Buenos Aires recap

We spent 9 days in Buenos Aires and I had a blast! Each time I come to Buenos Aires, I wonder what makes it so special. I love everything about it, and most of all, I love how it makes me feel, relaxed, easy going, joyful, romantic.

We didn’t plan much for this visit as we did most of the touristic sights last June. Yet, we had a sort of routine by the end of it. First, I go out for a run, a nice slow long run by the park which I absolutely love (Palermo if you must know!). I ran 8 times in 9 days (anywhere from 3 to 12 miles, whatever my body needed that day) and couldn’t get enough of it. By the time I get home, it’s almost 9am and most of the times the family already finished breakfast (facturas y medialunas everyday!). I would spent 15 min stretching, then slow showering, drink tons of water as it’s so hot now like Jakarta. Then I’ll eat whatever it’s leftover in the fridge (haven’t had oatmeal since we left Brasilia). Probably by 10 or 10:30 am, I start to plan for the day. I usually do one activity with the girls until 3pm or so. By then the heat and the walk exhaust us. We would go back to our airbnb and take a nap/rest. Then I go out to meet with someone. Remember my word for 2026? Connection! I am proud to say, I met with 8 people, most of them I haven’t met since I left Argentina in 2006. I proactively reached out to them to meet up.

1. High school classmate. What surprised me was how much jewelry she uses and brand bag. She’s probably the least well off among people I met, yet very shinny.
2. A colleague who has my equivalent job in Argentina. It’s so nice to learn about her family, something we would never discuss in work context.
3. A college classmate that became diplomat. The funniest thing he shared was that he himself is the relocation team, unlike the huge relocation team I have. He would go alone to Pakistan, hire a taxi driver to find apartment he finds on internet, all by himself.
4. Another college classmate from my engineering school. We used to study together with another girl. I was surprised to learn that despite how hard it was, he finished the degree in 10 years. With one course, he had to do it 4 times to pass. Despite not having talked since 2005, we shared a lot of ideas, especially on parenting (he has a 15 years old boy) and AI (he works in technology).
5. Two friends introduced to me by my BFF. I met one in London in 2018, and the other girl came to visit us in the US in 2015. They are both my age and just got married. I am so happy for them.
6. A colleague from my internship in Reuters. She surprised me the most as she works as full time fitness instructor, left corporate world and teaching finance for over 2 decades. She is 52 and looks so energetic! I asked her “secret” which was not surprising at all, eat well (she’s vegan), exercise, and good sleep.
7. My college professor. Another big surprise! She’s technically my colleague now that she works for the Argentina office. We had a lot to talk about work, and also got to learn about her family.

In average, I spent 3 hours with each of them, that’s the time needed to catch up 20 years of life and experience. I am so glad to reconnect with them. Probably I won’t be keeping in touch with all of them regularly, yet I am glad to spent those hours with them. I learned something and found at least one interesting aspect of their lives. People are so interesting if one spend the time and effort to get to know them. The best way to connect with someone is this one-on-one coffee meetings right?

After these encounters, I go home feeling fresh, energized! I then take the girls out for dinner, for walk, or choose takeout orders. We all go to bed later than usual, 10pm or so.

Some highlight outings:

breakfast on the only day that I didn’t run. Tostadas is the best!

evening walk that ended with ice cream

we watched a tango show this time, fighting against the sleepiness as the dinner show started at 830pm and ended at 11pm

I got emotional listening to the music and the dance. It felt so Buenos Aires.

my morning run view

walking through Av. Libertador. This is my favorite neighborhood in Buenos Aires, near Paseo Alcorta. If only I could live here

we went to an obstacle course, the only kid activity done in this trip

the elegant ateneo library, so pretty

playground one morning despite the heat

another great mall: Galeria Pacifico

took the girls for authentic choripan. She approved it

we did nails too! I am in love with my color.

chinatown on the last day to meet up with family friend as promised to my mom

We all felt sad to leave Buenos Aires. I am already planning my next visit to BA, any excuse I could invent, I’d be back.

Other things that I love about time spent in Buenos Aires:

• I got to journal everyday, 2-3 pages free form about the day before. What we did, who I met, what I felt and thought. It’s a good memory keeper of my vacation vibe and what we did.
• We walked a lot, only taking taxi when it’s more than 45 min. Buenos Aires is built for walking.
• The feeling of total freedom. Not having a plan on vacation feels luxurious!
• Getting to “live” in my favorite neighborhood Recoleta for few days.
• I had sport massage twice. While it’s more intense, it is very effective to relax my muscles.
• Post run relaxing time. I usually rush to the next thing after my runs, not spending enough time to unwind, stretch. I think I’ll have to schedule it going forward ass it seems to help with recovery.
• Shopping! I did quite some shopping of clothes and golosinas.

That’s a wrap of our BA visit. Not the usual vacation type of post as this is more like a revisiting hometown for me. That’s my personal biased view of Buenos Aires, very different from others like this one. She was visiting BA during the same time, and perceived the city in a different way.

Q: Have you done anything surprising to start 2026? Mine was definitely reaching out cold turkey to those people that I met.