The Passionate Traveler

The Pink House - the seat of government In the first post on my day trip in Buenos Aires, I described La Boca. This is a poor area of BA, but has some wonderful pubs and on the day of a football match, much of the pub area turns into al fresco dinning areas. The day of my visit was a football match day, so it was very lively at La Boca. Remains of old Spanish colonial style Anyway, back to the tour. The next stop on the tour was May Square. Just does not sound quite so special in English. In Spanish it is called Plaza de Mayo. Sounds a bit more exotic! This is the main square in BA and the "Pink house" is the seat of government in Argentina. The film about Evita, who was played by Madonna, showed this house when "Evita" spoke from the balcony. This balcony is, in reality, where many of the politicians have made important announcements and speeches. Apparently, the pink colour was as a result of mixing white paint with ox blood and fat to preserve

Ipanema Beach in Rio in Brazil I started this blog with the aim of sharing some of my experiences traveling. I have done a few post on how to plan your trip, to make use of a travel agent or not, packing apps and so one and so on.  Some family friends, who do not travel very often, asked me about what money to take when traveling. This, like so many other aspects, I take for granted. The photos in this blog, like normal are mine, but not related to the blog! Guy selling a blow up pool on Copacabana Beach in Rio In the "good old days", you would get traveler's cheques. You could cash these at banks and some stores even accepted them. This is long gone. I am not sure that you can even get traveler's cheques anymore. It became increasingly difficult to get them cashed, and now, I think it would be all but impossible to get them cashed. Green coconut - I just love them. When I travel, I take some US$ in cash with me. This is normally not enough for the

La Boca on the day tour In the Emirates lounge in Johannesburg I am traveling again. This time I am in Argentina and will be going to Brazil after a week in Argentina. As normal, I flew with Emirates, which means an 8 hour flight if I flew SAA from Johannesburg to Buenos Aires became a much, much longer trip (about 24 hours long!) The flights, believe it or not, cost more or less the same, but the service on Emirates, and might I say, the servicing of the planes by Emirates, is just so much better than SAA. So, I would rather spends hours on Emirates then fly SAA. I am staying in Espacia Suites hotel in BA. This is a nice hotel with a good continental breakfast. Nice fresh cut fruit and a variety of breads, honey, cheese, ham, and Delche de Lechi (for those who do not speak Spanish - me included - this means "Sweet milk", or as we know it, caramel!)  The area I am in is not really in a major tourist area. As I found out later, the hotel is in walking distance