30 NOV - 02 DEC
Some people say that life is what happens around you when you're busy thinking or perhaps it may lie in the existence of time where you as an individual spend thinking about things that you may say or may not say, things that you may or may not do. There's a song by Dave Matthews called the 'Space between' that seems to echo those sentiments, '..the space between the bullets in the firefight is where I'll be hiding waiting for you...the space the wicked lies is where we hope to hide safe from the pain'. I guess in the same manner it's been the personal goals or checkpoints that I made for myself in the last few years that gave me enough leeway to not really consider the life or the time that took place between those points. The last 5-6 months on the road thankfully gave me enough time to be able to reconsider that mentality.
Whilst the way that I had arrived back in Buenos Aires perhaps should have made for perhaps a disappointing or sad occassion, it's not the way that it turned out. Dina and I spent our last day once again enjoying our time and experiencing once again those places that made BA special to us. I know that both of us felt that in coming back to Buenos Aires we were in a way coming back home. It was comfortable, familiar and it had such a good feeling about it that you couldn't help but have a smile on your face as you were sitting on La Avenida Boedo consuming your third or fourth glass of malbec as the rays of the afternoon sun caught you in its warm embrace.
Late afternoon shower - Buenos Aires
Later that evening we headed down to San Telmo in search of some good 'ole Argentinian beef, not really a challenge. I had myself a brilliant morcilla and enough BBQ'd beef to satisfy my carniverous craving for weeks...and then just like that, it was all over...
Nearly six months after having headed out of Sydney on the back of a wicked whiskey sour Wednesday I was commencing my final day on this fantastic journey. In almost a homage to all things early morning related and the way that we had travelled around for the last two months, D inevitabley was running late for her connections to the airport. As she furiously packed, looking in dismay at all the items that remained outside her bag and in turn wondering as to how she would be able to fit them into her already bursting breaches, I strolled down to the local cafe and ordered up a couple of cappucino's "Dos cappucino's para llevar por farvor", "Si senor, uno momento". There's something cool about this place and I still haven't been able to put my finger on exactly what it is. Ofcourse there's the language,culture, spirit of the people, food and a way of doing things that's uniquely Argentinian but then again I've been to quite a few countries that have these unique qualities than in turn haven't affected me in the same manner. As best as I could figure it, the place has soul and as a 'gringo' I'm happy to have had the opportunity to have experienced that for a while.
Urban art attack - near Plaza Mayor - Buenos Aires
As 10am rolled around I did manage to assist in getting Dina to the airport express bus station via Retiro station. Typically she was cutting it fine and it was probably the last bus that she could have jumped onto whilst still making check-in for her flight to Auckland. As the bus rolled out of the station and we pulled faces at one another I reflected a little on the last couple of months. Travelling with D had been somewhat of a 'happy fluke'. We'd known each other for about fours years but hadn't seen one another for four years, we were acquaintances and nothing more. Before heading to Europe this time around I had it in my mind that I'd stop in on D in Berlin, have a few drinks and have a laugh, and that certainly happened, but when D decided to join me on my South American adventures it kind of came out of left field. It's then very much in the hands of the God's has to how you work out as travelling partners once you're committed. I've had instances where I've travelled with friends where being in each others company for a large portion of time has caused immense friction and has resulted in a request to draw swords at dawn, this experience however just worked. We got along really well, it was absolutely cruisy and I've got to say that I feel really fortunate to have shared my time in SA with someone as cool as D. I guess I just got lucky :)
It was a beautiful morning in Buenos Aires as D's bus rolled out towards the airport. My flight wasn't leaving until much later that evening (actually 1am the next morning) and hence I had BA to myself that day. I walked down from the bus station near Retiro via Plaza Mayor to San Telmo. I must have walked around San Telmo for hours. It was one of those days that just felt right, a fitting way to part company with such a great place. I didn't feel sad or ripped off by the, it actually felt good, I had a smile on my face and I knew inside myself that sometime in the near future I'd be back to finish off what I had left behind.
Making my way back to the hostel in Boedo I picked a couple of bottles of the local brew, Quilmes, and hoped that I'd be able to catch Jorge before he took off to whatever he did in the afternoon. Jorge was a Colombian guy that we'd met at the hostel a month earlier. We still hadn't quite figured out what he was doing, about as much we could figure was that he was a student that had spent time studying in the US and was now studying in Buenos Aires. Fortunately I caught him just as he was walking out the door and I said, 'Hey man, I was hoping to have a drink with you, can I convince you to hang around?'...his response was 'Sure man, I'll just go across the road and get another bottle'. So there we sat for the afternoon hours, drinking away, enjoying the sunshine and each others company. It was a great way to finish up my time.
Somewhere approaching 8pm I made my way back to Retiro train station and then jumped a bus for the airport. My time in Argentina was up and the adventure that I had commenced months before was now hours away from ending. It had been a hell of a ride and one hell of a rare opportunity that I'd been presented with, one that I was thankfully smart enough to have accepted. A few hours later as Aerolineas Argentinas flight 1182 disappeared into the night sky over Buenos Aires, banking to the left and heading west towards Australia, I wondered how long it would be until I made my way back to this beautiful place. Knowing me and my restless nature I could be fairly certain within myself that it wouldn't be too long and what's more I could be fairly certain that the next adventure was sure to be just around the corner.
It's always Quilmes time in Argentina!
D with our buddy Mafalda - San Telmo - Buenos Aires
