Today is our last day in Buenos Aires. It's a big, exciting city with tons of things to do but we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and do as many outdoor activities as possible. So there has been a lot of walking, a little shopping and way more food than necessary. I feel as though we have spent the last 6 days eating our way around the city.
The beef is to die for but everything else has been excellent as well. The portions are enormous and the restaurants don't even open until 8PM so our meals have been late. Needless to say, we've been going to bed with full stomachs. I feel as though I've gained a pile of weight since we arrived in B.A. And I can feel my arteries hardening from all of the delicious red meat that I've consumed but the good news is that my clothes still fit.
Things are very affordable for us in B.A. It is a bit more expensive than the other places that we've visited but not by a lot. We've been getting around mainly by taxi because they cost so little. The drivers here are crazy! There is a lot of traffic, no stop signs at most intersections, people ignore the lines on the road and the traffic lights and cars drive inches away from each other. Some of the streets have 14 lanes going in each direction and cars routinely make turns from 3 lanes over. That is not a typo. Many of the streets are massively wide. So much so that on some streets, pedestrians need a few lights to make it all he way across the street. Apparently, traffic signals, where they exist, are just a recommendation. Drivers frequently just drive through red lights-even with police standing right there! It is chaos. You can see all kinds of cars with scrapes and dents so it is obvious that there is frequent contact. And pedestrians just walk out into traffic as though they are playing Chicken. You pretty much have to race across the streets when there is a small gap in traffic because you could stand on the curb until you are 80 years old waiting for traffic to stop and let you walk across.
Yesterday, we were in Puerto Madero. It was previously a port with dry docks and assorted industrial enterprises. Today, it is being revitalized and it has a series of boardwalks, parks, conservation areas, restaurants and condos. It's a really nice area with loads of parkland. We finished up there in rush hour and flagged down a taxi to take us home. Driving in rush hour was an experience in itself. That chaos that I mentioned previously times 10. Ay, Ay, Ay! I could never drive here. To make any headway, drivers are zig-zagging all over the road, kind of tunnelling their way through traffic. And the funny thing about it is that, as our taxi driver was driving all over the road, including driving on the wrong side of a double solid line, and cutting in front of anyone that he got close to, he was shaking his head and and gesturing to all of the other drivers!
Our entire trip has been wonderful. Our primary objectives were to:
- Escape winter - Mission accomplished. For most of our trip, we had even warmer weather than expected. And we only had 3 days of rain! Bonus!
- Trek in Patagonia - Mission accomplished. We had some really great trekking days.
- See beautiful scenery - I think that the scenery exceeded expectations. It was amazing everywhere that we went. And more diverse than expected between each location.
- have some cultural experiences and learn more about how people live here. - Check. We did a lot of really fun things such as attend the Boca Juniors game. It was great fun and gave us really good insight into the lives of ordinary Argentinians.
- practice our Spanish - Lost cause. But really the only goal that wasn't achieved.
We are both surprised at what we missed while we have been away. Surprisingly, TV hasn't been a concern for Gord. When we are in Toronto, the TV is on from morning until bedtime but, we didn't have a tv for most of the time and it wasn't missed. That's probably because a lot of days, we've been out all day and we just crash when we get back to our room. It has been difficult to adjust to the way that they eat. Nothing but carbs and sugar for breakfast. Too much bread. Cakes and pastries at every meal. Hardly any vegetables. Giant portions of meat. Late, late dinners. So we both miss eating what we normally eat and when we normally eat it. Gord is looking forward to pancakes, peanut butter sandwiches and pizza. I am looking forward to a vegetable omelette (without the ham and cheese) and a big salad with lots of vegetables (free of ham and cheese). Did I mention that I am off of ham and cheese for a while?
It isn't lost on us how lucky we are to have been able to take this trip and to do everything that we have done. It has been a really great experience and we will do it again, in a different destination, if we have the chance. And I would return here, too. There's lots to do and see and many things are inexpensive. We don't have a plan for another big trip yet and we'll probably wait for a while before we think too much about it. We at least need to sort through our photos from this trip first.
Signing off for now.
