Kauffman Commentary

70 degrees, no wind and sunny, just a perfect day to wander the streets. Buenos Aires is a huge city with 4 million people in the center and another 15 million in the suburbs. It makes up half of the country’s population.

After arriving at our ship and getting settled, we grabbed a shuttle bus to downtown Buenos Aires, about 1 mile and 10 minutes. Our first stop was a beautiful little park called Plaza San Martin. In this park is a memorial to the Argentine soldiers who died in the 1982 war with the United Kingdom over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. This cenotaph, or memorial to someone buried elsewhere, consists of 25 plaques with the names of the 649 Argentine soldiers along with the shields of Argentines 23 provinces. It is guarded by 2 soldiers who stand at attention in 2 hour shifts.

The jacaranda tree almost became the countries official flower, but the ceibo tree flower won out. The purple blooms are just starting to pop and they are so beautiful.