At the start of my second week in BA, I was given a mini tour of the city, by my friend Viviana, who I had met in Tayrona National Park in Colombia (the one with the torrential rain, and the hammocks and the sunrise). Her cousin and his girlfriend were visiting from France and Germany respectively, and Viviana played tour guide to us all.
We started off in the micro-centre with Congress and the Avenida de Mayo, and then headed down to Puerto Madero, which is the new, modern, docklands area complete with glitzy office towers and luxury apartment buildings.
As in many cities, each neighbourhood in Buenos Aires has a very different feel to it. Palermo, with its endless cool bars and restaurants, was definitely one of my favourites. My other favourite was San Telmo - one of the oldest parts of the city, with cobbled streets, beautiful but slightly tumble-down buildings, and an old-fashioned, laid-back vibe. Every Sunday there's an Antiques fair in the main square, which spills out into a handicrafts/ art market in the surrounding streets. A great place for a wander!
We whiled away a few hours here, and then went on to La Boca, with its famous multi-coloured houses, made of corrugated metal. La Boca is another of the oldest suburbs and also one of the poorest; in many houses, numerous families live together in the same room.
And of course this was also Christmas week. This was to be my first Christmas away from family and friends, so I was feeling quite apprehensive as the big day approached. I had a few pangs of homesickness on Christmas Eve in particular (although champagne on the rooftop at midnight helped to ease that), but on the day itself, I was having too much fun to feel sad!
As I mentioned before, I'd been invited to spend the day with Tori and Mike, a lovely English couple I'd met in Cafayate. They'd rented an apartment in Palermo, with another English guy, Neil, and along the way had picked up an assortment of Christmas orphans including our German friend Kat, Anne from France, Shaz from England and myself.
When I arrived at their place late morning, I was greeted with a glass of champagne and platters of smoked salmon with cream cheese - an excellent start! Since the guys had been unable to find Christmas Crackers, Kat was busy making paper hats for us all. Apparently crackers are an English thing (who knew), but Kat was stoically crafting away, having researched what they should look like online!
Tori and Mike had done an absolutely incredible job with the food. We had roast turkey with cranberry sauce, home-made stuffing, roast and mashed potatoes, pigs-in-blankets and loads of yummy veg... it felt just like home!
After lunch we retired to the sofa, and half of the group dozed off in front of "Hook". Later in the afternoon we started on the obligatory Christmas games including Charades and the Name Game, accompanied by chocolate cake with ice cream, cheese and biscuits and drinking-related forfeits. As the alcohol continued to flow into the evening, much hilarity ensued and there are many classic anecdotes which I should not repeat here! All in all it was a very memorable Christmas!
I'd actually signed up for more Spanish classes the following day, but wasn't feeling quite up to it after the excesses of Christmas Day, so instead I went back to the guys' apartment and proceeded to do it all over again.
By Thursday I was feeling decidedly worse for wear, but since it was Suha's last night in BA I bravely managed to venture out for dinner in Palermo.
The following day was Neil's last day and a group of us headed out to La Cabrera - one of the best steak restaurants in Buenos Aires. It's typically booked out weeks in advance, but we'd discovered that although the restaurant doesn't officially open until 8:30pm, they have a kind of "Happy Hour" at 7pm where you get 40% off the whole bill, but have to be out by 8pm. It wasn't, therefore, the most relaxed dinner, but it was worth it to be able to try such an amazing restaurant. All I can say is "wow".
It turned out to be a week of goodbyes, as Saturday was Kat's last day and we headed out for one final steak dinner. By this point I was starting to feel the effects of so many nights of over-indulging, and resolved to have a quieter AND more productive week the following week! And I certainly did - be prepared for a VERY long blog post to follow!
*Hat tip to Tori and Kat for the photos!
We started off in the micro-centre with Congress and the Avenida de Mayo, and then headed down to Puerto Madero, which is the new, modern, docklands area complete with glitzy office towers and luxury apartment buildings.
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| Puerto Madero |
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| Antique stuff |
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| Plaza Dorrego: the hub of the antiques fair |
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| La Boca |
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| Viviana, Chia and me |
When I arrived at their place late morning, I was greeted with a glass of champagne and platters of smoked salmon with cream cheese - an excellent start! Since the guys had been unable to find Christmas Crackers, Kat was busy making paper hats for us all. Apparently crackers are an English thing (who knew), but Kat was stoically crafting away, having researched what they should look like online!
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| Champagne and smoked salmon - cheers! |
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| Christmas lunch - cheers again! |
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| The Name Game (I was The Godfather) |
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| Boxing Day: more wine, more charades |
The following day was Neil's last day and a group of us headed out to La Cabrera - one of the best steak restaurants in Buenos Aires. It's typically booked out weeks in advance, but we'd discovered that although the restaurant doesn't officially open until 8:30pm, they have a kind of "Happy Hour" at 7pm where you get 40% off the whole bill, but have to be out by 8pm. It wasn't, therefore, the most relaxed dinner, but it was worth it to be able to try such an amazing restaurant. All I can say is "wow".
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| La Cabrera: sadly no photos of the actual STEAK |
*Hat tip to Tori and Kat for the photos!
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