Introduction: The moment my Uber driver pulled over in front of my Airbnb and I set foot on the bustling streets of Buenos Aires, I was struck by an overwhelming sense of excitement and anticipation.
This blog is a continuation of the time I
spent in one of South America’s most beautiful cities. I hope you continue this
journey with me and enjoy reading about it as much as I loved living it. As always, thanks for reading.
Day Eight
I accompanied Shawn on his afternoon errands
so I could get out and explore the city. While he shopped for protein powder, I
stood on the street corner and watched the world go by.
To the naked eye it could have been any
corner in any part of the world with traffic backed up at the light, an
ambulance threading its way through the intersection with flashing lights and
blasting siren, and with people hustling along the sidewalks to places only
they knew, but for me, there was something extraordinary about this place. Something
authentic.
I was in Buenos Aires, the “City that
never sleeps” and although I love to sleep, I knew I could still make this place
my home and be happy here.
Panqueque de dulce de leche |
The thick, sugary caramel-like dulce de leche sauce was smooth and tasty and satisfied my sweet-tooth, but with all the alfajores I’d eaten – and continued to eat through the remainder of my trip – I should have been more concerned about diabetes, but I wasn’t. At that moment, my only thought was not letting any of that delicious blini go to waste!
Along with the few places I wanted to visit, my itinerary also included eating a lot of food. I lost some weight before my trip, because I knew I was going to return home fatter than when I had left. However, I gained just 3 lbs. during my trip, a lot less than expected, but my walking 5-6 miles a day probably helped keep my weight gain to a minimum.
The food and drink scene in Buenos Aires has
exploded over the past decade and I had a list of popular foods I wanted to sample, like empanadas and dulce de leche. By the end of my stay, I would have eaten
all the food on my list several times over.
Shawn and I at Las Petunia's. |
I thought I was getting good at ordering
food in Spanish, but when I attempted to say “carmelizado” I completely
butchered it. I couldn’t form my tongue properly to roll the “r”. I’m not even
sure how I pronounced it, maybe something like, “carmel-lia-lizardo” but the
waiter, Shawn, and I had a pretty good laugh over it.
During the day, the energy of the city was more controlled with people moving with a purpose, however, at night the mood was joyful and light as people enjoyed drinks and a meal together. Almost every restaurant had some form of outdoor seating along the sidewalk. Often, you had to walk through the middle of the tables to get past, and for that brief moment, you became part of the festivities.
As the sun set, I heard the city
coming alive.
The clinking of silverware on plates, the din of conversation, the occasional outburst of laughter, even the rev of a motorcycle or car horn made me feel connected. Even though I was a stranger and couldn’t understand their language that was okay, because there was something intangible, but pure, about it. Not only did that make me feel as if I was a part of it, but that I also contributed to it somehow.
As I walked alongside Shawn in the dark, trying hard not to trip over the uneven pavement, I wondered if anyone could see my euphoric spirit burning bright in the night.
Day Nine
I went for a walk.
Knowing that I could go out, walk the streets, order food, buy groceries, and exist in a foreign country gave me such a confidence boost.
However, since this was my first time exploring by myself, I stayed within my neighborhood and practiced crossing streets. That seems silly, but here, pedestrians don’t have the right-a-way. Even when the figure of a running man lit up to signal it was safe to cross, it wasn’t. Cars still drove through the crosswalk whether I was walking there or not. I didn’t just have to look ‘both ways’ like how I was taught as a child, but in every direction imaginable.
My head was on a swivel and by the end of the day, my neck hurt.
Pedidosya, food delivery similar to
GrubHub and Uber Eats, is done mostly on motorcycles and bicycles. Sometimes they jetted in the wrong direction down the one-way streets because it was quicker
than driving around the block, so I never knew in which direction traffic was
coming. Even standing on the sidewalks wasn’t safe as motorcycles often hopped
the curb to park in front of the restaurants in which they were picking up the
food.
Many of the smaller intersections didn’t
have signal lights or stop signs. Whichever car reached the intersection first,
went, and everyone else had to yield, but that didn’t always happen. There was
a lot of honking horns and near misses. So, imagine trying to dart across the
street where cars don’t even stop for other cars!
After a trying hour of crossing streets, I stopped at Almacen Pizza (Pizza Warehouse) for sustenance. I ordered in Spanish and surprisingly, the waitress understood me. There weren’t any difficult words I had to pronounce while ordering pizza. No surprise, the pizza was good with eight slices of four different kinds: Neapolitan, arugula with Brie, ham and bell peppers, and asparagus with hard-boiled eggs. Although my friend Christy didn't consider it a "real pizza" when she saw the photos on Facebook. However, authentic or not, it was delicious!
Pizza at Almacen Pizza |
In the United States, I’d often be seated
at a table that was still wet from cleaning after the last diner, and I’d get
the check before I was even finished with my meal. It was all about getting as
many customers through as possible in the shortest length of time, but in
Argentina, it was about enjoying a delicious meal and having an overall good
dining experience regardless of how long it took. I appreciated that attitude
and gave much bigger tips than I normally would have done.
The Milanese sandwich was one of my fav meals! |
Day Ten
Feeling confident from the previous day’s excursion, I ventured outside my neighborhood and walked to Alto Palermo Shopping Mall, over a 1 ½ miles away. The sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians, and I fell in line with them feeling very much like I belonged.
I had hoped to meet some locals and tried
to make eye contact and smile at those I passed, but no one paid me any attention. Maybe it was
because they had places to be, since it was during the noon hour, and didn’t
have the time, maybe I blended in and looked too much like a local, or perhaps
nobody cared about the lone American woman walking through downtown.
Whatever the reason, I was happy to be swept up in the midday crowd.
Alto Palermo is one of the most prominent urban shopping malls in Buenos Aires. It opened in 1990 and features 190 retail stores and a food court with seating from more than 700 people. It had lots of high-end stores, like Swarovski and Versace, with prices that mirrored those in the United States. There were many big-brand stores, like Columbia, Vans, and Oakley, that I recognized, but a lot of smaller specialty stores I’d never heard of.
Observation: They don’t use plastic straws. While at the mall, I bought a coke at McDonalds but wasn’t given a straw. At first, I thought it an oversight, but as I looked around at the other people, none of their drinks had straws either. I’d rather have no straw than those disgusting tasting paper straws some places give out back home, so I didn’t mind drinking straight from my cup. Imagine how much unnecessary waste would be saved from the landfills if all straws were discontinued?
The women of Buenos Aires have style, and it was very easy to determine their societal status by the clothes they wore. I, on the other hand, felt, and probably looked, ridiculous in my flannel shirt. I can’t recall seeing any other person wearing flannels during my trip, except at the airport in Houston, but I didn’t have much in the way of light-weight clothes, so I wore what I brought. Note to self: next time, leave the flannel shirt at home.
I am horrible with directions.
Even using
the GPS on my phone, I took a wrong turn when I left the mall. I finally
realized I was going in the wrong direction, but it was such a beautiful day
(71-degrees, sunny, with a cool breeze) for a walk, I didn’t care. If I got too
lost and strayed too far from my apartment, I could call an Uber and they’d
take me home. Because of my misdirection, my casual walk to the mall turned
into a 6.69-mile trek! I’d taken over 17,000 steps for the day.
For dinner, I picked up some baked empanadas to-go from Brozziano, an empanada place only a few blocks from my apartment which quickly became my go-to place during my trip. I tried several different kinds, but ham and cheese were my favorite.
Alto Palermo Mall |
My cute flannel shirt! |
Delicious empanadas. |
The trees lining the sidewalks are beautiful. |