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FARMINGTON, UT, United States
I am a traveler, artist, photographer, writer, and nature lover who likes to be alone. Always ready for an adventure, but often scared to step outside my comfort zone. It's time I face my fears. This blog is about all of that and then some. It's Simply My Life put into words and pictures. It's me discovering me. Come along for the ride!

Sunday, November 3, 2024

¡Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires! Part Four

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
When Shawn finally emerged from the store, we continued our walk. Eventually we stopped for dessert at Las Petunia’s, a casual restaurant not far from our apartments. Panqueque de dulce de leche (a blini with dulce de leche) for me and a brownie with vanilla ice cream for him.

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.
However, there is so much more to this beautiful city than the food. I told myself I would share those photos too, however, that night when Shawn and I went to dinner at Dandy Grill, what did I do? Post more food pictures on Facebook, but how could I not? The tender steak with cheese and caramelized onions was so good!

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.

Not a big deal, but this time I did it alone, so it was a big deal for me. I had built up such a fear in my mind that I was terrified of doing anything by myself, but I needed to. I wanted to experience the city as only I could, and I did! 

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
One of the things I noticed, and enjoyed while eating out in Buenos Aires, was that the waitstaff never made me feel rushed. Every dining experience was casual with the waitstaff giving me a menu and then not returning to my table until I signaled to them that I was ready to order. I could sit and enjoy my food for as long as I wanted and when I was finally ready to leave, I’d signal for the check, and they’d bring it.

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!
Later that night, around 7pm, Shawn and I went to Carnico Grill for dinner. It was a small, open-air café with a roll-up door that exposed the entire inside of the restaurant to the outdoors. I ordered a Milanese sandwich. It was much better than the Milanese I ate with Alejandro at El Club Milanese several days prior. A short walk after dinner to enjoy more of the nightlife, although there wasn’t much because it was still a bit too early. It was about 8:30pm when I returned to my apartment.

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.



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