Mar Del Plata

Ah, the middle class beach of every Argentine fantasy. At least that's how I read it. Reality is that it's THE middle class beach, meaning about the same thing as an American middle class beach, just showing a lot more skin. Opposite of the super-skinny, young population seen in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata featured a lot of overfed families and older couples, suffering the effects of age. Skin disorders created the next population. On the sand, it was typical to see couples lovingly spread baby oil over each other's backs. Blistering sunburns were, unsurprisingly, also common. (There is some awareness of the sun's damage, which keeps people off the beach before 3 p.m., but the 3-8 p.m. rays are still doing their dirty work.


However, it was the beach, and aside from a brief stint in Punta del Diablo, the first beach I'd seen in many, many moons. I loved it! The beaches were separated by rocks, but there was a beachside road that went on for miles along the coastline, from the downtown area where I was staying, past the port (with a thriving sea lion colony) and down to the less-crowded southern beaches. The weather was perfect, most nights had a breeze, but you didn't need a jacket, and the days never got too warm.




We had to check out the nightlife when I arrived with Michael, and unfortunately, the crowd was mainly in the 18-22 age group, while the drinks averaged 18 pesos each (almost $6, in La Plata they're 10-12 pesos each). But they had a great strip of lights and bars and clubs to keep us going all night long.[pics to come]

One night we had a fancy dinner at El Palacio del Bife (the Palace of Steak), after I was assured they did have veggie options—and it was fantastic. I had Chard Canelone (chard is more common than spinach here) and Michael had a beef dish—sorry, I can't go into much more detail, but he loved it. We were saving up for a night out, so the dinner without alcohol came to 100 pesos (about $30) for the two of us.

We also went to my first fütbol game...but more to come on that later!