Jan 12th – Jan 19thBuenos Aires:
How to resume our stay in Buenos Aires (BA)? That’s a hard one because it’s been great: family and city wise, special thanks to Nicolas Copello (Maria’s cousin) for being the best host. Buenos Aires is another city Maria and I could live in easily!
We arrived in BA after a night in a first class bus. You will probably think that we are chique travelers now, but we need this kind of bus treats! Nevertheless, the road was awful because there was a huge storm in the North of Argentina. I was even rained on and had to change seats!
We found a hostel in the center of the city and then walked around the whole day. We discovered the center (the Florida Avenue and surroundings) and came back after a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant. Our first day has been pretty slow because of our bad night in the bus. We liked very much what we saw and were very excited for the next few days. We called all Maria’s relatives and arranged our schedule in order to see them all.
We arrived in BA after a night in a first class bus. You will probably think that we are chique travelers now, but we need this kind of bus treats! Nevertheless, the road was awful because there was a huge storm in the North of Argentina. I was even rained on and had to change seats!
We found a hostel in the center of the city and then walked around the whole day. We discovered the center (the Florida Avenue and surroundings) and came back after a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant. Our first day has been pretty slow because of our bad night in the bus. We liked very much what we saw and were very excited for the next few days. We called all Maria’s relatives and arranged our schedule in order to see them all.
On our second day, we met Nicolas for a coffee in El Patio, near the Casa Rosada – Presidential office. This place used to be his old university and is in front of the national bank of Argentina, center of all debates at this beginning of year. We met again at night at his place as he kindly invited us to sleep over during our stay in BA. He lives with his family in a very nice apartment in the Recoleta neighborhood, and has a little turtle that we had to feed while he was out of town. We loved it! What a relief to be in a house far from the hostel noise and dirt. We stayed over until our departure to Uruguay. The first few days, we visited the different parts of Buenos Aires. We loved this city, there is so much to do, it is always sunny and hot and the people are nice! Friday night, we met the brother of a friend, Frederic, who has been living in BA for about a year and a half and his Belgian flat mate William for a very nice barbecue on their terrace. We ate the best meat of the trip and discussed all night long.
Our life in BA was pretty much visiting the city, all the neighborhoods and seeing relatives of Maria and friends of her parents: Mechus, Gloria, Alex, Sofia, Clara, Santiago and all their families. On Saturday we went to San Isidro to meet with Clara (person who introduced Maria’s parents), Maria’s godfather Santiago and his family, Alex (son of Maria’s godmother) and his wife. We really enjoyed this afternoon talking about everything and the dinner we had with Alex’s friends.
On Sunday, we walked through the big fair in San Telmo. This is so much fun and full of people. We wished we were not backpacker’s so that we could bring some souvenirs home. After that we relaxed walking along the deck of Puerto Madera and went to visit the casa Rosada, exceptionally opened. On Monday, we walked around to places we hadn’t gone to and had a boat ride in the Tigre River overlooking beautiful houses. I also took the occasion to have a haircut later on in the afternoon. It had been a long time, since Cuba! 
On our last day in BA, we wanted to visit the Andy Warhol exhibition but it was closed. Who closes on a Tuesday? Since it was near the Japanese gardens, we had a walk surrounded by bonsais and Japanese trees. I loved it, it reminded me of my two bonsais which are waiting for me in Brussels! At night we went to Mechus’ house for a good empanadas dinner with Nico and Santiago, we had so much fun and loved it, thank you Mechus!Neither of us wanted to leave BA, we had one of our best week’s yet. The amazing food, streets, parks, and family will be greatly missed.
