Schooner, Visit to MdP City

Last week the covers were taken off the schooner at the end of our jetty.  I had a close look at it and it appeared to be in extremely good condition. The current owner used it as his home when he was practicing law in Buenos Aires, and Brenda and I both agreed that the boat would probably be cavernous and well appointed inside. Having said that, she'd be a handful to sail, a dog to weather and better suited for downwind work or motoring in calm waters.

Yesterday Brenda and I took a bus into the downtown area of Mar del Plata. The first hurdle was to master the bus system. Our fare was 5 pesos which had to be put into the machine in coins. The bus driver begrudgingly gave me peso coins for two 2-peso bills but I could see that we had to find a better way. We got off near the casino along the seafront and found our way to a tourist information office. The lady attending to us spoke very good English and was very helpful to us. Regarding the bus fares, we learned that the way to go is to purchase proximity cards. We followed her directions and soon I purchased a 50 peso card from a kiosk. We then had a stroll through the main shopping area and had lunch at a pretty good restaurant, where I was served a huge piece of chicken smothered in cheese sauce. As we were leaving the restaurant I asked the English-speaking cashier how the machine on the bus would know what to deduct from my card. The answer was that when you walk on the bus, you tell the driver how many fares you want to what destination. He then keys in the price and then it is a matter of waving the card in front of the machine and retrieving the receipt, which tells you how much money is left on the card.

We found the central city of Mar del Plata to be modern, relatively clean (in contrast to the port area), with many parks and broad leafy streets. It didn't feel crowded, congested, or noisy and would be a good place in which to live. Brenda's guide book had commented that most of the charming original homes had been demolished for modern multistory buildings but fortunately there were enough surviving homes to add charm to the city and to give us an idea of how things used to be.

Garden Calendar with Correct Date

Typical Leafy Street

We then spent over an hour in the museum of natural history then caught a bus back to the port which treated us to a tour through a charming residential area of the city.