Hola Argentina!

Yesterday on the beach, my daughter and I noticed a large number of tall dark and handsome young men cavorting on the beach. That amount of guys only could only mean one thing: Navy. Now, we're used to the Yanks (easily identifiable by their short haircuts, tattoos and noise level) and the Brits (older, heavier, more seasoned looking), but these guys' origins were a mystery.

A mystery soon to be solved, as one young man approached my stall. It turned out they were from Argentina. "Ah, the losers ..." was my first thought, which luckily I refrained from speaking out loud. Luckily, because these young men are so charming and polite, I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings in any way. And the boat they are on is too beautiful for words. It's not your usual Navy ship; no, it's a frigate! And her name is the ARA Libertad. Too romantic!

According to the Nation "One of the world’s tallest, fastest and most beautiful sailing ships, the Argentinian naval frigate Libertad, which arrived in Port Victoria on Saturday on a four-day goodwill visit, was built in 1956 and incorporated into the Argentinian navy in 1963. Her main mast is 52 metres tall, she is 104 metres in length and her 27 sails span 2,700 square metres.

It seems they celebrated their national day here with a military parade on board. I wonder if they did the tango as well ...