in the foothills of the Huyliche mountain range. We stayed at the Posada Los Alamos Hotel.
There was a large bird population in Lake Argentino, even though it was winter time. We saw flamingos, gulls, and American kestrels.
We explored the town and Huyliche range in a four wheel drive vehicle. We drove up to a natural balcony for a beautiful panoramic view.
We stopped at a little warming hut in the middle of nowhere and had a cup of traditional mate tea. It is a very strong tea. The gourd is filled with tea leaves and then warm water is added. It is sipped through a metal straw that has a strainer at the end.
