Day 6: Colonia, Uruguay

On this day we took a ferry boat, Colonia Express, from Buenos Aires to Colonia. The trip was only one hour long across the famous Rio de la Plata. We woke up at 5:00 AM this day to catch the Ferry. I tried to stay awake to take pictures, but I was too exhausted. I took a short nap. When I woke up, my throat was in pain and for the rest of the day I couldn't talk.

Colonia del Sacramento is the oldest town in Uruguay. This historic quarter of this beautiful town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We decided to rent a gulf cart to see the City. I'm glad that we did since many of the roads were uphill and I was feeling sick.

Basilica del Santisimo Sacramento

Typical Street Lamps in Colonia

Inside the Basilica

Rio de la Plata

While we were taking pictures of the river a cute dog started to follow me around. She was very sweet and wouldn't leave my side. I was sad to get back on the gulf cart and leave her behind. We went to one of the restaurants near the main plaza to have breakfast. I was happy to see my new friend again at the restaurant. We asked the waitress if they knew her because she had a big cut on her leg. She told us that her name was Rosita and that the town veterinarian takes care of her and the other street dogs. We gave Rosita bread and she didn't eat it. We later found out that she only eats meat. Rosita is probably spoiled by all the tourist like us. 

My friend Rosita

Colonial City Gate

The most beautiful street in Colonia is La Calle de los Suspiros (Street of Sighs). I took many pictures of the colorful houses.

Calle de los Suspiros

The old Pier 

Colonia was my favorite City of our South American trip. It was beautiful and different to any other place that I've seen before. Make sure to plan a day trip to Colonia if you ever visit Buenos Aires. 

Day 5, Part 2: Buenos Aires, Caminito

After spending many hours in the San Telmo Fair, we took a cab towards La Boca. This colorful neighborhood is one of the main tourist attractions in Buenos Aires. It used to be an Italian immigrant's neighborhood. Now it is a street with shops, restaurants, and tango dancers. We couldn't resist and paid around $3 dollars to take our picture behind one of the window frames on the street. I tried to get Andre to "dance" with one of the tango dancers to take a picture of them making a complicated pose. Sadly, he didn't want to do it. I think that it was also $3 for a few seconds of the pose.

After a long bus ride back to my friend's house, Andre told me that I needed to get ready because he had a surprise planned that night. He contacted one of my friends weeks before our trip asking her to recommend a nice restaurant to take me. She made reservations for us at a place in Palermo Soho called Cabernet. The restaurant was great! We had dinner at 8:00 PM and the restaurant was completely empty. Argentineans like to eat very late starting at around 10:00 PM. The food was delicious, we both ordered pasta since I was completely impressed by the last pasta that I ordered a few days before at a different restaurant. This time it was even better. All of the food that we had in Argentina was really good. After dinner we walked many blocks looking for an ATM machine to pay for the taxi to take us back home. We finally found one after asking several times for directions.

Day 5, Part 1: Buenos Aires, San Telmo

This was probably my favorite day in Buenos Aires. It was a Sunday and the plan was to go to San Telmo because of the famous street fair. One of my friends hosting us was our tour guide this day. 

Buildings in Belgrano

Morning coffee close to where we stayed

I wanted to try this but it was too early in the morning

We took the subte towards Plaza de Mayo. The fair was at least 10 blocks long. It was amazing! We had plans to eat a Desnivel, a famous restaurant that many people recommended including my cousin who lived in BsAs and Andi’s argentinian husband. We got too distracted by the fair and suddenly we were hungry and completely forgot about Desnivel. We had lunch somewhere down the main street and it was great. I don’t think that I ate a bad lomito (sirloin steak) in Argentina.

Cabildo

We got many things at the fair, but the best purchase was a cone filled with dulce de leche. We bought a big container of that of dulce de leche to bring back home.

Best Dulce de Leche: Forcinitti

Mafalda has been my favorite character since I can remember. My dad had the collection of her comics. I tried to read them even before I knew how to read. Mafalda was big on social issues and I didn’t understand most of the jokes. However, we had something in common: we both hated soup!! Mafalda is Argentinian and there is a bench with a statue of her in San Telmo. Her apartment is also in San Telmo. This was probably the picture that I was most excited to take during the trip. By the way, my only big purchase in Buenos Aires was a copy of Mafalda’s VERY HEAVY collectors book.

Mafalda

Mafalda's Building

We found a tango band that was playing close to Plaza Dorrego. My friend had plans to take us to a show the following day where that same band plays on Monday night. My parents would be in heaven since they do love tango. They can’t dance, but they love Carlos Gardel. 

Orquesta Afronte

This was the day where  I finally felt that I was in Buenos Aires. Probably because I slept so many hours on the airplane that I couldn't grasp how long we had traveled. The fact that we were with 2 of my Colombian best friends made it even more difficult. I might be crazy, but I felt the same way in London. I didn't feel that I was in Europe until I was in France and heard people talking in another language. In Buenos Aires, it was the music and the tango dancers that made me feel in Argentina.