We had arrived on a Saturday night, so the handicraft markets all around the city were waiting for us! We first headed to San Telmo after we took a walk from our hotel at Congreso on Avenida Mayo, saw the famous Cafe Tortoni, where Jorge Luis Borges and Carlos Gardel sipped their coffee and wrote their poems and songs, we came to Plaza de Mayo, where Mothers of Argentina gathered every Saturday to protest the suspicious disappearance of their sons, and down about 6 blocks, we reached San Telmo and La Boca District, where the sensual and rebellious tango was born...The weather was great, everywhere was so lively, the handicraft and antiques market was gorgeous...I was there for the second time, but I can come to Buenos Aires many more times!!! We had our lunch at San Telmo, 
then took the bus and headed to Recoleta, but we went to Palermo by bus, without knowing where we were! Then a walk took us to Recoleta Area, where I reached my final target destination of Freddo!!! Freddo is a icecream chain in Argentina, where you can have great Italian creamy gelato in different flavors, including famous 'dulce de leche". I had a huge portion of dulce de leche and chocolate and Piril also had some strawberry one. After that we walked around the great handicraft and flea market set on sundays at Recoleta. Later we decided to walk back to our hotel which was in Congreso area, it took us about an hour, we walked around the wealthiest areas of Buenos Aires and came back to the hotel to crash...
The following two days were like flashbacks for me, we went to Florida and Lavalle Pedestrian Streets, Puerto Madero to walk around and have icecream, we went to Cafe Tortoni to watch tango but we could not, because we did not have a reservation. However, the funny and annoying thing was when 
we arrived there, we saw a line in front of Tortoni, which made us think that would be the line for watching the show. They took us in, we chose something to drink and until we asked them about the show, we had no idea about the unavailability of the show!!! Well, we were a little pissed but I liked the icecream:))) 
One evening, we checked our Lonely Planet book for a splurge and there was a restaurant recommendation in the book. We decided to eat there, a place called "La Cabrera". We waited a little by the time a table was available and decided to order the food. We just ordered one meat dish and one salad but all of a sudden, the table was surrounded by lots of appetizers and sauces for the meat. Piril claims that it was the most delicious meat she had ever had. In my opinion, it could have been better cooked, as inside the meat was almost pink! However, I swept everything on the table but still there was some mozzarella salad, some olive paste some some other stuff left. We asked our polite and handsome waiter to pack them up for breakfast! (actually I started like "do you know, we have olives and cheese for breakfast and...). We took a taxi cab on the way back to our hotel. The cab driver was a little drunk, he was in his 50s, had a bold head but a pony tail still, little belly and a spitting way of talking. He started his talk by explaining how many men in Argentina cheat on their wives, 
we should all enjoy life, should go dancing and drinking etc...We were listening to him, but from time to time, we found ourselves laughing, as at the end, he came to the conclusion of "tomar algo", which means to have a drink in Spanish. We thought the man was real brave, but not much aware of his age and appearance, though he really made us laugh. When we came home, he was still yelling behind us as "una vez solooooo", meaning "only once"...We renamed him as "tomar algo abi", which means "brother tomar algo"...He is still a source of laughter in our talks with Piril!The next day, we went to Puerto Madero to take the Buquebus for Colonia, Uruguay. This was going to be my second time there, after a comfy journey we got to lovely town of Colonia. After a nice lunch, Piril explored the city , I took a walk and chatted my friends on the internet...
and we took the bus for Montevideo. The bus was very comfy, we came to Montevideo, took the city bus to the busiest street, 18 de Julio and randomly found a nice hotel with cable TV and private bathroom. We had a little walk around, took some photos, bought some stuff from the grocery shop and crashed! The next morning, after the breakfast, we took a bus for the resort town of Punta del Este. The city is pretty luxury with expensive yachts, nice restaurants and lots of homes to rent. 
However, I would prefer Bodrum or Antalya to anywhere in the world!!! We came back to the hotel in the same very evening, took some rest in the evening and became ready to see the city of Montevideo! After we had some breakfast, we explored the city, went to the main plaza of Constitucion, Mercado Central, saw the nice looking but closed (!) museums and in the afternoon, took the bus back to Colonia to catch our fast ferry back to Buenos Aires (BsAs).
The next morning for me was another adventure because I was going to San Carlos de Bariloche, one of the little Swiss cities of Argentina, famous for its deserts and chocolates!!By the way, I was feeling such a lot of pain right below my left chin and thought it would be a tooth problem..Well...I had to live with it...Bariloche...Next chapter!
I pass these sections faster, as it is second time for me and yet I am not as thrilled as I felt in Uyuni or Peru...Though I like every moment of our trip as long as I feel good, no headaches and no tired feet!!!
1 comment:
Everybody knows that if they are going to Argentina, they have to stop by Uruguay. Some people say they are the same, almost like Canada and The States, but there is a difference in the citizens´ attitude. I particularly liked the personality traits of the portenios better than of Uruguayans, but I can´t say I dislike them. I decided to rent an apartment in buenos aires together with a girls who was born in Uruguay and lives with me. She agrees that Uruguayans can be rude when they don´t know you!
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