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.

In Montevideo I picked up a kilogram of this beautiful, super soft wool from Manos del Uruguay.  No idea what I want to make with it, but I think I’m going to dye it.  Back in October I took a natural dyeing class at The Workroom and learned the basics of natural dyeing, after some very haphazard, experimental dyeing with plants in the summer.  In the second photo is a racerback tank I made with some of the dyed fabric in the colour I’d like the wool to be.  Hopefully I don’t end up with 2 giant felt balls.

We arrived at this small fishing village at midnight in the middle of a rain storm.  I won’t go into too many details, but you can probably imagine how our night unfolded in this town where the streets have no names, or if they did there were no signs, with barely a street light, and our very limited Spanish, looking for a hotel called La Posada, which literally translates to “the inn”.  When they opened 19 years ago they were probably the only inn around, but I can tell you most definitely this is no longer the case.  And in the pouring rain these were the directions we were following: “From the Prefectura de Marina, with the sea to your right, walk 120 metres.”

We woke up to the sound of crashing waves, and to my surprise I was not drowning.  What a great way to start the day.  We opened the doors to the balcony and this was our view.  After a week of hustling around Buenos Aires, and a few long nights and days traveling between places, this was perfect.  All there was to do was sleep, eat, surf, or lie around on the never ending beaches.  So that’s what we did for four days.