It's been almost a year.
ops... it was just January.
I’ve been obsessed with finding and subscribing to new Substack publications lately. fictional. recipes. traveling to Japan. and even taking care of toddlers. and I don’t even have kids. *yet. January flew by and now I am on the countdown for March, where my partner and I will hopefully see our first baby come home: a Maine Coon cat! Well… before talking about that, let’s do a little catch up, shall we?
Last time we spoke, I was still traveling in Brazil. More specifically, the northeast. Well, I’m now back home after going back home, Brasília, for Christmas with my parents, back to Rio for New Years Eve, and Argentina for the first few weeks of January. Yep. It’s a zig-zaggy rollercoaster, but it’s been fun!
👀 Brazil recap
After the Pipa nightmare, we continued our journey in João Pessoa, which was fun, peaceful, and definitely an incredible finding in Brazil. On December 24th, we took a flight and landed in Brasília, the capital of Brazil, a few hours later. My dad was already on standby waiting for my partner and I to arrive.
In my family’s culture and tradition, we have a big meal on the 24th, to celebrate Christ’s birth, and… you should fast and wait until midnight for the feast to get started. I was starving. My partner as well. And coincidentally, or not, my brother. But he’s always hungry, so don’t take that last part too seriously. To add a little cherry on top of this starvation cake, my parents also decided to throw a big xmas party… social battery, who?
Well, jokes aside, it was fun to spend Christmas back home after so many years taking my parents to places abroad so we could spend this holiday together. After having a blast with them, my dogs, and our family friends, Drake and I headed back to Rio for a few days.
In fact, the last few days of the year. New Years Eve, “Réveillon” - as we call it in Brazil, was around the corner and to celebrate this special day, and Drake’s birthday, our friends came to spend sometime with us and visit Brazil for the first time.
We had a lot of fun taking them to Belmonte Ipanema for a few caipis and some pornstar martinis, Explorer Bar and Bar do Mineiro for a special feijoada in Santa Teresa, and Lilia in Rio-centro. The cherry on the cake was definitely having fun during NYE at the Sugarloaf Mountain.
For context, last year, in 2022 - 2023, Drake and I spend NYE at Churrascaria Palace and we had a splendid dinner. But, being in Copacabana after midnight, which was exactly when we finished our meal, was a little too much when staying in Leblon - there were no Ubers, no taxis or any sort of transportation, so we ended up having to walk for a couple hours to get to the end of Leblon and relax in our accommodation.
With that in mind, we ensured ourselves and our friends a great experience by spending new years eve at Reveillon do Morro, with an all-inclusive party we had food, drinks, and ourselves to enjoy, laugh, and start the year with the right foot 🤭
After New Years Eve, my person’s birthday arrived. Drake turned 26! Drake’s friends and I planned an entire day with a lot of fun for this super special day, starting with a little birthday cake, that we all shared and enjoyed every bit of it, followed by a little boat adventure during our morning and afternoon. This was really something. The boat had a grill in its back and our captain, besides piloting the boat, was also barbecuing for us in the back.
To close this amazing day with a golden key, we took Drake to Cipriani in Copacabana Palace. He was asking me to go to this restaurant from the beginning of our trip, but I planned his birthday 4 months in advance, so I had to save a special spot for a special occasion, right?
From here… we headed to Argentina.
🎢 Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is always an amazing city to go back to. It feels very European, with a higher dose of human warmth. We first stayed at Recoleta, the neighborhood I stayed the last time I visited the town, it is a beautiful, well kept, and peaceful part of town. Feels very family-oriented.
A great hotel, great restaurants, and nice bars was everything we needed to spend our first week in town. We stayed at SuMa Recoleta, where we could easily visit El Cuartito for a fugazzetta, and tourist attractions like the Floralis Generica.
For our second week in BA, we decided to switch hotels. Terrible mistake. We ended up booking a place that was nothing like what was advertised in a miles platform for its pictures, located in a sketch part of town, and with a terrible infrastructure. After unsuccessfully trying to get the booking cancelled by the host so we could get a refund, we ended up moving to a different location on our own dime, Pallermo Chico.
Pallermo Chico was definitely my favorite neighborhood from all the ones I’ve visited in BA. Very peaceful, lots of dogs 👀, apartment close to a park, and surrounded by amazing restaurants, and walking-distance to busy fun bars in town. We stayed in an Airbnb and, after understanding our situation, the hosts promptly offered themselves to help us out and get the apartment ready for us. The rest is history.
Highlighting some four restaurants you can’t miss in Recoleta and Pallermo:
With all this adventure, we also decided to finally take our plans to get a second tattoo together out of our Notion projects. Paixão, which means passion in Brazilian Portuguese. It is our little pet name and definitely what I feel more and more for Drake as time goes by :)
Together with this special one, I also did a couple of fun ones: a “few” finger tats and a dog inside a wine glass, the latter combines two of the things I love the most lol.
The inflation in Argentina definitely enabled us to enjoy the city to the fullest.
See you in the next edition ;)
🤫 Some extra things for ya