Buenos Aires

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

For Rio, I noticed the graffiti first.  Here in Buenos Aires, I noticed that all along the side of the freeway there were cars parked on the grass with families gathered around.  They were BBQing, playing soccer, flying kites, and riding dirt bikes in the grass along the side of the freeway.  It was as if they were driving and suddenly decided to pull over for some family fun.  It brought a smile to my face as my taxi drove me from the airport to my apartment in Belgrano.

MY APARTMENT AND ROOMIES

I am in a very secure building.  So secure that you need 3 skeleton type keys to enter and leave.  Each key requires that you spin it a different number of times for it to work.  I sure hope I don't find myself desparate to use the restroom at home after being out.  It takes a good 10 minutes to get through all the doors and key spins.  In addition to the doors, I take one of those old frieght elevators up to the 5th floor.  You know, the kind where you have to pull shut  gates before it will go up or down.

  Love it!  The toilets in public places as well as our home make me want to say, "Ding dong, I gotta pee."  You flush them by pushing a button that is on the wall above the toilet that looks like a doorbell.

I was extremely giddy to have for the first time in a few months my own room, a closet to hang my clothes (instead of digging in the backpack that is stuffed in a luggage locker under a bunk bed), drawers, a fridge I can eat out of anytime, my own TV with 62 channels (about 5 in English,) and a roommate that does all the cooking & cleaning.  Not only that, but I was able to borrow a hair dryer for the first time in months also.  I might be pushing my luck, but I'm going to ask if either roommate has a clothes iron and/or a hair flat iron to borrow.  Now, that would be luxury!

Nilda is the woman who is allowing me to stay in her apartment.  I'm guessing that she is just a little older than me being that she has been married a few times and has a 30 year old playboy son who lives with Grandma.

  Her English is about as good as my Castellano Spanish is so this will be a great experience.  I will be forced to use more of my Spanish.  She is in commercial real estate.  She is extremely animated.  I woke up from my nap last night to find her making my dinner in her underwear.  This is going to be interesting!

My other roommate just turned 21 this weekend.  Holly is a student here for 6 months from Colorado.  She was a big help to me getting me oriented on my first day getting me to the bank, laundromat, and subway.  She also is allowing me to use her computer so as to not have to spend money and time in an internet cafe.  This means I should be able to update the blog a little more often than I did in Rio. 

FIRST DAY AND THE INTERVIEW

Had breakfast with the girls.  Got advice from Nilda and her friend Christine about robbers.  Then started my day at Noon like a typical Porteno.

I was glad to learn that Citibank was close by.

  I figured I could make a withdrawal from my checking account to pay my rent/volunteer fee in cash saving myself the credit card fee they like to punish you with here.  Apparently, they don't allow withdrawals unless it is an Argentinian account.  So, I went to the ATM and got the maximum out.  This was not enough to pay the fee.  So, I put my card back in to get more out.  The machine was smarter than I thought.  It did not allow me to make 2 withdrawals since I had reached the max.  What if I try another machine?  Maybe they don't talk to each other.  Sure enough, I was able to get the max out of that other machine too.  Yes!  So, off I go with a bag full of way too much money to the subway in a city I do not know wearing Crocs (the true sign of a tourist.)  Thank goodness I made it without being mugged.

I needed to take 2 subways to make it to the www.GICArg.org office.  Would I be able to handle the transfer without getting lost?  Yes!  The subways are very well marked and easy to use here.

  The cost is the equivalent of 25 cents USD per ride.  I purchased a card for 10 rides to avoid having to flip over coins each time trying to figure out how much they were.  Gotta look like a local.

I ended up having enough time to stop for lunch and a helado before my appointment.  I got a nice little carne hot pocket (called salgado in Rio and something else here...maybe tort?) at a cafe.  This cost me 50 cents USD.  Then down the street to one of the many Heladerias (ice cream shops.)  I would say that the number one business here is Locutorios (telephone/internet cafes) as there is one every third shop.  The number two business is heladerias.  My first helado needed to be something Argentinian, so I selected Dulce de Leche con Brownies.  This would be my second dulce de leche of the day as the breakfast we have at home each morning is crackers with dulce de leche spread.  

Then it was off to meet Regina and Margarita from GIC.  Great girls.

  They gave me my free cell phone, gym membership (what is that?  I'm on vacation!), and orientation to the city.  I now know how to wear my purse in the subte (subway.)  They acted out a pickpocket scene for me.  Very cute. 

I had some time to kill before going to the interview they set up for me for volunteer work.  So, I went to buy phone credits at the local 7-11 (or that is what I call it.)  It is actually called a Kiosco.  It works the same way here as it does in Kenya.  You buy a card for say 20 pesos.  You look for the scratch off code to program into your phone.  Your credits are added.  You get a deal with the 20 peso card; getting 28 credits.  Incoming calls and texts are free.  Outgoing texts to anywhere are about 3 cents USD.  Cheaper than at home!

I need to keep my ears clear when people tell me numbers.  I have noticed a few times an issue with this.  I could have sworn that Regina said the walk to the interview office was 13 blocks.  I can handle that.

  I swear it was 30 blocks.  Nothing like showing up for an interview with sweaty face.  Axel (couldn't help but hum "welcome to the jungle in my head") was the French intern who interviewed me.  The organization is called LIFE www.lifeargentina.org. This non profit organization was started by a women and her daughter to help disadvantaged youth.  They work with kids ages 3-11 years old in 4 neighborhoods around BsAs. Each day there are 2 volunteer activities to choose from.  We meet at the office at 3pm and stay out until 8pm.  You can choose which activity or choose no activities.  They are either very flexible... or just don't care if you show up since they already have your money.  The only requirements are that I show up when I commit to it, wear their logo shirt, not ask the kids about their parents or school, and not promise them anything I do not plan on delivering.  They have 7 interns and 5-25 volunteers at any time.  I am interested in seeing how it compares with the organization I work with at home www. standupforkids.org.

My first activity will be a birthday party tomorrow.  Make cakes, jump in a van, decorate, play games...should be fun.  Other activities I may participate in are helping with math and english homework and afterschool sports activities.

After passing the extensive interview and application process (here is your shirt and activity schedule) I was off on the subte with my purse firmly tucked in my armpit to head home.  Looking like an expert, a few people asked me to help them with their map.  Uh oh!  Cover blown.  Stopped off at the laundry to pick up my clean clothes and tackled the 3 doors and elevator up to the apartment.  Big smile all the way.  It is such a thrill to have made it out and back using public transportation on your own.

Nilda had a few friends stop by (Carmen and her daughter.)  Holly cleared the living room floor and tangoed with her dance teacher.  She has only had 5 lessons, but was dancing like a pro.  I used my runny nose and cough as an excuse not to get up and take a spin.

  Maybe next week.

DOUBLE FELIZ CUMPLEANOS

I met up with about a dozen volunteers and drove about an hour away in our beat up van to Layfererre.  We decorated their community center and the cakes and then waited for kids to show up.  It wasn't long before about 30 kids showed up to play jump rope, soccer, and volleyball.  The party ended with us all eating cake and giving the kids balloon (globo) animals to take home.  Everyone had a good time.  The kids were sweet. 

The other volunteers were mostly exchange students from the US, Germany, England, and Italy.  All were very cool and interested in my couchsurfing and travel experience.  Nicky is a student from Pomona College near my home.  She is apprenticing here in body peircing.  I didn't know that was a major!  Ray from England is at the end of his 1 year RTW.  He has rallyed some of the girls to become Che and motorbike around South America.  Sounds fun.  Wish I had the time.  A young couple from Detroit and New York ( I call them TomKat since they resemble the couple) are travelling some of the same path I am.

  They have invited me to join them at the Boca Juniors game this weekend.  Looking forward to that.

Got home around 9:30pm to find my roommate Holly's pizza and beer birthday party in full swing.  She had about a dozen of her student friends over.  They were all very nice giving me advice on things to do while here.  One girl played and sang original music on the piano in my room.  A nice evening.  Ever have an egg and olive pizza?  That was interesting.  Much better than the banana and cinnamin pizza I had in Rio.    

PROFESSORA POR DIA

My second day volunteering took me to Ciudad de Oculto to teach an afterschool or instead-of-school program.  Some of the same volunteers joined (Martin, Alessandra, Rosalie, and Ray) along with some new ones.  Caroline was our leader.  Greta is from Montreal and the only one in my real age bracket.  Jeremy is from France.  Liza is from Brasil.  And Patrice is from Virginia but the cool thing is that she taught school in Kibera, Kenya last summer.

  So, she and I had a lot to talk about.   

Ciudad de Oculto is supposedly a rough neighborhood.  They had a teenager meet us just outside the boundries then escort us in so that no one would give us trouble.  I actually thought it was a cute little town.  Very narrow dirt alleys winding around though homes and shops.  Patrice and I thought it was a little nicer version of Kibera.  Our classroom was at Las Horas Felices.  Our mission was to try to get the kids to write instead of do math problems.  They are all very good at math and prefer to show off these skills.  Since they do not speak English and my Spanish is really bad, I preferred math too.  But I eventually got Mariano (a 7 year old boy) to be patient with me and practice writing about things he likes.  Even with my limitted knowledge of the language, it was obvious that he had trouble spelling.  I would read outloud each word he wrote and then because I did not pronounce it right he knew it was spelled wrong and would try to correct it.

  The funny thing is that he got smart and instead of writing things like "Me gusto gatos, peros, juevos," etc. , he started writing bad words knowing that I would say them outloud not knowing what they meant.  I caught on when the other kids started laughing at me.

I later moved on to a very smart 12 year old boy.  He was able to write all kinds of things for me about Christopher Columbus which was the holiday they had here on Monday.  They sure have alot of Holidays here.  Sunday is Dia de Madre (Mothers Day) and apparently there are about 4 more holidays in the next month.  Then onto a couple of little girls who needed some help correcting math problems.  I was skeptical at first, but was surprised how you can actually help teach someone when you don't speak the same language.  For math, all you need is 10 fingers! 

DITCH DAY

I decided to take Friday off of volunteering.  First thing on my agenda was to go check out the gym membership I got for free.  It was a very nice gym with lots of machines, classes, sauna, steamroom, and juicebar.

  Being that I haven't worked out in a few months, I thought why bother.  So, I sat in the steam room and sauna then called it a workout.

On my walk home, I stopped in a bathing suit shop.  They appeared to have bigger ones here than in Rio.  Knowing that I have lost 10 lbs (after doing the conversion from kilos to pounds,)  I was feeling pretty confident that I could find something in my size here.  But, what is my size here?  I had to get a little help from the saleslady.  Here is where the ego deflated again.  She brought me out a size 100 bikini!  I need a triple digit bikini to cover a little more than 2 inches of my skin.  I cut the tags out as soon as I got home so as to not have a reminder of that! 

By the way, I heard a funny quote from another American tourist.  She said, "If God wanted us to learn the metric system, he would have given us 10 fingers and 10 toes."  All this conversion stuff is really working out my math muscles.

Other things I accomplished today include replacing the white hoodie that I tore a hole in getting out of a taxi and booking a flight to Iguazu to meet TravBuddy Steph.

  I got in a few tourista type things also.  I went to Recoletta Cemetary and found Evita Peron's resting place.  This was the most beautiful cemetary I have ever seen without grass.  I also went to Florida street which is famous for its good shopping.  People go here to buy their leather items.   I'm not really in need of anything leather so I just strolled and enjoyed the interesting street performers and good people watching.  I will be meeting my Language Partner Damien tonight and then going out with my roommate and her friends to a club after that.

BUSES AND OUT ON THE TOWN

So, I guess the guys in Buenos Aires are like the girls in Rio.  Damien flaked out on me for our language practice.  This did give me some extra time to take a nap before heading out.  Around 11:30pm, Holly and I headed to the bus for a night out with her friends from school. 

This was my first bus experience here.  The bummer about the buses is that you must have monedas (coins) and everyone is so stingy with their coins.

  They do not want to give you change in coins ever.  You tell the driver how much you plan to pay and then he programs the machine to give you change when you drop your coins in.  It costs .80 pesos to ride, so it is .10 pesos more than the subte.  They have this great little book at the kioscos you can buy for 5 pesos called Guia "T" that maps out for you every bus and subway in BsAs that will get you to a particular address.  A must buy when you get here!  The bus drivers are also very cool.  They will stop for you in the middle of a busy street if you give them a look like you really wanted to get on that bus.

So our first stop for the night was a place called The Alamo.  It is a hang out for English speaking students and locals who want to meet them.  Not my first choice to get immersed in the culture, but I had fun nonetheless.  We met up with Emily and Riana from Holly's school.

  They have permanent seats at the bar there.  The good thing about the place is that girls drink for free until midnight.  The bad thing is that we got there just in time to have 1 free drink.  With our cover charge of 10 pesos we got tickets for 2 more drinks though.  Boys have to pay a little higher cover charge ... so sorry.  My first drink had to be the beer of the land ... Quilmes.  Another let down as it might as well have been Coors.  Second drink needed to be a mixed drink of the land.  "Do you like black licorice?"  "Love it."  A Firnet and Coke it is then.

Boca players arrive with police escort

  They should have asked if I liked black pepper because that is what it actually tasted like.  I quickly found a local to give that drink to.  What is the next most popular drink here and I am not believing you if you tell me it tastes like chocolate or something.  Cubra Libre.  Fine.  I can handle a rum & coke.  This one might have been a rum & coke & tranquilizer though.  It was very effective.

 

I made new besties at The Alamo.  They were a couple of under 21 year old Pepperdine students studying abroad.  We had a good time teaching a local guy named Charles how to say very funny things in English to the girls.

Kim, me and Holly at Boca Jrs futbol game

  Charles was very proud of his Wrangler shirt recently purchased in Houston and appropriate for The Alamo.  He was also sporting the very popular in Buenos Aires mullet cut con rat tail.  My friends at the Alamo would not let me leave until I promised that I would meet them the next night at the same location for more silliness.  I am no longer their BFF since I was a typical Rio girl not showing up.

The night progressed to a club called Fidel where they were having an international theme party.

  Translation ... more English speaking college kids.  The cover here was 20 pesos and you got just one drink.  It was wall to wall people and raining so I left soon after that drink ... 5:30am.  Not before getting to hear about the typical American women stereotypes from 3 Argentine men.  They were right.  I do not cook.  I do not know much about other country's politics.  I wear flip flops when I go out.  I only really speak English.  I talk too loud.  I slam doors (confirmed by my house mom yelling at me for accidentally doing this.)  I own an ipod (which by the way cost about $600 here, so bring a few to sell if you are coming here.)  They were still nice enough to hail me a Radio Taxi when .

Boca Jrs cheerleaders

.. yes, I may be a stupid American but not stupid enough to get a ride home from 3 Argentine strangers.

I may actually miss Rio nightlife!

 

COSAS INTERESANTE

Some random things I have observed here ...

The sidewalks are torn up everywhere.

  No matter what stone street you are walking on there will be big chunks missing and sometimes a crew working on it.

You can get room service on the street here.  I see waiters carrying trays of coffee & pastry in crosswalks all the time. 

If you order a beer, you will get salty snacks automatically.

  If you order a coffee, you will get some sort of dessert automatically.  A nice little gift with purchase.

There is a cover charge of about 2 pesos to sit at a table in a restaurant ...even if you order food.  Plus they want a 10% tip?!

Many of the streets, parks, and plazas are named after a date.  Plaza de Mayo, Avenida 9 de Julio, etc.

 What is this strange obsession with the dates of events in history rather than the actual event? 

People buy their underwear on the sidewalk.  Yes, frilly lacey things are spread out on blankets on sidewalks of major streets and everyday people buy it right there along side the dog poop.  (There are lots of dogs here.)

 

You will not get sick if you drink water out of the sink here.  Although, I think my house mom was trying to kill me.

  I caught her filling the water bottles she gives me from the sink.  I have been drinking them for a week and all is well.

 

You can live in a studio apartment here for $300 a month in San Telmo which includes utilities, cable, internet etc. (and less if you are a local who has references.) 

 

You begin to lose words when out of country for too long.  People try talk to you in broken English so you talk back in broken English.  You can no longer think of appropriate big words to use when speaking with native English speakers.  All words I use now are less than seven letters long. All sentences are fragmented.

...oops big word! 

 

Police are everywhere; doubled up on every corner.  And there is no need to avoid them here.  I think their main job duty is giving directions to lost tourists.

 

Riding the subway here is like being in an elevator.  People do not make eye contact, look bored, and do not talk to strangers.  But, they do give their monedas to the many disabled people that try to entertain you during the ride with music, juggling or something of that sort.

 

In Rio the greeting was 2 kisses.

  One on each cheek.  In Buenos Aires it is 1 kiss.  I did not warn Andrew that in BsAs, the men greet each other this way also.  Funny to see him flinch when this happened the first time.

 

People seem to have a fascination with freckles here.  Several people have commented on mine. 

 

There are lots of museums here.  Including one all about ham.  No surprise.

 

Most noticeable fashion accessories.

..fanny packs slinged over the shoulder like a messenger bag, panty hose and panty lines.  Oh and very cute, but poorly made shoes.

 

PSYCHOLOGIST FOR THE DAY

 

For my third volunteer activity, I went with Giselle (local girl) and Kathrin (German student) back to Laferrere to help the kids make Mother's Day cards.

  We made some pretty cool pop up cards with hearts and flowers on them.  Check out the photos.  Sweet kid with his card for his mom in one photo.  In the next photo he is making gun signs for the camera with the big kids.  Yikes.

The interesting part was the transportation we took this time.  We took a bus to an area where random vans come by to take people from the city to the villas (slums.)  We pay the guy 4 pesos for this ride.  He drops us off at a carport where people wait in line for a beat up car to pick up 6 people at a time to take us deeper into the villa.  This ride cost us the equivalent of about 1 US cent.

  Pretty cool.

This whole process of getting home took 2 hours.  It was a nice ride though because Giselle became the language partner I missed out on with Damien.  She is currently learning English.  I spoke with her in Spanish while she spoke in English.  She is 26 years old and a Psychologist.  She recently broke up with her boyfriend of 10 years, so we had a lot to talk about.  I think I became the psychologist.

This is a very popular profession here, by the way.

  People love to gossip.  It is the perfect profession to get the dirt on your neighbors.  I hear my house mom on the phone daily telling her friends in Spanish every little thing about us.  "Kelly ate dinner already.  Holly is not home yet.  They don't know how to close doors."  I think this is why little cafes are all over the place.  People go there to talk about everyone else's business.  In the gym I hear people talking about who got plastic surgery.  When I got in the elevator one day, some guy said "You are from California, right?"  Who the heck are you and how do you know this?  People talk!

 

BOCA JUNIORS FUTBOL

 

After such a cool experience in Brasil, I had to see the Boca Juniors play in Buenos Aires.

Madres leave

  I had heard that the fans here are even crazier.  Holly, Kim, Eben, Sarah and I set off to buy tickets on Sunday for the game against Estudiantes L.P.  Easy enough.  Then we cruised the tourist area of Boca admiring the colorful buildings and buying our shirts in the appropriate team colors.

Come game time, we found that many streets were blocked off.  There were police everywhere.  We were told that we could not enter certain streets because of the colors we were wearing.  Word on the street was that the average number of fan deaths per game is two.  Odds are higher if you are wearing the wrong colors on the wrong street.

  I suddenly liked having to walk the long way around the stadium to get to our entrance.

This detour ended up being a good thing because we happened upon the team bus pulling up to let the players off.  Police with shields protected these guys as they jumped off the bus.  Fans were cheering for their favorites. We got to our seats about 1.5 hours early knowing from our previous experience that the best part of the game is beforehand when the crowd goes crazy.  Not here.  The peanut guy just laughed at me when I asked him to send the cerveza guy.  He said even more people would die if they served beer there.

  What?  We are stuck here in the stands with only Dasani (sponsored by Coke) water for 1.5 hours?!

Thank goodness we had the cheerleaders to entertain us.  We laughed as they made no attempt to be together in their one dance routine that they did over and over again to the same song.  And, it really isn't necessary when you wear butt-less uniforms.  No one really cares that you are off the beat.

 

Soon into the game the opposing team scored a point.

  The confetti was thrown and the flags were waving.  We wanted to exchange our blue & gold shirts for red & black as their side was much more fun.  The interesting thing is that they had police surrounding their stands and no tickets were sold in the section next to them.  They take lots of precautions here. 

 

The game ended in a tie.  Did not hear of any deaths.  However, more precautions were taken after the game.  The public buses all showed up with police with billy clubs on them.  In order to get on the bus, you had to pay them thru the window and then they would let you on one at a time.  But the key message to everyone is this...THERE IS NO BEER AT THE BOCA STADIUM!

 

SAN TELMO

 

After the game, Eben and Sarah and I decided to stop in San Telmo on the way home.

  We had heard that Sunday is the big day there with feria shopping (craft booths in the streets) and a tango milonga (open dance party in the streets.)  Well, everything was closing down when we got there around 7pm.  We could tell that there was some good shopping though.  There are lots of antique stores in the area.  Apparently there are good night clubs also, but we were too early for that.  So, we had a helado and went home.  I decided to try 2 helado flavors I had no idea what they were.  One was called Chantilly.  It tasted just like lace.  Not really.  I think it tasted like red wine.  The other started with an S.  I have no idea what it was.  But, I have never had an ice cream I didn't like.  I plan to definitely go back there next Sunday if the election that is happening that day doesn´t close it down.  We hear that it is illegal not to vote here and many of the businesses close for the day.

 

TRAVBUDDY MEET UP

 

I met up with TBs Sevang and MartinFinigan at a place in Palermo Hollwood called Acabar on Honduras.

  It took forever to get there.  You have to walk thru about 10 countries (Paraguay, Guatemala, Cost Rica, Etc.) to get there from the main drag...Santa Fe.  This area is filled with many nice little cafes along they way.  Finally had my first taste of wine here.  Well, it was more than a taste.  We had a few bottles of an ever popular local Malbec.  Along with this we had some empanaditas.  Very cute place where they provide you with just about any board game you would want to play.  We spent most of our time determining our next travel destinations.  They convinced me that I need to go to Prague.

 

TRAIN TO EL JAGUEL

 

My fourth volunteer activity introduced me to a new barrio, new volunteers, and a new mode of transportation.

  Ruth (from England) and Kevin (from N Carolina) lead us this time on a 1.5 hour train ride to a cute little villa.  It was nice to see some countryside along the way.  Riding the tren is pretty rough though.  Rough in that people push, shove, and elbow people just to get a seat.  Round trip it cost us 2.10 pesos.  Apparently, you can take it to the airport but I wouldn´t recommend it with bags. 

 

Eben and Sarah were there plus John (living here for 2 years from Kentucky,) Julia (I recognize your Orange County accent,) a girl from Sweden, and Barbara & Phil (retired couple from England volunteering around the world.)  Our job this time was to teach English classes to the kids.  Unfortunately, the classroom we had been using was hijacked by a guy sorting through car parts I think he found in a river.

  Therefore, English classes became Auto Shop. Oh well.  I look forward to going back there later in the week.     

 

COUCHSURF PUPPET SHOW MEET UP

 

Andrew finally made it to Buenos Aires.  This means that it is time to meet some couchsurfing friends.  We met up at a place in Palermo Soho this time called Te Matare Ramirez on Gorrity.  They had a very interesting X-rated puppet show going on.  It was in Spanish, but it wasn´t too hard to figure out what the show was about by the actions of these puppets.  The drinks were expensive so we moved onto a cheap pizza and pool place around the corner.

  As we had not seen each other in a week, we had a lot of catching up to do.  About 30 local and travelling CSers showed up throughout the night though.  They were all very nice.  We were invited to other activities with them for the following 3 nights.  I look forward to getting to chat with more locals.  Most of my exposure here has been with ex pats.

 

A student named Guilluame from Montreal offered up his couch to Andrew for a few nights.  So, he checked out of the Estril Hostel (which was very nice) near Congresso.  He has a very cute place near Av de Mayo and Av 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world I think) on Rivadavia.  We walked from there to San Telmo and Puerto Madryn as I oriented Andrew to the city.  Had a nice garbonzo bean pizza and Gancia (a better tasting local beverage than fernet) lunch for 6 pesos.

 

 

PRETEND YOU HAVE A JOB

 

Our next CS meet up was at a very cool club called Museum in San Telmo on Peru.  It is the hot place on Wednesday nights after work here.  The same big crowd (Paulina, Pablo, Nacho, Luis, etc) showed up along with a few newcomers  (one girl who has been travelling for 2 years and is originally from Pasadena, CA named Paulette.)  Don´t give me any ideas!  I promised my boss I would come back home. 

 

Beers were 8 pesos for two.

  Pizza was 10 pesos.  Us short girls had a hard time there as there was no air conditioning and the dance floor was wall to wall people again.  We had to keep jumping up to try to get air.  They had a DJ accompanied by a guitar and drummer.  Different.  The other funny thing is hearing Electronica Tango versions of pop songs.  

 

One of the girls told me that many guys borrow suits to wear to this club pretending to have a job in hopes of snagging a girl that can support him.  I am told that many people still do not have jobs after the big crash of their economy a few years back.  I am guessing that people thought we were in the same situation as Andrew and I stopped at a fast food place down the street, changed in the bathroom, and strolled in with our backpack.

 

 

PROTESTS & DEMONSTRATIONS

 

It is election week.  It seems that everywhere we go now, there are drums being beaten and confetti being thrown while people march together behind big banners.  We came upon one such one that made us walk a little faster.  There were 2 different groups following each other.  One had big CCC signs which apparently is some communist group.  The other group following them were a little scarier.

Me and roommate Holly at Cafe Tortoni

  They were all holding big sticks as they marched.  We got out of there before we could see if they planned to use them.

 

One of the main things I was looking forward to in Buenos Aires was attending the Madres de Plaza de Mayo march that happens every Thursday at 3:30pm.   These women have supposedly been marching here for the last 30 years in protest of not knowing what happened to their sons who disappeared during the Dirty War.  It is believed 30,000 boys were abducted by the government from 1976 to 1983.  I wondered where all the men my age were!  As it was pouring rain, I waited safely in a cafe across the street watching to see if they would show up.  The 7 different friends who said they would meet me there all started messaging in that they were wimping out due to the rain.  Not me and the mamas though!  Had to gulp down my coffee with cocoa, cinnamon, and cream as much to my surprise 10 women in the 60-90 years old age bracket showed up.

  They all wear matching head scarfs and carry flags.  Then on a loud speaker one of them makes a speech for about 30 minutes in which Los Estados Unidos is mentioned a few times.   It seems that everywhere I go the US is mentioned in these types of things.  Think we are being blamed?  Think we are being thanked?  Think they think we can help? Hmmmmm...

 

The most common form of the anger these people have with the government here is their grafitti.  Much of it is very professional looking as it is stenciled on the walls.  Some is the typical spray paint kind though also.  On one street I saw statements against the US & Bush as well as grafitti in affection of US & Bush.  That was surprising.  I don´t think I have ever seen pro Bush grafitti anywhere.

..not even in the US.  I guess there aren´t many Republicans who are talented with a spray can.     

 

And the next President is...Cristina.  She is the wife of the former President.  Sound familiar?

 

SE HABLA CASTELLANO

 

So, they don´t exactly speak the Spanish we learned in school here.  Theirs is a much prettier version that has a little Italian flair.

  Instead of "tu" for you, they use "vos."  And, instead of pronouncing "ella" aaaayah, they pronounce it aaaashah.  No, I am not from Asia.  I am from the OC.  Believe it or not.  When I say that I am from Orange County, they all get excited and say "The OC!"  Anyway, it has been a little hard recognizing some words as I am not used to the double L sounding like SH. 

 

Most frustrating was the day I was out shopping for a white hoodie.  I held one up to the light at a store trying to figure out if it was white or off-white.  The saleslady comes up and says that it is beige.  I guess beige is beige in Spanish.  So I say, "Necesito blanco."  And she says, "Oh, you speak English."  NO!  I think that was Spanish.  Must be the gringo OC accent. 

 

DRENCHED AND LOST TOURISTA

 

I was on a roll after seeing the Madres.  Needed to get in another tourist attraction.  While everyone else was running for cover, I was enjoying the rain.  If you have never danced in the streets when it is raining, you need to do it.  Go ahead.  Splash in the puddles.  It is liberating!

 

My walk to Teatro Colon (opera house) ended up being a dud.  I got there.  Security asked me what I was there for.  I said to tour the theater.  They said that it hasn't been open for tours for over a year due to refurbishment.  

 

Next stop on my wild goose chase was the Museo de Artes Modernos on the edge of San Telmo.  Had to walk about 8 blocks in the rain from the closest subway stop.  I could not find the entrance.  Luckily I came across a tourist information office.  After the guy working there was done laughing at the drenched tourista, he told me that the museum had moved across town about a year ago.  Why aren't these tourist maps updated?!  He told me which bus to take and I was off again.

 

Now the bus driver is laughing at me as I hold up my map trying to make sure I was heading the right direction.  At every stop light, he would point to the signs and read off the street names for me.  I must have looked really pathetic because I think he said in Spanish that he would stop driving the bus and accompany me to the museum if I wanted.  These bus drivers really are nice here.

 

All this running around in the rain was worth it as I was fascinated by this one particular artist there.  His name is Icaro Zorbar.  He lives in BsAs, but is from Columbia.  He was there to turn on his art work for me as I walked up.  It is amazing what he has done with mechanical devices and music items.  It is hard to explain so check it out on his website and UTube videos.  http://lloradodemasiado.wordpress.com/ 

 

FERIA FRIDAY

 

Yes, I have been flaking on my volunteer work.  I have felt the days I have left here start to diminish and don't want to leave without seeing the main sites.  If I thought that they really needed me I would be there, but I am sure that they are managing with one less gringa using broken Spanish.

 

Most ferias (craft fair booths) are on the weekend, but there are 2 that are on Friday from 11-6ish.  I started at Feria Patio del Cabildo and then walked to Feria Mercado de las Luces.  That took all of 30 minutes!  They were pretty small and didn't have anything too exciting.

 

This gives me more time for a musuem.  I headed over to MALBA Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires.  This is the biggie.  Cost 12 pesos to get in instead of the 0-3 the others cost.  I was told it would take about an hour to walk through.  I bet I could do it in 30 and make it to the free walking tour down the street...and I was off!  There were 3 floors to conquer.  I hope the artists aren't there like the last museum or else I will feel obligated to stand there for a prolonged period of time pretending to understand and be fascinated by their work.  Whew!  Just security guards who I don't mind scoffing at me as I zip through in a very uncultured way.

 

There were a couple of artists' work that made me risk missing the free walking tour.  Antonio Berni had some pretty cool things.  And Douglas Gordon (is he really Latin American?!) had some interesting videos.  I was pretty happy to see my favorite artist had one original in this gallery...Botero from Columbia! 

 

Then it was off to join the free walking tour I heard about at the visitor info office.  They do them every week in different locations about the city.  Once a month there is an English/Spanish tour.  It was my lucky Friday.  This one met up across the street from the zoo and Rosedal Parque to tour the lagos (lakes) and gardens of Palermo.  It lasted about 1.5 hours and ended with free admission into Museo de Artes Plasticas Eduardo Sivori.

 

Our group consisted of people from Malta, Canada, Sweden, and the Chech Republic (I'll use the excuse that now that they have changed their name I don't know how to spell it.)  There was also a local group of students learning English with us.  This is a nice way for them to test their comprehension.  All of us had a hard time concentrating on the guide's explanation of the history of Palermo because we were busy slapping our legs and arms.  We all walked out with no less than 10 welts from the bugs in Rosedal Park.  There are nice lakes and roses there during the day.  At night there are transvestite hookers. 

 

I did enjoy the Plasticas museum although I didn't see any plastic.  Again, some interesting art.  It was also neat to see art students laying all over the place doing charcoal drawings.  I decided to stay in their coutyard and have lunner, linner, dunch, dinch...or whatever you call eating your second meal of the day at 4:30pm.  Had a nice caprese sandwhich and watched the students draw.  I tried to get ahold of my roommate who was across the street at the zoo to come join me, but we missed each other.  Oh well.  There is something nice about sitting at a table in this environment and just enjoying the surroundings.

 

It all ended soon enough when the text messages started coming in.  What is going on tonight?  Which party are you going to?  When?  Where?  How is it that I have a larger social life being in foreign cities for less than 2 weeks than I do at home?  Decisions needed to be made.  First, I must rush home to get rid of my flip flop feet and hat head.  (Your feet sure get dirty in this city.)

 

AND THE WINNER IS...CROBAR

 

The organization that arranged for my volunteer work was having a dinner at a restaurant.  Free wine was the offer to get us there.  I was tempted, but 9PM was way too early for dinner!  I am so Porteno now!  The car part shop on the street below us was having an asado (BBQ) and I have not yet experienced that.  But, each peak over the balcony proved that women just don't go to car part asados.  My house mom was having a leather party.  Some of her friends had come over to try on the bags full of 1980s style leather jackets she was selling.  She had made some sausage wrapped in cabbage dinner.  Now that looked kinda good!  So, Holly and I opted for this early in the evening.

 

At around 11PM, we decided we needed a helado before heading out for the evening.  You can actually have it delivered like pizza to your home here.  But, we wanted a little walk.  There were still a few flavors I did not recognize that I had not tried yet.  So, I had Crema Tramontana and Mascarpone.  The first one which I actually call Montana had little malt balls in it.  Nice choice.  I think I had heard of the other one.  It had berries in it and was very good also.  Holly had Crema  something or other that had the word Peru in it.  It had chocolate covered carmel chunks in it.  Nice!  So, Peru won over Montana.

 

At 1AM, it was finally time to go out.  I was meeting Andrew, Guillaume, and 4 other CSers at Crobar.  Now this was a club I had heard about before I left home, so I was excited to get there.  The Radio Taxi that cruised in front of my apartment looked confused when I said Crobar.  He never heard of it.  How can I know of this place all the way in the US, but he doesn't.  So, I tell him it is at the corner of Dorrego y Fraire.  He says "ah si!" and we are off.  But, when we get to the corner I notice that the neighborhood is pretty desolate.  No way am I getting out with out seeing the front door to the place.  The street signs say Dorrego and Freire.  Could there be another street with just 1 letter difference in the name that crosses the same street.  No!  The city would not do that to us.  After asking people on the street, cruising up and down streets, many text messages, and a long call to the hostess at the club, we finally were headed to the right Fraire in Palermo.  A 9 peso taxi ride ended up being 25 pesos.  Still a bargain for an hour of driving around in a taxi.  Crobar was under the train bridge right next to the Rosedal Parque I was at earlier in the day!

 

One of the CSers knew the owner and had put our names on the list.  This would allow us to not have to pay the 25 peso cover, eat free pizza until 1:30AM, and happy hour priced beers.  There is no line.  Just beautiful people standing out front waiting for the dark suited door guy to point for them to come in.  Great!  Here I am in my hiking boots (an alternative to my flip flops) and jeans.  Like they are going to let me walk by all these people to get in.  I guess speaking English helps.  I was in very quickly.  Then I spent 30 minutes looking for my friends.  They are nowhere to be found.  Several texts go back & forth and we finally realize that I went in the wrong entrance.  I was supposed to go in the less fancy section.  So, I am out the door and off to tackle another door guy on the other side of the building.  My luck...it is a door girl.  She looks at me as if I am foreign when I speak English.  Oh, I am!  Eventually she speaks with the manager and they ask me if I am the girl with the drunk taxi driver who they tried to give directions to.  YES!  I am in for free!

 

Can't wait to start dancing at 3AM!  The bar is very cool.  The music was funny.  They really like the 70s-80s here...hair and music.  Were we ever really able to dance to that music though?  They play the songs at triple speed so that maybe we can try to dance to it, but then switch to another song snipet just as we are finally getting our groove.  It was quite funny.  So bascially, we just sang at the top of our lungs song snipets and swayed on the dance floor until they opened up the doors and let us join the electronica dance music at the fancier part of the club.

 

Interesting to me was that Heinekin is the cheap beer on the menu.  It costs 10 pesos while the others (like Corona) are more.  It is the opposite at home.

 

The night ended pretty early (at 5AM) with a stroll by the transvestite hookers on the edge of the park before getting a taxi home.  This time I got a very nice and sober driver named Hector.  He told me that he has travelled the world as he used to be a professional futbol player...weren't they all?! 

 

DON'T CRY FOR ME BUT I MIGHT DIE IN ARGENTINA

 

Earlier in the day, I had stopped at a Farmacia to buy what I think is cough medicine.  I have been hacking for 3 weeks.  I probably have walking pneumonia, but don't want to ruin a vacation by going to a doctor even though healthcare is free here.  Feeling bad that my roommates have to hear me cough all night long, I decided to try to get something to cover up the symptoms.

 

So, at 5:30AM I am trying to read the Spanish label to determine how much I should take before going to bed.  For adults it said 5 a 7.5ml, 3 times a day.  It was less for children.  So, I had gulped down 4 of the 7.5ml cups full before my brain registered that it did not say 5 de 7.5ml, but 5 a 7.5ml.  I have now taken 4 times the recommended dosage and more than the daily maximum! 

 

Here's what went through my head at that moment.  Maybe I better go throw up.  No, my roommates will think I am drunk.  Maybe I better write them a note letting them know that if I don't wake up by afternoon, I am probably dead from cough medicine overdose.  And, this just isn't a good day to overdose or die.  My parents are unreachable for a few days.  No one will know what my final wishes are.  Oh well.  I will just wait it out and see what happens.  Either I will sleep veeeeery nicely or my heart will start racing.  Great!  I'm sure that it was just the thought of the possibilities that made my heart start racing a few minutes later.  Now what?  Oh, go to sleep hypocondriac! zzzzzzzzzzzz  Slept nicely until 11AM.

SAN TELMO WEEKEND

The Plaza Serrano feria was supposed to be a big deal on Saturdays.  Ho hum.  There are very cool shops in the area.  But, it wasn't a big deal.  Did buy a bag to replace my one that is torn up.   Looking forward to San Telmo on Sunday.

Met up with Andrew, Guillaume, and Mariano there for an asado dinner on Saturday night.  Andrew was sporting his new Argentine haircut.  Yes, he is emo in the front and party in the back.  All he needs is the rat tail to finish the look.  This haircut cost him $2 USD and he got his moneys worth!  Although I tried to avoid it, we ended up eating at a restaurant on Estados Unidos street.  Most restaurants were closing down early because they are not allowed to serve alcohol after 10PM this evening due to the elections tomorrow.  So, this was the only place willing to break the rules.  The meat was so tender that the guy cut it with a spoon! 

 

Then it was off to a heladeria, of course.  This time I got  banana and marroc.  Marroc ended up being chocolatey.

 

Thought it was going to be an early evening, but we jumped on a bus and headed to Luis' apartment in Palermo.  It is 1AM and the place is filled with couchsurfers from all over drinking wine, lemoncello, and some licorice tasting drink from Columbia.  The San Diego girls who were staying there said they tried to watch the world series, but got kicked out of The Alamo by the police.  Ooops, broke the alcohol rule.  There is this growing trend around cameras I have noticed over the last year and it was in full swing here at Luis'.  Pretty much everyone was running around grabbing people to pose with them in pictures.  You know, the kind where the photographer is also in the picture with an outstretched arm.  You see this happening all over dance clubs too.  People grab total strangers to do this.  Around 3AM I grew tired of saying "Queso" for the camera and headed home. 

 

It is a small world though.  I received a message from Raphaella (Italian girl we hung out with in Rio) saying that she would be arriving on Monday.  One of the BsAs couchsurfers overheard me and asked if it was the same Raphy he has been talking to and who will be surfing Martin's couch next week.  Sure enough!  I will have to warn her about the camera situation.

 

Sunday at San Telmo was just what I had hoped.  Lots of great feria browsing.  I ended up purchasing a flowered leather coin purse that is all the rage here now.  Along Defensa street, you could watch performers.  There was the guy who tangoed with a puppet.  Puppets seem to be very popular here.  There are many musicians and artists.  We also got to watch real people tangoing.  That saved me about $50.  Now I do not have to go see a tango show.  My $2 USD lunch today was a salami (not ham!) and cheese sandwhich.  I ate it at a counter in the Mercado which was great because we could watch the ladies make torts and other local favorites while we ate.

 

I ran into Holly (English girl we met in Rio) on the streets.  She said that she went to Retiro bus station yesterday to head to Mendoza and her bag got stolen with her passport and credit cards.  This particular bus station is notorious for this.  A man tapped her on the shoulder to tell her that she had dropped some money.  When she went to pick it up, someone else swiped her bag from on the ground next to her.  So she is stuck in Buenos Aires a few extra days waiting for the Embassy to help her out.  It was probably good for me to hear this because I have been so lucky that my guard is down.  I have felt completely safe in all the rough areas I have been in. 

 

MATTE

 

My favorite drink on Ipanema was Matte, but Portenos drink matte of a different type.  Here, the matte is pronounced how it is spelled.  They drink it out of those little gords (bowl shaped cups) with a bombilla (big straw/spoon/strainer thing.)  It is passed around gatherings of friends.  You see people sitting on curbs passing it around with a thermos of hot water by their side.  You can purchase the items needed for yerba matte drinking at the ferias, but you will have trouble finding it in restaurants. 

 

My roommate and I had some tonight.  There are rules around drinking this stuff that she taught me.  If someone serves you cold matte, they don't really want to drink with you.  It is passed clockwise.  You must drink the whole thing before passing it.  You should not move the bombilla.  You must pass it with the bombilla towards the other person.  You say thank you when you are done drinking it for the evening.  The first taste was kind of bitter, but eventually it grows on you.

 

CAFE TORTONI AND THE LAST DAY

 

Holly and I did one last tourista thing on my last full day in Buenos Aires.  We went to the famous Cafe Tortoni where the Tango Shows are held.  But, we went there for afternoon coffee and churros.  It is a very fancy looking place with lots of history.  Too bad the churros are stale.  Nothing like the chocolate filled ones in Rio.

 

Other things that filled my last day include a pilates class, a Latin dance class, a steam, a sauna, pick up laundry, ATM peso stop, return cell phone to GIC, teach one last amazing English class to the kids, go try to find Andrew for dinner after receiving the usual vague directions and then give up, watch a ladies purse get stolen on the street, have Nilda's spegetti, call remis (driver) and pack.  Busy day.  Oh ya, and then realize that Steph and I will be on opposite sides of the Brasil/Argentina border when we try to meet up for the next 4 days.  Hopefully we will be able to find each other as we repel across the Foz de Iguazu.

 

TAXI CAB CONFESSIONS

 

I have decided that my favorite people in Argentina are the transportation specialists I have enountered.  My driver, Aldo, and I had a very long conversion in Spanish on my way to the airport about the economic crisis, his past career in banking, his kids, his schooling, traffic, pollution, and the city.  We dropped my backpack at the Intercontinental Hotel and were off to the local airport AEP.  This was a much shorter drive than the international airport EZE which is about 45 minutes from the main city.  

 

So, this was the second taxi driver who engaged me in conversation and helped me to improve my Spanish.  I have also had 2 especially nice bus drivers help me out in Buenos Aires.  To be honest, these few are the exceptions to what my impressions are of Portenos in general.  I will go ahead and say it.  I understand what other South Americans are speaking of when they say Portenos are kind of snobby.  It does seem that way.  It is either that or they are a very proud people who want to give off a certain impression that may also appear to be a lack of interest in others.  Some may also appear to be judgemental or paranoid when tourists ask questions about their customs.  I have sometimes seen people react as if you are asking for reasons other than pure curiousity about their culture.  I have also encountered a few who seemed to feel the need to point out flaws in other cultures.  Oops...just like I just did here.   Go ahead, Portenos out there...prove the reputation wrong.  Show us your friendly side!

 

GETTING OUT OF DODGE

 

The recommendation was to get to the airport 2 hours early.  I was there 2.75 hours early since Aldo knew how to avoid traffic.  I kinda thought foreign airports were smart in that they don´t announce your gate until it is close to boarding time.  You´ve been in domestic airports where they have to change the gate on you or the plane has to wait because some other plane is in your gate.  Airports outside the US don´t promise something until they can deliver it. You just have to watch the screens for the announcement.  Well, that was cool until I experienced it at this airport.  There are very few chairs in the waiting area to see which gate you get before going through security.  However, there are plenty of chairs if you are willing to buy something in a restaurant.  So, I sat in a phone booth to wait.    Either way, none of the these options were good because the seats were not within sight of the video monitors that announced your gate.  So, you had to get up to go look every 10 minutes and then lose your seat to someone else. 

 

I went through this process of losing seats for 5 hours as Aerolineas Argentina kept to its reputation.  All of their flights were delayed.  The monitor said ¨see agent¨.  The agent said ¨watch monitors.¨  Eventually, the missing flight crew took us 3 hours later.  Remember this if you fly this airline.   

 

At least they have good tostados in the airport.  This is not to be confused with tostadas.  Tostados are crustless peices of toast filled with what else...ham and cheese.