Wednesday 16th January
The day our trip officially started. I calmly finished packing up things at my mum's house and my own bag, then was driven over to Zab's house to meet him and travel together to the airport. I was horrified to see how much he still had to organise, and suddenly felt much better about my apparent disorganisation!
After some tearful goodbyes, Zab and I took the tube to Heathrow airport and checked in our 3kg bag of hold luggage to the incredulous surprise of the airline worker. The flight was long and boring, though we both managed to get some sleep, which seemed like a miracle considering the cramped seats and overzealous heating system.
Thursday 17th January
We landed in the bright sunshine of Buenos Aires, appropriately disheveled, but surprisingly not too tired. We queued endlessly for immigration and then again for customs, and were finally deposited in to the main terminal building. A long search for an ATM that would deign to give us cash then ensued, with much head-scratching, second-guessing and frustration.
We then decided to stay put in the airport for a bit longer, and use wifi over cups of tea to work out the best way to get to our apartment. Finally, we left the airport on a bus in to town and connected to the subte (underground system) and found our place without much trouble. After a nap, we went for lunch and wandered around, incredulous of how hot it was, considering we'd just come from London's winter.
Friday 18th January
We decided to join a free walking tour of the city to get orientated. This turned out to be a wonderful idea, as the guide, Gaston, was very engaging and gave us lots of useful tips for moving around the city, as well as explaining the colonial and more recent history in an way that didn't send me to sleep.
In the afternoon, we attempted to organise ourselves at home a bit better, and do some travel planning and decision making. In the evening, we met up with a former student of mine who took us for dinner and drink to the trendy part of Palermo where we'd eaten the day before.
Saturday 19th January
Saturday was mostly spent indoors, at first because we had lots of stuff we wanted to get done. Later, however, I discovered that I felt unwell and a bit weak, meaning I couldn't really go out. A skype chat with my mother (the doctor), confirmed what I suspect it to be (nothing serious) and I was prescribed water and rest. I spent some time on the lovely balcony, and we did manage to go out for a very slow, short walk around our block in the evening. This was concluded with coffee and cake in a nearby café, which pleased Zab greatly.
Sunday 20th January
A lazy Sunday morning was followed by some more travel planning, and eventually a trip out to the famous San Telmo Sunday street market. We quite quickly became tired of gazing at the pretty but useless things on sale and ducked in to another recommended vegetarian restaurant and enjoyed a lovely meal. We then rejoined the market further down and were much more interested in browsing through the antique furniture, jewellery and nick-nacs.
