Dia 52, Massages and Good Byes = Bitter Sweet, 7 de agosto

I woke up pretty late today, around two. Not only that, but I didn’t even feel all that great. I hadn’t slept well, even if I had slept long. I was still tired and wasn’t looking forward to having to turn in my phone today, not to mention that it’s my last full day in BA.

After having lunch and hanging out with Serri while she packed, she and I decided to go to Coto for one last grocery shopping experience. We both wanted to get dulce de leche and mate to bring back home. After that, we went to Havana where she was able to get a couple of boxes of alfajores. (In case I never mentioned it or you’ve forgotten, alfajores are one of the main desserts of Argentina. They resemble moon pies but are usually filled (relleno) with Dulce de Leche and covered with chocolate. There are also fruit ones and other flavors, but dulce de leche is the most popular. I don’t so much like them; they are just way too rich. I can handle a bite or two, but after that I am done. Elsa had bought me some mini ones, which I like much better…)

After our mini-shopping trip, I had to rush off to Expanish where I was scheduled to meet Bridget and Thomas and also turn my phone in. While I was there, I had to fill out the longest evaluation form I have ever seen for Expanish. I was tempted to just check the boxes without adding comments, but I figured that that wouldn’t help out Expanish at all. It took me around twenty minutes or more to fill out, and Bridget still hadn’t arrived. I kept my phone until the last minute and discovered that she was on her way. Today was the day that we were scheduled to get massages, and I had about a twenty minute window to get there. Apparently, the subtes were running slow, so Bridget was running later than expected. I had to send her one last text telling her I’d meet her at the massage place, and left my phone with Expanish.

I think it’s so weird how in this city if you don’t need a taxi, they are everywhere. There’s no telling how many taxis roam the streets of BA looking for passengers. However, if you need one, especially around 5:30-6:00 (which is rush hour, by the way), it is basically impossible to find an open one. I guess it makes sense since everyone is going back home and there are a great amount of people traveling, but I still can’t imagine why it’s that hard to find a taxi. I even walked to 9 de Julio (basically the busiest street in the Microcentro of BA) and I still couldn’t get one. I realized then that I should have just had Expanish call me one, but it was a little late now and I had very little time to get to my massage appointment. I guess I started to stress out a little, but soon started hoping that, since we are in a polychronic time zone (where time flows smoothly as opposed to being: appointment A, B, C, can’t be late, rush rush rush, meeting here, picking up Sue there, dropping off Ben here) that maybe me being a little late for my massage wasn’t going to be the end of the world. I finally just took my bus back to my neighborhood where I then had to walk the five blocks to get to the shop. The massage lady had decided to do a pedicure since I was late, but she was really nice and just had me wait for about ten more minutes before getting to me. I didn’t mind at all and just read (well…looked at) a magazine while I waited. Bridget didn’t make it before I went in to my massage, but I figured she would definitely get there before it was her turn.

The massage was wonderful. I thought that it was going to be just a back massage, but I soon found out it was a full body massage! The lady explained to me that she prefers them because the body is one. It’s basically not fair to just massage your back and ignore the fact that your legs, arms, stomach, head, and face, work every day too. So my one hour fully body massage was basically the high light of my day. I was so relaxed and it felt so good! She informed me afterwards that I had had quite a bit of stress in my face. I don’t really understand why I would. She tried explaining it to me in Spanish and some broken English, and the best I could get out of it was maybe that I try and fake my emotions with my face too much. So if I am feeling somewhat sad, I’ll still smile a lot so people won’t know, which causes stress in my cheeks and above my upper lip. Very interesting…especially since I don’t consciously think about it!

After the massage, Bridget was indeed there. I talked with her a little bit and we decided that she would just come over to my house (which was about three blocks away from the place) after her massage was over. So I went home and started packing. It was so sad seeing the room that I had created for myself over the last two months come apart. Pictures were coming down; the closet was becoming empty, so sad. I was surprised at how fast it was to pack though. I didn’t waste any time. I just set my mind to do it and within thirty minutes or so, my stuff that I wouldn’t be using the rest of the trip was packed. I was pretty proud of myself. Bridget showed up and was like, “Oh, it does look sad.”

She had enjoyed her massage too. Apparently, she’s stressed in her stomach and feet. Oh, the things you can learn when getting a massage. Bridget and I sat and talked for awhile. It didn’t seem like long enough because she had to leave to go home and have her last dinner with her host mom. We had to say goodbye and it was so sad because we were both trying to be light hearted and whatnot. Saying goodbye to Bridget was basically the worst goodbye I had to deal with. I spent the majority of my time in BA with her and had gotten to know her pretty well. We had become good friends in such a fast time and although she lives only a few states away from me, it’s going to be hard to try and see one another in the future. But we both want to! So we’ll see how that works.

Another side note!

To Bridget: Thank you so so so much for being my “Best Friend in Argentina”. I don’t know if you knew it, but you gave me so much confidence to just get out there and “dance”. I feel as if I might have broken out of my shell a little bit, and it was so easy to just be myself around you! I am glad we became such close friends and I feel that if, ten or twenty (or sixty!) years from now, if I happen to be in your neighborhood, I could stop by for some mate and a great conversation! I am already missing you and hope that one day we can take a road trip to see one another (*cough* Spring Break!). I hope everything is working out with you in Atlanta and I know that we’re going to keep in touch! Thank you again for everything and for just sticking with me when I was probably scared out of my mind trying new things! I’ll miss you and can’t wait to see you again!

Un-pause:

Okay, so after Bridget left *tear*, I got ready and Serri and I went out to dinner with Elsa. We took her to a place called “La Dorita”, one of the best steak restaurants in Buenos Aires. Well, I suppose there is some debate to that, as always. My dad sent me an email awhile ago about an article he read that talked about the “World’s Best Steak”. The verdict? Go to Argentina. As far as BA, there were three different restaurants on the list. One of them happened to be “La Dorita de Enfrente”. After some research I discovered that there is that one and a “La Dorita” right across the street from it. I then found out that La Dorita was the first one, and it got so popular that they had to expand, thus building the “de Enfrente” across the street. (The title makes me smile because enfrente means “in front”, and since it was right across the street…well, you get it, I hope.) Therefore, I don’t exactly know why “de Enfrente” has the best steak and “La Dorita” wouldn’t. Especially since they are owned by the same people and it seemed as if the chefs could be pretty interchangeable between the two places. The wait staff would go back and forth between the two buildings (especially once the restaurant was completely full). La Dorita wasn’t even a very large restaurant, (hence needing to expand.) The tables were so close to one another and we couldn’t figure out how the wait staff made it to the back corners. Moving on to the more important stuff…the food! It was really good. The steak (Serri and I shared bife lomo, tenderloin) was so delicious. Definitely tender and moist, all those good things you look for in a steak. We also shared a side of papa pure (mashed potatoes) and mushrooms. The mushrooms would have been so much better; except for they were covered in this wine sauce stuff. Now, I have been really patient with my wine tasting here. I always try the wine, because it is such a huge part of Argentine culture. However, after seven and a half weeks, I have only grown to dislike it more. Oh well, it’s not like wine is something we have to enjoy. At least I tried to like it! =) With that said, the mushrooms had this awkward wine taste and I just didn’t like it. So Serri got to eat them and found it strange that I couldn’t like them since the taste wasn’t that strong. Oh well. =)

After we had dinner and we were sitting at our table talking, the conversation somehow turned to…helado! (ice cream for those of you who don’t remember your Spanish vocabulary, lol). Elsa told us of this place called Persicco that has just amazing ice cream and that I had to try it before I left. Then she decided, “Why not go tonight?!” So we did! It was so much fun going with Elsa because she is normally in bed by nine or ten and it was basically midnight at this point. It was her suggestion to go and she was getting all excited about it. So we went and I must say…it was really great ice cream. I don’t know what I will do back in the US when I have to eat normal old ice cream again. Ice cream in Argentina does not fail, ever. It’s all so good! I wish I could explain better because a few people have asked me what makes it so much better. And I really don’t know! Serri decided it was definitely better than Freddo, but of course I have to stand my ground, especially when I cheat on my Argentine love. =) But it was almost a bit more expensive then Freddo, by maybe a peso or so, but still.

After having the great ice cream, we went back to our apartment. It was decently late at this point and Serri and I decided we wanted to get up “early” to try out this place that has bagels and waffles for breakfast! (It’s so unusual to find a place that serves American type breakfast…other than McDonald’s of course.) So I went to bed pretty early (before two I believe) and said my last “Good night” to Buenos Aires.