How to begin to describe a place that has been home for the last month? Maybe a recipe?
Ok here we go :p
A month in Buenos Aires, a recipe:
1/2 cup of fear and trepidation to be living on my own in an adorable flat in the centre of town
1/3 cup of loneliness that lead to acceptance and love for myself
1 tsp of tears of sadness and happiness
Once you have the above ingredients add beautiful architecture, thousands of cafes, theatres and bookstores. After these are included add:
4 cups of walking around the city getting lost and finding treasured squares, harbours and little cobbled streets.
2 cups of submarino (which is hot milk with a submarine like chocolate bar placed in the milk to sink and melt into it).
2.5 cups of exploring San Telmos twisted streets and sitting in old wooden cafes reading or writing and watching the people pass by and wondering what each of their stories were, where were they going? Why were they rushing?
5 cups of love, they say that Italy is the country of love. But I disagree, Buenos Aires has so much love. Couples kissing on corners and friends long lasting hugs were dotted everywhere in the city. The way that people greet is a hug and a kiss on the cheek, with complete strangers you greet each other like that. So love is passed around from greeting. (The only downfall of that greeting is that if you hug someone who is ill the sickness definitely passes around quickly). Being alone in such a big city is terrifying but the acceptance and welcoming people allowed me to overcome to overwhelming the big city blues.
Once you add all of these ingredients together you will smell the delicious smell of Autumn with a hint of winter in the breeze. The cake will have the colours of red and orange and be dusted with warm sunshine and green green grass. Set the cake to cool near the beautiful delta which with its cold water currents creates the perfect sunny winter day next to the sea side.
Leave to cool for an hour before you ice it so it has time to reflect and think about how far it has travelled and how much it can truly believe in itself and love itself fully.
With the icing, it is very simple, you just add a bucket full of tango, tango music, friends and alfajores. Friends from home, friends from January, friends from travels and new friends, all blended together to overflow the cake with happy emotions, love, laughter and promises to see each other again soon. Tango filled my days and my ears filled with the most beautiful notes. I started tango thinking it was a dance but woah was I wrong. With the steps and spins came more emotions than I could possibly predict. I never thought I could open up so quickly to a stranger and trust him with leading me in a very complex and powerful dance. Just truly amazing, proud of myself and one of the things I will miss most about Buenos Aires. Now I hear tango music and I feel the steps within the notes and can hear the pauses, the breathing and the heartbeats within the moving magical music. Now, on top of all of that sprinkle crushed up alfajores the chocolatey cakey goodness :) even though these delicious cake things exist elsewhere in South America they really aren't as good as the ones you get in Argentina.
Once icing is mixed up spread over the cake and let it sit in the airport for a while, feeling oddly in limbo between wanting to go back to Colombia and staying here in the city that has become my home in the past month. I am truly going to miss it and i will come back one day.
So as my flight is called out I think back on all the little moments that made Buenos Aires so amazing and I promise myself to come back and tango once again along the narrow cobbled streets and below the high ceilings of old tango clubs.
Ciao Buenos Aires.
I will miss you.
One last step :) eat the cake and remember all the good memories that come with the taste of experience.
(Not sure if Buenos Aires or I was the cake.... But I'll leave that up to your interpretation)
Besitos
Xx
