Wow.
What a fantastic trip. Muchísimas gracias to Amy and Caitlin for putting up with me for 9 days and showing me the best of BA (and Iguazú). I thought that instead of going through the details day by jam-packed awesome day, I would share my Top 5 highlights of my trip, plus some honorable mentions as well. In no particular order, here goes...
Top 5:
1. Beef and red wine. And then more beef, and more red wine. I had heard great things about the beef in Argentina, and I have to say that it exceeded my already very high expectations. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
I learned an important word: jugoso. It's supposed to indicate medium rare, but I discovered that it seems to have a different definition depending on where you are. The first jugoso steak that we had, at La Brigada, I think there was still a heartbeat on the plate. Possibly the rarest that I've ever eaten steak, but still wonderfully delicious. And for those of you who've ever tried unsuccessfully to share a steak with Amy unable to convince her a little pink in the center is delicious, you'll be happy to know that she's now moved over to the dark (pink) side. After confirming that the purple steak on our plates was safe to eat, she promptly devoured it.
La Cabrera hit the mark with a perfectly cooked medium rare, and even though it was well past midnight and we had already stuffed our faces with the most amazing prosciutto (and mozzarella for Ame), we enjoyed every last bite.
Ame's favorite restaurant Don Julio interpreted our request for jugoso completely different, and brought us out a steak cooked medium. Still very tasty, and we were just thankful that they seated us at all given that we showed up after midnight on a Sunday night smelling like sweaty soccer fans.
And oh, the wine! A bottle of a delicous Malbec that costs the same as just one glass costs in NYC... might as well just order another bottle!
2. Iguazú Falls. Ame and I were completely blown away by Iguazú Falls. We've seen many a waterfall in our travels and were a little skeptical as to whether these would really impress us, but they surely delivered. I could not stop taking photos (and videos), I just had to capture it from every angle. We walked along all of the various paths (and somehow timed it perfectly to avoid the massive crowds of tourists), got soaked in the spray of the waterfalls, saw incredible rainbows, hiked down to a more secluded waterfall and ate our picnic lunch at the top of the waterfall, saw lots of wildlife including pretty butterflies, surprisingly cute coatis, adorable monkeys, ginormous spiders and a large snake (thankfully we did not see it cross our path ahead of us and only realized it was there when other hikers pointed it out to us after it returned to the forest) and went on a very fun and refreshingly wet boat ride right up to the base of the falls. Small world story: As we were rolling our eyes at the annoying American school group that just happened to be sitting next to us on the boat, one of the adults in the group started talking to us. Turns out they are from Mattituck, the town over from Riverhead, and one of the women used to be a teacher at Riverhead High School. They seemed less annoying after that.
3. Brazil. Even though this could technically roll up under the Iguazú Falls section, I think it's worthy of it's own Top 5 shout-out. There was a lot of back and forth whether we’d be able to make it across the border to see the Brazil side of the falls, but in the end all signs seemed to point to Brazil. And we were so thankful that it worked out. The views of the falls were different from the Brazilian park and we could see more waterfalls than we realized existed from the Argentine side and were thoroughly impressed yet again (and took another 100 or so photos). We saw another awesome rainbow, got soaked in the falls once again, attempted to dry off a bit, and then had an amazing buffet lunch before venturing back to Argentina. Also very cool was the bridge connecting Argentina and Brazil; half of the bridge was painted with the Argentine flag, and the other half painted with the Brazilian flag. Unfortunately we couldn’t catch a photo of that, but I think it’s ingrained in our memories along with the adventure of our few hours in Brazil.
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| Amaaaazing buffet |
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| Amaaaaazing rainbows |
5. Amy's Fiesta de Despedida. I was lucky enough to be in town for Amy’s Fiesta de Despedida (= Going Away Party). Amy picked a fun bar in San Telmo and we arrived early and stayed until closing. It was so great to meet so many of Amy and Caitlin’s friends, they packed the bar and gave Ame a proper send off. And while it was a sad occasion for the rest of the guests, it was a happy occasion for me because Ame saying “Adios” to BA meant she was returning home to NY!
Honorable Mentions:
The weather – mid 80’s and sunny every day, a very welcome contrast from the NY winter
C. A. River Plate v. Independiente Soccer Game – This just barely missed the Top 5, though I think I look back on the memory of the game with more fondness than the actual experience. Packed in amongst the Argentine soccer hooligans in the “Popular” (aka INSANE) section of the Independiente stadium was not the most comfortable or pleasant 90 minutes of my life, but it certainly was a memorable and truly unique experience. I’m very glad I did it, but definitely do not need to experience the Popular section ever again. For those familiar with the 4/5/6 train at rush hour, picture that level of crowdedness, standing on bleachers, with everyone chanting and cursing at the top of their lungs while chain smoking cigarettes. For 2 hours.
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| This was before the insanity started! |
Eating dinner at midnight, staying out until 5am, sleeping until noon – I love vacation.
Once again, a very big thank you to Amy and Caitlin. I’m so happy I was able to visit and you both made my trip absolutely perfect!
What a great post, Court! So glad to have been able to see you. Looking forward to seeing you State side! Besos
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