forecast: moderately overcast, slight breeze
lodging: Hostel Del Mar :)
This weekend was our first non-ISA excursion; Nicole, Lauren, Molly, Kirsten, Camille and I booked round-trip bus tickets to Mar Del Plata, one of the closer beaches to Buenos Aires and a huge weekend spot for porteños and other argentines alike. The plan was to leave from Buenos Aires at 1:30 Saturday morning, arrive at 7 a.m., spend the rest of the day on the beach, go out Saturday night, lay on the beach all day Sunday, and return by bus at 6 p.m. Sunday evening.
Naturally though, there was a wreck Friday night, which delayed our bus. We waited at the station til 3 a.m., which was when all the creepers started to show their faces--totally sketchy situation.
The good thing about traveling really late/super early is that it's the perfect time to sleep and you don't feel like you're dragging the whole next day. And buses totally have planes beat when it comes to sleeping; the chairs actually recline and they were super cushy. I literally slept the entire 5 and a half hours to Mar Del Plata. There were a couple times I randomly woke up though and couldn't move my neck--I think I was in the middle of a deep sleep and my body didn't know how to respond properly. Trust me, not a good sensation.
We grabbed taxis at the station and went straight to the hostel, which was this adorable little bed and breakfast type hostel. I think it had actually been a house at one time; our room definitely resembled a garage.
We dropped off our bags with the desk clerks (after removing all our money and valuable stuff; the thing about argentina is you can't leave things anywhere) and walked across the street to a cafe for breakfast.
Breakfast = cafe con leche (con azucar también) and tres medialunas.
I'm actually getting into the whole drinking-coffee-thing; I still have to add sugar to drink it but it's a start. And don't get me started on the medialunas--sweet glazed mini-croissants? I'm gonna gain like 20 lbs just thinking about them. I know, it was totally the perfect breakfast before slipping into a bikini.
Hostel Del Mar is literally a block from the beach, but we decided to check out Playa Grande first, which was maybe ten blocks away. Totally worth it; the water was too cold for my liking, but me and Lauren agreed we've just been spoiled by the beaches of North Carolina :)
Our meal at the Hostel was probably the best meal I've had since being in Argentina. Camille made the best salad with tomatoes, avocado, carrots, cucumbers, tuna and fresh squeezed lemon juice and Molly made an amazing pasta dish with sauteed red bell peppers, onions, garlic and zucchini.
But my favorite thing about this weekend was all the great people we met.
The most eclectic mix of people were staying at our hostel; we made friends with Ali, Mike and Henri, these three students from England who are taking 5 months to travel around South America. They're actually gonna spend a couple days in Buenos Aires so we're gonna take 'em out and show them around. We met some girls from Denmark and some guys from Germany (both named Sebastian, apparently it's very common in their small town). We met a guy from Brazil and some porteños, who we hung out with and got to speak spanish with. We met a woman from Paraguay, Mariela, who hung out and laid out at the beach with us. Camille met a guy from France and they were off in their own world speaking french. There was even a guy from China. It was just amazing to have so many different cultures in one place, so many different languages and accents.
So we came back Sunday with new friends, new experiences under our belt, and even a little bit of color (but not too much, I learned my lesson at Tigre).
Besos :)
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