As my Dad eloquently pointed out - we're going real first class this time- by hour and a half plane rather than 13 hour bus. There's no way my mom would enjoy the overnight bus, even in their first class.
Before I delve into our last week in the "Paris of South America," I should point out that I am still continuing to upload Patagonia pics. As I mentioned before, the connection here really sucks and it takes way longer than normal to upload anything. Really having trouble uploading video, and there's this one of penguins that I REALLLLY want everyone to see. They're just so ridiculous in the way they move. So, continue to check out Flickr for updated pics and videos from the end of my trip as well as captions explaining what's what.
The last week with my mom has been great, but also a bit stressful, making sure she has a great time and sees everything I think she should see to get a good feel of the city. Starting the trip off at the Popular (aka CRAZY) section of a professional soccer game was NOT the way to go. Then there were tango classes, milongas (tango clubs), a super cheesy Tango show that made us both cringe, a relaxing day at an Estancia where we watched gauchos do horse tricks and folk dance and we ate loads of steak... of course no trip of my mom's is complete without lots of shopping all around the city. I found we tend to favor the artisanal jewelry more than the clothes, but we did score two amazing dresses by a local designer that Karen (who I met in Mendoza) turned me onto. We bought the same style but different colors and you can wear the dress about 5 different ways. It would totally make her trip if I agreed to wear it with her at the same time, but it hasn't happened, yet. Would bring us both back to when I was 5 years old and we wore coordinating Laura Ashley dresses and gigantic bows in our hair. You get the picture.
Then there was the day where my mom caught a 24 hour bug and was in bed all day (she blamed the mate tea, but apparently there was something going around). Once she felt better, there was more shopping, two nights of dinner at closed-door restaurants (loved Cocina Sunae, run by an ex-NY woman who married an Argentine- my first Asian food in 2 months- perfectly spicy. Also took her back to my favorite, Casa Felix, which I had visited my first weekend with Amy and Lisa. There, we met an awesome gay couple who write a blog about their journeys around the world. They spend 90 days in a city and write about it. One-half of the couple is American and the other is German. Current residence is of course BsAs, but permanently they call Valencia, Spain, home. Have spent time in Savannah, GA, Denmark, and a bunch of other places I can't remember right now. Haven't had time to check out their blog yet but promise I will! I plan to meet up with them when I come back to BsAs to see Robin in two weekends. I digress).
Saturday we finally made it to the Recoleta cemetary, which I used to live 4 blocks down from but had resisted visiting until my mom was here. It was breathtakingly beautiful, as I knew it would be. The tombs are elaborate, with whole families buried in multi-level mini buildings. Street after street of opulence - statues, stained glass, classic architecture - all to celebrate the dead rich and respected portenos (of course, this is where Evita is buried). It's kind of a mini-town of death. A very cool place to spend some quiet time. Fancy coffee at the Hotel Alvear after the cemetary was a nice pick-me-up and dose of reality. Then it was Plaza Francia for more artisanal shopping at the weekend market - we bought matching handmade funky colored leather sandals - totally continuing to hippy myself out. Walked around Recoleta a bit after, then wandered over to the Evita museum, which was disappointingly unorganized and lacking of her life's details... but still in a cool old building that used to be one of her foundations for the poor, and saw some of her dresses... and sang to myself Don't cry for meeee, Argentina!
Yesterday (Sunday) we took the Buquebus to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay, right across the Rio Plata. First we walked from our apartment in Palermo Hollywood ALL the way to the River. A bustling 1 & 1/2 hour walk at 10 am. Then spent the day wandering the old Portuguese-built cobble-stoned streets of Colonia. Think a South American Colonial Williamsburg. Had a great lunch at El Drugstore, where 2 musicians played Spanish guitar and a bongo drum, walked around the water, took pictures of crumbling buildings, bought the requisite tchotkes, climbed an old lighthouse, treated ourselved to gelato, and missed our 8:00 ferry back, not knowing that Uruguay is an hour ahead of Argentina. They must not follow DST. Who knew? No one told us. Disgruntled and annoyed, changed our tickets, and made the best of it. Went back to the town, had a great lamb dinner in an art gallery restaurant, had my mom try Tannat, a typical Uruguayan wine, and took the 11:30 boat back to BsAs. Subsequently passed out by 1am, woke up at 8, and packed up my life yet again, now ready for Mendoza Round 2.
Ok, I'm way over my time. Gotta go get the Tango Dancing Mom. Pictures of this week will be posted once I'm finished with Patagonia...
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