Day 536 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
It’s after 8 PM by the time we arrive in Buenos Aires – another 10 hour bus ride that brought us from Bahia Blanca and the lovely Hotel Victoria. We book Uber and the Uber climbs into the thick traffic. This is a big city (16 million people) and it looks and acts like it: eight lane highways, cars and trucks and buses everywhere and not a few angry drivers. One jams his car into the one in front, frustrated because he’s not happy with how things are moving along. He simply bangs into it. Our Uber driver moves on. Finally we break through and make it to our hotel exhausted, and hungry.
In our rooms, we drop our bags. The last bus was the toughest one. Deep breath. We walk outside in search of food and find the La Casa del Nonno restaurant in the heart of the Recoleto District. There are tables outside and we take one. Next to us I see an elegant man finishing a bottle of wine and smoking what looks like his fifth cigarette, if the butts on the table are any indication. He’s been around, I can see. Well into the 70s, maybe more; gray haired, tall with limbs hard as hickory, mustachioed. He has a continental look and I can’t place if he’s Argentinian or not.
He raises one eyebrow as we sit down. We order wine, water, food. Occasionally he catches my eye or vice versa. Finally he speaks and we learn about his interesting story. His name is Peter. He was born in Germany but has lived, it seems, everywhere. After saying hello, the story begins this way: “I come here to Buenos Aires and this restaurant for the cheese. It is the finest in the world!” A great fluttering of hands. “You can’t get it anywhere. Not New York, not Mexico City, not Switzerland.” From there his amazing story continues. (You'll have to read the book.)
When you aren’t traveling by jet, these things happen. And that’s what makes the journey a journey. Not a vacation. We like that!
NOTE: Peter later added that the cheese he so adores is the BBQed Provoleta. If on Lavalle St., keep your eyes peeled and make for La Casona del Nonno.
