Well, we said we´d be back, but didn´t think it would be so soon!
It was really lovely pulling into Posadas bus station (even though they have the WORST toilets in the world), it felt like coming home.
In fact, I´d messaged Aida and our other Posadas contacts already and they had the proverbial welcome mat out. Well, towels anyway, I´d asked if we could have showers there when we arrived, and in exchange, I´d buy pastries for breakfast. The deal was done, and freshly-showered after our marathon slog, we sat and chatted with Aida and Flor (and new voluntario Emily, who showed us new photos of Augustin & co at the refugio - it was really weird seeing her stuff in "our" room...) like we´d never been away. Camila, who´d obviously not read our email, went absolutely *mental* at our return, really beside herself, neither of us had ever seen a dog so excited!
We left our bags there, took a house-key again (just for the day) and went off to find a hotel for the night. Turns out (Aida called ahead to find this out), we couldn´t leave Posadas that night as planned, so we´d have to stay a night.
We tried the Posadas Hotel, the town´s only boutique joint, but it´s actually Winter holiday fornight (hence the paucity of available buses too) and they were fully booked - damn, I´d fancied a bit of luxury!
Then I remembered this incredibly ancient-looking hotel, which just looked really sweet and charming and quaint, with a crumbly old dear in reception, which we´d walked by weeks previously. Miracle upon miracles, they had one room left. I think C thought it was run-down rather than cute, but it was clean, dry, the old lady was friendly and welcoming - and the room was so *incredibly* cheap (50 pesos, um...60 pesos is 10 quid!) and only for one night, so he couldn´t turn it down either. Although we were slightly amused and not a little worried by the electric shower.
This "electric" shower had a plug. I mean a real, "electric" plug. With pins. And a socket. About a foot from the water flow.
The handwritten instructions instucted us to
1) fill up the tank.
2) Plug it in and leave it for 10 minutes to heat up.
3) Unplug and shower. It also recommends
4) you don´t plug the shower in without any water in the tank.
shower
I would add to that 5) make sure you have dry hands when attempting to do anything with the plug - it sparked brightly when I plugged it in.
I actually kissed C goodbye before I got under it the following morning...but it´s OK people, we´ve both lived to tell the tale.
I noted it was a bit different to the swanky hotel we had in Sao Paulo (above)
Checked in, bags dumped, we spent a lovely weekday in Posadas, doing what we´d never got round to doing all the time we were there...being tourists!
Wandered through town, had breakfast at the Posadas Hotel, took a stroll through a craft market, bought a few more pressies, was mildly embarrassed whe one of my former students, Florencia, came over and kissed me "hi"...she´d been in the 5B class I´d walked out of - her mum was setting up a stall, and F was helping her in her holdays, then we met Dani and Fernando for lunch at Alex´s (he wasn´t there though), wandered up to their swanky apartment for a bit (bumped into rather-dull-Gen again...how does she do that!? Just appear from nowhere?! So we had to tell her we´d arranged to meet the guys later at Vitrage), wandered up to Aida´s so Dani could meet the famous Cami, then we said hi again to Norma and Fernando, Dani and her Fernando demonstrated some great new salsda moves they´d learnt (very Dirty Dancing with the lifts!), then having said bye to all, we went for a little siesta.
Later that evening we two went to dinner at Cavas where C had his fave steak dish so far in Argentina again, and we were met a little later by Mariana and Cesar. In the end, Dani & Fernando called off, so Cesar took us to his fave little restaurant again, where we spent the rest of a lovely night in the company of our new old friends.
Next day, we finally managed to visit an art gallery I´d been wanting to visit for weeks, when Oz K had discovered it. Got chatting to the curator, Alejandro, who took it upon himself to be our personal (Spanish language) guide and narrator (we were the only ones there). He was especially thrilled when I showed him the picture of Oz K and told him we were friends and that we were meeting her in Buenos Aires. We had our pic taken together and he has already sent me an email, saying (amongst other things), how lovely it was to meet us, especially as he´s never met anyone of Indian origin before(!) and to keep in touch.
On our way out of town, and before we popped back to say bye to our Posadas family for real, I took photos of all the things I´d meant to in the past - the pastry shop across the road that has "HELADOS! HELADOS! HELOADOS!" in huge foot high letters about 6 times all over it...but never has any ice-cream in cos the freezer has long broken. Our old road. The very smiley man in the ice-cream shop (we bought a final cornet each, for old times sake). Bought a book I´d been meaning to buy from the bookstore. Went and said a final goodbye to Silvina and Aida (she asked "Are you really going this time!?"), although Camila, I think was now too confused and would barely look at us. I think we were messing with her little doggy head too much. Florencia, unfortunately was asleep having finished her final exam that day, so we blew a kiss at the door.
That is, by the way why we decided NOT to go to the orphanage (my school was on holiday, so decisoon was easy). C had already said bye to the kids twice, and we decided a third goodbye would be just too confusing for the little ones, and difficult for all parties, especially where Augustin was concerned.
Went back, picked up our bags and took a cab to Posadas terminal.
A funny aside, I got chatted up by our rather cute cab driver, Richard, when C dashed into he hotel to get our bags (fast worker, eh!?), and then as we paid him and waved him goodbye, he stopped the car, waved me back and handed me his phone number...right in front of C!!! So I could call him next time we come to Posadas, he said. I´m not sure if he meant just so he could take the cab fare...but it made me smile...which was a lovely way to end our visit as I´d been feeling a bit melancholy at leaving again.
Next stop, Cordoba.
2 comments:
hey hun, glad you're finding the time to relax a little now. still checking in when I can. see you in a couple of weeks xxx
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