It's always so exciting to visit new places in the world, and for an Irish person, visiting Argentina is pretty darn exciting. Growing up, you feel like it is the other side of the world, that anywhere in South America could take 5 days to get to, and if you do make it, you may not survive it!! If you do manage to go(and survive) it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. How wrong can this concept be - in every way!!! For me, I hope this will be the first of many trips to Argentina, and who knows when they will be, but I hope in the not so distant future.
Every time I travel, I realize more and more that the world is getting smaller. Airlines are always creating new routes, there are always new competitors therefore lowering the costs of travel, and speed/routes are becoming more direct day by day.
With more people traveling for work/study, you meet people from all over the world, and if you're lucky, you get to learn about their way of life, way of thinking, their cultures and traditions.
The purpose of my trip was for one of my best friends weddings, where people came from USA, Venezuela as well as from different parts of Argentina.
The world IS getting smaller, and we have to take advantage of that!
Reunited after 3 years!
Belu, my very own travel agent, put these together for me so I was ready for my new adventure
Discovering Buenos Aires (by open-top bus!)
For some reason, a lot of graffiti
And more...
Two of the places I wanted to get off on the bus tour were San Telmo and La Boca - both of which I was warned of the dangers before dismounting the safety of the bus.
Not knowing what I was getting myself into, myself and Ricardo (my camera!) began the exploration of the streets of San Telmo. I watched the bus drive off and began wandering into the small streets, trying desperately to remember the way back to the bus stop while also thinking of a quick getaway if I should be surrounded! (My imagination was running away from me the further I went away from the main road!)
It was such a cute place, full of antique shops, small cafes and some nice (slightly hippy) clothes shops. I wandered in and out of them with my camera bag across my body and my can of coke in the other hand.
The pictures above of the graffiti were taken there and that's pretty much all I got, mostly because each time I took my camera out, people looked at me like I had 14 heads. (For some reason, I didn't see any other tourist there at that time.)
The next place I dismounted the bus was at La Boca (Caminito).
After ignorning the warnings, similar to those about San Telmo, I began exploring the colorful little run-down city. There were people dancing, and loud music playing from the little restaurants that lined the streets.
So colorful
More graffiti...this time, pretty cool
Cafes lined the streets
We celebrated Belu and her cousin Diego's birthday
Breakfast brunch
I met some of the nicest people on this trip. Belu's family and friends were the most welcoming, warm people and I loved every minute of it. With weddings and birthdays going on, the house was 'Grand Central Station' and it seemed like no one slept for an entire week in preparation for the big day!
The Civil Ceremony celebrations -
Click to have a look!
Of course there was the BIG DAY!! -
Click to have a look!
Irish are known to be fanatical about their cups of tea. Well, Argentina's obsession is definitely DULCE DE LECHE!!! It is in EVERYTHING! Almost every sweet I saw in the stores had dulce de leche inside it, the fridge was stocked, not only with 1, but at least 3 different types of dulce de leche! Of course the abundance of alfajores (yummmmm) -with dulce de leche! It's a miracle I didn't gain 20 kilos in those 10 days.
I also found my new love.... Lagrimas!
Warm milk with a tiny bit of coffee. The only problem : the glass is too small!
I had the most amazing time on this trip and I can't wait to come back again!
Thank you to everyone who made it so special.
Happy Sunday to all!!!
