Argentina – The New Happiest Place on Earth

It turns out the happiest place on earth is not in Orlando, but is actually Persico Gelateria in Buenos Aires. Since so many Argentines are of Italian descent, BA has developed quite a gelato industry. And, following the Lonely Planet 'Licking your way through Buenos Aires', I sampled many. It was a great pasttime in one of the coolest cities I have ever been to and a great finish to my summer adventures.

Other highlights:

• I went to Uruguay (the playtoy of Argentina) with Alon for an afternoon.
• I sampled dozens of cafes, from outdoor cafes that could have been in Paris to funky art gallery-turned-cafes that could have been in Soho.
• I spent Wednesday night hanging out with Stanford people at Opera Bay, BA's smaller and slightly smooshed version of the Sydney Opera House.
• I ate some unbelievable steaks. Many many steaks, including an all you can eat parilla (grill) where everyone gets up to 1 liter of wine with their choice of whatever meats.
• I bought antibiotics to make change since they were so cheap and I knew I would need them.
• I wandered through all sorts of cool areas - Recoleta, Palermo, San Isidro, Puerto Madero, Microcentro.
• I concluded that Buenos Aries is a city as cool as Paris, but with a 3-1 exchange rate.

[Note from Summer 2007: Buenos Aires still receives a 13 out of 14 city ranking - one of my 3 all-time favorite cities]