AspiringNomad

Chris and I arrived in Buenos Aries at about 11:30pm on Friday night.
Pumping with adrenaline after eventually making it to the apartment we watched some Netflix before eventually drifting off to sleep.

The next morning was another chance to get some errands ran. Chris headed off early to Western Union to grab some cash before going off to get a tattoo which he had booked in for a few days ago. I headed off to get the laundry done and then spent the morning wandering around the Palermo area. After a spot of shopping, I found a lovely little coffee shop and waited until Chris was finished.

The Palermo area of Buenos Aires is meant to be one of the nicer parts in the city. I would describe it as a mix of Barcelona, Madrid with a sprinkle of London. It’s clean and not too loud and busy, it has lovely wide streets set out in blocks and the weather was warm.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking down to the reserve which separates the city and the South Atlantic. Unfortunately due to rain on the previous day we couldn’t go onto the reserve but even from a distance is was spectacular.
We sat on the boulevard at the edge of the city with high rise buildings towering over us whilst looking out into what looked like a jungle with palm trees stretching tall amongst the greenery.

We wanted to go to Don Julios for food but it was booked up until mid January. So we settled for a highly rated steak house and met Kalib there for about 8:30pm. We waited half an hour for a table but people eat so late here, the atmosphere was still buzzing, we waiting patiently outside with a beer with everyone else until our name was called.
We each had a lovely meal consisting of Mendoza Red Wine and a delicious steak with chips.

One drink after food in a local bar which was a little underwhelming and we eventually crawled into bet at 3am.
As we woke on Sunday morning, the red wine from the night before made for pretty sore heads. We slowly managed to get outside for midday and ended up stumbling (quite literally) into a beautiful Italian restaurant down a quiet street nearby.
The food was incredible and we ate much more than we should have done but it was well worth it!
At 3pm we had booked to go and see the Palacio Balero with Kalib. We met him there and spent the next 2 hours listening to a guide (who I thought had the most incredible eyebrows) talk about how the architect tried to create a hell to heaven theme throughout the building. He took us up to the top of the Palace to get a good view of the city. This was really what we came for. The Palace has a lighthouse at the top which you can sit in and view the city from up high.
Apparantly the Italian businessman who owned the Palace wanted the light to shine in the same direction of his other Palace in Uraguay so the two lights from each building would meet. This was until he realised that the earth does in fact have a slight curve and so it would be impossible to achieve this.

Despite the slight lack of interest we had in this tour, we still managed to have a great time and we were proud of ourselves for actually doing something touristy (even though it cost the same amount as a very decent 3 course meal here).

We headed off to the shopping mall to grab a few bits (we haven’t forgotten that Christmas is coming up quickly) and hailed down a cab to get us there. As we piled in, I soon realised that the taxi man was casually smoking in the front. As he asked us where we were from and laughed at Kalib for looking ‘too white’ for a South African, he then proceed to point out all the Jewish people on the street and told us that he used to be good friends with the old teacher of the newly elected right wing president. According to our driver, the new president is going to do a great job. So, as it happens, I guess Argentina is a bit rogue after all!
After I hit my knee again on the door and got dropped off by some bins on a very busy road, flustered, I managed to hobble into the mall.

Sunday evening meant we had to pack our things ready for an early flight to Patagonia. But we still managed to pull ourselves together and watch the sunset from the roof of our apartment block. As the late sun lit up the clouds in an orange/pink haze I couldn’t help but wish I had more time to spend here.

There is so much to see and do. The city bursts with history, great architecture, wildlife and fantastic food. However my patagonian adventure awaits. I’m now coming in to land at El Calafate. After an early start for the flight, a hike later might be difficult but as I now start the last 10 days of my trip I don’t want to miss out on anything.