This happens every time.  I go away, find things I love, come back, and kick myself for not bringing back more.  These are a few of my favourites from this trip.

Alpargatas.  Before Toms there were alpargatas.  They are everywhere in Argentina and Uruguay, but I like these ones in particular because they have the jute soles and thick cotton stitches along the bottom.  And I like the faded candy colours.  And I like the one pink stitch on the green one.  Really should have got a pair in every colour . . .

Dresses.  Okay, so you can find dresses just about anywhere, and I don’t usually love dresses, but I love this one.  The fabric is a cotton silk blend so it’s super airy and light.  Found it at Ayres in Buenos Aires.

Cachafaz alfajores. I could eat these all day, every day!  A thick layer of dulce de leche sandwiched between 2 soft shortbread-like cookies, edges sprinkled with coconut.  Yum!  These ones just caught my eye because the packaging was so subtle and quiet compared to the other loud chocolate bar style wrappers.  I think it’s the frosted matte cellophane.  Gets me every time, but who knew they would be so unbelievably amazing?  I wish I had brought back 3 boxes rather than just one.

The antique markets and shops that went on and on and on in San Telmo were a little overwhelming, but I did find a couple of things, like this old clothing hanger, which probably isn’t an antique, and wasn’t actually for sale, but they sold it to me anyway.  On it is one of the tops I made before the trip, when I realized I didn’t have any summer clothes.  The floral print was a piece of fabric I had been holding onto for years.  There’s something I love about it even though I never wear floral prints.

This is where I had the most consecutive steak dinners, in my life.  After a few nights of eating bife de chorizo (my favourite), morcillo/blood sausage (quite good despite its disturbing name), and ribs, we would decide it was time to take a break and maybe eat a vegetable, that was not a potato.  But when ten o’clock rolled around the next night our thoughts were on where to get the next steak!  Again!  BA beef had taken a grip. Every time the plate was put down in front of us we would ravenously devour the thing before photos ever crossed our minds.  So, no photos of this infamous beef.

In Puerto Madero we saw this giant tall ship, surrounded by shiny new condos. Moving through the city sometimes felt like time traveling.  You can go from having a drink in a San Telmo bar from 1856 to a world of glass condos within a 20 minute walk.

After a quick stop in Buenos Aires we headed west to Mendoza.  Much like the cities of the west coast in North America, Mendoza was noticeably newer, more laid-back, and calmer than the east.  There was room to breathe.

In Mendoza the houses were the colours of ice cream and candy.  Out of the context of food though, I usually think of pastel colours as being more feminine or for babies.  Was this a city of just girly girls and babies?  Nope, there were definitely men there, but oddly they didn’t seem out of place or any less masculine in a sea of pale pinks, light blues, lavender, and butter yellow.  For whatever reason the pastels just worked and being surrounded by soft colours was somehow calming.  It has also made me reconsider the neutral and dark colours I always seem to surround myself with.  How hard, cold and manly of me . . .

Another great thing about Mendoza and the nearby town of Chacras de Coria is the ice cream.  I wasn’t sure what half the flavours were, but the ones I tried were amazing!  One guy even let us try his secret stash of Malbec ice cream.

On our last day in Mendoza we visited a few wineries.  The one that stood out for me was Salentein.  It was straight out of the Da Vinci Code or maybe it was like Dr. Evil’s dark lair.  Anyway, if you’re in the area, Dr. Evil makes some pretty great wine.