Everyone told us we would love Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular, but I didn’t really believe them… Neither of us are city people, and so far on this trip we’ve tried to skip out of most cities as soon as we can. Too much noise / pollution / traffic, not enough charm.
Not so with Buenos Aires. We’re staying in the charming barrio of San Telmo, which is all cobblestoned and run-down-colonial, and it’s full of cafes and antique stores and markets and fresh fruit and bread and meat and cheese. Everyone seems to wake up at 10 or 11am, and it all feels very laid-back and chilled. A real treat after all our travels.
Now that we have a return date (10th of February, even earlier than anticipated because we could only change our flights to that date or the beginning of March, and our budget won’t give us till March), it seems to have sunk in just how far we’ve travelled and how much we’ve seen. Mark and I have been taking it reallllly easy for the last couple of days – the easiest we’ve taken it in months, in fact. We’ll do something in the morning, rest during the hottest time of the day (it is HOT), and then do something late afternoon, early evening, slipping into a late dinner and a couple of hours wandering around the various areas of the city. Of course, the heat has been a problem again (with such temperature-sensitive insulin, why is that not a surprise?) We made the foolish mistake of walking around during the hottest time of the day on our first day here, which deactivated my insulin… Only I didn’t realise till the next morning, when I woke up high and figured out that my night insulin wasn’t working. Which led to a whole day of upside down blood sugar. Bring on a fridge! Please.
The fact remains, though: this is a cool city. There’s the tango, of course, and the steak (simply superb), and the people drinking coffee at every turn, but there’s also a lot of character and charm, and it feels like you can get up close to it, like you can have an emotional connection to it (unlike Paraty, in Brazil, which was just too pretty to connect to). We’ve also had the rare pleasure of a friend for the last few days! Our dear friend Steve is in Buenos Aires at the moment, so we’ve spent the last couple of days wandering around the city, eating empanadas (these delicious pie-like creations), going out for long dinners, and generally talking talking talking. Steve’s also been travelling for months, so it’s been really interesting discussing how we all feel about our travels and our imminent return home.
More on that later.
For now, here’s a taste of San Telmo, where we’re staying:
And if you’re curious about our wonderful stay at the Hotel das Cataratas, right across from Iguassu Falls, here’s a little clip to show you just how close to the falls we actually were!
PS – Remember our crazy experience with the Reincarnated Beatles in Indonesia for New Year’s Eve? For some reason the clip didn’t load properly, so if you’re still curious about them (and you should be!) check them out here.
