Argentina day 5, 6, 7

Day 5: Tuesday January 9

I am writing this from Mar Del Plata, but have no connection to upload it since we don’t have an internet connection here, so it’ll be posted a couple days late. Mar Del Plata is on the eastern coast of Argentina, and is known as a beach/vacation town for everyone in Argentina and even outside. We took a bus that left Buenos Aires at 9:00 am, and arrived here at 2:15 pm. I hate bus rides. My whole life I’ve hated them, and they always make me a bit nauseated. Well, the bus we took has two levels. The lower level is similar to that of a regular bus, but as luck would have it, those seats were sold out, so we got upper level tickets. Our seats are what they call “leitos”. It looks like a seat, but actually has the capability of bringing up a foot rest, and it lays flat like a bed. They gave a snack of a ham and cheese sandwich, a juicebox, and a few chocolate desserts. I hated the ride, but got about ½ hour of sleep. On arrival, we were being picked up at the bus station by a woman named Francisca. In another time, she was my dad’s friend/girlfriend in Brazil when he lived there. I am still not exactly clear on that. But either way, she and a friend of hers (a guy who owns a bookshop here) came to pick us up. I was actually a little surprised that she was black. I guess I just didn’t expect it with almost everyone here medium skinned south americans, but I’ll get back into that in a bit. We drove for a tour around the city, and then we checked into a hotel. We’re staying the first night in a hotel, and the second probably in her home because since it’s tourist season here, there are no available rooms closer to the weekend. Dad and Francisca left to take a walking tour of the city, and I went to the beach (across the street from the hotel). The hotel by the way was really swanky. I came back from the beach and showered, and dad and I got a drink in the bar before picking up Francisca for dinner. We had a long relaxed dinner, and ended up having to hail a cab back since it started pouring raining. We got some good steak and potatoes for dinner though. During dinner, Francisca was talking the entire time about when she knew dad in Brazil. Apparently, dad was quite the civil rights mover and shaker. There were multiple stories about them kicking her out of a restaurant or a swimming pool, and my dad telling them what he thought. Of course, with my dad’s fabulous memory, he didn’t remember any of it, but she couldn’t say enough good things about him. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel around 11:30 and went to sleep.

Day 6: Wednesday January 10

This morning we went to breakfast in the hotel, and were astonished by the spread for breakfast. There were all sorts of fresh baked breads, croissants, pastries, fruits, fruit salad, fruit tortes, yogurts, creams, meats, cheeses, made to order omelets, juices, coffees, milk…wow. It was good. After breakfast, even though it was an overcast day outside, I went to the beach for a couple hours while dad and Francisa went shopping for food for lunch and started cooking. I got bored of being chilly and windstruck, so I went over to Francisca’s. She made us lunch of Gnocchi! From scratch! Yum =) I watched her make it, and so hopefully now I can try to do the same once I go home.

After Lunch, I went back to the beach for a couple hours as it was much nicer and sunnier out. I’ve noticed that first off, “full coverage” bathing suits do not exist. The bottoms are either thongs or nearly thongs. Yeah, guys, you’re probably already booking your ticket to Argentina, but just as a heads up – just like the topless beaches, the ones who are wearing thongs or going topless aren’t always the ones that should be. Sitting next to me on the beach were what looked like a set of sisters and two friends, and a mom. What surprised me though, was that the girls looked about 13-16 years old in range, and they were all smoking, and not only that, but the youngest looking one also had a tattoo on her shoulder. All of them had at least five piercings that I could see. I came back from the beach when it started getting chilly out and then headed back to her place to shower. Francisca’s place is a one room apartment – a sleeping area and table in the main room, with both a small kitchen and bathroom on the side. Her apartment reminds me of a dorm room. There is nowhere to entertain at all. She purchased the apartment – just 4 blocks from the beach, in downtown – for $12,000. What a steal. However, within the apartment, it seems sterile. She doesn’t have a lot of things (I know, crazy! I have enough to share perhaps…) I have to assume she doesn’t entertain ever, or nearly ever, since there is nowhere to sit besides a single bed, a 4 chair table, and a small bench. I definitely would need more space than that. I also noticed a few framed pictures around her apartment. Three of the five were of members of my family. And this was the first time we’d met. Weird. Apparently, we mean a lot to her now that she knows us again. She seemed absolutely thrilled that we’d come and visited.

We then went to run errands before dinner. Once we returned, before dinner, I just needed some downtime. Francisca is very nice, but very high strung, and sometimes a bit overwhelming with insisting you do something or try something. I just needed a break, but with a one bedroom apartment, there is nowhere to go. So I attempted to take a nap. Conveniently, 10 minutes after I laid down, about 5 after I fell asleep, she awoke me by taking my picture while I was sleeping. Arrgggh. At least we head out tomorrow. Dinner was nice. Her friends Adelfo and Roxanne came to dinner, where we ordered some pizza and empanadas (vegetable and/or meat filled pastries) and we talked the night away. I even got a nice compliment from Roxanne on my Spanish speaking. Adelfo brought his guitar and played some songs for us during dessert. We’d had a bottle of wine with dinner, and then we opened a bottle of champagne with dessert. Francisca had made an orange flan, which probably would have been much better without the orange. After dessert, everyone went home, and Francisca went to her friend’s place to sleep. Dad slept on the single bed, and I slept on the bench. It was pretty uncomfortable, and it was really loud outside all night, so let’s just say I didn’t get much sleep.

Day 7: Thursday January 11

Francisca was supposed to meet us at 9ish back at her apartment for breakfast, and I was going to hit the beach one last time. I got up around 9:15, and she actually didn’t arrive till almost 10:30, but it was too cold outside to go to the beach anyway, so I didn’t have anything else to do. We took a walk around town, and soon it was already 1:00, and we hadn’t had lunch or anything before our 2:00 bus ride back to Buenos Aires! Side note: both Buenos Aires and Mar Del Plata so far do not have a lot of traffic lights. The intersections where there are no lights, you might expect a stop sign, but there isn’t one. It’s just – whoever stays alive when passing through the intersection wins. What a great driving game! We walked back to the apartment to have a quick lunch and rush to the station. We cut it pretty close, but we caught the bus back. Again, the sandwiches were ham and cheese, but this time, they were double decker sandwiches, so I could pull the top layer of cheese and bread from the four sandwiches, and make myself 2 mini sandwiches without the parts touching the ham =). The bus got in a little late, and then we caught the city bus 92 back to our apartment.