Today was a relaxed Sunday, starting off with sleeping in until 9:30am. We ate a breakfast of mini alfajores and the Argentinian version of Frosted Flakes while watching whatever was on the TV—Kung Fu Panda 2 (audio and subtitles in Spanish, don’t worry).
Around noon, we walked around Palermo, one of the rich neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. We visited a Japanese garden, which was just one of the many public parks in the city. After a French lunch, we headed to San Telmo, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires.
We explored the street market in San Telmo that’s only open on the weekends. There were many artisans and vendors selling various things, such as jewelry, leather items, garrapiñadas (peanuts coated in sugar), handmade shawls and scarves, and paintings. We listened to guitarists and singers perform, as well as one group of very loud drummers. A few puppet shows kept us entertained as we continued our stroll down the street. Later, we went inside a sheltered market which contained many cafés and other food shops.
Being my last full day here, I was stuffed with many new foods my host family wanted me to try before I left. I tried a pastelito de membrillo, which is a square of fried dough filled with dulce de membrillo—a paste-like filling made from the membrillo fruit. Later, we went to a Havanna store filled with shelves of alfajores. I spent a while trying to choose which boxes to bring home among the classic chocolate, white chocolate, merengue, cacao, and many other types. Of course, we also went for ice cream, since it’s a classic afternoon snack here. I wasn’t expecting anything much different from an ice cream store in the US, but the flavors were extremely different and unique.
We had our last dinner together tonight. Unfortunately, it was not asado day, but I enjoyed some pasta soup instead. We spent the dinner talking and listening to music from both the US and Latin America. The rest of the night was spent packing my suitcase and fitting in all the food I bought. I can’t believe we’re leaving tomorrow 🙁
