After Ireland it was time to go home for 3 days to see my family, celebrate my birthday a bit, and then fly to Buenos Aires to visit a friend from Edinburgh. I was so excited to go to South America since I had not been before and to be WARM and dry and not smell like a sheep shed. Argentina did not disappoint! Buenos Aires is sooooo big and so busy! Constantly alive and buzzing.
I got to go up to Tigre and see the rivers and the Mate Museum (the local tea that everyone drinks there), go to some of the markets, bike through the city at racing speeds chasing my friend and talk to a classroom about traveling, living in Scotland and competing as a triathlete! It was a really fun trip. Since I had exams to return to I spent a few afternoons café hoping, drinking cortado coffees and sampling all of the flavours of sorbet. YUM. The weather was absolutley perfect. It was a wonderful place to spend my birthday!
Blowing out the candles on my birthday with my friends brother (same birthday!) while he lights the candles!
Beautiful church close to where I was staying. There was a park at the base that was fun to hang out in and enjoy some sorbet.
The river in Uruguay that looked like the ocean!
The old old bull fighting ring we rode bikes to in Uruguay.
Outside the mate museum!
On a night walk in Uruguay searching for a nice dinner spot!
Pop up concert in the town square in Uruguay.
We paid our bill in 3 currencies! They didn’t take credit cards and the ATM didn’t work so we had to improvise! We had just enough.
Beautiful streets in Uruguay to walk down.
One Sunday we cycled through a huge park in Southern Buenos Aires. It was full of people and lovely view points.
Downtown Buenos Aires…so busy!
One afternoon we went to Boca, a neighborhood that has a bit more touristy parts to it. We walked in some shops and then through some other parts of town which was cool to see.
La Boca
Finding a pool to swim in was not so easy….I tried a few but I was told I needed to see the doctor so he could check my feet and hair first??!! So I only got into a pool a couple of times. The running was excellent though and I got in some nice sessions around the parks and even around some of the gorgeous embassy buildings and the famous Recolleta cemetery. My first weekened there we took a ferry over to Uruguay for a night, into a small town called Colonia. It was so picturesque. We took bikes and rode up to an old bull fighting ring and got to see most of the town between snack stops. That night we happened upon an outdoor concert with a local singing group that was fun to listen to! This place was much more relaxed than Buenos Aires, which made for a nice break.
Towards the end of the week my friend was going out of town for a field trip so I headed by up to Rosario, Argentina and I am so glad that I did because I loved this city!! It was about 4 hours north by bus and it was the perfect size and lay out for me. Lots of gorgeous parks, a huge river front with tons of walking/jogging trails and fullllll of nice people and some of the finest man-eye candy. I spent most of my runs with my jaw on the ground! I also found a vegetarian buffet place and some great dinner spots here. My first morning there I just took a nice, 13 mile run exploring the city. About 11 miles in I needed water desperately so stopped and got some along with some dark chocolate covered rice cakes with PB in the middle! Best snack ever….
Monument in a park in Rosario, Argentina
The main drag in Rosario. Seeing as sycamores are my favourite type of tree, I loved this strip!
Rosario by night!
As I ran along the river I went to take a picture and got this man in action jumping the fence!
Another pic of the promenade…just loved it!
One of the many shopping areas, complete with a British telephone booth.
The flag monument in Rosario, Argentina.
My last morning in Rosario I decided to go on a kayaking tour of the area (http://www.bikerosario.com.ar/). I am so glad that I did! The guide was amazing and spoke so many languages and was so nice. I highly recommend his tour if you are ever in the area. We went across the river and halfway I had to switch with a girl in another kayak because she and her partner we hopeless and kayaking in circles together. It was pretty comical. The guy I ended up with had very little english and me little Spanish so the conversations we had left us both laughing very hard. It was a great way to spend my last morning there and I even got a scooter ride back to my hotel on the back of the guides ride which was so fun!
Gorgeous bridge and another couple on the tour.
All in all Argentina was great and I am so glad I got to go and see the country. It was not easy to leave the warm weather for the UK but once I got back to Edinburgh it felt a bit more like home!
atrihuntress 