Don’t Mention The War

Lima was lovely

but I just wish I’d had the time to go to Cusco which everyone (including my daughter) says is even better.

But it’s always better to leave something for next time.

Although departing late by almost an hour, the flight to Buenos Aires was uneventful. I was kept entertained, though, by a splendid old gentleman (89) who, although Argentinian by birth, told me that his father was a German (or, rather, Prussian as he proudly put it) who had fought in World War I as a 16 year old! He also revealed that he had relations who were on the German Battleship, Graf Spee, which was engaged by the British in the famous battle of the River Plate (the first naval battle in WWII) which is, of course, very close to here. At this point I decided to follow John Cleese’s advice to “don’t mention the war”! All this time, sitting behind me was a young English lad who either was Harry Styles or his double.

On the few occasions I had a chance to look out of the window I was intrigued that the landscape was so brown, dusty and dry until we crossed the Andes into Argentina. As soon as we did that, the terrain was replaced by what seemed like very lush, green countryside.

For some reason, I always thought that Buenos Aires would be quite hilly. Not so, it’s flat. Maybe I have been confusing it with Rio. Anyway, on the (long) journey from the airport to where I’m staying, I was struck by how European everything looked after Lima and Guayaquil which are so obviously South American. Lots of wide, tree lined streets (all fully leaved as it’s early summer here). The smell of freshly cut grass on the verges as we approached the city and even speed reducing chevrons on the motorway. What confused me even more was that the receptionist at my hotel is French. So, another big, international city.

And talking of confusion, I have now no idea what time it is here. I know that, as I write, it’s coming up to 10.30pm in UK. According to my iPhone (which is supposed to be radio controlled), it’s almost 5.30 pm which I thought was a bit odd as that’s the same time as Lima which is much further west. So I checked Dr Google who told me that it’s about 7.30pm here. So I have no idea! Either way, I have spent most of the day travelling so no chance to take any pictures of my surroundings other then the back garden of this bijou little residence

and 3 rather nasty looking high rise blocks I can see from my bedroom window.