uruguay to buenos aries to bolivia
(unedited)
We left Uruguay in late July and spent a week in Buenos Aires. Our arrival in Buenos Aries was met by a phony AirBnB host and his apartment, leaving us in the rain on a street corner with no ability to connect with the internet to make other plans. After being annoyed by the situation, fate led us to a hotel in the heart of a cute part of town. It was nearly 11PM and they had a room. We rarely stayed in hotels as they are expensive and don’t offer the ability to cook. But this twist of fate was a gift! We ended up staying in a beautiful B&B for five or so nights enjoying the hot shower, comfy bed, rest and all around peace. One of our mini-moon moments.
It was in Buenos Aires that I was acutely reminded of the nutrition requirements of my body. Leaving our kitchen in Uruguay, I knew it would be a challenge to find foods that make me feel vibrant rather than sickly. But, this is a journey and staying in one place was not the purpose of it. I got sick in Buenos Aires for the first time since eating a mindful diet in Uruguay. It landed me in bed for a couple days but offered an unexpected, heart-warming silver lining. The night I was coming down with my diet-related illness, we walked to a Vietnamese place for simple, nourishing soup. We were warmly greeted by the owner and her partner. She was from Vietnam, he was from Africa and they fell in love visiting Buenos Aires and decided to stay ... together. When our order came, I could not eat. In fact, the nausea was building up and I asked John if he could rush through his meal so I could get home as soon as possible.
The owners noticed my reluctance for eating and inquired if I was okay. I let them know I was coming down with a stomach thing but that it wasn’t contagious and I would be okay. A few moments later they brought me homemade ginger tea and they doted on me the whole time we were there. When we left, the woman asked me where our hotel was located because she wanted to bring me more ginger tea later that night and make sure I was okay. Amazing.
We found this kind of warm-heartedness throughout Buenos Aires. In a city of more than ten million people, we were amazed by the level of kindness and care—making Buenos Aires an all-time favorite city for us.
From Buenos Aires we went to Santa Cruz, Bolivia—in the north east part of the country. Santa Cruz is sprawling and chaotic and we appreciated its raw charm. We spent our 4th wedding anniversary in a family-style cafeteria with bright halogen lights, a salad bar that had items out for hours, but the attentiveness of our waiter and all the happy families surrounding us made it a special night.