Hustle, Bustle, Blissful Bike Rides, and Late Night Dinners

Buenas Noches! It's nearly 12:15 and my dad and I have decided to call it an "early" night here in Buenos Aires as we have to wake up at the now seemingly ungodly hour of 6 am to catch our flight to Bariloche. Now those of you who know me know that 12:15 is actually quite late for me. It is not often that I elect to stay up late - I like to get up early, and I need no less than 8 hours of sleep to function. I like to go out and dance and have fun, sure, but EVERY night? NO thank you. So when I learned from friends and guidebooks that people dont even eat dinner here until between 10 and 11 PM, much less go out until 1 or 2 am, I thought, "Im screwed. Ill never make it there." But here I am, and gosh how quickly we've adapted. In fact, last night we did not even eat dinner until 1 AM. So here's to living la vida Portena!

We only had two full days to see BsAs, so yesterday we explored much of it by foot. We even managed to pull off using the subte, although I was far too scared to try my hand at the buses - that will come soon enough. I dragged dad from one end of the city to the other, including Evita's grave in La Recoleta, Plaza de Mayo en El Centro, San Telmo, and, finally, escaping the chaos and pollution of the city to wander through the ecological reserve in Puerto Madero. The highlight of which was the whopping serving of ice cream we treated ourselves to - YUM!

Today, we opted for seeing the city by bike - and, my, oh my, what a treat! There is this HUGE park near where we are staying, and I was in love with the rose gardens, canopies of trees, families playing in the grass, and car-free bikeways. Later, we explored some of the less crowded/touristy neighborhoods and bumped along the cobblestone streets before returning our bright orange bikes to their rightful owner. I was reminded of some of the rides I did with Michelle in Chicago and so wished she was here with me!

Tomorrow we make our way to Bariloche to begin the adventure within our adventure. Bring on las montanas!!