south american nostalgia

on thursday night my friends and i went out for our final birthday celebration of the week to celebrate my roommate maggie's 25th. maggie, a foodie if there ever was one, chose al primo canto in the river north area of chicago. because i've really let myself go on my restaurant resolution, i was really excited to try a new place. as luck would have it, this location just opened on monday so it was new for us all.

i went in with no expectations because i couldn't get the fancy menu to work on my computer, and i was greeted with a hearty, woodsy smell and a serious dose of nostalgia. the place looked, smelled and felt like a restaurant you would find in south america. the summer before i started law school, three friends and i took a trip to argentina, uruguay and brazil - 13 cities in 21 days - it was a whirlwind adventure. after enjoying a delicious churrasco at al primo canto, i gave myself a study break and went through all of memories from the trip and picked out some mvp's (most valuable pictures)

in front of the law school in buenos aires

in the "la boca" neighborhood of b.a.

almost every meal we ate looked like this. al primo canto, take note*

from b.a. we took a ferry to colonia, uruguay

and then to montevideo by bus...

there was a lot of travel by bus

we traveled back into argentina to visit some ruins...

the complete group of travel buddies, fallon, myself, magdalen and missy

iguazu falls was an incredible place

missy was dragged onstage to dance with some brazilians

fallon and magdalen shared a romantic moment on horseback while i was almost thrown and had to ride back with a ranch hand

this is in curitiba, brazil:

and here is paraty:

it was july in the southern hemisphere, so the weather didn't always agree with us...

but at least we can say we were there.

i hope you enjoyed looking through these! i really miss this trip.