5 - Oct 17 - City Tour and Soccer Players

We set out early on Thursday, October 17 to do the city tour.  We purchased 48 hour passes so we would have time to see what we wanted and hop off to explore a few places we wanted to see up close.  The city tour was AWESOME!  You can listen to it in 9 different languages and it gives info about so many of the tourist areas.  We learned so much about Buenos Aires those two days on the bus.  

Our main stop for the day was Caminito.  We got down and immediately found a restaurant for lunch since we'd already been on the bus tour for a couple of hours.  We ate at a restaurant called Puerto Viejo.  We all ordered choripan, which is a staple in Argentina.  It's just like it sounds - sausage and bread - and is delicious.  It took FOREVER to get a seat even though we were the only ones waiting.  One thing I should mention is that Argentines tend to eat and chat for a long period of time (much longer than most people would do at restaurant in the states).  So sometimes have to wait a substantial amount of time to get a table.  When we finally got seated, we saw a table with a bunch of older men playing a card game.  Marcos said that is pretty common.  The biggest table at this restaurant was clearly going to be occupied for quite awhile.  Marcos is obsessed with parrillas (the type of grills they use to cook asados).  He asked the waiter if he and Preston could see the grill before they left so of course they got a picture with the cook.  Pretty awesome!

After we ate, we walked up the little path to the bonbonera (soccer stadium) for Boca Jrs.  Marcos has been a fan of Boca Jrs since he was a little boy.  Their rival team is River.  Their rivalry is INTENSE!  We spent some time in little shops along the path, purchased soccer jerseys and t-shirts, and finally made our way to the statues of the soccer players.  

We found Messi and took a picture with him.  I pulled out a Christmas card and numbered sticker from a friend of ours who lost their 19-year-old son in February 2023.  They sent out stickers asking friends and families to take Sam along on their adventures because he was always seeking adventure.  I decided meeting soccer stars was a good enough adventure for Sam since many of our memories with him involved sports.  Marcos couldn't believe I had brought the card and sticker with us.  It was a very special moment for all of us!  

We took a few more pictures with other soccer stars statues, and then rushed to catch our bus so we wouldn't end up stranded in a sketchy neighborhood at night.  

We had a simple dinner in the Airbnb that evening and then Marcos went to Parque Norte to play tennis with his friends the Walkers (Alexis, Christian and their brother-in-law, Fernando).  The Walkers are friends that Marcos met when both families were living in Mexico, and they love tennis as much as Marcos does.  Yes!  Even on vacation, watching soccer and playing tennis were the highest priorities for Marcos.  Preston went with Marcos to watch him play tennis and to film for a little bit.  I stayed back with Marissa and Caleb.  Our day was plenty long without adding two hours of tennis at the end.  ;) 

Preston got bored by the end of the tennis match and started exploring the grounds.  He found a frog and caught it.  I love that even on vacation my kids are always curious about their surroundings - insects, animals, plants, trees, etc.  We are constantly learning and exploring no matter what our surroundings may be.  

Marcos, Preston, Alexis, Christian, and Fernando all went out for pizza after tennis at a pizza place called La Guittara.  Preston LOVED the pizza!!  We would all soon learn how much we love the pizza in Argentina!

4 - Oct 16 - Burgers, Bicycle Carts and a Boat Ride

Wednesday, October 16.  We started out our daily adventures walking around to find somewhere to eat.  We ended up with some tasty burgers from a restaurant called 1516.  We were the ONLY ones there during the lunch hours, which was so awesome!  Marcos became fast friends with Diego (the manager of the restaurant) and they chatted throughout lunch.  Marcos had such a great time, that he ended up going back to the restaurant several times during our trip to watch soccer games on the big screen.  That man LOVES his soccer!  

Marissa and I found a cool tree in the restaurant and looked it up.  Diego told us it was called "níspero."  We looked thait up and found out it is a loquat tree.  Super cool!  We loved finding new plants and animals during our time in Argentina.

We started walking to Rosedal (a big park area with a famous rose garden), but we decided we were a little far from it and ended up grabbing a taxi.  We squeezed in the backseat and Marcos hopped in the front.  Thankfully our taxi driver didn't care - that was NOT what we found throughout most of the trip.  We often ended up needing to take two Ubers to get our clan of 5 anywhere.  

Rosedal was BEAUTIFUL and the weather was PERFECT!  We had such a great time!!  The park reminds me of Liberty Park.  It's HUGE and has paths for bikes and pedestrians without cars.  We rode these fun bicycle pedal carts around the paths.  We all fit on one, but the guy talked us into getting two so we wouldn't be crowded.  We would have been find with one!  We got super close on this trip and learned to do EVERYTHING together.  It was really fun to watch our strengths and weaknesses come into closer view and fall into place to work like a well-oiled machine.  

We also had a ride on paddle boats.  It was AMAZING floating through the water and seeing all the plants and trees surrounding us.  We had a great time.  Caleb was a champ and paddled for a big portion of our ride.  He loved it!  

We headed back to the Airbnb to rest a bit and then set out to find a grocery store.  We knew that eating out for every single meal wasn't a good idea so we needed to find some simple foods to eat from our home base.  The kids were so excited about milk in a bag.  We were definitely a sight to see trying to figure out how to make milk in a bag work with the little plastic jug in the fridge!  We started out by pouring it into the jug.  Marcos later told us we were just supposed to put the bag into the jug.  Who knew?  We made some pasta for dinner and later took a walk through the neighborhood and ended up getting some tasty ice cream from a place called Alfa.  DELICIOUS!  The kid who owns Alfa is 20 years old and makes all the ice cream flavors himself.  Super impressive!  The kids immediately fell in love with dulce de leche ice cream!! 

Marcos was hoping to go to a soccer game while we were in Argentina, but he was unable to find tickets.  He was a little disappointed, but settled for the next best thing.  He and Preston headed out to find a place to watch the Argentina vs Bolivia game on the big screen.  They ended up back at 1516 with their new friend Diego who warmly welcomed them and gave them both free Sprites.  Preston and Marcos both had a great time and Argentina won.  Marcos definitely LOVES his soccer!