Heat, hotter, Buenos Aires

Yes, it is indeed a somewhat strange feeling to be back here. Especially because we never expected it on our last visit. But when you travel, things often turn out differently than expected. Weird feeling aside, we are definitely excited as we land in the capital around noon and immediately get summery vibes. The Patagonian summer is quite cool, so we are (still) happy about the warmth and sunshine! Fortunately (and THANKS to Matias), we can stay in the same house with a garden as we did on our last visit. We enjoy the first afternoon in the garden, do some shopping, and do laundry again. The next day, our travel friends Steve and Greg also arrive and we spend the first evenings together. During the day, we explore the city together, visit the famous cemetery 'La Recoleta', the resting place of many wealthy and prominent residents. We also walk through the neighborhood 'La Boca' with its many colorful houses, which is much more touristy than we imagined. Even the pizza could be better for a formerly Italian neighborhood.. But oh well. We also take a closer look at the many parks and gardens in the city this time. Only now do we realize how little we actually saw on our last visit (we were a bit tired of the city..) and are therefore glad to be here again! Buenos Aires really has many beautiful corners! However, as much as we initially enjoyed the warmth, we are looking forward to the coolness of Patagonia again towards the end! The temperatures and humidity are racing to climb higher and on our last day, it is difficult to enjoy even in the late evening with 34 degrees and a humidity of 200%. And the sweat keeps pouring. And pouring. The only ones who seem to enjoy this are the many mosquitos, who seem to particularly like foreign blood. But enough complaining! We wanted heat again and we definitely got it :) At first, we were still naive and thought we could just go swimming in the sea to cool off. But (we should have known better) the supposed sea is actually the 290km long and up to 220km wide 'river delta' Río de la Plata ('Silver River'). And unfortunately, it is also on the list of the most polluted rivers in the world. Besides the warning signs, the smell also reveals that bathing here is not such a good idea. In addition, the 'beach' sections by the water are completely polluted. Even in the large nature reserve, there is an abundance of plastic waste. But apparently, no one here really cares about that. We briefly consider going to a public pool, but the pictures of the overcrowded pools in the peak of summer deter us. Now we understand why so many locals flee the city in the summer.

Nevertheless, together with Greg, we spend three very nice and relaxed afternoons in different parks near the water, quenching our desire for cooling off in the water with plenty of cold beer.

Time flies, as we are on the go almost every day. On the last day, we sit in a bar together until after midnight because our flight is at 4.55am in the morning. And then the farewell comes at some point (Steve has already continued his journey a few days ago), after over a month, the joint travel route ends here. Greg originally wanted to go to the Iguazú Falls, but the cases of yellow fever have been rapidly increasing lately and it is strongly advised not to visit the area without the appropriate vaccination. That's why he stays in BA for a few more days before heading back to Poland. For us, another two exciting weeks are coming, during which we want to travel to the 'End of the World'. And then it's time for us to return home. But we don't want to think about that just yet and are looking forward to seeing Patagonia again!