Early this morning the rooms were buzzing with the music bees as they hurried their luggage downstairs and out of the country. We ate breakfast swiftly and did room sweeps at least ten times to make sure we didn’t leave anything behind in Argentina.
Before we got to the ferry station to bid the country goodbye, we stopped by the San Telmo marketplace for a few hours. Walking along the 12-block cobblestone road was a hassle within itself, but also deciding which matte stand had better cups was also a group debate.
There were many side streets along the market road full of antiques and dusty old books which I adored. My group ventured off to a side street to see a quaint little bookshop that had a small reading nook in the attic with walls lined with vintage books about botany and philosophy. The book selection was aesthetic and marvelous with book ranging from “Hamlet” to “Traveling the World for Dummies.”
I personally purchased a floral mate cup, an Independiente futbol jersey, and yet another journal. The prices were around the same as the La Boca marketplace, but there were many more stands selling similar things. Every four blocks there was a classical guitar street performer, one of which started playing libertango (a piece in our repertoire) and all of the MYSO kids gravitated toward the sound.
We made our way back to the meeting point by saying “perdón” and “lo siento” and “gracias” a lot. We stopped for lunch about 45 minutes before we had to leave, but due to the busyness of the market, it also took 45 min for us to eat and pay. My group had pasta, empanadas, and sandwiches (the sandwiches took the longest). Thankfully, we made it back on the bus to depart for Uruguay!