20/01/2019 – Buenos Aires, Argentina

We woke up at around 0800, made a coffee and went and got straight into mum and dads bed. Mum and dad were finishing packing their bags. We have given them loads of stuff to take back to England with them, thermals and the like, things we shouldn’t need now we have summer in Brasil ahead of us! It is a bit touch and go as to whether their bags will be too heavy or not, we joked that mum might have to put on all our clothes including my red dungarees which painted a funny picture. Once they finished packing most of their stuff up, we got dressed and went down to breakfast. We are all still pretty full from last night, and I think dad and Josh have fuzzy heads after the Malbec at dinner! When I asked dad how he felt he replied that he didn’t need any Malbec for a little while now! We stuffed ourselves full to make the most of the last of the free food. Josh said he was going light but still managed three courses for breakfast! I don’t want mum and dad to leave but at least it will only be 6 weeks this time and not 6 months until I see them again! We went back up to the room and I downloaded some podcasts onto mums ipad for her and showed her how to listen to them. I was wandering around like their shadows for the morning trying to make the most of every minute with them until they left! We helped them with their bags down to the front of the hotel and got them into a taxi. We sadly said our farewells and waved them off down the road. Dad had organised a late check out for Josh and I so we could make the most of the nice hotel for the next few hours. We went back up to our room and organised our things a bit. It is amazing at how quick Josh and I can make ourselves at home, we are constantly packing and unpacking our things! We put our swimming stuff on and went up to the hotel pool. The pool was a lovely temperature, and it was sunny outside. We sat on the sun loungers to dry off before heading back to the room. Even though it was lunch-time, and hot outside, I had a bath, as I guess it will be the last one until I get home now! Then we packed our things and had an hour to just chill in the room before we needed to check out. We took our things down to the lobby and Josh handed our key in and ran to the cambio down the street to change up the bonus dollars dad had handed us as he left us. Josh got an incredible exchange rate, good for us but I guess not a great sign of how things are going in Argentina. We then scooped our things and hopped in a taxi to our air bnb. What with staying in such a big hotel we didn’t want to risk getting an Uber and getting into trouble, plus the accommodation wasn’t too far away. The taxi took us to the door of our air bnb and we knocked and were welcomed in by a tall and huge man named Andres. Honestly, he held his hand out to greet us - it was bigger than the size of my head! He warmly welcomed us up to his beautiful little flat with high ceilings and masses of character. We got a tour and shown to our rooms. I spotted a few medals dotted around and asked him about them – turns out he is an Olympian Hammerthrower! It is funny who you meet on your way isn’t it! We set our bags down and set off on our way pretty much straight away. We were both hungry, it is probably the longest we have been without food in a long time, and as mum said earlier, the first time we have felt hungry in about two weeks! We walked down the road to Plaza Armenia and found a fast food place where everything on the menu is the equivalent of about £1! We had some food and then got a taxi to the Recoleta cemetery, which a few people, including dad, had recommended to us. The cemetery was so interesting it was like a little town of its own. We made sure to pass the grave of ‘Evita’, and otherwise wandered about getting lost between miniature greek temples and baroque cathedrals. Over 90 of the tombs are listed as national historic monuments. It really is somewhere that is quite hard to describe, but it is fascinating! As the security man rang the bell to make us aware of the cemetery closing, we left and hopped into a taxi back to Palermo. Don’t want to be in the cemetery after dark, it would be the most creepiest of places! We went to the supermarket to pick up some groceries and then walked back to our accommodation. It had been a sweltering day so our first port of call was to lay on our beds with the fan on to cool off. We need to acclimatize as Brazil will be even hotter. Andres, our host laughed when we told him we were heading up to Iguassu next because he said it will be so unbelievably hot at this time of year! After watching an episode of Breaking Bad we made ourselves a gnocchi dinner (it must have been the longest we have been without gnocchi in a while too!) We ate in the lounge and chatted with Andres for a while. We washed up and then relaxed for the evening.