Dogs, dog-tags and dog-tired

No contest - Buenos Aires has better taxi drivers than Auckland. That's on today's showing, anyway: first there was the woman who picked us up from the house wearing a swimming costume under her clothes who said, "Put your bags in the front - I live on a yacht." Apparently that's not the non sequitur it appears, but don't ask me. I'm not a yachtie. Then she added, "Why have you got so much luggage?" which was a bit insulting since we only had a suitcase and a carry-one each, for 3 weeks [Potential burglars: the house-sitter is formidable, honest.] And on the city side, the Sikh who took us to the airport asked if he needed a visa to go to Waiheke Island. Er, no?

But here on this side of the Pacific (after 16 hours crammed into the unforgivingly cramped seats in Air NZ's B777-200 economy section - in the row right behind the spacious, squashy seats of Premium Economy, just to rub it in - which made for one of my twitchiest nights ever) the nice lady who picked us up and escorted us to the Silversea-selected hotel here in Buenos Aires (Park Tower, a Sheraton I believe - lots of airiness, art and marble) was full of welcomes and useful information.

I've been here before, but it's a bit vague now. I did instantly recognise (though who wouldn't?) Eva Peron's portrait on the tall building in the Avenue of 9 July, and I've got a vague idea I'm not that far from where I stayed before. The day was pretty much over by the time we stepped out of the hotel for a look though: so we just went across the road to see the memorial to those lost in the Falklands/Malvinas war - a surprisingly large number of them, and even more surprisingly, a large proportion of them unidentified, because of not wearing dog-tags. Speaking of dogs, there were many in the park being walked and fussed over, and also being aggressive: one of them bit the OH on the ankle. Perhaps it knew he was British.

So, that's the Travel Day over - always a bit demanding and tedious, and tiring of course. Tonight, it's a proper bed again, with a hotel breakfast to look forward to, and then some exploring to do. We might even knock into some of our fellow Silver Explorers, since they're all assembling here tomorrow. Watch this space...