“What’s next on the treasure map?” I think this to myself every Friday as the weekend comes near. It’s going to sound a little stupid, but this is because of my self-made scavenger hunt throughout the city of Buenos Aires!

First, let’s dive into three things. Number one: besides going to the gym, probably my favorite pastime is walking around the city. I love doing this no matter where I am—Pittsburgh, Miami, New York, Buenos Aires. Walking is definitely my preferred mode of transportation. If it is less than an hour to walk, I can’t even justify taking a bus, subway, or car. I have to walk. Not only is it exercise, but it is also a great way to become familiar with a place. There are so many different routes and cool places you find while walking that you would never find any other way. Since Buenos Aires was a new city for me, I have spent lots of time walking around, exploring at my own pace, and mapping my way through the city. Number two: I love taking selfies. I am sure that fact is pretty clear by now. Almost every one of my pictures that I post here is a selfie of me during one of my activities. I love them because I love myself and love taking pictures of me. I also love them because it gives me another connection to my role model and the selfie queen, Kim Kardashian West. Number three: we all know I don’t like to party and go out late and do all the things that most kids my age like to do. Because of this, I stay in most nights and have nice peaceful nights. But also, because of this, there were many weekends were I barely left my house. I would study for school all day and then not have anyone to do anything with at night since all of my friends were hitting up the coolest, new Boliche. About a month into my time here, I was complaining to one of my friends about this. I was going crazy on the weekends and needed a reason to get out.

Knowing all of this about me, when I was complaining to my friend about my weekend problem of nothing to do, she came up with the idea of the Buenos Aires City Scavenger Hunt. Pick a spot on the map in a new place, find a statue around there, and then snap a selfie. Those were the rules. I thought it was a good idea and definitely a way to get me out, I just didn’t know if I would like it. But I had nothing else to do, so I thought I would give it a try. And let me just say, it has become my favorite thing about my time here, and I really look forward to finding my new adventure every week. I have visited so many different places and seen so many different statues. My two favorites are by far the statue of Olmedo and Portales and the one a human torso.

I like to say that Olmedo and Portales are my new best friends. I sat with them on that couch for a rather long time and the three of us just chilled together and watched the many people walk down Avenida Corrientes 🙂

 

I like the statue of the torso because of my love for the gym. It’s a huge 6-pack abs smack dab in the middle of the park. I mean, for a gym fanatic like me, how can I not just love that?

 

I have walked around along many different routes to see many different statues as well.

 

I still have one weekend left here, so I am for sure going take advantage of it, despite all the studying I have to do for finals and all the packing I have to do before going home. Whenever I tell people about my self-made city scavenger hunt, I get laughs. “Scavenger hunts are for little kids” is what they all say. Maybe saying “scavenger hunt” isn’t the right way to frame it. But one thing is for sure, it is so much fun. I know the city so well because of this little game I play with myself. It is truly my favorite part of every week and for me, way more enjoyable than any night club or bar that there is. It is just another part of what I consider “good, wholesome fun!”