i found my old pictures from when i lived in mexico.
it made me all nostalgic for the blue skies and temperate weather. the food and the people. the language and the learning.
for something i want so badly, it sure is taking me a long time to get there.
so, something like two months ago i went to argentina.
i am finally getting around to writing about it.
i hope i haven’t forgotten anything.
i flew to new york first. visited with friends. made buttons. drank the best manhattan i’ve ever had.
then flew to south america.
it was two long flights. and i got off the plane to meet pretty much the same weather they were having in new york. cold and cloudy.
so much for springtime.
i bounced from hostel to hotel to other hotels and hostels. i like to move around a bit if i am traveling by myself. get a feel for different parts of the city and different types of tourists.
i found buenos aires loud. and big. and a bit oppressive.
i thought i would find the rich latin culture that i have grown so fond of. with delicious street food and spicy snacks and a relaxed sense of being. but instead i found a different version of europe. a cross between spain and italy.
a replica.
now, if this is what i had expected or knew i was getting into – then i wouldn’t have felt this sense of disappointment – but there it was. not latin. glaringly european.
the architecture was brilliant. the parks and avenues were asounding…but where were the indigenous people, the indigenous food, the indigenous culture. perhaps that is too much to ask in the middle of a very large city.
so, i swallowed my disappointment and made a mental note to stop expecting things of places i’ve never been and realized that if i want to relax that the middle of a very large city is not the exact place to do it, and i we to explore buenos aires.
i saw lots of free stuff. show lots of shopping. rode on pulic transportation. walked a lot. ate in cafes. drank coffee.
then found an advertisement for uruguay – which, apparently, is just a ferry ride away and promised to fill all my dreams of a relaxing vacation.
so i boarded a large ferry and watched the skyline of buenos aires fade away. uruguay was exactly as it promised.
quiet. small. quaint. water. air. rocks. sky.
all the things i couldn’t find in the city.
the two days i spent there (besides the horrible foot pain from walking around in shoes with no support for six days) were heaven-sent.
then i got back on the ferry. got back on a plane. and jumped on the new york subway to see my friends again.
that last night of my trip was perhaps the most eventful. i had a great dinner, went to a warehouse with a homemade halfpipe in it, played wall ball on the street with a ball i found on the bank of the hudson minutes before, and climbed around a huge metal junk yard.
it was fun.
it all looked like this.
we pulled off the southcity iron chef (much to my surprise) and i quickly boarded a plane to buenos aires.
luckily signifying the last of three major things to happen in the span of a month. gosh i hope winter is much quieter.
the anniversary week at local harvest was exciting and fun…i made tons of good food and we got tons of people connected to amazing farmers. thanks to everyone that supported us.
the iron chef went of without a hitch. there was beer and food aplenty and everyone that was involved seemed excited and pumped. the steadfast kate ryan took home the golden cast iron skillet – outcooking seven of southcity´s finest.
it was a full day of fun and amazingly good weather.
now i am very far south, souther than usual for me. all the way to argentina. the spanish here is bit different and the food is a lot different. it is nice to be far enough away to not worry about things…though my feet are beginning to hurt from the constant exploration.
buenos aires is a huge and beautiful city. lots of cars and buses and motorcycles. tons of places to eat and even more places to shop. i have been surprised by its metropolitaness…much like i have found myself in europe.
i will soon have pictures.
ciao…
