It's been a long time since my last post, and it is not because I have not felt compelled to write. In fact I often find blogging to be one of the best ways to spend what little free time I have. For me, it is both relaxing and productive, a great way to unwind after a long day, or a long week.
Well, these past few weeks have definitely been long, and very busy. For example today I spent four hours sitting in Migraciones waiting to get my expired Visa renewed, and I briefly contemplated the irony of living life as an illegal, a perspective I'm not all too familiar with : ) There has also been some terrible flooding that left many areas in Buenos Aires in a state of emergency. Luckily my area was barely affected, but I send good thoughts to all of those who've had to deal with flooded homes, damaged cars, and very little support.
For more on the flooding click here
A bright note came in the form of a wonderful visit from Rigel and Mikey, two college buds who trekked all the way from Chile just to see me! Well, not entirely just to see me, although I wish that were the case. In fact Rigel just finished a stint working as a trail guide in the Chilean mountains, and Mikey arrived when Rigel finished about a month ago and they've been trekking and exploring ever since (I feel a twinge of envy as I sit here, weighed down by the responsibility of a full time job).
Mikey and Rigel in the apartment
Yet because of Semana Santa I did have some free time, and this free time just happened to coincide with the visit from Mikey and Rigel. Their visit prompted many "firsts" for all of us. It was the first time we all ate a kilo of ice cream in two days, it was the first time I visited La Boca, I saw my first car race (the Super TC 2000) the first time we made Noquis, the first time I visited the Rosedal garden and, during the week they were here, we ate an entire kilo of dulce de leche (I cringe at the thought).
For those of you who don't know, dulce de leche is an obsession in Argentina. All the cookies have dulce de leche, all the ice cream shops have at least five flavors of dulce de leche ice cream, even McDonalds has dulce de leche instead of chocolate, and lastly Starbucks has their very own dulce de leche latte, for those of us who can't get enough of the stuff.
Ahhh, the dulce de leche!
So what is dulce de leche? This sweet and delectable spread is made by slowly heating sweetened, condensed milk with sugar until it thickens into a spread that can be put on anything from toast, to pancakes, to ice cream.
While in the states we have an obsession with peanut butter, here dulce de leche is all the rave, and for good reason. The stuff tastes heavenly. For more on dulce de leche wikipedia has everything you would ever need to know about the tasty confection.
To wrap up, Mikey and Rigel left for Uruguay just before the really bad flooding hit. They came back a week later and we met in a Starbucks near the train station for the last time before they boarded a bus out of the city. We drank dulce de leche lattes (of course!) and talked about their surfing exploits in Uruguay and their plans for the rest of their journey. Both of them fly out of Santiago and will spend some time traveling through northern Argentina, primarily Cordoba and Mendoza, before entering Chile again. I wish them all the best and a safe journey.
Mikey and Rigel in the Rosedal Garden in Palermo
Cheers,
That's me in Parque Vicente Lopez where Rigel, Mikey and I drank Mate.
~Kyle
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