Hi everyone,
This week we're bringing you a tale of tango in San Telmo, partying in a Paddy bar, bling at breakfast and pants in Palermo. Stay with us....
We're also saying goodbye: to Louise and Vanessa and also to South America where we've had 7 great weeks, but which we're leaving on Monday to go to New York.
Let's start with tango. Wednesday night saw us hit El Querandi for a dinner and tango show. We couldn't leave the home of tango without seeing exactly how it's done and the show was great. It was a bit touristy (but then we are tourists!) and the dancing was very impressive - not to mention some of the skimpy outfits, which of course Phil hardly paid any attention to as he concentrated on the footwork and dance techniques.....
The tango band and the audience
Earlier that day we'd gone on a shopping trip to the trendy Palermo district. It's fair to say that clothes shopping with three girls probably wouldn't be top of Phil's list when it comes to best ways to spend an afternoon - one's bad enough! - but Sarah, Louise and Vanessa were quite restrained and restricted themselves to just a few items. And Phil bought two pairs of pants. Which was nice.
Just the two bags...
On Thursday, we headed to the colourful Caminito area of La Boca for a look round and for some art and fridge magnet shopping. La Boca has a bit of a reputation for being, shall we say, a little rough around the edges and our taxi driver recommended that we not stay beyond 5pm and stick to the Caminito area or we might run into some of the friendly neighbourhood muggers. We did as advised and ran into no one more dangerous than a man dressed as a giant red mosquito. As you do. We have no idea what he was doing but he seemed friendly enough.
Mosquito man tries to explain himself
Louise choosing a painting in La Boca
We've also been quite restrained with the booze this week too....until Thursday that is. Sarah and Phil had thought that Louise and Vanessa might want to party, party, party all week but a combination of a touch of the snuffles and the fact it takes several hours to eat dinner thanks to the massive size of the steaks, means that we hadn't had much time for bars. But by Thursday Louise was feeling better and in the mood to get back in touch with her Irish roots. So that evening we went to Buenos Aires' top Irish bar (there's a phrase we bet you never thought you'd read) which goes by the name of Shamrock's.
We nearly didn't make it though because having agreed to meet up at "the Irish bar", we all ended up at the wrong one - who'd have thought Buenos Aires would have two Irish bars?! Phil and Sarah got there first and were just starting to question Time Out magazine's description of it as one of the best bars in the city, when we realised the name of the bar wasn't actually Shamrock's but an Irish bar called, er, Di Matias. Not a typically Irish name, we'll grant you. We were also the only people in the entire place, which was quieter than a sponsored silence in a library. We'd just realised our mistake when Louise and Vanessa arrived. We all "enjoyed" a quick drink before making for the exit.
Shamrock's turned out to be a good deal livelier and the upstairs bar was packed with a young after work crowd and students. We got chatting to some of the locals who told us this was the place to be seen on a Thursday night and that they'd be here till the early hours before getting up for work at 7am the next day. Which led us to conclude that either Buenos Aireans have incredible stamina or we'd just discovered the reason why their economy had been ailing for the past decade.....
Cheers!
Phil and Sarah stayed upstairs chatting while Louise and Vanessa decided to hit the dancefloor downstairs. The photographic evidence from Louise's camera suggests that they did indeed quite enjoy themselves and made several new friends. Mostly of the tall, dark, male and Latin variety.
Suffice to say it was quite a night and most of Friday was spent in the recovery position, with frequent raids on the aspirin. Though we still managed to meet up in Palermo that evening for a cocktail and dinner at an Italian restaurant. Maybe we could handle this Buenos Aires lifestyle after all?
Nice meal, but the picture hanger-upper needs sacking
We were all a bit worn out by Saturday but Louise and Vanessa had planned the perfect pick me up. They treated us to a five star breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, just round the corner from their apartment in Recoleta, as a leaving pressie. The breakfast was fantastic and just what we needed: a huge buffet with eggs cooked anyway you like them, including eggs benedict with salmon, mmm. Thanks girls!
Suitably stuffed, we needed a stroll and walked through the city centre shopping district and back to San Telmo. We just had time for a cup of tea and a cheeky beer in the sun in the main square, when the clock struck 3 and it was time for a late lunch. As the final meal of Louise and Vanessa's trip, we also made sure it was a good one and went to Phil and Sarah's favourite restaurant of the whole trip: La Gran Parilla on the corner of Chile and Peru streets in San Telmo.
We'd left it just about long enough since breakfast and all managed a perfectly cooked steak each and a great bottle of red and all for about a tenth of the price it would have been in London! Then it was time to say goodbye and for Louise and Vanessa to jump in a taxi to the airport. And yes, the odd tear was shed. And not just because of the onion in the salad.
We really want to say a massive thanks to Louise and Vanessa for coming all this way out to see us (though we're willing to concede that the prospect of visiting Rio, Iguazu and Buenos Aires may also have had something to do with it). It was great to see Louise and to meet Vanessa and we had a fantastic two weeks with them.
So now it's just the two of us again, with only 5 weeks in the USA and the small matter of 7000 miles in a car between us and home. We can't quite believe we're nearly at the end. We're really looking forward to seeing friends and family (and Britain!) again but it's a bit strange to think that this trip that we spent two years planning and saving for, and that we set off on 9 months ago, is nearly over.
But we're banishing those melancholy thoughts for now because a whole new country and adventure awaits. We've planned our route already and will be putting up another journal entry in the next couple of days so everyone can see our intended route. Oh, and we've also booked the car: a "Ford Focus or equivalent". Not exactly rock n roll but unfortunately you don't get backpacker discounts on Cadillac convertibles.
Love Sarah and Phil xx
