Oct 29, 20222 min read

Buenos Aires

Paris of the south, big apple of the south, tango-central of the world… Despite dozens of nicknames, this city needs no comparison. Spring brings life into this city like nothing I have ever seen before.

Entirely because of the beautiful colonial architecture and sweet flower stands on every other city block, I’m ready to move here (for real this time). There’s a lively gay community with plenty of queer bars to pick from, young people strutting down the street, and cafes on every corner. We've had our fair share of specialty coffee in our week here, leaving no desire unmet!

We spent our days exhausting a very long list of free activities in the city- several art museums, the national public library, park hopping, etc.

There is a world-famous steakery here named “Don Julio’s” where they serve you unlimited champagne and mini empanadas while you wait two hours to sit down to eat (this is only if you come without a reservation… which must be made two months in advance). We had a ball, I had too much champagne, and I was forced home instead of tango-ing the night away like I wanted to!

For those of you who know Bartow shenanigans, Luke met us here in Buenos Aires at the start of his traveling adventure which was a crazy worlds-collide moment.

We attended an opera in the famous Teatro Colón (latin translated to Spanish lends itself to very basic comprehension on our part) wearing our finest hiking boots.

My favorite part was the Sunday San Telmo handicraft market with thousands of visitors and hundreds of stalls. It’s always so fun to listen to people explain their passion and show you the fruits of their labor. The twins got new sunnies, as you can see.

Now in Montevideo, Uruguay, we are no longer enjoying the benefit of the Blue Dollar inflation crisis, and things are priceyyyyy. Thankfully, Izzy's mom is covering our hostel stay here which takes a bit of the edge off (thank you Donna!) Only a few days here before heading to Colombia for a week on the beach before heading home.

On our way to Montevideo, we initially took a ferry from Buenos Aires across the bay to Colonia, Uruguay. Colonia is a quaint seafront town with little to do but eat ice-cream and walk down cobblestone streets. Our street strolls were perfumed by late-spring jasmine that can't help but make you smile. In this region of the world, spring is vibrant colored flowers on porches and in shops, sweetening the air everywhere. If I were honest with myself, I would admit I orchestrated this trip just to get two springs in one year.