Monday night we did indeed go to the tango show. We were fortunate enough to connect with another Embassy family living in BA and they were gracious enough to take Mackenzie for the evening so Scott and Kiersten could have a little date night. We went to Cafe Tortoni and had an enjoyable dinner then went downstairs for the show. We were told it would be risqué but not that it would be so loud. It was still very, very entertaining. It was essentially the history of tango told through song and dance. In the end we took away one main point about tango: it's a flurry of legs!
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| Our fun dinner included fancy drinks, "hamburgers" and a house dessert that was like ice cream but it tasted lighter. |
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| Kid free! Oh yeah! |
We picked up Mackenzie who had a tremendous time entertaining her babysitters and got back to our Airbnb late.
Tuesday morning we made it out to the center of town to see the Obelisco, the BA hedge and Olympic rings which are there for the Youth Olympics happening in August. At 10:30 we caught a free walking tour of that part of the city and went for as long as Mackenzie could manage. She did pretty well until inevitably she became tired and cranky around 12.
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| She loves holding on! |
Mackenzie was in fact so exhausted that she napped for 4 hours! Scott and Kiersten rested as well making us realize vacationing with a baby is wonderful because it forces us to rest thus actually making it a vacation! By the time she woke up we were getting hungry for dinner so we headed back to the main part of town to get pizza at one of the oldest pizza parlors in the city, Pizza Güerrin. Then we went across the street for a traditional cannoli dessert. They had lots of yummy things to choose from.
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| Hungry for some pizza. |
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| So many options! |
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| Mmm! Perfect! |
We walked around for a bit more seeing the Casa Rosada (their equivalent to our White House) and then down to the river to see the Punta de la Mujer (Bridge of Women). The weather was very comfortable and it was a beautiful night. We got home late again and all went to bed.
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| See how the bridge kind of looks like a tango danger? They are obsessed! |
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| Locks on the bridge. How very European. |
In the morning on Wednesday Scott wasn't feeling too hot so Kiersten and Mackenzie went out to the park near our apartment. The weather was actually very chilly! About 68℉ with a constant breeze. Made it feel like Fall (which is the next season for us so that makes sense). Wednesday was a pretty low key day with Scott being sick so we were able to do some laundry and rest some more. In the afternoon K&M hopped on the metro to visit an old theatre that was converted into an awesome book store in 2007. It was incredible! Ice cream was next on the agenda and it was okay not great like we'd been promised from a travel blog.
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| She pretty much mastered this slide. |
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| Inside the grand bookstore. How cool?! |
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| The children's section was once the orchestra pit! Mackenzie had a blast here! She loves books. |
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| From the outside. |
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| Looks promising but the taste was just not great. |
We got back to the apartment and Kiersten had a little dinner and took Mackenzie back to the park to kill some time before bed. It was crazy crowded! Then we got some more ice cream. This ice cream was better than earlier in the day and we got twice as much for half the price!
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| Playing in the sand at the park. |
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| Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about! |
Thursday morning Scott was feeling better, about 75% so we still took it easy. The girls went to the park again in the morning to let him rest then hit up Starbucks (!) for a medialuna (croissant). Was gonna get hot chocolate but there was only one barista with a long line so... we'll just have to get some during R&R in a few months!
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| Delicious! It tasted like America! |
Mackenzie took an early nap which allowed us to get out earlier in the afternoon and take another walking tour this time of Recoleta Cemetery which is one of the most famous cemeteries in Argentina because that is where Eva Perón (Evita), wife of the three time President of Argentina Juan Perón, is buried. It was incredible! Some of these mausoleums are so fancy they are like monuments to the people or family that owns them. Some are no longer being taken care of because the family has no money and are truly creepy. It's easy to forget you're surrounded by death when walking around.
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| Getting ready for the walking tour. |
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| Fun Fact: this unassuming mausoleum is where Evita is buried with her family, not her husband. |
Again Mackenzie handled this tour very well. At the end we were all hungry and ready for dinner. We went to a cafe right near the cemetery and had a very delicious last dinner in Buenos Aires. We caught the metro for ice cream one more time to go to the oldest ice cream shop in town... and again we were disappointed in the guidebook's recommendation of an ice cream place. Oh well. We'll always have the memory of the good ones.
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| This man is holding up the branches of this GIANT tree. He's made out of bolts. |
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| We love ice cream! Just not this ice cream. |
Friday morning we packed up then had breakfast at a 24 hour cafe a few blocks from our apartment. We were allowed to check out late so Mackenzie was able to take a nap before we caught a cab for the airport and had lunch there. We said good-bye to Argentina on the plane at 4pm and landed in Asuncion just before 6pm. Literally 5 minutes before we landed, Scott entered the next phase of parenthood when Mackenzie threw up all over his front. Luckily both had a change of clothes in the carry-on bag so after we debarked both got to change.
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| Mackenzie received a free treat after breakfast when we got some pastries next door. We think it's because she's so cute. |
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| Waiting in the customs line in BA. She was such a trooper. |
Someone was waiting to take us home after we got our bags and we got right on the road. Traffic was predictably terrible on a Friday night of a three day weekend and the roads are horribly paved and about 15 minutes into the ride, Mackenzie threw up again. We stripped her down and Kiersten held her (we didn't have a car seat at any point of this trip). She threw up one more time before we got home. We cleaned her up and put her to bed. She threw up one final time, we changed the sheets and she slept hard the rest of the night. Poor little lady.
We were worried she'd caught the same bug Scott had in BA but Saturday morning she was her normal, happy, silly self. No more sickness! We spent the day stocking up on groceries, doing laundry and general chores around the house.
Sunday we finally made it to church after two weeks of missing. It was so nice to get a spiritual boost. And Primary wasn't a complete disaster! We are making a marginal improvement on the reverence of the children and increasing their interest levels. Hooray! After church Mackenzie napped, we made dinner, FaceTimed with family and went to a very small Stake choir practice. It was a productive Sunday.
Now here we are all caught up to Monday! Today is a Paraguayan holiday so Scott had the day off of work. We ran some more errands and actually bought some plants (basil, rosemary and tomato) to start our herb and vegetable garden we've been talking about. Very excited for this project to take off. Then we had Brenda and Netza over for a delicious Hungarian themed dinner and level 6 of our Harry Potter board game. Good news! We defeated Lord Voldemort in two rounds and are ready for level 7! It was a wonderfully epic night.
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| Stuffed cabbage, lecsó and steamed carrots. |
Let's finish off our Eccentricities of Argentina:
- Window washers on the street. They don't have any! We only saw one in our week there. In Asuncion almost every major intersection has two guys washing car windows for a buck.
- Sunglasses. People actually wear them there! People don't wear sunglasses in Paraguay.
- Smoking and tattoos. We saw more people smoking and more tattoos in BA than in Asuncion.
- English speakers. Yes we expected to hear English when we went on tours and things but we were amazed at the number of people who spoke English outside of those settings. In cafes, walking the streets and other random places. It is an international place to be sure.
- Metro performers. Especially in the evenings you could find someone performing music or dancing in the metro stations or actually on the trains. They were all usually very good.
- Metro sellers. Instead of selling things on the side of the street people use the metro.
The Mackenzie Update:
- She has dubbed any large transportation vehicle as a "beep beep". The metro trains were "beep beeps" and the airplane. It used to just be for cars but she's adding the label to all of them now.
- New tricks! Scott taught her how to jump like a frog and to do finger pistols. Both are adorable.
It's really hard to capture a picture of her doing it. Her hands are just a blur! - Throwing up as previously mentioned. This was her first time doing it ever so it's a pretty major achievement (if you want to call it that). And both parents now have first hand experience of being thrown up on. Sadly it probably won't be the last time.
- Her mimicking skills are increasing more and more. She'll copy our actions, mannerisms and even try to repeat what we say. Got to be more careful now...
We are happy to be home but sad our vacation is over. When we are asked what our favorite part of the trip was we say the city in general. It is very well thought out, lots of open space allowing for parks and has plenty of beautiful and diverse architecture. We would definitely go back if given the opportunity.
Thanks for reading! See you all next week!
