Day 94-104 Traveling

Was so busy traveling to Bariloche, Mendoza, Iguazu Falls and Back To Buenos Aires I didn't have time to write. As I jot down the memories of my adventures with the family it is turning into quite the task and quite the novel. Stay tuned as I keep working to finish it. Probably will on this coming Wednesday during the 20 hour bus ride to Santiago Chile. Thanks for the patience!!

Day Ninety Three

     Well I’m done with school in South America! I finished my third month today and walked away with my best exam grades yet. We’ll see but I’m anticipating around a 94% which isn’t half bad from what is considered the best university in South America. 

     That night I went to Pacha with the few members of class who weren’t able to go out the night before with everyone.  Pacha is a club but it is a chain, and they have one in all 8 of the cities that compete every year for ‘best nightscene in the world’. It was good but not as good as it had been billed up to be. However apparently there were two parts to the club and I went into the part that wasn’t as ‘spectacular’ as the other part.  So maybe I’ll go back another time but most likely not.

Day Ninety One and Ninety Two (Wednesday and Thursday)

     Check out days 81-85 as I just updated them

     I have my final exams tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday. It’s looking like these might be my last exams for the next 6 months!  Seeing as this is the case I wanted to do knock these out so I had a private tutor come by for 2 hours after class to help review for my exam tomorrow. Then took a few hours to break before reviewing a little more before bed. Woke up the following morning bright and early to make some oatmeal and coffee before Mariana (my teacher) came by for another two hours pre-exam.  Thankfully it all paid off and the exam went quite well!

     That night we went out despite the fact that we all had the oral exam tomorrow. However I did have Marianna come by after school and my test for one more hour to make sure I was totally prepared for the oral exam. Some of the class had taken both exams today so that they could take tomorrow to travel before the holidays and so we all went out to wish each other buen viaje. Ended up at the roof with Sam and Breanden as well so needless to say the night was fun as always.

     For pic of the day I came across this really cool starbucks that is built into the space under the train tracks near the Palermo Parks. Shout out to all the people in 206 where starbucks started who are keeping up to date on this blog!

Day Ninety

     Before class my dad and I went down to Florida to do a major purchase of Argentine pesos on the black market. The whole process from when we met the guy took probably 45 minutes to complete. Unlike the usual smaller transactions I have done in the past with 'my guy' which take place in the street  this time he took us into a nearby building up a floor and to the back table of a small cafe. Never felt so much like Al Capone in my life!

     After class managed to get a quick workout in and returned home to put down half a chicken that my mom had cooked and left for me. The whole family and Erin left for Puerto Madryn today to go see the whales and penguins and to leave me to focus on my upcoming exams. I won't see them until next Sunday and my mom is worried I will get hungry in the four days till I see them next. 

     Tonight was Caroline's last night so all of us that are left in town went out to the Alamo. (See day 56 for another Alamo picture). We sang every song at the top of our lungs and apparently I missed the memo that we were taking a momentary break to take this picture and was still going full force on a Red Hot Chili Pepper's song:

     In other news Zack left today too to go to Bariloche and then a few other places before returning home for Christmas. I haven't seen him in the last week since his uncle and my parents got here which was a weird way to end our time here but really unimportant in the scheme of all the great things we did in BA together.

     With Caroline and Zack leaving that makes four friends that have left within the last week. Crazy to think I still have 3 months here and how different it will be with those four gone! 

Day Eighty Nine

     Erin Rea my sisters best friend arrived here today making our group five strong. Pretty cool that she was willing to come down straight from school in Vermont for Christmas break!  Pretty much as soon as she got here we went to the park because I wanted to go rollerblading before class. We all got there to learn that the 'street vendors' who rent the blades don't get to the park till 2pm. Today is day 89, I don't think I discovered the park until like day 30 but have wanted to rollerblade since then. This must be the 5th time a pair of blades has eluded me. However we did she some great dogs haha. Dog walkers are immensely popular here. In this picture the dog walker had tied them up to a fence while he sat on a nearby park bench and took a break:

     After class I had a two hour cultural excursion to Recoleta with my school. We spent most of it in the Recoleta Cemetery which I had no complaints with. I don't think I will ever get tired of going to that cemetery. I learned some amazing history and ghost stories too, including the true story about the 15 year old girl who was buried alive in one of the mausoleums.

     My mom made a nice dinner at the house and we played cards and took it easy the rest of the night.

Day Eighty Eight

      We all woke up early to go get a morning run in on the promenade which skirts the entirety of the beach. It was an overcast day with on and off sprinkles which couldn't have been more perfect for a morning run. However after the run when I laid out on the beach I was wishing the sun would peak it's head out:

      Around 1 we had to pack up and drive the 2 hours back to Colonia to catch the ferry. By 6:30 we were back in Buenos Aires. Clearly I didn't take this picture but my dad pulled it up to show all of us where we had been in relation to BA and its fascinating and definitely worth sharing:

(If you click the image it will expand)

     Buenos Aires is the greyish blob on the right side of the Rio Plata. Monte Video is the smaller greyish blob on the left side of the Rio Plata right where the water changes from brown to blue. Punta Del Este is the most famous beach/resort town in Uruguay and is located on the roundish point on the very far left side of the picture. Depending on whether you call this a river or the ocean the brown section is the widest river in the world. 

     Anyway we returned to Buenos Aires and went to get pizza at Pizza Piola. As before, some of the best bruschetta I've ever had. We all got accompanying daiquiris to celebrate a fantastic weekend jaunt to Uruguay. And to top it off we bought a kilo of helado on the way back to apartment. Surprisingly we didn't finish it. Almost, but not quite, which is a rarity for my family when ice cream is involved as it frequently is.

Day Eighty Seven

     Spent the morning exploring the tiny town of Colonia. I also managed to get a great tank tan in the hour  of walking around that the rest of the weekend on the beach wasn't able to correct.

     From there we drove (yes my dad was willing and brave enough to drive here and we rented a car) the hour and a half to Monte Video. Absolutely beautiful city. I found myself actually wishing for the day that I had studied abroad there and not in BA.

     Of course in reality I couldn't be happier with Buenos Aires and the experience has thus far been unforgettable. However the beach and the way Monte Video was built was very appealing and I was bummed we were only going to have 24 hours in the city.

     Our first stop coincidentally happened to be at one of the most famous restaurants on the city. It is one of the only restaurants between the road and the ocean (had to have been grandfather in) and the seafood was incredible. A few hours later we emerged from our table and headed to the hotel and then to the beach to soak up the sun and go swim.

     My dad surprised us all with a beautiful room in a very very nice hotel one block from the best beach in Monte Video. Here's the view:

     Couldn't have been a better day. As you can see not a cloud in the sky but somehow it was still cool enough that between an occasional swim and the ocean breeze I never got hot.

     For dinner we went to a small italian cafe hidden within a residential district of MV. I think we were one of the only tables there that wasn't comprised of local residents.

Day Eighty Six

     Thoughts and prayers go out to the families in Connecticut

    
 When you enter Argentina you pay $160 to essentially buy a ten year visa. However this only means that for the next ten years you don't have to pay to enter the country. There is a still a 90 limit to the amount of time you can stay before you have to leave the country, even if for only an hour. As you can see today is day 86 and my 90 day limit was quickly approaching. In order to not be an illegal immigrant my family and cruised across the Rio Plata on an express ferry to Uruguay. An hour and a half later we docked in Colonia Uruguay. Colonia is a small city, closer to town after being in BA. It was nice though and we ate dinner at a nice parilla in heart of the historic district.

     After dinner we stopped a nearby heladoria (noticed a common theme yet? Ice cream everyday it seems). There was a gaggle of young girls in front who waved me out to talk. Next thing I knew they all were gathering around for a picture. Of course my mom came running out of the ice cream shop to take a picture of her own and now I have it for pic of the day:

Day Eighty Five

     One of the weirder experiences of my life today.  We went to the ‘blind theater’. By this I don’t mean a theatre for the blind but rather a theatre where the audience is blind. As we all know, the blind have extra strong taste, touch, smell, and hearing, and this theatre is based off that concept, that with the removal of one sense the other four are heightened. 

     We were led into a totally pitch black theatre. So dark that I could wave my hand directly in front of my face without the slightest idea it was there. We were individually seated at a table holding 6, my family and two others, on which our dinner had been laid out. We had been told that our plate had 6 parts and we were to start from the left side and work our way to the right side of the plate. We were also told prior to entering that there was a breadbasket as well as glasses of wine on the table.

     I should mention that there was no silverware on our table. We ate the whole meal with just our hands. The whole time waiters were coming around (no idea how they were able to navigate the room) just like a normal restaurant. I call this period of the meal the calibrating process, where are mind got used to not having sight and began to heighten our sense of smell, touch, touch, and hearing.

    Right as we finished dinner the play began. It was in Spanish so my family wasn’t able to understand very much but it was a musical and the experience didn’t rely on comprehension as much as just immersion in the experience.  The entire play took place around us with the actors walking among the tables while acting and singing, occasionally spraying us with misters or rubbing their hand across our backs. It was all very interesting, and by the end you get used to not being able to see but still not really comfortable with the whole idea.

      At the end the revealed the actors and waiters who we had been imagining all night. Turns out about half of them were in face blind, what a twist!

Day Eighty Four

     The family was tired from the last three late nights plus a full day exploring the city while I was in class. As a result we just took it easy tonight. However my mom did make an amazing home made dinner for us.

     One thing is for sure… I sure have missed her cooking. The food here is amazing, and I have barely had any bad meals, but nothing beats my mom’s cooking.

     For dessert we wandered through palermo until we came across a small french cafe. We were planning on just ordering 2 desserts and sharing but fell victim to the descriptions and ended up with four large desserts and sitting and people watching for over an hour while we tried to eat it all.

Day Eighty Three

     Well after showing my mom the classic milonga last night, she wanted to see the nonconventional Catedral Milonga that she had read about in my blog a long time ago. So after dinner we headed to La Catedral. It’s a dark, one of a kind milonga that was created in an abandoned warehouse in the heart of Buenos Aires. It is very popular with the youth in the city and Tuesday nights in particular are quite good.

    My whole family liked this quite a bit more than the parakoultural milonga from last night, especially my sister who last night was wondering why anyone would want to tango but tonight informed me that she “Got it. Well at least more than last night”.

     A very weird coincidence, we ran into all the English guys at La Catedral. I think this was there first time in a milonga and as Sam said “Of all the tango joints, in all the cities in the world…” and while the Casablanca run in might have been a bit more of a coincidence, Buenos Aires has over a hundred milongas and it was really random running into all of them at this random one, especially when neither they nor I frequent milongas.

Day Eighty Two

     The first thing on my mom’s list was to see the World Famous Tango in Buenos Aires. My dad on the other hand was ready to try out the Buenos Aires steak. So come night time we headed to Siga la Vaca, which is one of the famous all you can eat parillas in Buenos Aires. As always it lived up to the hype and we had a great couple of hours diving into the monstrous salad bar and then the vast assortment of meats. I think my dad and I managed to thoroughly disgust my sister and mom with the amount of meat we consumed.

     From Siga La Vaca we headed to the milonga Parakoultural. This was the same milonga I took Erin too. It’s a regal milonga, with poished dance floor and sharp looking dancers. However it is a little stiff and formal and I don’t think everyone was blown away until the show started. In BA there are milongas which are dance halls where anyone can dance and then tango shows which is like going to a theatre to watch professional tango. However most milongas like to do a tango show for about 20 minutes in the middle of the night. The two dancers tonight were very interesting. The woman looked to be 7-8 months pregnant but she did not let that slow her down. They were amazing!! I have never seen tango like that. The intricacies of their steps and the speed, it was incredible. And how that woman was able to dance like that, being so pregnant I have no idea.

     Knowing that was the peak moment of the night we left as soon as the show ended but are planning on visiting another less traditional milonga tomorrow.

Day Eighty One

     The family arrived here today! Of course though last night was Sally’s last night in Ba so I had to go out with everyone. Nothing like leaving for the airport at 8:30 after going to bed at 6:30! However it was great to see them and I forgot completely how tired I was.

     After getting them back from the airport we went and grabbed lunch at an all you can eat vegetarian buffet. We didn’t know it was vegetarian till we had already gone in and it was to late. However it was all pretty gourmet and really not half bad. It was funny though to take them to a vegetarian place for their first meal in the Beef Capital of the world.

     After lunch they all wanted to nap and so I went to Florida Street to exchange some money for everyone and ended up stumbling into a giant festival that Christina put on to try and calm the city and gain popularity.

     After wandering through all the streets filled with people dressed like that and even weirder things I finally returned home. For dinner we went to El Cuartitos my old pizza spot next to where I had lived for my first two months in Buenos Aires. Huge hit with the family and a great way to set the bar for dinners while they are here!

Day Eighty

     Well today was Sally's last day in the city. She is headed to Chile, then Boliva, then Peru before flying back to Canada. It has been great living with her the last week and I think we both had a ton of fun. I think I might meet up with her in January or February either in Bolivia or Peru if I can swing it.

     We had a small going away party for her at our (soon to be mine and the family's) apartment. From there we headed out to a club. She initially wanted to go to Terrazas again but none of us really had it in us so we went to a different club that was close by. Jeffery is the master at somehow getting whatever he wants so for about $10 a person we soon found ourselves at the best table in the club. I happened to meet some local girls almost immediately afterwards and started dancing and next thing I knew it was 5 in the morning and I need to go seeing as how my parents were landing at 10:20 and the airport was an hour away. I found this tree on the way home wrapped in yarn which I thought was pretty cool as well as saw a street fight between some drunk machismo groups of men.

Day Seventy Nine

     Today was Frank's Bar's Anniversary party. I managed to get us guest listed for a party of 7 for the event. In case you are just dropping in on this blog, Frank's Bar is a 'secret' bar in Buenos Aires modeled of the secret prohibition bars in America in the 1920s. So naturally we all dressed up to the best of our abilities for what we had on hand and headed to Franks.

     The party was even better than imagined. I thought I had gotten us onto the guest list which was needed just to gain entry, but in reality we made it onto the VIP list. What was supposed to be an expensive splurge of a night just turned into a free one. We spent a few hours there sampling all the food and all the drink before finally leaving to go to the roof bar to say goodbye to a few friends who were celebrating their last night in Buenos Aires. Needless to say we turned a few heads when the group of us rolled into the super casual Roof Bar.

Day Seventy Eight

     Today was Jeffery's birthday, but I didn't think I would be able to go because it was also Franks Bar's Anniversary party which I had gotten tickets to over a week ago. However then your tipical Buenos Aires day happened.

     It was pouring rain. Let me emphasize POURING. Belgrano, Zack's neighborhood, was flooded in more than four feet of standing water. This of course closed the Subte, and as well led to a few power outages. But on the other side of the city two trucks crashed into one another I guess due to the rain, however one was an insecticide truck with a giant tank filled with the stuff. The truck exploded in what is being dubbed 'the insecticide bomb' or the 'insect cloud' because apparently it actually had a  mushroom cloud. Imagine, every breath was filled with poison. I actually had some friends in that neighborhood who were in school and were stranded in the school until the police came with gas masks to evacuate them.

     So between the flooding, power outage, and insecticide Franks moved their party to tomorrow night, and I got to go to Jeffery's birthday party. We went to a milonesa restaurant and somehow they had a table that fit all of us:

(Jeffery is front center in the orangish shirt)

     I don't know how between this dinner, the asado and the sushi I haven't gained like 15 pounds this week. It's been a terrific food week and I'm sure it will only get better once my parents get here on Sunday!

Day Seventy Seven

     Woke up feeling quite sick and decided to stay home from class today. I'm almost positive it was because I slept with the AC on all night as for some weird reason it makes people sick here. I've never heard of that in the states but here people say "don't sleep with the AC, you don't want to catch a cold" just like we would say "make sure you take your jacket, you don't want to catch a cold." Anyway, I drank a lot of tea and spent the rest of the day catching up on family emails and the like. 

     By the evening I was feeling quite better so I accepted an invitation to my English mate Sam's house for a little asado. He lives with some porteños and the one named Fernando was in charge of the preparation and cooking of the various meats purchased for our meal. He did an amazing job and we ate till we were stuffed. I wanted a pic of the day but didn't take one as the environment wasn't right for it. It was Sam, myself and these three locals who were all lounging shirtless displaying their finely shaped bellies that indicated that this sort of asado for dinner was common place among the group. As great a pic as this evening could have provided I wasn't comfortable coming into their house and taking a picture the first night I met them. Next time though, for sure. 

Day Seventy Six

     Great Day but when is it not in this city? Woke up to Sally cooking breakfast for me as a thank you for me offering to let her crash here for the week. Daria spent the night too after the scary movie we all watched the night before so the three of us all enjoyed a nice breakfast of toasted egg and cheese sandwiches. Afterwards I headed off to class for my second four hour class day. That extra hour each day this month is brutal. Such a large difference between 3 and 4 hours, I leave class mentally drained now. However I wasn't physically drained. Zack and I are getting back into the gym big time this week, after essentially a nice two week break. Got a great workout in and made it back just in time to shower before the dinner party.

     Kitty and I had decided we were going to have a little sushi party tonight. We invited the rest of the English crew and ordered enough to feed 4 or 5. However when everyone came they informed us that they had all eaten already.. So Kitty and I were left with a feast on our hands.

     I also had done a little sleuthing around the city and managed to locate the wine we had been drinking in Puerto Madryn so we opened a bottle of that to accompany our feast.

     After dinner we stayed around the table for awhile playing cards and swapping stories in four wonderful English accents and one very lousy English accent. It's alright though, one day I will master it.

     I really didn't want to go, but they convinced me to go out with them to the club Kika. After being at Terrazes this weekend it was almost impossible to enjoy the hot and crowded Kika. The music was good, I will give them that, but still wasn't enough to make me stay. I called it a night relatively quickly and headed back to the apartment.

Day Seventy Five

     Today was the first day of new level of classes. It was also my first four hour day. I enjoyed the 4 hours as  I can learn a lot in four hours, but I won't lie, it as quite fatiguing. Every month we have two different teachers. Todays teacher I had never seen before, her name is Marcela and she was quite good. It is rumored the other teacher will be Julieta from my first month here. If so, this month will be great!

     We also have 4 new students. One girl from South Africa, and three men from Canada, France, and Italy in addition to Laeticia, Amelia, Kitty, Natacia, Caroline, and myself from last month making ten students in total.

     Sally, who is one of my friends that I made right away when I got here didn't have a place to sleep this week so I said she could crash at my apartment till my parents get here. It seemed unreasonable not to offer with 3 open beds. She is also good friends with Kitty and Daria so after class I hit the gym with Zackary and then came home to find Kitty, Daria and Sally all hanging out. We ordered some pizza for dinner and then afterwards put on a scary movie. I felt like I was 12 again haha but there is nothing wrong with that from time to time!

     Pic of the day is your first look at the new apartment. It's huge and this shows only one room but it will suffice:

Day Seventy Four

     I've made it seventy three days without lying so as much as I would like to about today, I can't start now. I didn't do anything today, today was solely a rest day after last night's adventures. I slept in later than ever before in my life. Notables for today was now that I have a kitchen I can use I cooked my first meal in Argentina:

     After that it was was just a movie or two and off to bed to get ready for the first day of classes tomorrow!

Day Seventy Three

     What a day. I woke up at 10 after only three hours of sleep because today I had to move out of my place. What a great place that had ended up being, I thoroughly enjoyed my two months there. But now its time to move on. I had put a down payment on a new apartment but haven't seen it, something I was slightly nervous about. I managed to make it there by the the scheduled 11:30 meeting time, to find the three Germans who had been living there the last four months still packing up, while the maid was cleaning, while the owner was sitting at the dining room table was sitting at the main table drinking Maté. Utter chaos.

     The place luckily turned out to be quite nice. It is giant by BA standards and it is in a fantastic neighborhood, probably the best actually, right next to the parks and the best restaurants. It is perfect.

     I was to tired to efficiently pack and move all my stuff in one trip so I spent the afternoon slowly packing and taking a couple trips between my old house and the new.

     That evening I had some of the friends over to show off the new place. After dinner we got ready to go out and decided we would break away from our usual club area and go to the bigger clubs which are on the outskirts of the city, none of which we have ever gone to before. We went to Terrazas one of the most talked about clubs in BA. Don't know why we haven't gone before!!

     This club was nuts. It just kept on going and going. I think we finally decided that there were 7 different dance floors with tons of hallways and porches in between. And half of it was outside. Terrazas is spanish for terraces, aptly named since the last and largest dance floor was outside and right over the river which is so wide as its about to enter the Atlantic that it looks and might as well be the ocean:

     We did it as real Argentineans do and stayed all night. Actually we stayed there later than I have ever stayed at a club before. This was taken at 6:30, the crowd had thinned out some but was still going full force. Remember this is just one of the 7 dance floors:

     And while I have been awake for many sunrises in this country, this is the first time I have actually witnessed one over the water like I did here:

     Fantastic club, I will be back, and I am definitely bringing Lucas here when he visits in January!

Day Seventy Two

     Well today was the last day of classes. Exams went well, better than last month. I think I did better on my oral than I got marked for but oh well life goes on, and I'm happy with it as is.

     We all went out to roof bar to celebrate. Roof is quickly becoming our go to bar. Really fun people, great location, outside bars are always fun, and its got the cheapest drinks in BA.

     Some how we managed to get our names on the list for Rose Bars Anniversary Party. So at about 2 we left Roof and headed down the block to Rose Bar. It was a great party. For the first part of the night (till about 3:30) they had a live band playing american classic rock like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC:

     Then the DJ came out as did Rose Bars patented red and green light saberish things. Finally we left as it was starting to get light out. I parted ways with Zack at a choripan place and he headed home. There were two old guys sitting at the bar eating a choripan at 6 in the morning and drinking a beer. They called me over and bought me a beer which was the last thing I wanted on my way home. They spoke zero english but we talked for awhile and I gathered that they wanted to see how good I was with the ladies being from America and all. Right at that point in walk three girls doing the same thing I was doing, grabbing a choripan on the way home from a long night of clubbing. They guys practically shoved me off my stool in their direction. I approached them and subsequently was invited over to join them at a table. To my new found friends delight the girls asked if they wanted to join as well. I guess I was more than worth the beer to them! 

     I ended up leaving and saying goodbye to my two amigos and left with the three girls. They lived close to where I did so we all walked and bussed back together having a grand ol time now that it was full fledge daylight outside. This was one of those mornings where crawling into bed never felt better! 

Day Seventy One

     Not a whole lot to report. More studying, and I looked at one apartment and put a down payment on a different one. I did discover this pretty cool old church in San Telmo though while walking around today:

Day Seventy

     After class walked over to the residence to meet up with a friend to study. She forgot to tell me though that she last minute decided to go out on a birthday dinner so no one was there to let me in. Thats alright though there was a rock festival or maybe a protest one block down in front of the capital building. It was pretty cool and great procrastination for a bit before I returned to studying:

Day Sixty Nine

     Long Day but still trucking. Woke up got some studying before class. Went to class. After class straight to the gym for  the first time in what feels like ages! Felt great though, I'm glad to be back. After that came home and I have been studying, and apartment shopping for where I am living in December. Meanwhile trying to arrange a few phone interviews, catch up on email, and get references sorted out. I've been attached to this laptop for the last eight hours!

     However it was a beautiful day today in Buenos Aires:

     I love these jacaranda trees. Zack gives me a hard time about how much I talk about them and how much I try to take a photo to accurately represent how amazing and vivid the color is. I think this might do it though. This photo has not been retouched or anything in anyway. You can see how the ground below them is neon purple too. I love it. Sadly though I think the season of the jacaranda trees blooming is almost over as they are all dropping their flowers rather quickly at this point and I think there are only a few days left that I can enjoy them.

Day Sixty Eight

     Today was another one of those random holidays in Buenos Aires. One of those days that the whole country takes off from work but no one celebrates or really even know what the holiday is for? Argentina has a ton of them. Part of the reason their economy isn't growing very well I think.

     Spent the whole day at Starbucks with Zack. I have my next set of final exams coming up on Thursday and Friday so it's looking to be a not so exciting week for the blog. Sorry guys, I'll do my best to spice it up!

Day Sixty Seven

     Another mellow day consisting of not a whole lot in the morning with a long nap in the afternoon. I got myself hooked on a new book on Friday when I bussed back from the airport and spent a lot of today reading it. It's John Grisham's 'The Broker.'

     Keeping with the movie Sunday tradition I headed over to Zack's as it approached evening and we went to the local theatre near his house. We ended up seeing Trouble With the Curve, the new Clint Eastwood flick. I love Clint Eastwood's movies. See it if it you get the chance or grab it on netflix or redbox when it comes out, you'll enjoy it. I sure hope they release a bunch of new movies soon. I don't think there are any good to decent movies in theaters that we haven't seen as of now.

     Pic of the day is weak but I didn't take any good pictures today so it'll have to do:

     This is what a traditional maté looks like. A nice wooden cup in that shape with a metal straw called a bambilla that is specially made to not take up any of the loose leaf sherva (similar to tea leaves) in the cup. The overall drink is called maté and is the national drink of Argentina and probably the most popular. Generally you drink it outside in parks and what not, and maté is more about coming together and sharing with friends than it is actually about drinking the maté. A group of 5 people in the park will have just one tiny cup such as this one. There is the cultural lesson for the day.

Day Sixty Six

     Well I was right.... Slept in late. Not even going to post how late on here. When I finally woke up, I didn't do much more. I spent the entire day enjoying not having to entertain anyone or meet up and do anything. I watched a couple movies and took a nice nap. Fantastic afternoon haha.

     In the evening I received an invite from my English friend Sam for a little asado shingingle at his house. Kitty and I met up, picked up beverages and headed over to his house which is about as far away in the city as possible. Sam has a great house with the entire roof accessible with a grill and chairs and what not. We got a nice fire going on the grill and when it settled down to just coals, Sam starting grilling up all the food, starting with the sausages:

Next we had strip steak sandwiches:

     Then we all just hung out and listened to a lot of English music including London underground, of which I could not understand more than five words in an entire song. It was a blast, six English kids and me. I couldn't have had more fun. Here is a group shot of our crew that night:

     There is a 70's bar that is close to Sam's house. Apparently every Saturday night they go there. At the start of the night, they all said to each other "No matter what, we are not going there tonight. We Can't go there Again. We NEED to go somewhere else." Apparently this bar just plays 70s music and in their opinion doesn't play a bad song all night, but other than that the bar is kind of a dive, but the music keeps pulling them back.

     Including tonight. It got to be around 2 and everyone started thinking of going out. Next thing we knew we had decided to go there and we were leaving Sam's house. They were right though, not a bad song all night. I had the best time and danced disco until I couldn't dance anymore. My choice for pic of the day goes to the pic snapped in this club of me and two of my new chaps:

Day Sixty Five

     Today was Erin's last day in South America. Didn't meet up before class due to the late night out at Franks. After class we did a little last minute shopping for her fam. Still waiting to hear if they liked the presents, especially the Malbec she bought for her parents.

     From there we grabbed a little ice cream had some mate before I took her out to the airport. 4.5 hours later I was back in the city and Erin was in route back to the states.

     It was great having her here, and we did a ton! I hope she had a good trip and enjoyed spending so much time with Zack and I!

     I met up with Kitty and Daria and we headed to the Rooftop bar. It was packed. The best part was all my English friends were there including two new ones! We had a great time, and I was speaking in a slight English accent by the end of the night. I forgot to bring my camera so pic of the day is a pic of Frank's prohibition bar from last night that I managed to brighten a little bit from my iPhone which has a really hard time taking pictures at night:

     All ready know I'm going to sleep in a ton after this last week of full days everyday!

Day Sixty Four

     Happy Thanksgiving! Today was my first time celebrating Thanksgiving out of the country and away from my family. Definitely different and I wish I could have gone back for today.

     I did see Indians playing the flutes though:

     For dinner I went with Zack, Erin, Kitty and my two new English friends Sam and Scarlett to an all you can eat asado (meat) place. We had a great time, well at least I did. Erin doesn't really eat meat... but they had a great salad bar! 

     Afterwards we were all beyond stuffed, except for Erin of course, who wanted to go bowling. I personally love bowling and together the two of us were able to convince Zack really easily. We only had time to bowl one game. I won a beer and wings from the Tap house from the other two as I was the winner with a measly 138.

    Afterwards Zack went home and as it was Erin's last night and she wasn't quite ready to call it a night yet. Time for one last beer in the Paris of South America. I had heard of this secret bar.. a prohibition bar... and we set out to find it.

     The bar was amazing. It has just been ranked top 50 bars in the world, a rating well deserved. There are two men out-front in suites. The bar was unmarked from the street, just an address. The two men ask us what our business is. We say we would like a drink. They let us through the door and tell us for numbers. 3-5-4-2. Inside the door is a typical foyer, except that you notice a phone booth at the end of it. We step into the phone booth and dial the four numbers. There is a buzzing and the backside of the booth pops open a tad. We push on it and the secret door opens. The music hits us right away, 1920's jazz. We walk into the bar with chandeliers, giant red leather couches and chairs, and the bar tenders all wearing suspenders and bow-ties. We have just entered the coolest bar of my life. At the bar we order two Manhattens. Our bar tender spent about 7 minutes making our drinks. Maybe ten. And just our drinks, not multitasking at all. It was amazing. It was almost like watching an artist work. We learned that this guy has gone to two international bar tender contests. Both of which were expenses paid because he has won the Argentina contest and was flown to Amsterdam and Italy to represent Argentina. Pretty amazing.

     When we left it was such a rude awakening stepping out of the foyer and back onto the street of the 21st century. I will definitely be back.

Day Sixty Three

     Woke up early so that we could make it to the Recoleta Cemetary before I had class. Erin and I had tried to make it there three other times this week and now I was beyond determined to make it there. The place is breath taking. 4,800 mausoleums. Each one bigger than any grave or mausoleum I've seen in the states. And each one is an artistic statement. It took me forever to pick out which picture to use today because there were so many different amazing mausoleums I wanted to show, but I finally decided on this one:

     After class we bought all the necessary things to try Mate. Mate is like a strong green tea that is the national drink in Argentina. On any day you can find tons of couples, groups of friends, and family all hanging out in the park sharing a Mate. I had been afraid of the whole process which is actually really complex when you first learn it with lots of taboos, but today we bought all the ingredients and tried it out with Luis's guidance on the correct way to do it. I really liked it despite it being a taste that is supposed to have to grow on you! 

     After the Mate experience we went over to my Laeticia's house for a group dinner. Great way to finish up the day.

Day Sixty Two

     After class we headed to Puerto Madero. A beautiful part of the city, home to the most expensive living which I soon understood why. I can't believe I hadn't been here yet! It was truly beautiful. Right on the water hence the name, and filled with beautiful sail boats and yachts. This is also home to Puente de La Mujer which literally translates to Bridge Woman. It's the famous pedestrian bridge in Buenos Aires and my choice for pic of the day:

     Walked all over the port for awhile. We even went on one of the two old-school warships that are docked in the port now. They are now museums and it was really cool walking on all four levels of the 1911 ship. On the main deck them have the modern version of a cannon, a 1945 war device that shoots artillery shells but looks like a cannon. There are two wheels that you can turn on this gun. One moves the cannon on the vertical axis, the other moves it on the horizontal axis. I thought it was great that they actually allowed people to move the wheels and change the trajectory of the gun. I was turning the wheels as fast as I could, trying to align the cannon with a canoe moving rapidly along the other side of the port. A guy from LA approached me and said "Are you in the Navy?" I said "No I'm just trying to shoot canoes." at which point he informed me that I looked like I knew what I was doing and he had assumed I must be US Navy. 

     We sat at an outdoor cafe right on the pier that looked out over the yacht club. It was great. We got there right before sunset and watched the port get dark while eating some delicious pizza:

     After dinner called it a night so I could catch up on homework and the blog. Feels good to be caught up for the first time in like a week and a half. Sorry again to everyone for being so inconsistent the last week!

Day Sixty One

     If today's events don't blow your mind, I give up. Today was the weirdest combination of weird events and I don't know what to say other than the stars were abnormally aligned today.

     Started out normal. Woke up super tired after a late night catching up on work after a wild week of social activities. Headed to class, had an empanada for lunch, finished class. All normal.

     Zack, Erin and I had decided to go on a walking tour of BA. I thought it would be a great way to show Erin a part of the city and this company "BA Free Tours" came highly recommended from my program. They were fantastic. The guide was super friendly, very funny, and spoke very good English. Great person too, everyone who works for "BA Free Tours" works solely for tips and is filled with passion for what they do. They offer numerous tours in BA and I believe Free Tours operates in cities across the globe. Definitely worth a google search if you are traveling to a foreign place.

     We met in San Martin Plaza which was filled with the jacarandas trees, which are the neon purple trees blooming currently. The tour was great and we were all having a great time. 20-30 minutes in we found ourselves in front of a war monument. I'm not sure what the war was about (I think a war in the 1980s for some islands at the southern part of Argentina) because right as she started talking about it a guy from the USA fainted. He looked to be about 17 or 18 and was at the tour by himself. He was standing about 7 feet from the wrought iron gate surrounding the fence. I watched him take a staggering step forward as he collapsed and toppled face first into the wrought iron. His head wasn't quite big enough to fit between the vertical pieces so as he collapsed his face slid down the gate like a credit card being swiped. Crazy... He cut his cheek so deep you could see down to what looked like bone. One of those cuts that takes like 30 seconds to start bleeding because its so deep.

     15 seconds later he came to and all the women started yelling at him to lay down on the ground while they fed him candy, water and pressed kleenex to his cheek. The guide called an ambulance and we all waited... and waited. Finally after 20 minutes the ambulance still wasn't in sight, the kid was sitting up joking with some women from Australia and we ended up giving the guide a tip and taking off.

     We all parted ways for a bit to get ready for the night and so I could research what we were going to do. Finally decided on going to a cafe and then to a milonga (tango dance hall). Zack not surprisingly opted not to come, he's not a tango fan.

     Erin and I went to this nice cafe by my house that I have always wanted to go to. We were enjoying a drink outside (beautiful springtime evening) and waiting for it to be 11 to head to the milonga. At some point a woman came and stood right behind me muttering what originally sounded like a prayer. Except it kept going for 5 minutes and we started picking up a) that it was english and b) that it was directed at me. Finally I turned and said something since we couldn't focus or have a conversation anymore. She said, "You look about a ghost about to die" Think about that one for a minute... Anyways now the spiritual talk was directed straight at us and quite loud. Parts of it were coherent but a lot of if wasn't, involving corrupt police, mexican immigrants, and the US doing medical experiments on people.

     At this point the cafe owner came outside and asked us if this was our friend. I said no and that we had asked her to leave. They started yelling at each other in spanish which resulted in him telling her that the police were being called. The weird thing was how this woman could snap out of her spiritual babble and form very coherent sentences to me and and in spanish to the owner, but then a few minutes later would go back to making sense. She seemed totally normal until you listed to what she was saying.

     Anyways a few minutes later the policia did show up. At this point the woman had moved across the street following the owners threat but was still speaking at us from her new location. The police here are very non-confrontational. They essentially ask all parties to disband and then once the situation is resolved, they themselves leave. But this lady started yelling at them about her rights and calling them a variety of spanish names, only a few of which I was familiar with. This was her flaw... the police were not very happy and after a few minutes she tried to walk away after saying her piece. But this was no longer an option and the police tried to detain her. A struggle commenced. Needless to say a crowd had gathered at this point and people were looking out of all their second story levels watching her scream at the officers.

     Now backup had arrived and the police had her against the wall where they were letting her stand, but whenever she tried to walk away there was another struggle.

     Then arrived the ambulance. The police like me, felt there was something a little off with this lady, so rather than arrest her they had the ambulance come and detain her, I presume for a medical evaluation. You can imagine the fit she threw at this point though, about the corrupt police oppressing her rights and what not. The whole situation took place over a solid hour to hour and a half!

     Finally the crowds parted and we left our cafe table. Headed to the Milonga which was this beautiful classic milonga with a very nice dance floor in the center of the room with tables all around it. It was fun, and I think Erin got to enjoy watching the dance for awhile. I personally like the Milonga Catedral much more than this one, Salón Canning, but this one was more traditional and very nice.

     From the bus stop to Erin's new hostel location its a good 8 blocks. I mistakenly (right direction, but not the best selection) took her down a street that I had never been on before. Turns out it was the prostitute street. Super dirty with trash everywhere, girls sitting outside of hotels and on the corners. At one point we accidentally came across a cab driver who had stopped to pick up a girl. Very eye opening 8 blocks. On this walk she asked me if we should be worried about getting mugged and I said I didn't think so. Even though it was somewhat sketchy part of town I informed her that my god complex didn't think it was a credible threat and that I had vowed to myself that no one would ever be able to take my money.

     After dropping her off, I headed back towards my house. I had to cross back over this street we had just walked. A kid about fifteen years maybe even 14 approached me and asked me for change. This happens almost every block and I didn't think anything of it and muttered the usual "Sorry don't have any" in spanish. At this point he pulls up the front of his shirt to reveal a gun tucked into the front of his jeans. I'm kicking myself right now for not acting quicker and taking him out right there like Matt Damon would have done. Instead I watched in not slow motion but fast forward as he pulled the gun out, cocked it and pointed it at my head. Wow.

     I insisted I didn't have any money. Stupid me, I'm wearing my nicest shirt tucked into slacks with some boots and my sleeves rolled up to display my dress watch. Something you would wear to a nice tango club in BA. He points the gun at my pocket where he can see the bulge of my wallet and says over and over "money". I keep insisting I don't have any. I'm on Corrientes, one block from the Obelisko. Its a super busy street even at 3:30 in the morning. A cab or cop has to come by right?? Meanwhile I'm sizing him up. I would love to make a quick move at him to disarm him, and he sees me thinking this and backs up a step so there is a good 8 feet between us. Shit. Once again another opportunity to do something proactive wasted. After holding him off for a decent amount of time things are getting tense. The gun is visibly shaking in his hand and I think heads or tails, 'does this kid have it in him?' I sense no and act like I see the police coming up behind him. He turns for half a second but its all I need. I turn and full sprint while hunching/ducking and dodging left and right incase I bet wrong. By the time he turns and processes what I'm doing it is to late, I'm gone. I'm running faster than Hussein Bolt and half a block away. He chases after me but instantly realizes the stupidity of chasing a man, gun in hand, down the middle of five lane street that I am now sprinting down.

     By the time I get home, my shirt is drenched in sweat but I'm alive. Now to enjoy the home made cookies my mom sent me last weekend and unwind enough to fall asleep.

Day Sixty

    Today was a much needed mellow day. Erin wasn't feeling the hottest and Zack and I were a little tired from staying out so late.

     Zack wanted a place we could chow down so we decided to meet at TGI Fridays. Conveniently located right next to the movie theatre. It was another lousy Sunday weather-wise, cold, cloudy and drizzling occasionally. Erin and I got salads which were terrific while Zack got a burger. We realized soon after that they just use the pictures on the menu from the USA but don't quite make the food the same. Naturally Zack was super dramatic about the whole deal. Who needs the theatre when you have Zack?

     I don't think I have ever been to TGI Fridays before. Never thought my first time would be a 7,000 miles away from home!

     Headed next door to the theatre. Really the only movie playing besides Twilight 2 that Zack and I hadn't already gone to on our Sunday Movie Days was a movie called Cosmopolis. DON'T GO. It was horrible. The only good thing about it was the dulce de leche popcorn we bought for it.

     After the theatre we all went to a Starbucks and just lounged for the rest of the evening/night. With the weather combined with being a little worn down nothing sounded quite as good as a coffee and comfy chair. However in order to not waste a day, we took Erin on a night walking tour of my neighborhood. We hit all the major landmarks tried to get her to climb a statue (didn't work) and ended up at Casa Rosada which is lit up pink at night:

     This concluded our tour and so we called it night and headed home for some much needed sleep.

Day Fifty Nine

Erin slept in until 3:00 which gave me all afternoon to do a few things I wanted to do. I hit the gym, and did a few other boring things but it was a nice start to the day. When she woke up we met up and headed to Palermo Lakes Park, my favorite Saturday spot. My teacher doubles as a Mexican caterer and she had told my class that was working at the mexican festival taking place there on Saturday. So we swung by and said hi and tried some mexican food. It was ok, but the booth across from them had some fantastic steak tacos going on so I ended up eating twice... whoopsies.

Headed back from the park after a few hours and cleaned up to get ready for Saturday night. Met up with Zack and for lack of something better we headed to our bar, Sugar Bar, which has been mentioned repeatedly in these pages I'm sure. We just hung out and socialized with each other and those around us. The three of us had a great time talking about everything imaginable and next thing we knew, it was very late.

We hopped into a cab to Erin's hostel to drop her off. On the way home from dropping her off I saw a beautiful sunrise on the Obelisk but was to mad at myself for talking so long/staying out so late, and making this the third night this week that I fell asleep after daylight. Great week, lots of fun memories, but I miss sleeping!

Day Fifty Eight

     Got done with class and headed by the hostel to pick up Erin. First thing we did was swing by the club to get my hair cut. Not exciting I know, but it needed to be done. From there we headed to the Recoleta Cemetary, a must see in BA. It unfortunately had already closed so we went across the street to a brewery we had also been told was a must visit. It was. We thought we would just get one beer, but ended up staying for an early dinner. The glass they gave me for my beer had a hole in it, so I looked like an idiot when I tried to pour my beer as it spilt all over me. Haha but it was really fun and the food was quite good. Go check out Buller Brewery if you get the chance, it was a great spot.

     The friend I made on Day One sent me an invite to his house for just a little gathering, so after dinner we headed there. He's a really cool guy, and it was good to see him again. We've tried to connect numerous times over the last fifty eight days but this was the first successful attempt. We hung out at his house for awhile which had people hailing from every corner of the globe. There weren't a whole lot of people but I think everyone there was from a different country. Those sort of parties make for the most interesting conversation, I love it.

     Around two we all left the house and walked in a big caravan to a boliche known as Rose Bar. This is my third or fourth time here, and its one of my favorite clubs in the city:

     Chris is on the far left with his fiance, a local girl he met while studying abroad here. Inside the club at one point they threw out to the crowd a ton of green light saberish things which were just one of the things that made for a fantastic night:

     It was daylight as I dropped Erin off back off at her hostel. As I walked back home, I paused to watch the new daylight on the Obelisk. Crazy to be going to bed after sunrise for the second time this week.

Day Fifty Seven

     Thursday. 8:30 rolled around way to quickly. Way to quickly. I haven't had to get up that early for a long time but today Erin was flying in for Thanksgiving Vacation and I had to be at the airport by 10:30.

     I made it to the airport just in time, but Erin wasn't there. I circled around everywhere incase the flight was early. No dice. Additionally at this point I realized I didn't know the flight number, or for that matter the airline. All I knew was the time the flight landed. For the next three hours I did everything imaginable, including offering to buy strangers McDonalds in exchange for two minutes on their phones. Finally, with every option exhausted I was walking towards the door to exit. Then by some divine intervention I decided to ask the information if there was any other place that I hadn't tried. They informed me that their was a second international terminal despite me asking both the cab driver as well as two different individuals in the airport who all said there was only one. I walked to the other terminal and surprise surprise found Erin sitting there. I was so relieved. With no spanish skills, and no local currency and no idea where to go... had I not had that last second thought to ask, it could have been a disaster!

     After a two hour bus ride we made it to the city. Needless to say I had to skip class to do all of this as it was now 4 o'clock as we entered the city. We did a little hostel research and picked out two solid ones not to far from my house.

     We met up with Zack for dinner at a nice parilla in Palermo. For maybe the first time I was very unsatisfied with a restaurant. The food was incredibly expensive, but not that good, and the service was mediocre with a poor environment. Not the way to start the week trip, but what can you do? Sometimes it happens. Would NOT recommend T-Bone in Palermo.

     However we made the most of it:

     Zack had some friends at Rooftop Bar so we headed there after dinner. Walked out onto the rooftop bar and heard two different tables simultaneously call out to us. All of Zack's friends/classmates were sitting two tables away from all my friends/classmates. Super bizarre. This city has a thousand popular bars, and we went there to meet up with Zack's friends while unbeknownst to us all of mine were there too! Made for a great night! 

Day Fifty Six

     Wednesday. Class went decently despite the late night last night. I picked up a venti Starbucks on the way to school and wasn't to tired!

     Fipo and I have been trying to meet up for a long long time. He works a ton and doesn't go out much but he's been wanting to meet up recently which was great by me. He's a super fun guy and probably my favorite porteño, although I have met a lot of great people here. He asked if I wanted to go to Alamo which is famous for their large pitchers:

     We had a fantastic night and swapped many a story. It was great because Fipo said I could try to speak Spanish to him and he would correct me when I made a mistake. As a result I got to practice my Spanish for a solid four hours tonight!