Back in Buenos Aires.....
I went back to the Che Lagarto hostel where I stayed back in October and met up with my buddy from Norway, Thomas. The difference now is that he's moved into an awesome penthouse apartment in a nice neighborhood and now we have a place to have a Christmas eve party and then do what Argentinians do best... go out late at night.
And so it went. This had to be the craziest place I've ever been to for Christmas. At midnight X-mas eve, the entire city erupts with fireworks and goes crazy with that for about a half hour. We had a great view from the terrace of Thomas' apartment and celebrated with champagne like it was new year. But this is Argentina which means the night has barely started yet. It's customary for everyone to go out to the nightclubs after dinner with the family and stay out til morning. We did exactly that... with the lack of taxis roaming the street, we finally made our way to one of Buenos Aires' premier night spots called Opera Bay. We didn't even get there til 4 AM Christmas morning but people were still arriving by the hundreds. The place was packed!!! Thousands of Argentines and tourists mixed together in a dancathon that went well past dawn. I think we finally started heading home to get some sleep around 8 AM. This is definitely one for the record books I think.
Well, as usual, it's tough to say goodbye to good friends and good times in a city as amazing as this. I'm off to Mendoza where I will spend New Year and then start working my way south to Ushuaia. I have a travel partner for the moment though which is cool. I met Yngve from Norway in Punta del Este, Uruguay and then ran into him again here at the hostel. So we'll probably end up hanging out together for a couple weeks until we take separate paths. Mendoza is wine country and has a great reputation as fantastic city destination.