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!

Day Fifty Five

     Today at school, some of the girls said to me, "Tonight Puerto Madryn reunion! Come out for one drink!!" Going out was like the last thing I wanted to do... but one drink wouldn't hurt and if it made everyone happy its what I should do right?? Honestly just wanted to hit the gym, tango, study and call it a night but I agreed.

     After school and the gym (no tango today) I headed out to Sugar Bar in Palermo to meet up with everyone. Monica couldn't come because her mom doesn't let her out at night. Also Zack ended up standing us all up because he had a surprise family dinner or something. So it was just me and the three girls. Sugar was having happy hour so we got a few drinks and some chicken fingers (decent but made me realized why foreigners love American... they can't cook it in their own countries). At this point Laeticia wanted to go dancing and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. So we headed to the boliche Kika.

     Kika ended up being great. They had a random table where girls were doing face-paint with florescent paint so naturally I convinced all of us to get our faces painted:

     This is the first picture not taken by camera, but I do have one just like it. Just wanted to use this one because it has the corner marker from the club which is kind of cool because we found it on the website the next day! Anyways.... danced the night away and ended up heading home after daybreak, something that I have come close to doing numerous times but only actually done a few times here! Needless to say we were all grateful for 1 pm classes the next day!

Day Fifty Four

     Sorry once again I got behind. Here is the overdue catching up! From now on I'll stay on top of it better!

     Low key Monday:

     Woke up early, got my laundry done, and fired off some emails to friends and family. Worked a little more on my goBro videos.

     Headed off to class, great day. Some days I'm a lot more fluid and the Spanish flows out, other days it's a lot more forced and slower. Today was one of those first days, and it felt great!

     After class, I took Tarrick who is a new student in my class to the gym since he lives about 2 blocks from it. He asked me where I worked out and then we discovered how close he lives to the gym which is a super weird coincidence, so I took him there and gave him the tour. He liked it enough to sign up which was great.

     Headed to Zack's where we goofed off for awhile and burnt some daylight. Then headed to the gym, and afterwards I headed home for dinner with Luis. I ran into this lady on the street though:

     She did some crazy magic too! In the pic you can see the red heart. It turned on when I put money in the jug ahead of her. Then she touched it and the light transfered to her hand. She then touched my hand and the light disappeared and a little red rock in the shape of a heart appeared. Seriously threw me off!

Day Fifty Three

     Boring day. It was a cloudy cold springtime day here so I headed to this very nice two story Starbucks close to Zack's neighborhood and spent the whole day there. I have been working on a few GoBro (for those of you not from Clearwater its a GoPro and its a small versatile video recorder) movie edits so between that and my spanish homework I had plenty to do all day.

     I guess it just shows two things. You can take me out of the country, but you can't take the last three years of Seattle out of me. And that despite being in an amazing city in another hemisphere Starbucks is still the best place for a day of studying.

Day Fifty Two

     Few Housekeeping things first:

     Sorry to my loyal follower in Amsterdam I didn't write for two days but I'll play catch up right now. Wish I had more exciting things to catch you up on!

     I've received multiple questions on how to comment on this blog. If you click the comments link on the bottom of each page it gives you several options. You can select the last one anonymous, the second to last one 'Name/URL' and then just enter your name and leave the URL section blank, or third you can do the 'openID' section and write your name in the next window when it prompts you. Hopefully that clears it up for everyone!

So Saturday....

     Cooler day, so I didn't go to the park as planned. I mean no point in going to the park if I can't work on my tan right? However springtime in Buenos Aires is beautiful. These trees are in bloom everywhere. I want to go on a walk this next week and find a place where I can take a better picture to do it justice but this will suffice until then:

     Hit a late afternoon workout with Zack and then we went out to Recoleta. We've been playing it low-key recently. I feel bad since we haven't gone on any crazy adventures since we returned from Puerto Madryn. We'll step it up down here though to make better reading for those of you checking in.

     We went to see Argo, the new Ben Afflect movie about the Iran Hostage Situation in 1979. Interesting tidbit, My Grandpa's Brother. "Uncle Bob" was one of the hostages. This movie focuses on the 6 that escaped early but my Uncle Bob was held hostage for 444 days. Anyways the movie was sold out so we had to kill time until 1:30 for the next showing.

     Found a fantastic bar in Recoleta about a block from the theatre. They had a giant projector screen set up and were playing American music videos. It was fantastic. Started with some Bee Gees, then to AC/DC to the the Stones, and then took us to Michael Jackson. We had a great time, tried some great brews and discussed/debated life and its various aspects for a few hours until the movie started. It actually was one of the deepest conversations Zack and I have had, but still had a light tone to it given the Stevie Wonder in the background.

     The movie was fantastic. I didn't like it as much as James Bond but still very well done. Don't ask Zack about it, he decided to sleep through the whole thing!

     Best moment of the day: Zack and I leave the movie theatre at 4 in the morning and hail a cab. As the cab pulls up I say "Yo this guy better be listening to some Eminem because he looks just like him!" Zack gets in first and when I get in he has this look on his face that I can't quite describe. Like he was waiting for me to catch on.... And then I did. The cabby was playing Eminem! Now this might not sound quite that crazy for you in the states but understand this is day 52 but the first time I have heard him since I came down here. And for me to say that at 4 in the morning on a random night as we enter a random cab.... I don't know you calculate the odds because I tried and couldn't.

Day Fifty One

     Woke up this morning after 4 hours of sleep to do my homework. Instead I made the mistake of sampling this new book I picked up yesterday that was supposed to be for my subte rides to Zack's house. I couldn't put it down. Its called Tuesdays with Morrie. If you haven't ever read it, you should. Its a quick read but its fantastic.

     It was pouring rain today, absolutely pouring. Probably 3 days like this and you have more precipitation that Boise gets in a year. The subtes closed because of flooding, but it was nice because it cooled the city down. Between the rain, this fantastic new book, and my feet hurting (yes my heels are beyond sore from all my trekking around yesterday) I decided to take a personal day. Made a pot of coffee and skipped class to read my book and take an afternoon nap to make up for the last two nights lack of sleep. Seriously, couldn't put this book down.

     In the late afternoon though I finally did because I got restless. So I took a walk and ended up back in Recoleta where I had watched Led Zeppelin the night before. Figured I might as well watch James Bond since I was there. Met some very nice people as well as made friends with the guy sitting next to me in the theatre who I think might like James Bond as much as I do so we naturally hit it off. Great movie!!! Loved it!

     Walking back I took a wrong turn and stumbled across the Recoleta Cemetary, the final resting place of Eva Peron or Evita:

     It was closed up for the night but I've heard its one of the must sees in Buenos Aires so I am going to go back and check it out tomorrow if the weather is nice! 

     And now that this is done I'm going to climb into bed and finish up my book! Hasta Mañana!

Day Fifty

     Can't decide if today was great or horrible. I'll try and give it to you straight without ranting/venting about my friends and the course of events today.

     Woke up early to catch up on emailing and get all my homework done. Headed to school as usual which was fine. After school I tried to call my parents since my phone hasn't been working here, so I went to this payphone business but couldn't reach either of them. Headed over to Zack's and the gym and had a decent workout. All pretty much the usual things.

     However today was the largest protest in the history of Argentina. I'm sure I have written somewhere about how people are so fed up with the current government, and today they took to the streets banging pots and pans, waving the flag, and singing and chanting to show it. I've tried to find out how many people came out for it but wasn't able to find a figure. Thousands and thousands and thousands though.

     I left the gym around 8 and headed to the subway. At this time of day usually the subway is pretty empty or at least not crowded. Today though it was like trying to take it the other way at rush hour. Jammed pack. Everyone was headed towards Centro where I live for the protests, even though they had begun over an hour ago and already had thousands gathered. As we reached the last few stops on the line, you could feel the energy in the subway cars rising, and a buzz started to fill the air. When we got above ground the buzz became electric. And loud. All the streets were filled with people, young and old, rich and poor. Everyone had noise makers and pots and pans, and trumpets and it was overwhelming both visually and auditorily:

     After taking all of it in for a few minutes I laced up the shoes, jumped off from my perch and took to the streets. I was able to buy a flag almost immediately from a street vendor and joined the masses who were slowly snaking from the obelisk to the Plaza de Mayo which is the plaza in front of Casa Rosada and the scene of every revolutionary moment/protest this country has ever had.

     On the way I snapped this picture. It is my favorite of all the ones I have taken in this country:

     I won't explain why this shot of the street vendor moves me but maybe you will understand when you look at it.

     If not, hey thats what is all about. To each his own.

     I was supposed meet Kitty and Zack at the theatre for the new James Bond which I am So Excited for! I ended walking all the way to Recoleta from the Obelisk because there were no free cabs. Since most of you haven't been to BA imagine being in New York and not being able to hail a single cab as you walk from Wall Street to Central Park. Their are a million cabs in this city but there were millions of people out and not a single open cab could be found. As soon as one would stop someone would hop in before the other people had finished getting out the other side!

     On the way their I got a message from Kitty saying she wasn't going to be able to make it. However when I got there (given, ten minutes late since I walked) Zack wasn't to be seen either. I waited outside for 45 minutes for him. Turns out he bought a ticket and went into the theatre without Kitty or me, a thought that didn't occur to me since another showing started 30 minutes after the one we were schedule to see.

    But it wasn't that bad. Directly in front of the theatre was a very small concert taking place on the Recoleta promenade. There were probably only 50 people gathered around these four musicians but they all were wearing their classic Led Zeppelin t-shirts and rocking out hard! The band was a Led cover band!! And they were absolutely phenomenal! I closed my eyes for a song and honestly couldn't tell the difference between this cover and the actual music which I have listened to countless times. They were so good! 

     Finally after about an hour the concert ended and Zack still wasn't here (or so I thought) so I headed towards my next plan for the night. I had to meet up with a girl from class who had big news to tell me and wanted to go to a bar or cafe. We picked a street corner to meet at and I set off walking. (I probably walked 15 miles today) I got there early and waited... and waited.. and waited. She never came haha. She went to the wrong corner, actually not just the wrong corner, the corner I specifically told her not to go to when she asked. And on top of this we all use wifi to send messages here which of course wasn't on this random corner so we had no way of communicating. Luckily this great guy came up to me and we started talking. Very very interesting man who is a community leader here and speaks zero english so I got to practice as I waited. He wants to meet up tomorrow to give me some guides of the city. Great guy.

     I finally gave up and am on my way home when I get a patch of wifi and the txts roll in accusing me of not coming. So I resort to cabbing to her house. She wants to continue with the original plan so we grab another taxi towards Palermo. The cab driver goes in the complete opposite direction but of course she thinks I don't know what I'm talking about so we continue on... almost all the way back to my house. We get out and a minute later "I don't think this is Palermo... and I don't like any of the cafes here" so we grab another cab and backtrack all the way to where we started and then equally as far the opposite way to Palermo. Sit down at a nice outdoor bar and hear the news that I am now in way to bad of a mood to hear. Eventually leave and cab back to her place. After paying for all these unnecessary cabs and drinks I have enough money to get me within a mile of the street the busses run after we drop her off. So a mile walk later and 20 minutes of waiting when I get there I am finally on the bus towards my house. 

     Great start to the night with the gym and protests, but such a frustrating finish. So thankful for Led Zeppelin and that guy for saving tonight!

Day Forty Nine

     Busy Busy Day. Packed my bag for the day. School books, gym clothes, tango clothes and shoes. Plan was to go straight from one to the next with a shower at the gym but that's not quite what happened.

     School is going great. I have two teachers again. Sonia on Mondays and Wednesdays, who I had last level too and I really like, and then Luciana the rest of the days. We petitioned at the end of last class to keep the same teachers, Sonia and Julieta because they are great especially together but the school only gave us Sonia. Luciana subbed one day last month for our class and none of us particularly liked her... but who knows that was only one day and it seems to be going well with her so far. Anyways my spanish continues to be coming along quite well.

     Oh and the power came back on half way through the class so we had a little AC which was amazing!!

     After class went straight to the subway and rode it to Zack's house. I really need to buy another book or something to kill time on those commutes to his house/the gym. At the gym we got AFTER IT. Leg day and after a week off, we came with some intensity. At one point I had to lay down for 15 minutes for fear of throwing up or passing out. I think we are both more than motivated by the fact that it is beach season hahah.

     Half way through the work out the power went out again. But this time it turns out it was for the whole city. Even though the lights were out and treadmills and such stopped working everyone at the gym just kept on going with their workout. I guess this is probably a somewhat reoccurring thing here and people have decided it won't stop them from doing their day to day activities. However tango I knew was out, since it is in the evening so no natural light plus we would need music. I was bummed, I really was looking forward to getting back at it today.

     Getting back to my place was more than a little tricky. The subways weren't running since there still was no power and the whole city had gone mad. Drivers were absolutely crazy with the absence of street lights. I took the bus all the way home and it had to detour multiple times because the traffic was so horrible. Eventually I got home though but not after seeing this scene every other block down Nueve De Julio (The worlds widest street with the Obelisk in the center):

     Finally I got home, just in time for dinner. Luis whipped up some fantastic spaghetti with fish and we actually had about a 20 minute conversation in Spanish without any hiccups which has never happened between us. So now I'm going to bed very pleased with my learning thus far.

Day Forty Eight

     Bus ride home from Patagonia was only about 18 hours this time as anticipated. Love the busses here. Ok food, but served three times throughout the trip, with fully reclining seats and movies in english and spanish with the opposite language in subtitles. Really not too bad, especially for 18 hours.

     We got off at 11 which gave me just enough time to get shower and drop off my laundry from the trip (There is a place two blocks from me that will wash, dry, and fold all of your laundry for $4.25) before heading to the first day of new classes. I didn't realize it at first but the power was off in the grid where my school was. I realized this when all of a sudden I snapped out of reminiscing about my trip to discover I was playing frogger with cars coming at my from all four directions. Literally. The street lights were out and the cars, motorcycles and busses were playing the most intense game of chicken you can imagine. If you have been out of the USA, especially south of it, you know how other cultures drive. Now picture that driving mentality with no lanes, or streetlights.

     Unfortunately my school had no power which of course means no air conditioning. It was the most brutal 3 hours of learning ever. 100% humidity with 95* heat. Apparently the power has been out for this grid for 36+ hours so I'm praying tomorrow the power is back on.

     I realized I have talked a lot about food, but rarely about dinners at my homestay. This is the meal I receive most frequently when I eat dinners at home. Might look pretty basic, but for me there really isn't a much better than a nice big salad, Argentinean steak and a mandarin for dessert:

Day 43-47 Patagonia

     Day 47 Monday- Got out of bed early again to make the most of our last day in this beautiful place. Kitty Laetizia and I were picked up and taken to the stables on the beach. We saddled up and headed out onto the sand. Kitty comes from a proper English family and has been riding for years and years. She gave me a few pointers which saved me from being unable to walk after we finished cantering down the beach. I have to say though, I still had a difficult time walking for quite some time after the ride. Kitty took this picture which I think is great:

But Pic of the Day goes to this one:

     After the ride we met up with the other three on the beach and enjoyed a last few hours of tranquility before hopping on the bus for the 18 hour bus ride back to the city. Fantastic trip to Northern Patagonian! 

Day 46 Sunday- Today was our excursion day. All the girls headed to the peninsula to go whale watching but Zack and I have seen whales before and headed south to Punto Tombo to go look at Penguines. The agency we booked with sent some random guy in his personal civic-ish car who picked us up and took us for the day. First stop was at the dolphin watching boats, about 45 minutes south of Puerto Madryn. Here Zack and I donned our classic fishing attire:

     We headed out on the boats for probably an hour and a half to look at the black and white dolphins. It was so cool! The dolphins found us probably within 15 minutes and started playing along the sides and bow of the boat. Out in the water we met up with another dolphin watching boat and the two captains ran the boats side by side separated by about 20 feet. The dolphins loved it and probably about 10-15 came and were playing on all sides of the boat. It was really amazing because you could see the dolphins jumping right at the very front of the other boat and then they would come over to ours for awhile. Great time and worthy I think of pic of the day:

     Afterwards we headed an hour farther south to Punto Tombo. Home to the largest penguin colony outside of Antarctica. Get this 500,000 penguins!! They currently are between mating and the babies hatching so we probably went at the worst time of the year but it was still incredible. A majority of them were in their holes on their eggs. They dig about 1 feet deep, two feet wide holes so you can still see them fully, if anything its just wind protection. The path was almost a straight line through the colony with rocks marking out the outsides of the path. It was so crazy because the penguins had dug their holes within a foot of the path boundaries so I was within arms lengths of them. And literally every 3-5 there was a new hole/nest. This continued for the 30 minutes of the path we walked. You could see hills in the distance peppered with holes too. Lots of penguins were up stretching their legs or waddling down to the ocean to go get food so we got to see so many!! Their were about 50 just hanging out on the beach in a big group as well. I killed my battery taking pictures of the dolphins but some nice women from DC took our pictures with them and are going to email me the pictures so I'll post that when I get it. We met back up with the girls for dinner and returned to Cheers restaurant, the same place we went to Saturday night. As before the food was unbelievable and we ordered some very nice wine from Mendoza Argentina. Some of the best wine I have had ever, and certainly here. As a thank you for the repeat business the owner brought us all a glass of champagne on the house. Even Monica who we convinced to have her first glass of champagne ever! Fantastic day, and fantastic dinner/night. Couldn't feel happier about this trip.

Day 45 Saturday- We decided to make our first full day in Puerto Madryn a beach day. We all spent the entire day on the beach and needless to say I look lobster-esque. I forgot my camera (shocking I know) so when the girls get me their photos I'll pick one pic and post it. I'm guessing it will be me buried fully in the sand, credit to Monica who undertook the project with a little help from the rest of the girls. There are some great beach shots too though so we will see once I receive them.

     I made friends with a street dog that Zack named fighter. He looked part pitbull part dogo and was an absolute stud. We played on the beach for a few hours together and by the end he was acting like I was his owner. He wouldn't go to any of the other people in the group and stayed by my side from there out. He even came with us when we left the beach but finally we had to say goodbye and send him on his way.

     For dinner we went to this fantastic restaurant known as Cheers. It was the best service I have received outside of the states with the owner personally welcoming us and showing us to the table. The food was incredible. Kitty and I split this bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer which was to die for:

     Also we had some incredible wine at this place tonight, which was personally picked out by the owner. The best part was even with all the courses we ate and the fantastic wine we drank the dinner was less than $150 (post tip) for all of us, unreal.

Day 44 Friday- Finally got off the bus after 27 hours. There was a very bad traffic accident in the middle of nowhere so the emergency response was very slow in getting there. Traffic backed up for ten hours but we only were stuck for about 6-7. Superrrrrrr long bus ride though I was so thankful to get off of it. Kind of a bummer because we were supposed to have all of today in Puerto Madryn but it was evening when we finally arrived. We went to the hostel which is my first time in a hostel and was really really nice, where we all showered and went out to dinner. We went to this restaurant that was made out of a really old boat. The ambience was great, the food was pretty good. But we honestly didn't care, just so happy to be off that bus and clean and enjoying real food again:

     This was our group for the Patagonia trip. From left to right. Monica (China), Amelie (Germany), Laetizia (Belgium), Kitty (England), and of course Zack (Boise as well).

     Afterwards we all headed out (minus Monica) to a Boliche (club). It was pretty fun but nothing like being in Buenos Aires.

Day 43 Thursday- My keys were in my pants which I left in Ben's hotel somewhere in the city when we changed into our Halloween costumes. I of course did not realize this until 4:30 am when I wanted to go home, 2 hours after Ben had gone to sleep. And of course he doesn't have a cell phone here. As a result I spent Halloween night sleeping on the hard wood floor of one of the girls in the dorms here. Then I got to wake up at 9:30 and walk the 15 blocks through the bustling city in the only clothes I had on me... My green lantern costume. Rough start to the day. 

     Spent the rest of the day tracking my keys down and then packing for my trip to Patagonia to go whale watching! Headed to Retiro bus and train station about 2. Pick of the day will be from the bus ride when I get the pictures from the girls cameras.

Day Forty Two

     Today was Halloween which Argentineans don't celebrate but know of and love. I headed to the one block in the city that has costume stores with Kitty and ended up picking out the Green Lantern costume while she chose a sailer. Afterwards headed straight a wine tasting at my school which featured wines from the four wine producing regions in Argentina. I had a great time and learned a ton in the two hours we spent trying four different types. At this tasting I met a new kid, Ben, who just moved here and is starting up in the school in November. He is from Germany and his dad flew down with him to see him moved in. We hit it off at the tasting and he ended up inviting me out for a nice asado (steak) dinner in Palermo.

     It was a great meal as always, but as far as asado goes probably the worst I've had in this country, no fault of Ben and his dad, more of a testament to the quality of steaks here.

     After dinner Ben and I put on our costumes and headed out on the town. We went to a club known as After Hours because the young working class goes there in business attire directly after the office. We were slightly out of place walking around in our green lantern and batman costumes. All the guys wearing their best did not look happy as girl after girl after girl asked to take pictures with us. I think I spent 75% of the night taking photos, which had to number above 500. Like I said the locals Love Halloween! I took a few on my camera and this is my favorite although it doesn't even come close to doing justice to this girl who was from Brazil:

     She was absolutely stunning and I was quite disappointed about how this picture turned out (Sorry Lott I tried, just take my word for it).

     From this club Ben and I headed back to Palermo to meet up with the rest of the international kids. We were quite the sight, about 50 of us going from club to club all fully decked in costume. Great night as Halloween always is!

Day Forty One

     Not a ton to report today, I got a late start after last nights adventures and then took it pretty easy today. I did go to the Hard Combat class at the gym though which was as hard as always. Pic of the day is a two week throwback but I've been wanting to use it ever since we took it, but it was on one of the girls cameras who just now got it to me:

     That is Casa Rosada in the back ground. The Argentina equivalent of the White House.