We had booked to go to ‘The Argentinian Experience’ tonight but they were full with availability tomorrow. All good except my phone was not playing the game with the internet. No issues with my iPad but for some reason my phone is very sensitive. Anyway that led to a frustrating 40 minutes while we rebooked for tomorrow then tried to book for a tango show with dinner tonight. We were successful eventually but the phone barely escaped being thrown off the balcony.

We get collected tonight at 7.30 and then have a dinner with show to follow. All good.

After breakfast we decided to use the last of our 48 hours on the hop on hop off bus to go to the cemetery at Recoleta. It’s a 20 minute walk to the Palermo stop and then about 4 stops to Recoleta. The bus goes past some pretty nice shops in Palermo on the way which I want to check out tomorrow.

It rained overnight and was pretty overcast when we set out but warmer than yesterday. We passed several dog walkers. One of them had 10 dogs! We can’t figure out how they get the dogs. People must drop them off at a doggy daycare as the walkers could hardly have keys to everyone’s apartment. In any event they couldn’t go picking up a dog with 9 others on leads. They all seem pretty obedient and happy to be out and about.

We got off the bus at the Recoleta stop which is just across the road from the cemetery. There is no charge to get in but we enquired about a tour guide – none on Mondays (of course!)

We wandered around on our own but decided to go back tomorrow and get a guide. The place is pretty amazing. Just like a densely populated little town of mausoleums.

After our visit we walked to this book store that Jen and I had visited on our girls’ trip. It’s in a former theatre: El Ateneo Grande Splendid. It is truly splendid. We had a coffee and salad in the cafe there and enjoyed the atmosphere. Then we decided to walk back along the main shopping street out side the store towards Palermo. After 4 or 5 blocks I thought I’d check how far it was to our hotel to see whether walking was a viable option to getting an Uber. It’s actually been quite nice getting out and walking. It was an option! I was stunned to find that the Bulnes Eco Suites were 200m away at the end of the block. In the morning I’ll check out walking to Recoleta. Probably quicker than going by bus from Palermo Soho.

Ok so just to confirm that we DO learn from our mistakes: we were unable to book the ferry to Colonia on Wednesday morning at the time I wanted so decided to book for Thursday, being our last day here. Just before confirming purchase of the non-refundable tickets I thought I’d check our itinerary only to find that we leave Argentina for Ecuador on Thursday (not Friday). Have booked a later sailing on Wednesday and we’ll come back later in the evening instead. Phew.

We were collected for the Senor Tango show at 7.30 and were taken across town to this theatre where they have tables all around a stage and these wonderful Art Deco lights. We were seated with 2 Brazilian couples, all of whom spoke good English. They were saying that they find it easier to speak English than Spanish as the similarities to Portuguese make speaking Spanish very confusing. One couple was from São Paulo and the other from Rio De Janiero.

The meal was before the show.

A spinach crepe for entree followed by a choice of steak, trout or chicken then a trifle thing. Everyone had the steak and laughed at the size and thickness of it. The Brazilians apparently have steak much more like kiwis – thinner and with lots of veggies.

The show itself was not nearly as good as the one that Jen and I went to. That one had loads of dancing that was beautifully choreographed. This show was more about the musical traditions of tango and had a lot more music and song without the dance. Still very colourful and clearly a crowd pleaser with the locals.

After the show we reported to our allotted driver who directed us to “number one” across the road. The only vehicles across the road were taxis so we got into the first one assuming that we were to be sent separately, possibly due to the location of our hotel. When will I learn the truth in the saying that “assumption is the mother of all ….”. Anyway we then had an altercation with the cab driver when he wanted to be paid! Fortunately the young man from reception came rushing out and helped translate and kept the policeman at bay until we reluctantly paid him (it was only $10 as it turned out) and then he rang the theatre to try and sort out what had happened. Either the instruction was lost in translation or our proper driver pulled a fast one but at least we got back ok. Of course we couldn’t get anyone to try and sort out what had happened and by the morning we just chalked it up to another Forret adventure which didn’t come with a big price tag.