Once again, I've been a bad little blogger. The good news is that it is because I'm very busy and having a blast! Today I've finally found myself without plans and totally alone, so I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on writing and various "travel chores."
I arrived in Buenos Aires with 250 rupee still on me and they wouldn't exchange it at the airport. No worries though since the universe has a way of taking care of me. I wound up sharing a taxi with an anesthesiologist from Philadelphia in town for a conference who told me he visits family in India all of the time and would be more than happy to take those rupees off of my hand and give me some US dollars. First problem in South America immediately solved. I love strangers.
It didn't take me long to shift my awareness to the bigger challenge in front of me: no hablo espanol. Whoever told me that the people in the city of Buenos Aires speak "a lot" of english either lied or only stayed in the confines of a hostel the whole time. The good thing about this is that I've been forced to pick up more of the language and quickly. Well, until I made an American friend who is fluent. It's amazing how lazy a translator can make you.
That wasn't until I moved into my hostel though. I spent my first dat in Buenos Aires in a hotel downtown so that I could catch up on rest in a big comfy bed and get my bearings. The concierge taught me the most important phrase I've learned since I've been here, "estoy aprendiendo espanol," (I am learning spanish), and then released me into the city to figure everything else out by myself. I made my way to one of the pedestrian avenues they have throughout the city with a ton of restaurants and sat down at the one with the most people for my first of what I knew would be many glasses of Malbec and any sort of appetizer... since I knew I was nowhere close to true Argentina dinner time. Two Argentinian girls heard me speaking to the waitress in very bad spanish and probably a hyper-obvious American accent and invited me to come join them at their table so that I could practice my spanish with them and they could practice english with me. So nice! I can't imagine many Americans doing the same for a struggling tourist.
So there I was my first night in Buenos Aires, having drinks and cheese with two incredible nice locals. Great start :) My new friends are named Analia and Jesica and not only did they show kindness to me, but also to a beggar who they gave their french fries to. They told me that generally people do not give money to beggars but it is not uncommon to just give part of your meal to them and that the beggars are usually very grateful. Another difference from what I'm used to at home and since then, I've given a lot of food away to homeless here. It's my new diet.
I moved into Art Factory hostel in the San Telmo district the next day and that became my home away from home for the rest of the week. I planned to take it easy my first night but after a siesta and some gentle arm twisting from some of the other guests and even employees at the hostel, I found myself dancing like a maniac with confetti flying everywhere in a club called Crobar in the trendy Palermo district of Buenos Aires until 5 or so in the morning. So much for taking it easy. I'm glad I went though because it began the bonding of me with a handful of other people who I wound up doing everything else with the rest of that week.
The following day, I tried to go back to Palermo for a day market but my cab driver and I had some language issues, so he wound up dropping me off at a random shopping mall. I wasn't upset about it though, I thought my first "lost in translation" snafu was kind of funny and I took it as an opportunity to walk around the city and do some discovering. The more I wandered the city, the more I was reminded of Washington, D.C., even down to the eerily familiar look obelisque-shaped monument in the city's center.
I decided I was interested in going to a soccer/futbol game while in South American and so me and some of my new friends, Alex (from Canada), Will (from USA) and Andrew (from Australia), all hopped onto one of the city buses for the first time to make our way to the stadium. Yes, I'd found myself in a group of all boys, just like I often do at home. While we were on the bus, a local informed Will who is practically fluent that the game was about to end and we wouldn't make it. Soccer field trip fail :( We made our way back to San Telmo and agreed that steak and wine was a solid "plan B." Andrew and I had both heard good things about a place called El Desnivel so we took a chance on the slightly sketchy looking place. If you even go, order the flank steak. They brought sometime out that was about the size of my head, delicious, and only about $10 USD. There was so much leftover steak that we took some back to the hostel with us along with some eggs that we were able to buy directly from the restaurant and made steak and eggs in the hostel kitchen the next morning.
The following days were full of a lot of walking and adventuring around and it was all a lot of fun, but here are some of the highlights:
I arrived in Buenos Aires with 250 rupee still on me and they wouldn't exchange it at the airport. No worries though since the universe has a way of taking care of me. I wound up sharing a taxi with an anesthesiologist from Philadelphia in town for a conference who told me he visits family in India all of the time and would be more than happy to take those rupees off of my hand and give me some US dollars. First problem in South America immediately solved. I love strangers.
It didn't take me long to shift my awareness to the bigger challenge in front of me: no hablo espanol. Whoever told me that the people in the city of Buenos Aires speak "a lot" of english either lied or only stayed in the confines of a hostel the whole time. The good thing about this is that I've been forced to pick up more of the language and quickly. Well, until I made an American friend who is fluent. It's amazing how lazy a translator can make you.
That wasn't until I moved into my hostel though. I spent my first dat in Buenos Aires in a hotel downtown so that I could catch up on rest in a big comfy bed and get my bearings. The concierge taught me the most important phrase I've learned since I've been here, "estoy aprendiendo espanol," (I am learning spanish), and then released me into the city to figure everything else out by myself. I made my way to one of the pedestrian avenues they have throughout the city with a ton of restaurants and sat down at the one with the most people for my first of what I knew would be many glasses of Malbec and any sort of appetizer... since I knew I was nowhere close to true Argentina dinner time. Two Argentinian girls heard me speaking to the waitress in very bad spanish and probably a hyper-obvious American accent and invited me to come join them at their table so that I could practice my spanish with them and they could practice english with me. So nice! I can't imagine many Americans doing the same for a struggling tourist.
So there I was my first night in Buenos Aires, having drinks and cheese with two incredible nice locals. Great start :) My new friends are named Analia and Jesica and not only did they show kindness to me, but also to a beggar who they gave their french fries to. They told me that generally people do not give money to beggars but it is not uncommon to just give part of your meal to them and that the beggars are usually very grateful. Another difference from what I'm used to at home and since then, I've given a lot of food away to homeless here. It's my new diet.
I moved into Art Factory hostel in the San Telmo district the next day and that became my home away from home for the rest of the week. I planned to take it easy my first night but after a siesta and some gentle arm twisting from some of the other guests and even employees at the hostel, I found myself dancing like a maniac with confetti flying everywhere in a club called Crobar in the trendy Palermo district of Buenos Aires until 5 or so in the morning. So much for taking it easy. I'm glad I went though because it began the bonding of me with a handful of other people who I wound up doing everything else with the rest of that week.
The following day, I tried to go back to Palermo for a day market but my cab driver and I had some language issues, so he wound up dropping me off at a random shopping mall. I wasn't upset about it though, I thought my first "lost in translation" snafu was kind of funny and I took it as an opportunity to walk around the city and do some discovering. The more I wandered the city, the more I was reminded of Washington, D.C., even down to the eerily familiar look obelisque-shaped monument in the city's center.
I decided I was interested in going to a soccer/futbol game while in South American and so me and some of my new friends, Alex (from Canada), Will (from USA) and Andrew (from Australia), all hopped onto one of the city buses for the first time to make our way to the stadium. Yes, I'd found myself in a group of all boys, just like I often do at home. While we were on the bus, a local informed Will who is practically fluent that the game was about to end and we wouldn't make it. Soccer field trip fail :( We made our way back to San Telmo and agreed that steak and wine was a solid "plan B." Andrew and I had both heard good things about a place called El Desnivel so we took a chance on the slightly sketchy looking place. If you even go, order the flank steak. They brought sometime out that was about the size of my head, delicious, and only about $10 USD. There was so much leftover steak that we took some back to the hostel with us along with some eggs that we were able to buy directly from the restaurant and made steak and eggs in the hostel kitchen the next morning.
The following days were full of a lot of walking and adventuring around and it was all a lot of fun, but here are some of the highlights:
- They LOVE parks in Argentina. There are beautiful parks all over the place and the locals definitely take advantage, whether they're playing soccer, making out in the grass, fishing in ponds, grilling picnics, playing with their dogs or utilizing the built-in exercise equipment. I think this might be why you don't see a lot of fat people in Argentina. I give props for the Argentina government for maintaining this system that seems to serve their people so well.
- They had... like... a NASCAR type race in the middle of the city while I was there. It was the coolest thing. It is called the TC 2000 and they shut down 9 de Julio Avenue, a 12 lane avenue in the middle of the city that is said to be the widest in the world. The roar of the engines could be heard from very far all around the city and the streets were crowded with vendors and spectators, including on the top of the surrounding buildings. It was an unexpected and unique experience that I'm glad I got to see.
- Even though it is still hot in Buenos Aires, it is now considered their autumn and if you don't want to stick out as a tourist, you should be wearing fall fashion... especially boots. My flip flops have earned me a lot of stares.
- Steak and wine are the main menu items for sure. You have to put in extra effort if you want to eat any fruit or vegetables. And if you want to eat dinner when the locals do, plan to go out around 10 or 11.
- Went to the Foo Figheters concert at the River Plate soccer stadium and it was incredible! Patti had just gotten in town that day so I was very excited about that and we went with Alex and a couple of other people from the hostel. We'd bought general admission tickets but security wasn't checking at all, so we were able to walk right down to where the stage was. They played for about two-and-a-half hours straight and I think that was the best show I've ever been to. The Foo Fighters apparently have a lot of fans in Argentina because everyone knew all of the words to the songs and they even had a special chant for them.
- Had a lot of steak in Buenos Aires but the best by far was the kobe flank steak that Patti had at a restaurant along the canal called La Cabana. You should all get on an airplane right now just to come and have a taste.
- Got to see a lot of tango and also took a lesson! I'm hooked!
Those are some of the main highlights, as Buenos Aires kind of feels like a long time ago and I'm feeling too lazy to write much more about it. Overall, I did like the city but I think I mostly liked it because of the people I surrounded myself with while I was there. Other than that, it really reminded me too much of DC and so I was very ready to leave and see other parts of Argentina that would feel more foreign to me. Patti flew into Buenos Aires and spent a couple of fun days with me there, and then we got on a night bus headed for the Mendoza wine country on the other side of Argentina. That is where I am now and I'll try to do a post on my time here so far but I want to get off of the computer now because it's a beautiful day and I want to get out there. No plans today, we'll see how it goes!
Ciao ;)
