Adventures in South America

Starting to say Goodbyes

We are approaching the last days of our trip here in South America. Seth and I have both really enjoyed being down here immensely. We have made so many good friends down here and enjoyed so many once in a lifetime experiences; we definitely feel extremely lucky to have had this opportunity. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and that end is definitely impending for us. For me it is very bittersweet... it takes time to adjust to a new place and we finally feel like 'natives' here in Buenos Aires. But at the same time I do miss my family and friends back home. It will be weird being back in NY after so much time.

Yesterday was the official start of our goodbyes. Seth and I stopped by the office of Endeavor in the afternoon. This is the organization that I have been volunteering for over the last couple of months that I have been here. Endeavor's purpose is to provide support to a selective group of entrepreneurs that are chosen through their rigorous multiple step selection panels. They are headquartered in NYC (a few blocks away from the apt in Manhattan) with offices in Brasil, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, South Africa and of course here in Buenos Aires. The organization identifies entrepreneurs in emerging economies and pairs them with investors and mentors. By creating a successful business, they in turn support the local community (creation of new jobs, stimulation of the economy on a small scale). I said goodbye to Julia, Hernan and Nancy, 3 of the 6 staff members in the Buenos Aires office. I hope to have a few minutes to run back to say goodbye to Alejandro Mashad who runs the organization here.

Seth and I also met up with Silvina, his wonderful Spanish teacher. She is an amazingly nice person and we ended up spending the whole afternoon and evening together. We started off by walking around a bit for some shopping. We continued to a very cute tea shop in Recoleta called Sentirte on Riobamba. We spent a couple of hours there talking and enjoying tea, scones, muffins and other snacks. Silvina presented Seth and I with very thoughtful gifts -a leather holder and coaster for the glass coffee cups that people here typically drink their cafe cortados in. Very cool! Afterwards, Seth had a hankering from some ice cream so we headed over to Freddo around the corner and spent some time shooting the breeze and talking there. It was about 20:00 by the time we left and headed to the apartment for a bit. Silvina agreed to join us for dinner with Fernando so she hung out with us looking at pictures and listening to music. Around 22:30 we headed over to Al Andalus for dinner and had a great time talking with Silvina and Fernando until after midnight. Unfortunately we also had to say our goodbyes as we are not sure we will have a chance to see them before we have to return.

In a way I am happy that we decided to not have a going away party; I think it would have been to emotionally overwhelming to say goodbye to everyone at once. Its a little easier a few friends at a time.

posted by Kathy T @ 7:30 AM