Last Tango in Buenos Aires
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2008
1
28
Trip End
Nov 20, 2008
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Saturday, October 25, 2008
We had a great journey to Buenos Aires, a very lively bus and another fun game of bingo. We had to pass some time before we could get into our apartment but weīre really happy with our new place. Itīs a studio apartment on the 6th floor, all very New York/city living but bright and airy and with everything we need nearby.
We havenīt done much this week but here are a few of the highlights:
Half an hour after we checked into our apartment David Coulthard was driving the streets of Buenos Aires in his Red Bull, and it was all happening about 600m from our place! I didnīt think I would be seeing a Formula 1 car on this trip! There were masses of people and we didnīt have much of a view because we got there so late but we certainly heard the car and saw lots of smoke when he did spins (on purpose!!) in front of us.
On Sunday we went back to the San Telmo antiques fair. It was a gorgeous day and it was wonderful to wander round the area and look at all the antiques and people watch. I could have bought loads of things but really canīt carry back any more stuff!
The big highlight has been seeing Chrissie and Caleb again. We first met on Monday and had a great long lunch to catch up and hear all about their travels. It was funny to hear that theyīve stayed in a lot of the same places as us. We all went to a tango show on Tuesday night, which was fantastic. It was at Cafe Tortoni, a famous establishment in Buenos Aires with a very long history. It was set up caberet style and we had a great view of the dancers. They were jaw-droppingly good, their legs did things I didnīt know was possible and they were so fast at times. I suddenly realised that perhaps the dancers on Strictly Come Dancing arenīt nearly as good as I thought they were (canīt wait to start watching though!!!) The band were brilliant too, I think the pianist is just about the best live pianist I have seen. The whole thing was amazing and Iīm so pleased we came back to Buenos Aires so we could go. The show finished at 10pm and, in true Argentinian style, we then went out for dinner. It was 10pm on a Tuesday night but the restaurants were packed!
The following day we met up and went to the zoo! It was a huge place right in the middle of the city and certainly good exercise to walk around. We saw lots of South American animals, although we didnīt spend long at the llama enclosure as we realised that we have definitely seen enough to last a lifetime! It was good fun but certainly not a patch on seeing them in the wild.
Weīve done a lot of walking around the city (got to work off those steaks somehow!) and generally getting as much sun as we can before coming back home. We leave on Sunday morning so we shall spend our last day and a half in the sun, with Chrissie and Caleb, and then go somewhere nice for a final meal.
So, how to finish the blog?? Iīll do my best. I donīt think this trip has fundamentally changed me, I think that happens when you do these things when you are younger. However I am coming back with lots of ways I want to change. This trip has definitely given me some much needed distance from the daily grind but has also enabled me to look at things from a new perspective. I hope I come back taking some things a little less seriously and some things a little more seriously. I want to make more of my life outside work and not be as lazy as I once was.
The trip has definitely been tough at times, being ill was horrible and I have really missed family and friends. It has certainly be a test for me and Dom at times, but weīve come through it, weīre still talking (!) and we still want to be together...we just need to spend some time with other people now! It has opened my eyes to a lot of things, I will never forget the trip down the mines in Potosi and meeting people, all over the continent, who struggle every day of their lives. But Iīve met fantastic people who have a great spirit and are so proud of their countries.
Iīve had a great time and Iīm not coming back with any regrets. The whole thing; people, scenery, my own ability to travel as totally exceeded my expectations. Iīve learnt that Iīm more of an outdoors person than I thought I was, I like wildlife a lot more than I thought I did and I can (partly!) overcome a huge fear of spiders. I have also learnt that I like english tea...a lot!
Favourite place, that is a tough one, but I think Ecuador just gets the prize. The jungle experience was truly amazing and probably the highlight, incredible when you think I thought it would be the worst part and didnīt want to go! But I guess thatīs the most important thing Iīve learnt, if you push yourself out of your comfort zone you never know what you might find.
Iīll miss South America terribly but Iīm an English girl at heart, Iīm ready to come back and am looking forward to finding out whatīs next for me. Stick the kettle on! Iīm coming home!
So thatīs it. Iīve spent a staggering 2 weeks on buses (yes! Iīve totted up the hours!!), had too many cases of South American belly to remember, eaten 29 steaks (Iīll round it to 30 before I come home!), been salsa dancing, lived with tarantulas, seen smoking volcanoes and red lakes, been white water rafting, exhausted myself trekking to Machu Picchu, been to the end of the world, seen a killer whale, new born seal pups and lots of whales; stood in front of an advancing glacier, oh, and had a parasite....
...I wouldnīt have missed it for the world.
