Well our little luxurious bubble popped on Sunday morning marking the end of Abby's birthday celebrations and our time to leave Boutique behind and head back to a world of B&B's and hostels.
We had such a lovely time at The Aubrey, it was so nice to shower and to be able to blow dry my hair for the first time in two months - and to get dressed up (well as dressed up as it's possible for me to do with the contents of my rucksack!).
On Friday night we had dinner in The Dining Room at the Aubrey which was excellent. Our evening started sitting outside in the sun (at 8:15pm!), a real treat just 10 days before Christmas, drinking G&T aperitifs which were followed by a pisco sour and then another.... to use the words of a good friend "one is just never enough is it...."
Our Wagyu beef and Boar casserole main courses were washed down with a very good Limited Edition Malbec and after dinner we moved to the bar area where we enjoyed a few drinks, including a bottle of sparkling wine which was sent over at midnight to celebrate Abby's birthday (now that definitely wouldn't happen in a hostel... God I love boutique hotels....).
The Dining Room at The Aubrey
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| Cheers! |
Abby treated us to dinner at Astrid Y Gaston on Saturday night, a top end restaurant in South America and we were not disappointed. Maracuya Pisco's to start and then I had the mixed seafood ceviche followed by the Lomo Saltado which is a traditional Peruvian dish of steak and vegetables.
Saturday was our designated Christmas shopping day and so we were up and out early, it was the first time in almost three months that we had been somewhere with designer stores and the first 30 minutes were spent grinning and saying thinks like "ah, shoes..." and "ah, Clarins...." to each other. Then it was down to business, with a set budget and one and a half hours we split up to make sure that Father Christmas doesn't disappoint either of us too much next week.
After breakfast it was time for another bus trip, this time to cross the border into Argentina and then head to Mendoza to meet Phoebe and Ben who we became friends with in Bolivia - they were fellow members of the UN Peacekeeping Mission.
Mendoza is the largest wine producing region in Latin America and so you can probably imagine that Abs and I are hoping for good things and so whilst I'm sorry that our Boutique bubble has popped I am very much looking forward to the cork of our first bottle of Argentinian Mallbec popping.
See you there.
Raine x
