It's been nearly 3 months now that my younger sister, Ali, visited me in BA. I think now is a good time to catch up on my blogging. Ali arrived on January 1st 2010, she was sweet enough to skip the new years altogether and spend 10 hours on a plane flying through 2009 and landing in Buenos Aires in 2010. Needless to say I was at the airport waiting for her, er, well sort of. You see, Argentina doesn't really believe in time changes or a national calender of fixed dates. So when Ali booked her ticket it said pickup was at 11:30 am which really meant 10:30 am which I didn't figure out until 9:55 am and saw the remaining time of the flight online said 10 minutes. I was a few minutes behind schedule and greeted Ali at EZE international airport.
Funny thing about Argentina, on holidays, the city feels like a ghost town. People retreat to their summer homes in the suburbs and restaurants are closed for vacation. I welcomed Ali to my deserted city and we headed out scavenging for food. We ended up walking to this uber touristy area of Palermo called Plaza Serrano that is notorious for overpriced foods and drinks. Well we fell victim, due to the lack of options and ordered a pathetic version of nachos which really meant cheese sauce and a side of chips and a sandwich. I was so disappointed to introduce such a deserted city to my sister especially when I had been talking it up so much. The first night we were able to find a restaurant, a parilla of course, to introduce my vegetarian (ish) sister to meat. On our walk home she was spit on by some delinquients on a stoop and then we scampered home when we saw a laser pointed at our friends head. Obviously, it was not the best introduction to Buenos Aires.
Recoleta Cemetery
Horse backriding in Las Pampas
Her 11 days passed by quickly and we managed to thoroughly see all the sites like the Recoleta cemetery, see the museums and eat at great restaurants. Yet, the highlight of her stay was our one night we spent at an estancia or ranch out in Las Pampas to celebrate my friend Caroline's birthday. The estancia is called Inside Las Pampas and is owned by a wonderful British woman named, Totty, and her boyfriend Jaime. Everything is prepared fresh by Totty or the local gaucho's wife. In the afternoon we sat around the grill awaiting our food and sipped mate, a traditional Argentine tea. In the evening we rode off on horseback into the cow fields, galloping at full speed to avoid being devoured by mosquitos. Unfortunately Ali and Caroline were victimized by the mosquitos and had bites the size of dimes all over their bodies.
Riding in Carmelo
Another high point of her visit was making our way over to Carmelo, Uruguay. To get to Carmelo you need to take a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. We took the Buquebus which is more like a small cruise ship than a ferry, complete with duty free shopping. After the one hour boat ride to Colonia we took a 1.5 bus ride to Carmelo, a place so beautiful it looks like a painting. In Carmelo I felt like everything is a little extra, the green leaves are extra green, the sky extra blue. It has such a tranquil feeling in the sleepy town and at the resort like development it felt like camp for adults. At our family friend's simple ranch style house you could look out the window and see her two horses, Frasier and Santana tied to trees outside. After lunch my sister, Amy (our family friend) and I set off horse back riding, darting through trees and stomping through the river. That night we kayaked out to a boat party with Amy's dauchsand, Tut, in tow and stopping periodically to ooh and awe over the stunning sunset.
Visitors are always the best. Especially after living a few months in the same place. An outsider lets you appreciate a place all over again and to see it through the eyes of a tourist. My sister's trip, despite starting out on the wrong foot, ended up being perfect. It was a perfect sister bonding experience and an overall great vacation for both of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment