Our Buenos Aires Vacation 2018: Day 2 - Exploring the 19th Century Sarmiento Frigate

On day 2 of our vacation, we decided to take a trip back in time to the 19th century. Now this didn't require a DeLorean, a Tardis, or the Waverider, but what we did need was fuel... for our tummies. So we went to... (you guessed it!) Magic Donuts!

Afterwards, we headed towards Puerto Madero where our journey back in time awaited. Along the way I took some snaps of B.A.

One of the many things I love about Buenos Aires is that they always seem to be building, improving, and cleaning here. I love progress! It's something that was pretty common back in the States. Maybe that's why I love it here so much.

It's not like we've never visited Puerto Madero. In fact, it's one of my favorite spots. I'm from Miami, Florida, and one of the things I grew up seeing plenty of was lots and lots of water. I love and miss Biscayne Bay. I left Miami back in 1998 to move to Orlando with my family. But on occasion, I would go back and visit, especially when I went on a road trip with my hubby to the Florida Keys.

Now it's no secret that I'm a long way from home, but coming to Puerto Madero puts a smile on my face every single time.

But our purpose here wasn't Puerto Madero alone. It was the 19th century ARA Sarmiento Frigate.

I've probably passed the ship a dozen times in my previous trips to B.A., but I had no idea that there was so much history inside.

We found all kinds of things aboard the ship like some of the uniforms. The first one is giving me some serious Popeye flashbacks!

I never imagined that I would get to take a photo next to one of these. I didn't even know that they had these types of torpedoes back in the 19th centuries. Then again, the only torpedoes I'm familiar with our photon and quantum torpedoes from Star Trek.

Can you believe that people actually used to dive wearing these things? They seem so darn bulky. It's amazing they have enough buoyancy to get back to the surface.

 

Diving Equipment was designed for up to 300 feet and weighed a total of 94 kilos.

I'm by no means a history nut, but it was nice being inside this ship and being in the same space as the officers who manned this ship long ago.

This is where the crew went when they needed to make repairs on equipment inside the ship. It's a bit claustrophobic.

I look psychotic in this photo (spoiler alert: I am!)

 You can tell that there were some members of the crew who weren't happy rubbing elbows with the lower ranks. The dining room was reserved for crew members who fancied themselves too high class to sit with others (at least, according to a description in the museum.

 Personally, I would prefer these quarters over a swinging mattress near the torpedo bay.

This is the way to the warp core. Just kidding. If I'm not mistaken then this was the engine room, or parts of it. It seems awfully small, and I honestly didn't think they had this level of technology in the 19th century.

If you had any power outages throughout the ship, this is where you went to see what was wrong. It puts the fuse box in my house to shame.

After looking around the interior, we decided to go above deck. The stairs are very narrow and some of the bulkheads are a bit too low, even for someone as short as me.

Here's a video of the ship's interior. Warning! Zach dropped an F bomb!

Peace!

We might have a time traveler in our midst because that electric kettle is a bit too modern

Never allow a mad man to take control of a weapon

Lifeboats! 

I might have let one rip by accident

Hellooooo?

Goldar! Send down my putties to destroy those Power Rangers!

The Bridge I presume

 We tried to recreate the "I'm  the king of the world" scene made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio on "Titanic." Unfortunately, they sealed off the front of the ship, so this was the best we could do.

We also tried recreating the scene where Rose and Jack are pretending to fly on the edge of the Titanic. In fairness, we didn't think this one through. The short one, that would be me, should have been in the front.

Looks like someone forgot to take their sea sickness medication!

I think we would have made a good addition to the crew of this frigate. At least we would have worked worked.

After we were done fooling around on the ship, we decided to disembark and head towards the T.G.I.F. Restaurant, which was conveniently across from us.

Four and a half years ago, the cost of our meal at T.G.I.F. was 80 Argentine pesos (4.04 USD using the current exchange rate). In 2016, we spent 1,150 Argentine pesos (58.18 USD using the current exchange rate). So we could only imagine what the cost would come out to in 2018.

Zach was the only one that ordered an alcoholic beverage because I didn't want to risk my stomach getting upset, and he wasn't happy about drinking alone.

We both ordered the Jack Daniel's Burger and it was delicious, but also huge! Normally I don't have a problem downing something this big (don't go there!). 

As delicious as the burger was and as crunchy as the onion rings were, I'll admit I had a tough time finishing it. 

On the other hand, Zach was perfectly happy with the size of the burger. But admittedly, he had a tough time finishing his meal too.

We had every intention of ordering a dessert. I really wanted the Key Lime Pie... and the Cheesecake. Unfortunately, neither one of us had room in our stomachs so we decided to get the check.

Oddly enough, we only spent 958 Argentine pesos (48.47 USD), which was cheaper than last time, but probably  because I didn't order an alcoholic drink, and because we chose not to get appetizers or desserts. I still hate that they charge us for using utensils (78 Argentine pesos, which is 3.95 USD). It's not about the amount, it's that it doesn't make sense. It's not like we get to keep the freaking things.

We had our T.G.I. Fridays fix, so with a smile on our faces we decided to walk off some of the calories. 

By this point, our feet were begging us to head back to the hotel, so we did. We had one more day left, and I wanted to do a little more sightseeing. But I also wanted to visit a place that offered so much natural beauty... and it was free.

To Be Continued...