Sometimes having no plan is the best plan. Often the most memorable trips are those where the itinerary falls apart or was never there to begin with. I’m trying to take that to heart for this entire month as a whole, but the strategy also works well on shorter timeframes. Not sure what to do with your day? Turn your brain off, open your eyes and ears, and let your feet take you where they may.
Met up with two other solo travellers in the hostel, and we decided to just go for a long walk, see what hits us, and take a cab back home at sunset. We walked through the shopping district (which looked quite Asian with the narrow pedestrian streets), stopped at a couple of different cafes , and watched a guy dressed in tin foil dance the robot in the middle of a seven lane road. There’s a little bit of everything here, including insanity.
Later on, we decided that the city is plenty safe and going home would be kind of lame. We started looking around for some dinner and maybe something interesting to do and ended up near the city’s old port. The area is fairly average during the daytime, but as it were, turns out to be a fabulous spot at night. There is a full boardwalk along the canal, some shiny foot bridges, and a big clipper ship decorated with Christmas lights. Fancy restaurants and bars with plenty of outside seating, a group of musicians, and a nice breeze from the ocean complete a great scene. We took full advantage of the place, eating some dinner at a steak and wine called Siga la Vaca (Follow the Cow) and relaxing at a bar called Havana Club.
Sometimes when you’re travelling, you get one of those moments where you just look around, and it all just kind of hits you, and it’s impossible not to get this stupid-happy smile. Havana Club put on the Rolling Stones I’m Free (cause I’m free, to do what I want, any old time…), and safe to say, I looked pretty stupid alright.
Rainy and cool here today (Wednesday); if the weather holds up a bit I’ll try to get down to the mausoleum in la Recoleta, which we missed on Sunday for lack of time. The night bus to Mendoza leaves at 9 pm, and I’ll be staying there for probably 3 nights after that. According to one travel website, the number 1 rated attraction in Mendoza is a wine-tasting tour. Also, the number 10 rated attraction is a wine-tasting tour, and you can guess what numbers 2-9 are as well. Leroy will be a very happy camper.
Quote of the day: ‘Everything happens late in this city. Dinner happens at midnight, ‘its late lets go home’ is at six in the morning, everything is closed until lunchtime, and that’s a weekday. When do they work?’
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