Final Destination: Buenos Aires

For 3 months my life has been in a state of constant flux. Summiting mountains one day, seeing ancient ruins the next, and then packing my bags and catching a bus to wherever my next destination may be. In short, a lifestyle that is as tiring as it is exciting. While I have personally loved and thrived in this type of constant action, I will admit that at times I missed certain creature comforts like having a room (or even a bathroom) to call my own. Thus, it was definitely a nice change of pace when Elizabeth, Phil, Jessie, and I arrived in our last destination, Buenos Aires, where we rented an apartment for an entire month!

Click Here to see the whole trip map!

To give a brief introduction to Buenos Aires, it is the capital and largest city (by far) in Argentina. What makes this city so unique isn't the fact that it's extremely modern like Santiago or surrounded by incredible history like Cuzco. Rather it's the unique mixture of European and South American culture, fused together, to make a vibrant and colorful lifestyle that was like nothing I had ever seen before. This lifestyle ranges from dancing the elegant and encapsulating Tango to treating your taste buds to a famous Argentinean Barbecue with world class steak and wine. The next day when you're recovering from the copious amount of steak and wine you imbibed the night before (not to mention sleep deprivation caused by the fact that the nightlife doesn't start until about 2am), you can sip an espresso and eat croissants at one of the many cafes in Buenos Aires.

Due to this incredible culture we decided that Buenos Aires would be the perfect place to plant our feet for a little while and really get to know the city and its people. One of the frustrating things about traveling is that you often wish you had more time to spend in a certain place and really get to know it. By spending an entire month in Buenos Aires we hoped to avoid this and to be able to understand why everyone who has spent time in BA absolutely raves about it. 

After arriving from our wine adventures in Mendoza, we met up with our landlord and got the first glimpse of the apartment where we were set to live for the next month. It was with slight trepidation that we entered our apartment as we had set up everything via the internet so it was possible that it wouldn't live up to expectations. Fortunately though, the apartment was absolutely amazing. It had a beautiful common room, kitchen, and even a little patio! What's more, the location (I think that's important in real estate?) was perfect. We were in a great, centrally located neighborhood with parks in which Phil and I could play soccer and enough shops to keep the girls busy for days.

Jessie, Phil, and I in the apartment!

Click Here to see all of our pictures from Buenos Aires!

After settling into the apartment we went about planning just what it was we were going to do for the next month! Ideas ranged from everything to learning how to dance the tango and cook Argentinean food, to entering a soccer league and seeing a professional soccer game. Obviously, not quite all of the ideas came to fruition, but the majority of them did. Hang on tight, here's what we managed to pack into a month in Buenos Aires..

We hit the ground running as we thought the best place to start our adventures would be to do a little exploring around the city as see some of the more "touristy" sites. Thus, we visited a plethora of parks, monuments, historical buildings, and even an art museum. While perhaps a little touristy, this was a great way to explore the city and get our bearings as Buenos Aires, size wise, is a huge and sprawling city (we even had to rent bikes a few times to explore).

A gorgeous monument called "The Flower"

"La Casa Rosada", the Argentinean White House

After doing our fair share of exploring the city, we decided to change things up a bit. The first new thing up on our list: The Tango. Buenos Aires is the proud parent of one of the most difficult but enthralling dances in the world. To get to know know more about this dance, we headed to "La Boca" a colorful and vibrant neighborhood where the Tango is rumored to have been created. Apart from the colorful houses and delicious food in La Boca, we got to see the Tango being danced on what seemed like every corner. It was incredible to see in person, and even more incredible when we paired it with a nice steak and glass of wine. After seeing Tango being performed we had to give it a shot ourselves and we decided to take a Tango class. Thankfully I don't have any pictures though because I assure you they wouldn't be pretty!

The colorful neighborhood of La Boca

A couple dancing the Tango

Our taste of Argentinean culture didn't stop at the Tango though. We saw and did a whole host of other amazing things. These ranged from seeing an all percussion band play live inside an old warehouse to seeing (and losing money at) a famous horse track in Buenos Aires.

The all percussion band...yeah had to get the ears checked after that one

Phil winning at the horse track!!

After about 3 weeks in Buenos Aires we thought that it might be a good time to take a few days respite from the hustle and bustle of city life. Thus, we took a quick 3 day trip up to Iguazu Falls, a set of huge waterfalls  on the Brazilian-Argentina border. Iguazu Falls is as if you took Niagara Falls (think that same size) and then placed it in the middle of the Jungle. The waterfalls were awe inspiring to say the least. From the sheer enormity of the waterfalls to the rainbows scattered everywhere, it was one of the most magnificent natural things I had seen in my life. I assure you that the pictures below cannot even begin to do justice to just how powerful of a sight these falls really were. 

"The Devil's Throat", the largest fall at Iguazu

Another set of beautiful falls

One of the many rainbows that seemed to be everywhere

We eventually returned to Buenos Aires after our very successful sojourn in Iguazu. I've been talking a lot about the cool activities and sights we saw in Buenos Aires, but probably the most fun we had was more in our day to day lives. Things like playing in a soccer league or simply eating our "family dinners" together (Younger demographic: if you're confused what that is, there's probably a definition on Wikipedia). Additionally, being in the city for a long time allowed us to really make friends and do things like get invited to a tradition Argentinean Barbecue! While things like this might not show up in any guide books or be all that flashy, they were what we really came to love. 

Enjoying dinner at the apartment together!

With our friends eating a traditional Argentine Barbecue!

Unfortunately though, our time in Buenos Aires, like all other time on this trip, flew by in the blink of an eye and before we knew it we were packing up our bags and getting ready to leave. For me, this pack is even more difficult than usual though as Buenos Aires is indeed the final destination on this incredible trip. I'll be catching a (long) flight and heading home, the end of what was one of of the most amazing experiences of my life.  

I'll be posting one final post to wrap things up in a bit and let everyone know that I made it home safely! 

The Finer Things

Paved Roads. Fine Wine. A metro system. And even a Starbucks. These are just a sampling of some of the amazing things that I found and saw on the recent leg of my trip through Chile and Argentina. In short, I got to experience something that I had not seen in quite some time, a little thing called modernity.

After our time in Bolivia, Elizabeth and I crossed the Bolivian border and entered the next country on our journey, Chile. I think the best way to describe Chile is to compare it to a family. If the rest of Latin American Countries are the youngest sibling who is a little crazy, a lot of fun, and tends to have money problems on a regular basis; then Chile would be the smart, confident older sister who has her act together and knows it. Simply put, Chile is one of the most modern countries in South America and was a welcomed place to brush off the dust from Bolivia and enjoy some of the finer things in life.

Click Here to see where we are on the trip!

 Welcome to Chile!

To see all of my pictures from Chile and Mendoza Click Here!

The change between Bolivia and Chile was noticed immediately upon crossing the border. Whereas Bolivia has primarily dirt roads and traffic warnings that consist of the crosses lining the road, Chile has paved roads that makes one feel as though they are floating on air and even has guardrails on the highways (whaat?!?!).  After getting over the shock that such amenities existed in South America, we boarded a 24 hour bus ride to the capital of Chile, Santiago. After some restless sleep, playing the alphabet game about 50 times, and watching the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (yes, it’s even worse than the name sounds) not once, but two times we finally made it to Santiago.

Bird's eye view of Santiago

To give a brief intro to Santiago, it is probably one of the most up and coming cities in South America. It’s very wealth by South America standards and could even teach NYC something about effective public transportation. In fact, in recognition of Santiago’s (and on a broader scale, Chile’s) success in its transition from a third to a first world country, it was recently visited by Barack Obama on his tour of South America. Add to that capturing the world’s attention when 33 miners where saved here and you have a pretty good recipe for success.

While I was excited to see the city of Santiago, I was much more excited to visit my cousin Becca who is currently studying abroad here. Becca is a junior at Fordham University in New York and made the (obviously) smart decision to study abroad in South America. I’m definitely glad she made that decision as it was an incredible feeling to meet up with her. Apart from the obvious joy of seeing a family member, she was the first familiar face that Elizabeth and I had seen in over two months, a very welcome change of pace! Becca became our tour guide of sorts, showing the sites of the city and even introducing us to her host-family and friends (who of course immediately proceeded to tell in me detail why Chile is better than any other country I had visited in South America). It was great to get an insider perspective of the city and get to know her friends. We even watched one of her friends complete the Santiago marathon which was run when I was there.

Becca and I in Santiago!

The other very exciting thing that awaited us in Santiago was the arrival of our two remaining travel companions, Jessie and Phil! Jessie is my cousin (Becca’s sister) and Phil her boyfriend and my good friend. After a 24 hour trip which included losing their luggage and an unexpected layover in the jungle of Brazil, Jessie and Phil arrived safe and sound, if not a little bedraggled.

 From left: Jessie, Elizabeth, me, and Phil!

After a few days spent decompressing in Santiago, we all bid adieu to Becca and headed for our next destination, Argentina. Like Chile, Argentina is one of the wealthiest countries in South America, and due to early European immigration, has a very European feel to it. I’ve never been to Europe (a little too rich for my blood), but I’ve been told that Argentina is as if you took Europe and transplanted it in South America. Perhaps in part due to this influence, Argentina is world famous for its steak and wines. Two things I was absolutely going to have to liberally try before leaving.

Welcome to Argentina!

After crossing the Argentina – Chile border, our first stop was Mendoza. Now if that name seems familiar it’s probably not because you’re exceptionally good at South American geography, but more likely due the fact that Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina (think Napa Valley in South America). Specifically for all you future sommeliers out there, Mendoza specializes in Malbec and Torrentes, both phenomenal grape varietals.

After getting ourselves oriented in Mendoza we decided to change things up a bit and do some horseback riding to get a better view of the nature surrounding nature. Seeing as how I had already traveled by plane, bus, train, and boat, thus the only mode of transport I was missing was horse. The horseback riding was a blast, and apart from the beautiful views we ended the day with a traditional Argentine barbeque accompanied with some guitar paying!

 Phil finding his inner cowboy

Sun Setting over the mountains near Mendoza

Unfortunately for me though, upon arriving in Mendoza I came down with a rather nasty stomach bug. The type of bug that feels like someone sucker punched you in the gut and then proceeded to put a cork-screw in your stomach. This made me keep things pretty low key for a couple of days, and eventually I let Elizabeth convince stubborn me to take an antibiotic which miraculously helped out quite a bit (who would’ve thought). After recuperating from that bit of unpleasantness we of course had to celebrate, and what better way to do that than a wine tour around the wine country of Mendoza!

 One of the many beautiful wineries we visited

Rather than being wimps and hopping in a car to do this (which probably wouldn’t have been the best decision on a wine tour), we decided to rent bikes and visit the Mendozan wineries in that fashion. It was an absolute blast, and Phil and I even decided to get a little crazy and rent a tandem bike, which did tend to elicit some odd stares from the locals. The combination of phenomenal wine, beautiful views, and good friends made for an absolutely great day. Although, riding the bikes did seem to get progressively more difficult as the day went on..

 Phil and I looking good on the tandem bike

 Sun setting over the vineyards

The next day after working off the effects from a successful wine tour, we headed off to the final destination for my trip, Buenos Aires, where we are going to rent an apartment for a month together. Hard to believe the trip in come into its final stages! More to come from Buenos Aires soon!