Newfoundbeach

Necochea is a small city in the west coast of Argentina with no more than 90,000 inhabitants. It is about 500 kilometers away from Buenos Aires, near Mar del Plata. It is also considered to be one of the most important ports in the country. It is a rather quiet city, although it can be a bit crowded in the summer, when people usually spend the whole day in the beach and all the shops, bars and restaurants open until late. Necochenses can be friendly and it is easy to notice how much they love and care for their city.
I first visited the city many years ago, when I was a teenager, because some friends invited me and I didn´t have any other plans. By the way, I didn´t have big hopes because Necochea is known for its cold and windy weather. But I was more than pleasantly surprised when I saw the beach for the first time. It seemed endless. I came back in 2014 because I had fallen in love with Franco, a boy from Necochea. He had invited me many times and he insisted even more, so one day I bought the bus ticket and after a week, on January I took the bus from La Plata. After a six-hour long trip, the bus finally crossed the modern suspension bridge. I believe those were the most amazing days of my live. They went by so fast because everything was fun and beautiful and I was madly in love. During that short and warm summer, we visited every single corner of the city and we explored every spot and hidden place of the long beach. I first kissed Franco in the pier after a long walk in the beach at night. The stars seemed to be so close to us. I remember that I even tried to reach them with my bare hands. With more than 600 hectares, we jogged in Miguel Lillo Park, a perfect place to have a romantic picnic and play a soccer match with some guys with had just met. We became friends with the colony of sea lions that permanently live in the port. We attended the National Festival of Children´s Shows and the Festival of Cultures, where we tried food from different immigrant communities. We visited the swan lake. We saw some amazing basketball matches since basketball is a very popular sport among necochenses who start training at a very young age. We joined a bonfire in the beach. We went kayaking in the cold waters and we dived. One day we took Franco´s dad´s van and we drove 15 kilometers in some curvy and hidden paths until we found a few small waterfalls surrounded by a quiet forest and we spent the whole afternoon there, enjoying the water and the silence.