This weekend in Buenos Aires we had a couple free days. For being free days though, we kept ourselves
busy exploring the city. Like any big
city, Buenos Aires has many different neighborhoods each with its own
character. With Ana’s recommendation, we
visited Recoleta, Palermo, and San Telmo.
Saturday began with a rainy walk to the nation’s capital square; only to find that the museum we were heading towards was closed. Ana rerouted us through the nearby area for a couple hours to see a few buildings by famous architects.
Around noon we met with her family and friends at a newly renovated cultural center to get a private tour by the architect who designed it. The architect is a friend of Ana’s and invited us to tour the building with him. The fact that we got to tour was a privilege because the building was not even open to the public until Monday. The interior was unique to say the least; it’s a kind of building that you don’t get to experience everyday day, especially in Indiana. The cultural center has several smaller performance spaces, one main stage, a historically preserved post office, a lookout point over the city, and a multitude of other programs. I loved the main performance stage and the lookout point.
After the cultural center tour, Amanda, Ege, and I walked around the main square and enjoyed the Independence day weekend festivities. We wandered through the streets enjoying the markets, live music, and activities. At one point, a group of drummers surrounded the area where we were standing. As we were escaping the action, they began performing. We had front row seats to the best street performance I have ever seen, and it happened right in front of us. Highlight of my weekend for sure!
The three of us relaxed at the hostel for a few hours early in the evening. Outside our room at the hostel is a patio and bar with nice lights and music. It was a fun atmosphere to blog and decompress about the first week of the trip. We left around 9 p.m. to join our group for dinner at a restaurant nearby. If you haven’t noticed yet, the culture here is different in that people schedule their days a little differently than American culture. In South America, citizens start their day later around mid-morning, have a late lunch around 2 or 3 p.m., and late-dinner around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. I have been able to adjust to the schedule for the most part; however, I do not enjoy eating dinner so late. It takes at least an hour or two each time we eat out, so when we have late dinner we do not get back to the hostel until midnight or later. When we have to get up early there is no down time to do anything. It is slowly starting to wear on me, and us.
Saturday began with a rainy walk to the nation’s capital square; only to find that the museum we were heading towards was closed. Ana rerouted us through the nearby area for a couple hours to see a few buildings by famous architects.
Around noon we met with her family and friends at a newly renovated cultural center to get a private tour by the architect who designed it. The architect is a friend of Ana’s and invited us to tour the building with him. The fact that we got to tour was a privilege because the building was not even open to the public until Monday. The interior was unique to say the least; it’s a kind of building that you don’t get to experience everyday day, especially in Indiana. The cultural center has several smaller performance spaces, one main stage, a historically preserved post office, a lookout point over the city, and a multitude of other programs. I loved the main performance stage and the lookout point.
After the cultural center tour, Amanda, Ege, and I walked around the main square and enjoyed the Independence day weekend festivities. We wandered through the streets enjoying the markets, live music, and activities. At one point, a group of drummers surrounded the area where we were standing. As we were escaping the action, they began performing. We had front row seats to the best street performance I have ever seen, and it happened right in front of us. Highlight of my weekend for sure!
The three of us relaxed at the hostel for a few hours early in the evening. Outside our room at the hostel is a patio and bar with nice lights and music. It was a fun atmosphere to blog and decompress about the first week of the trip. We left around 9 p.m. to join our group for dinner at a restaurant nearby. If you haven’t noticed yet, the culture here is different in that people schedule their days a little differently than American culture. In South America, citizens start their day later around mid-morning, have a late lunch around 2 or 3 p.m., and late-dinner around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. I have been able to adjust to the schedule for the most part; however, I do not enjoy eating dinner so late. It takes at least an hour or two each time we eat out, so when we have late dinner we do not get back to the hostel until midnight or later. When we have to get up early there is no down time to do anything. It is slowly starting to wear on me, and us.
There are a couple main differences I have noticed between
this trip and World Tour. We are staying
in a lot more hostels this trip. It
makes the trip cheaper, which I appreciate, but after a while it gets exhausting. Al l the girls have a room, six girls in one
room for a week. It’s rough. Because of the dorm-style bathrooms, there isn’t
a clean sink to wash our clothes in. We
all washed our clothes in the shower, which was a pain, but do-able. The struggle came with getting the clothes to
dry. A small room with a multitude of
wet clothes and no ventilation makes for a very soggy room. Every time we open the door, it’s like
walking into a rain forest.
I am also currently struggling with needing alone time. This is not anything new. I expect to have that problem when I travel. Hostels just make it difficult to fulfill alone time. It’s only been a week and I am reminded of how much I miss luxury. This is one of the many reasons I love to travel; the challenge reminds me of how lucky I am. I am also reminded of the problems most of the world has to face daily while I live blindly in luxury.
I am also currently struggling with needing alone time. This is not anything new. I expect to have that problem when I travel. Hostels just make it difficult to fulfill alone time. It’s only been a week and I am reminded of how much I miss luxury. This is one of the many reasons I love to travel; the challenge reminds me of how lucky I am. I am also reminded of the problems most of the world has to face daily while I live blindly in luxury.
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