Peru/Brazil/Argentina Day 24: Palermo and Life-Changing Croissants

May 26, 2012
Argentina Day 24: Palermo and Life-Changing Croissants

We got up a little earlier today and headed back to Palermo. Our first mission was to go to a loose-leaf tea shop called "Tealosophy" that was recommended to me by a buddy in San Francisco. We wandered for a bit and couldn't find it, so we gave up and went to a random cafe on the roundabout in Palermo... which was BRILLIANT.

The most epic breakfast cafe in Palermo

This place rocked

At the cafe, we got Espresso and Medialunas (half-moons), which were sweet, slightly crispy on the outside, soft & amazing on the inside croissants!! Whaaaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!! Holy MOLY they were amazing, and we all stared at each other with looks of disbelief at how epic these croissants were. Literally, the best ever. And not a Mike Jutan-style over-the-top "these were the best THING EVER"... but they were ACTUALLY THE BEST THING EVER. It was insane. Totally insane.

Jess losing herself in the gloriousness of the medialunas

Frank unable to comprehend the tastiness

Mid-freak out

Jess going in for the steal

The croissant which made Frank ponder upon many basic questions of life

Oh MAN this was amazing

We chilled there for a bit and then headed back to where we expected Tealosophy was supposed to be - and we found it inside a gallery that had just opened. I bought a huge stack of tea!!! I got some gifts and also some large tins of teas with local and Patagonian red fruits. I got some great ones for myself: Royal Fruit and Green Geisha were my favourites.

Palermo tree-lined action

Not satisfied with only 2 stops for tea so far today, we stopped again at another tea & coffee place for a Maracuya y Limon square and coffee. Wandering a bit more, we got to the Cordoba outlets which were a bit crappy compared to where we were yesterday. We walked from there through towards Palermo Hollywood, the TV district we'd read so much about. Our first impression was surprisingly "meh!" As we got closer to Av Santa Fe, it got more interesting and better. Surprising that it was such a drab area compared to some of the amazing areas in Palermo Viejo we'd seen, since the guidebooks seemed to recommend staying there.

All done with Palermo for the moment, we headed onto the subway back to Florida area, and up to Retiro, so we could start a long walk back to the apartment. There was a cool gaucho store there with some nice belts. We walked down Calle Florida, shopping for gifts. I found myself a leather belt and one for my buddy Alex too. We took a break at Galleria Pacifico shopping mall... and bought yet another baked good!! Tart & Coffee!!! Why not!

On the subway!

Shavuot party poster... in Spanish!

Yep, had to try that weird Patagonia Burger King burger

It was good and weird

As we continued walking down the street, Frank kept convincing me that I needed a pair of real dress shoes to go with my new suit. I wasn't really convinced until we tried them on... and hey, they look pretty cool!! They are "Oxfords" or "Wingtips" and man I certainly have never owned a pair of these in my life! I am totally sold on this now!! We tried at a small cobbler guy and then after headed to a bigger shoe store. I tried on a few and the first one was frilly and too girly. Then I found an AMAZING one... so cool. I told Frank, "You should have told me I'd look like Antonio Banderas in the friggin' Mask of Zorro!" They were pointy and interesting and very "puss in boots" but also made me look like a Spanish adventurer. They rock. Really cool with Jeans too!! Exciting. I love them, very cool!! I apologized to Frank for giving him so much crap and resisting purchasing dress shoes only to find out he was totally right and they are awesome. :)

We got back to Av. de Mayo, and there was some sort of street fair going on. People were grilling meat on some massive sidewalk area. We weren't sure if it was for sale or not, but it looked pretty good. Lots of great arts and crafts there too.

Some sort of BBQ party

Bracelets

Then to the grocery store to pick up some stuff, wine and snacks for tonight. Back home to shower and chill out, have some food and journal. We had some wine and some general chillin', and then headed over to pick up Ben, Sarah and their friends at the Millhouse Hostel. The front desk people there were way too intense and seemed to run a tight security ship at the front door... making us feel a bit unwelcome until we got the message across that we were coming to pick some friends up, not crash at their hostel for free. :) Weird.

Anyway, back we went to our apartment to "pre-drink" before going out somewhere. (We ended up just staying at our place and chatting for ages). Ben and Sarah, our friends from Iguazu Falls came over along with their friends Henry and Lucy (also British)... everyone was SO GREAT!!! What a nice bunch of people.

Lucy, nice moustache!

Our new British friends

Good times :)

Rockin' the Brahma Lime and Good Times :)

We shared a bunch of tasty food, cheese, bread, wine, beer, coke and fernet, etc. It was great. Chillin' and great discussions about our trip, their travels, South Africa, England, etc. So fun. We stayed up till 3:30am, great times, and then decided to call it a night and not do the usual BA thing and START the evening out from this point :) What a great group of new friends and a great exchange of cultures and ideas about travel and life. Ohhh man I love traveling. :)

And a few minutes later... asleep!