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Sunday, March 17: We awoke to a beautiful day in Pinamar. We had breakfast looking out over the South Atlantic. (At every meal, Ruth made sure we had the chairs facing the ocean.) Ruth then drove us around the northern side of Pinamar. There was a great deal of construction recently completed or still underway, not only individual homes, but huge, walled resort developments with private golf courses. The area originally had been nothing but sand dunes. Gradually, unpaved roads were built and trees and shrubs planted to help stabilize the dunes. Now the dunes are completely covered. We all went to eleven o'clock Mass, then Ruth drove us around some more. Finally we drove to a nearby beach and went for a dip in the ocean. (As is fitting, since it was still a few days before the end of summer, it was sunny with temperatures in the mid-80s.) The beaches were beautiful and stretched endlessly in both directions. We went to a nearby restaurant where we had a huge lunch. Unfortunately, Norma had to catch the 3:40 bus to get back to Buenos Aires for a business appointment the next morning. We dropped her at the bus station. Then Ruth drove us south through Pinamar and several of the adjoining beach communities. (On a map, the villages are like beads on a rosary for over a hundred miles along the coast.) Carilo' was especially beautiful. This was the first settlement along this coast. The first family here imported hundreds of thousands of trees to try to stabilize the shifting sand dunes. It's now a lush, slightly hilly forest. We also saw Ostende, which took its name from the Dutch who founded it. We returned to Ruth's condo where Elina had prepared a great dinner with paella as the main course. After dinner, we sat and talked with Ruth and Carlos for a long time before retiring. Monday, March 18: We awoke to another warm, sunny day. After another breakfast overlooking the ocean, we were on the road at 9:30 for the seventy mile drive to Mar del Plata, the largest city on the South Atlantic coast. Like Pinamar, it has several times its normal population in the summer, so we were wise to have delayed our visit until March. Carlos and Norma have a condo in Mar del Plata where they had spent the entire month of February.
Mar del Plata certainly deserves its appellation, "the Jewel of the Atlantic." As we
approached down the coast highway, the tall buildings of the city rose before us, standing
on a point of land jutting into the ocean. It was a beautiful setting. As we drove along the
waterfront, we saw that the beaches run continuously, even through the heart of downtown,
so people who work there can easily walk down for a swim during their lunch hour. There
are several beautiful parks along the beach near the center of the city.
Ruth drove to Carlos' balneario (beach club), where he had retained his membership for the month of March. We were assigned a carpa (tent) where we could sit in the shade or even change clothes. While Jane, Ruth, and Carlos went for a dip, I decided to jog up the beach to try to sweat out my cold in the midday sun and 90 degree weather. (It didn't help.) Then I took a short dip, too.
We all relaxed for a time before walking up to the restaurant for lunch. We had a special treat there when a toothless, scrawny old man wandered in and whistled traditional Argentine songs (including a famous one from Salta that we really liked) by putting his fingers in his mouth. The volume was almost ear-shattering, but he was really very good. Afterwards, the two of us took a walk down the beach. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't really crowded as it would have been in January and February. We saw many games of beach tennis, as well as a game similar to the Italian bocce except that it involved throwing disks through the air.
After a shower, Ruth drove us downtown, parking in Norma's mother's condo
building. We walked down a pedestrian street to the cathedral. On the way back, Ruth
pointed out all the excellent hand knit clothing in the shops for very reasonable prices
(some as low as $25). She explained that a woman had taught a large number of
impoverished women to knit and formed a cooperative for them. Their work sold for very
high prices throughout Argentina, but it cost only a fraction as much in Mar del Plata where
it was made. Unfortunately, by this time it was after six, and Ruth wanted to leave to get
home before dark. So we didn't have a chance to go into any of the shops.
We got back to Pinamar around eight. Elina prepared another great dinner; coq au vin was the main course. Again we talked at length before retiring. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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