Part Fifteen: Buenos Aires!

Hello again! I am determined to get more of this thing done before I head on home! I don't have a whole lot of time but I think I can get in at least a few more posts and then be able to wrap everything up when I arrive back in the states. Again, apologies for slacking off at the end! I feel bad and a little disappointed in myself but the only way to fix it is to jump right in! I write you know from a fantastic city called Valparaiso, about 2 hours North West of Santiago, Chile, but how I got here and what has happened is a different story. I must first address the roughly two and a half weeks I spent in Buenos Aires. I had originally intended on including the several trips we took from there but this is getting long so that will be a different post.

Warning: This could get a little long. Hang in there!

So, I blasted off out of Rome, had a layover in Madrid, and then made the very very long flight down to Buenos Aires. Despite the length, I somehow managed to sleep for a good portion of it. It may be the fact that Aerolineas Argentinas gives away free wine. Maybe. But anyway, I got in very early, around 7:15 a.m. and began the wait for my friends! Let me explain. So, I have two friends from Trinity, Ben and Carrie, who graduated last year and moved to Buenos Aires in October to learn Spanish, take some time off, and generally give themselves a little different flavor of life. Lucky for me, Gwen and a friend named Sam were also there visiting at the same time. In addition, we had an overlap with a friend named James, also from Trinity, for a day or so. It promised to be quite a fantastic reunion and I was super excited about it.

I stepped off the airplane, a little tired and a bit confused and after customs and all that good stuff I headed outside where I was met by quite a bit of heat and a great deal of humidity. It was a bit of a change from Rome and this was only 7:30 a.m. While I breathed the some what fresh air, I got my first sign that I was not in Europe anymore. It came in the form of a guy who rode around the airport parking lot on a dirtbike without shoes or a shirt. Clearly, I was in a different place.

I wandered around a while before Gwen and Carrie showed up to greet me which was very exciting. We hung about the airport a bit as Sam was arriving in a few hours. In Buenos Aires, it is a bit difficult to get from the Airport to the city center. It requires a semi-expensive cab or a really confusing bus (more on that later). So, we decided we would all wait for Sam so we could properly greet her and then head on back to reunite with everyone else. We gathered Sam, though our greeting was not quite what it should have been as we confused which terminal she arrived in, hopped in a cab and headed back to what would become my temporary home a la esquina (corner) de Lavalle y Uriburu. I learned it well as I had to utter it to cab drivers quite often.

The apartment was really cool, in my opinion. It consisted of three rooms and a bathroom: a proper bedroom, a living room which mostly functioned as a bedroom, and a kitchen which served the purpose of living room, kitchen, and another bedroom. It also had a cool balcony. I was happy that it would be my home and that I would be surrounded by friends for pretty much the rest of my travels.

So, it is going to get a bit complicated and disorganized here. As it has been nearly a month since some of this stuff happened, it may not work out perfectly chronologically and there are some things that probably won't make it in here but thats o.k. Prepare for the highlights and some other random musings.

I know for a fact that the day we got there we headed off to the Mercado de Recoleta which was chock full of all sorts of different vendors selling crafts. It borders along the Recoleta Cemetary, where Eva Peron is buried among many other prominent Argentinians, which I would visit with Gwen later in the week. Among the vendors there were people selling all sorts of wood crafts, hand crafted children's toys, shoes, leather products, jewellry and pretty much everything you can think of when the word "craft" comes to mind. Again, I couldn't manage to buy anything but my friends did! Shoes, cutting boards, and I can't remember what else but it all looked great and everyone seemed content with their purchases.

We headed out of there to have some afternoon beverages and catch up. There we met up with some people who have become figures in my travels since them so it pays to introduce them now: There is Simon, an Englishmen and boyfriend of Carrie. He too moved to Buenos Aires around October and met Ben and Carrie when they lived in the same apartment complex thing. Next was Mel, from nearby Scarsdale, Westchester county, graduate of Cornell, also doing post-graduation time in Buenos Aires.

We shared some drinks and introductions and made plans for that evening. Soon after, some went back to rest up for a big night out while Gwen, James, Ben, Mel and I went to meet Mel's friend Luciano. Luciano is a "porteno," the term given to Argentines who live in Buenos Aires. Similar to saying "New Yorker." He, too, will reappear. He is currently studying psychoanalysis and has lived in Buenos Aires all his life. He was super friendly and very patient with some of our (ahem, me) not so adept Spanish skills. He was also an endless source of great suggestions and things about the local culture.

Our dinner was to be had at a parrilla, a typical Argentine restaurant. A parrilla is an indoor grill. Let's just say that beef is king in Argentina. There are other things, some great and many not so good, but beef is where it is at. Gwen and I decided we would do a little tasting of the whole cow and dined on a little more "exotic" parts of the cow such as tripe (intestines), sweetbreads (thyroid glands), and morcilla (blood sausage). It was quite good, though we'd come to try even better, and fun to try so many different types of the animal.

A word on Argentine prices: Unlike Europe, the exchange rate is quite in the favor of the American dollar. The best steak, bife de lomo (tenderloin) which I will talk about later, runs you about 30 pesos at a good parrilla which is roughly $8 U.S. There isn't much complaining there and drinks, goods, and other amenities aren't too hard on the wallet. It was sort of nice after the Euro.

After that, we headed home and prepared to go out. Now, nightlife for me in Buenos Aires is certainly a conglomerate blob of memory. Don't take that in a negative way, but nightlife is quite crazy there. I hadn't really had the chance to sample crazy night life, save for the few tastes I had in Barcelona, and it turned out to be great un. I'll spare the details, I don't remember all of them anyway, but give a brief overview. Clubs play all sorts of different music, mainly electronic or cumbia, and are constantly packed. Night life happens very late. It is quite normal to go out around 2 a.m. and the clubs get really busy around 4 a.m. After that there are "after party's" which I didn't attend any of but supposedly go into the next afternoon. I did manage to see the sunrise on the way home once though and it was quite confusing at the least.

It was so fun to go out with good friends and dance in a big group as we sometimes did back at college. Going out is a lot easier and a lot less worrisome when you are with people you trust and know well rather than a random group. We had many great times dancing together at a variety of different, very crowded, very hot, very fun clubs. I'd say there were a few points definitely worth mentioning. Certainly a Brazilian club that some of us went to later in my stay where I saw some of the most impressive dancers I've ever seen. All the people could move like I could not believe. In couples, alone, in group dancing. It has inspired me to learn how to dance at some point (this summer? yes, please).

We also went to this place called Pena del Colorodo a few times which was a folk bar. They had concerts at some points, but the best part was that after the concerts they let people take the guitars and play on their own. One night, Gwen and Sam and Ben and Simon and I went with some of Simon's friends who were visiting and some others and had some good wine and played some tunes. It was really, really fun and I think it was a great idea for a bar. We would go back later to eat and the food was great. I'll include that in the food section which will come later.

So, highlighted events from here on out. One of my absolute favorite things we did was go to a game of the Boca Juniors, a very popular team from la Boca, a former port and one of the Barrios (sections) of Buenos Aires. Now let me just say, futbol (the term soccer just wouldn't fit here) in South America seems to be a different animal. All of the guide books give warnings about going to the game and say not to go in the public sections, the standing room only parts, but we decided that we would give it a try and let me just say I can't imagine having been anywhere else in the stadium.

I will divulge for one second to tell a memory from before the game. We got our tickets and then decided to kill time out along the port. We grabbed some food at a place with a tango stage outside and saw some amazing dancing. Tango is really cool. The way it seems to work, with the leaning and the guiding of the partners, is really impressive. There were two guys who danced together and I have not seen anything like it. One of them was this wirey, skinny guy who later did an even more impressive dance with one of the women, and he was amazing. He moved like I haven't seen before. It was really cool to see it and I was please to see the two men dance together as supposedly that is how tango started.

So, back to Boca! Now, Boca fans are known for their incredible loyalism. Their big rival is with a team called River and those games are supposed to be particularly intense. Supposedly, though it didn't quite hold true, the Coca Cola sponsor signs are in black because the color red, that of River, is so unwelcome in the stadium. There were a few red signs though.

We did not see that game but we did manage to get into a relatively packed stadium and see some great stuff. The game turned out to be a blowout by my soccer terms, with Boca winning 3-0, but it still had me feeling tense. Gwen and I spent a fair amount of time worrying to each other about what would happen if the other team scored or if some awful foul was committed. The first goal was quite a relief. The players themselves were amazing and it was so fun to root for them. All of the fans were decked out in Boca garb and they spent the entire time singing songs of the team and cheering and yelling. At times, everyone would jump and it was enough to shake the entire stadium. I must say, it was quite the experience to stand shoulder to shoulder with die hard fans and see the best futbol I have ever seen in person.

One thing I was not so keen on, but defintely rounded out the full experience, was the not so great affection we recieved from fans of the other team's fans. The spot we occupied was at the visiting end though it was packed with Boca fans nonetheless. Way up high, above us, were a few fans of the other team. When it became clear that Boca was winning and there was not much that would get in the way the fans decided to show their hate. At that point mud, spit, and water came raining down upon us. It was pretty gross and I managed to get quite covered. Though, one nice point was that a very kind woman broke out some tissues and wiped a giant wad of spit off of me. How nice! I can't imagine what the big rival games are like.

Oh man, oh man. What else. Where to go from here. Let's see. In general, I must say, it was a very relaxing experience and the true focus was catching up with everyone and just generally being around friends. What we did was really dictated by what we thought might be best for hanging out together. Oh! I have figured out why there is a hole in my memory for this, because this is around the time we went on a two day trip I think. More on that later.

So lets see, lets see. Other great memories out of order from Buenos Aires. One place that we went to a few times which was great was a cultural center in the city. There we saw two shows. Well, I say see, but I should be saying heard. We did manage to see a bit of it but it was an outdoor deal so you could hear the music without ever having to enter the place. The first time we heard this amazing gypsy band with a ton of different instruments and dancers and all sorts of great things. Then, a week later, we saw "la bomba" an absolutey amazing drum circle where I heard some of the greatest drumming I have heard.

O.k., back to a little time before that. We spent a great day wandering through the botanical gardens. The gardens were really pretty and I managed to make myself a friend. By that I mean that the whole place is filled with cats. In general, Buenos Aires, and all of South America I have seen thus far, is filled with stray dogs and cats. Some are friendly, some not, some really mangey and others that look relatively normal. They are everywhere. The botanical gardens, in particular, seems to have an affinity with cats. As we strolled along, we took a break along the side of a little pool. As we sat and talked, a tiny little grey cat came and sidled up next to me. After it rubbed its head around, it invited itself to sit on my lap. It sat peacefully for a while and I do believe we bonded quite well. Despite the bond, after our new found friendship it spotted a cat coming in its territory and scampered off. I named it Pancho and it lives on in my heart.

We left the botanical gardens and headed to Parque Tres de Febrero where we intended on renting ourselves some row boats to head around in. Let me just say right now that I am saying we which may refer to many different people. I apologize for that. In this case, we refers to Gwen, Me, Ben, Carrie, Sam, and Mel.

We got ourselves in two rowboats and headed out on the little pond there. The rowboats seemed to have oars made of iron which made for a little bit of struggle but it was quite nice as we joked the whole time and were able to view the rose garden on the island in the middle. We returned the boat and headed off peacefuly into the sunset.

If memory serves me right, later that night we had ourselves a fine time in the apartment. A Chilean guy named Christian, who Carrie and Ben met at some point in their time, came over to cook us some dinner. He is studying at culinary school in Buenos Aires as well as working in a restaurant there. He cooked us up a fantastic meal of something similar to stuffed peppers I remember that my mom cooked back in the day. They were green peppers, stuffed with a delicous tomato flavored rice and served with tomato sauce and sour cream. They were so good. Christian was a really friendly guy and despite the fact that my spanish wasn't great and he knew no english aside from swear words, we had some fun talks and made some jokes. He had a great laugh that lit up the room and we had some great time from there on out.

I will digress for a second to explain a strange experience we had one night coming home that fits in there somewhere. It was a night that Ben, Sam, Me and Gwen, went out and were coming home in a taxi. Taxis in Buenos Aires can often bring about some strange, scary issues. I would say that this night was the closest we came. In the scheme of horror stories, ranging from overcharging to enless rides around the city with detours just to charge more money, our story is not that bad but it was still quite strange. So, here it is. That night the four of us had gone to a really fun hip hop place and danced ourselves tired. Ready for bed, we got ourselves a cab. We followed the usual procedure, hailing one that said radio taxi on the outside.

The driver was quite excited and blasted music as well as pulled some slightly scary driving moves. When we finally got near home, he tried to drop us at the wrong corner. Worried that we were getting swindled some how, we decided to ditch the cab (we knew where we were). Now, this part gets a little confusing. In order to help out the situation it helps to let you know that there is a big counterfeit money problem in Buenos Aires. Nearly everyone who spent more than a few days there seemed to recieve atleast one false note.

Now, looking back on this situation with a clearer head and having talked to people who have had similar experiences I think I have figured out what happened. When we went to pay, we handed the guy a 20 peso not for a 12 peso cab ride. He took it, looked down at it (not up, as the drivers usually do to check the validity of the note) and soon gave it back saying it was fake. There was some miscommunication and a lot of arguing and we decided to just leave. What happened next makes me feel like he was trying to cheat us. We left and he didn't protest at all. Instead, he tore off and made the most manaical laugh out of the window. We were dazed and confused and unsure of what had happened but glad that we had made it out of the situation alright. Either way, I ended up with the false note and was quickly told so when I tried to use it the next day. Who knows. It was very weird.

So, another one of my favorite things, before I break into food, oh man the food, was a really great day trip out to the nearby El Tigre. Tigre is a river community about 45 minutes outside of the city, accessible by train. We arrived there after a ride on a very crowded, muggy train. Our next step was to hop on a river taxi which was really cool. They were these big, funny boats with very loud engines which ran all along the rivers there. It was really pretty, though the water was quite brown.

We were dropped at a section with all sorts of trails. We walked a bit before people started to be a little fed up with the bugs and headed back. Gwen and I decided to head onward and keep exploring and had a great walk. We were basically walking along paths through peoples front yards. Since it is a river community, there are no cars or roads outside of where the train station gets in. The small waterways are the main means of transportation outside of the small communites. As we walked, we saw all sorts of people working in their yards and relaxing and going along the rivers. We did get a little lost and when we asked for directions on our small print out map a very nice old man said "estas aqui" (you are here) and pointed off the map. Woops. It was easy enough to get back though and we finished our walk and joined back up with the group before heading home again.

Hmm. Now seems to be a good time to break into food. So, as I said, beef is kind in Argentina. The parrillas offer all sorts of different cuts of meat, simply grilled, best rare, and served with chimichurri , a vinegar/herb sauce, which is just about the only thing, if anything, that the perfect meat needs. One of our best meals was at a well known parrilla in the San Telmo region. San Telmo was a quite cool place with a great central plaza where we had other good meals and watched some fun dancing from an upstairs, terrace type of room.

Back to the dinner. I believe this was after our trip to Tigre. It was actually quite a funny coincidence. Completely unbeknownst to two groups, Simon and his friends ended up at the same restaurant as our large group. That night, we consisted of our group mentioned above, plus Gwen's friend Jessie who she studied abroad with and some of her friends. It is funny how people manage to meet up when in random countries considering how hard it can be to get together when everyone is in the same place. It is always great to meet friends of friends and we had a great time together.

The food was amazing. That night, I tried the bife de chorizo, the strip steak cut, which was so good and tender. It was amazingly easy to cut and probably one of the best steaks I have ever ever had. I also sampled some of Gwen's bife de lomo, tenderloin, which was so good. It was one of the first times where I could discern different tastes within beef itself. An added bonus was that the portions were absolutely huge. I did not need the side of fries I ordered.

Empanadas are another staple of the Argentine diet is Empanadas. I'm pretty sure everyone is familiar with empanadas, but if you don't they are little half moons of dough, similar to calzones but smaller, filled with all sorts of different things. My favorites were filled with humita, a corn mixture, and onion and cheese. Absolutely the best one I had was a lamb empanada. Lamb from the patagonia region is quite prized and it certainly lived up to the hype. It was gamier and way more flavorful that the New Zealand or Colorodo lamb could ever hope to be. The we of us (Ben, Carrie, Sam, Gwen, Me) had a great meal at a Peruvian restaurant as well. We had delicious ceviche and I had a great fried fish dish with a really flavorful sort of pepper salad on top.

Other great meals included a different variation of humita. This one was similar to a tamale and was wrapped ina corn husk, with a delicious hunk of cheese in the middle. It was sweet, salty, and all around delicious. In addition, the chorizo there was second to none. They make this great, simple thing called Choripan which is just chorizo in bread but blows away any sausage I've ever had. Another, more exotic meal consisted of wild boar. It consisted of a big steak, braised in beer, honey, and anise, served alongside mashed sweet potatoes. Oh man, was it fantastic. The braising sauce was amazing and the meat was really tender. I definitely had some fantastic food and enjoyed many dishes despite the few that fell short. When most meals are had outside, on beautiful terraces or great patios with good beer it is hard to go wrong.

O.k., so before I head on to some more memories, I must tell a story. Unfortunately, after about ten days it came time to bid farewell to Gwen. I accompanied her to the airport where we had our goodbyes and see you soons. It was nice, though sad to see her go. So, from here the story gets a little crazy.

I mentioned earlier that it is either cab or bus from the center to the airport. In the interest of saving money, I decided to take the bus back after saying goodbye to Gwen. I got a little confused as the bus had changed numbers but finally got on and sat myself down with book in hand to try and pass the time. Everything was going along smoothly for about the first 25 minutes or so. Suddenly, I found myself smashed against the seat in front of me. The bus had been cut off and slammed on its breaks. Now, in Buenos Aires traffic laws are often ignored. Cab drivers cross the lines, drive down the middle of the road. Busses go insanely fast. This bus was going fast. And unfortunately, we had this run in with the car.

The bus was crowded and many people were standing up. The newer busses there have two steps up in the back section. When the bus slammed on the brakes, people who were standing went flying. There were several people face down on the ground and one poor woman fell from above the two steps. From what I could discern, she hurt her arm pretty badly. Everyone was yelling and it was a crazy, hectic situation. The hurt woman and many people jumped off at the next stop, I guess in order to care for her and get her to a doctor.

The next part was really confusing. While I feel that my spanish has come back quite a bit, I couldn't quite understand what was going on. What I did figure out was that the bus driver asked for witnesses. The next step was to drive back out a half hour and to some random us station where the witnesses were taken inside. After fifteen minutes or so the bus started again and we headed back in the normal direction. We got into the city but were met with another stop in which we were all told to get off the bus, the witnesses remained, and some officials got on the bus and sped off. I had no idea where I was so I grabbed the next bus with the same number and figured I was o.k. Nope. The bus veered off the road and I was off to somewhere I didn't know. At that point, I gave up, got off the bus and just caught a cab. I did, in the end, save money, but it was a crazy, slightly scary, definitely confusing experience.

I guess the last thing I really have to write about is our cool day spent down at the Reserva Ecologia, Ecological Reserve, where we rented bikes and rode around this amazing, coold area along the water. There were all sorts of different plants and a few different animals. It was a nice break from the city, though still very close, and I loved riding the bikes. I am determined to buy one when I get on home.

Other than that, we passed the time catching up, walking the city, eating, drinking, and generally having a good time. After a lot of sightseeing and moving around on this trip it was really nice to just have a relaxing time and feeling like I lived somewhere for a bit. The parks were amazing, I loved the cemetary with Gwen (I can't get enough of cemetaries still!), the dancing, the food, the people, learning some more spanish, and everything else was great. I loved meeting up with my friends and everything associated with my times there. Somethings were confusing, somethings were weird, but it was absolutely great. South America is amazing and it was a great introduction.

I even managed to get job applications done and score a free haircut from Sam. I loved all the great things there and it was certainly a city of great personality and unlike anything I have experienced on this trip. I was ready for friends, ready for a change, and it was a great to have it coming. Thanks friends for the hospitality, thanks for meeting up. I loved the reunion and it was a perfect way to get back together.

I have had many more adventures since then. The next post will concern the trips we took while we were till "in" B.A. and then after that I will address more stops in Argentina and then my time in Chile. I head home in a few days! Oh man, I can't believe it. It has gone so fast. It has been so amazing and I cannot wait to share more with you.

I do apologize if I have forgotten things in here. Friends, let me know if I have and I will add it in. I think I have covered a lot! So yeah, can't wait to share more more more!

Hope all is well with everyone!