With the extra three weeks that I had in South America due to my flight being extended, I decided to make the most of it and visit my family again in Mar Del Plata and Zarate.
I spent most of it on the beach with my cousins, eating tones of Asado and Facturas, and partying at the clubs in Mar Del Plata (which didn’t finish up until at least 5am). We also celebrated Marcelo’s 50th by throwing a HUGE surprise party.
I had such a great time in South America, it was a great learning experience and I am lucky to have seen such amazing sights.
James and I landed in Buenos Aires and took a cab to Adrogue to visit Silvia and Jorge for one last time. I was checking my flights online and realised that I had a conflicting itinerary. One printout said my flight was scheduled for the 16th Jan and the other said the 14th. I had missed my flight!!! The correct one was on the 14th and it had left an hour ago when I realised. OMG!!!! My parents managed to get me on a replacement flight but the earliest flight they could get was in three weeks’ time! Extended holiday! Silvia cooked us some lunch and we went over to Titi’s apartment to play guitar and have a few drinks to calm us down from all the stress in his music studio.
James and I then caught a bus into the city where we stayed in a chilled out hostel and cooked two minute noodles for dinner – hehe. The owners of the hostel were so kind and accommodating to us.
The following day we had to change hostels. We caught a cab to San Telmo where we stayed at our favourite hostel The Art Factory. We checked in and went out into the bohemian barrio looking for the famous San Telmo antique markets. Two lovely South Americans showed us the way to the markets. We stopped for a pizza lunch at a European café on the corner before heading into the markets where people were selling all sorts of brikabrack and antiques. San Telmo was full of life. There was music playing thought the street and people dancing the Tango.
James and I headed to an amazing sushi joint to celebrate James last night in South America as he was flying home that night. We ordered cocktails and a HUGE sushi platter to share between us. We finished it off with a yummilicious chocolate brownie for desert and went back to the hostel and chilled in the rooftop terrace hammocks until it was time for James to leave. When it was time I put James in a cab and said our sad goodbyes for three weeks. L
I am now on a bus to Mar Del Plata to go visit my family again and hit up the beach.
Santiago is such a cosmopolitan city. After we checked into our final hotel as part of the tour Rich took us out for a short tour of the city. We all went out to a really funky area – Barrio Bella Vista where there were many cafes, bohemian bars and live music. We went to a steak house for dinner where I had delicious fajitas and a cocktail. Afterwards we stopped at a barley Irish pub for a few drinks before heading back to the hotel.
The following day, we said goodbye to a few people from the tour that were leaving. James, Tom, Rich and I caught a cab to Barrio Bella Vista to meet Amy at her new hostel. We caught a funicular to the top of a hill where we sat in a park eating empanada’s for lunch.
That night we all chilled at a hostel rooftop terrace where there was all you can eat and drink BBQ and cocktails.
We said our final farewells to everyone as we were leaving early the next day for the airport.
We arrived to the coastal town of La Serena by our last overnight bus. Rich took us on an orientation walk of the city before stopping for a coffee. We had a picnic for lunch in the main park which was nice and peaceful and quite European looking.
We strolled around the town markets before heading back to our hotel where we made fajitas for dinner.
The following day we all hired bikes to ride down to the beach. I’ve never hated bike riding so much. It was quite uncomfortable riding in a foreign country on a bike that I’m not used to amongst traffic and people. One pedestrian ended up shouting at me and I lost control of the bike and crashed into the side of a bus. I was pretty shaken after that and had trouble getting back on my bike. The beach wasn’t much further anyway, and we chilled there for the rest of the day before heading back for dinner at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant.
We are now on a bus to Santiago, our last destination on this tour.
