This is that post that Ive been promising forever. Its just going to be a bunch of random thoughts and observations that Ive made over the past month. Holy crap, Ive been here for a month.
-People walk really really slow everywhere.
-People are very into piercings and tattoos here. Its pretty trashy.
-Motorcyclists dont like to wear helmets. At least 20 times a day I see somebody ride by on a motorcycle with a full-face helmet...on their arm. Like arm hooked through the helmet as they weave through traffic at 40mph. Can somebody attempt to explain this to me?
-If you go to a fruit stand, you cant touch the fruit or else the guy will scream at you. You need to wait in line for him to get whatever you want for you.
-Public buses travel in packs. You might wait 20 minutes for a bus (a long time here) and then 5 of the same bus will come by at once.
-People dont pick up after their dogs, and it turns sidewalks into obstacle courses.
-The only vegetables Argentines believe in are lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, and occasionally carrots and onions. Ive resorted to Centrum for nutrition.
-Peanut butter? Whats that?
-If you want a nice big cup of coffee to start your day, order 6 coffees. The average mug is about 3 shots of coffee.
-The music is 15% popular salsa, 5% classic Argentine music, 60% old American classics (like Sugar Ray, Nelly Furtado, Build Me Up Buttercup, etc), and 20% old cheesy American rap songs (DMX, Ja Rule, etc). Unless you take a cab, then its 100% 80s pop (See here).
-TV shows are local news channels and dubbed and/or subtitled American shows and movies.
-I havent yet seen a car with an automatic transmission. Including buses and coach buses.
-The banking system is an insult to organization everywhere. Yesterday Dave and I spent 2 hours trying to find a bank/atm to get pesos. We went to about 10 banks, none of which would even let us use their atms because "Its 3pm, you cant use it now", even though we had been searching since 2pm and none of the atms were working then because of "a technical issue". Eventually we waited outside a Citibank until it decided to reopen (about 330-345pm). We then had to search for an exchange house that was still open at 4pm because banks wont change pesos for dollars. We were so tired after the ordeal (by the way, this was the third time this exact process has happened) that we skipped the gym and napped for 3 hours.
-If you dont like soccer, you dont have a soul.
-There is a coin shortage. Let me repeat. There is a coin shortage. I remember how in every country Ive ever been to, its a pain because I always have so much change. Here, you have to go to a kiosk and search for something oddly priced so you can overpay for it and receive coins as change- just so you can take the public bus.
-Theres an unwritten social law that prohibits any Argentine from enunciating anything.
-If you go out before midnight or come home before 6am, youre doing it wrong.
-There is a LOT of child exploitation. The economy is really struggling and unemployment is real high, so parents walk around with their adorable children dressed in crappy clothes and the kids ask you for change. Also, there are a lot of "cartoneros", whole families that spend the night searching through garbage to find recyclable goods or things for their own use.
-People are constantly scamming or trying to make a quick easy buck. At traffic lights, street performers do a quick 30 second show and then walk around asking for money from the stopped cars. And dont be surprised if the guy walking past you asks for a bite of your sandwich.
-Check your money, its probably fake. You stupid American.
-If you dont take 2 hours to eat lunch, youre doing it wrong.
-Napkins are made of a material very similar to wrapping paper. As a friend pointed out, they make you dirtier because they dont absorb anything and just smear whatever it is all over your face.
-Water is expensive. If you ask for a glass of water at a restaurant, theyre probably going to get mad at you and make you buy a bottle. And make sure you know the difference between "sin gas" and "con gas" is.
-Even if you speak in perfect Spanish, your accent makes you impossible to understand and people will either speak English with you or give up listening.
I had a bunch of other things to say, but I cant remember them now. This was a fun post, Ill do it again later with more thoughts.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Earth was quakin'
Hola todos. As I'm sure you know, there was a massive earthquake in Chile super early this morning. It hit a huge part of Argentina, but luckily not BA. I read that its tied for the 5th largest quake in Chile since 1900. Everything here is fine, although Svetlana's layover in Santiago, Chile turned into a 15 hour emergency stop in Iquique, Chile- a town on the coast of Chile just a bit north of the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. She told me all she could see outside the airport was gigantic sand dunes. Luckily she's on a flight directly to BA now, she'll be landing around 1am. I'm sticking around waiting at the house for her.
So I figured I would post while my friends are out partying. Tito, my homestay dad, is 70 years old and very conservative, so when I asked him if it would be ok if Svetlana stays in the extra bedroom downstairs, he got super angry and told me to find a hostel. Awesome. Thanks for sticking to the Argentine stereotype of being super hospitable, Tito. We move into our apartment tomorrow, I really cant wait. Me and Dave are pretty fed up with Tito's stubbornness, the inability to eat what we want when we want, the inability to have some friends over, and the other restrictions you have when youre a 20 year old staying as a guest in an older conservative couple's home. These things plus our new apartment is incredible :)
Anyway, Wednesday we went to that huge after-office party that we went to a couple weeks ago. It was super fun. Thursday we had to go to migrations for visa stuff, then we went back to that super cool park I posted a picture of earlier. Then at night we went to another dance club with a ton of friends.
Yesterday we had orientation for exchange students. A solid half the class is from the States, and about 90% of the Americans are from Boston. Pretty funny. There's a group at the school called Accion Social, a club that does some after school tutoring and mentoring programs for poor communities near Tigre, as well as some work like helping small businesses get off the ground and doing economic analysis around the city. Since I cant play rugby here Im going to do that, I think.
Last night and today have been an invasion of BC in BA. Some girls from my BC group met about 10 guys that had graduated from BC in May and moved down here about a month ago. In about a week or 2 theyre all taking off in different directions to travel South America for some time, ranging between 2 months and 7 months (and one guy not planning on leaving). One guy is actually from Huntington, about 3 minutes down the road from me. Again, "small world" is not just a phrase. The guys invited us to their apartment last night, where we hung out and talked BC and traveling all night. They were real cool.
Today we went to the zoo. It seemed like a good idea but the truth is, zoos are sooooo depressing. The zoo was very poorly kept and the areas all of the animals had were super small. We saw one penguin swimming back and forth with his beak against the glass for about 5 minutes. Malcolm looked at me and asked "Can you imagine spending everyday of your life going back and forth against a piece of glass just looking for a crack to get out of?" It was real sad.
On a happier note, after the zoo, Malcolm, Hannah, and I went to a cafe where I found real turkey!!! I looked at the menu and found "pavita" on a sandwich, the three of us were pumped because its impossible to find turkey here. After the cafe we went to a yoga class. This yoga class is taught by a girl who also graduated from BC in May. We got there and it was 5 of us from my BC group, all of the BC guys from last night, a guy from UMASS, and a few girls from Union College in NY. Out of about 20 people in the class, one wasnt from the US and only 3 or 4 werent from Boston. Even funnier than that, I did yoga. It was sooo hard. I was sweating and shaking after about 10 minutes, and when we laid in the dark at the end, I fell asleep.
When I got home, we were having asado for dinner. Asado is seriously the most delicious thing ever.
Another post soon to come!
So I figured I would post while my friends are out partying. Tito, my homestay dad, is 70 years old and very conservative, so when I asked him if it would be ok if Svetlana stays in the extra bedroom downstairs, he got super angry and told me to find a hostel. Awesome. Thanks for sticking to the Argentine stereotype of being super hospitable, Tito. We move into our apartment tomorrow, I really cant wait. Me and Dave are pretty fed up with Tito's stubbornness, the inability to eat what we want when we want, the inability to have some friends over, and the other restrictions you have when youre a 20 year old staying as a guest in an older conservative couple's home. These things plus our new apartment is incredible :)
Anyway, Wednesday we went to that huge after-office party that we went to a couple weeks ago. It was super fun. Thursday we had to go to migrations for visa stuff, then we went back to that super cool park I posted a picture of earlier. Then at night we went to another dance club with a ton of friends.
Yesterday we had orientation for exchange students. A solid half the class is from the States, and about 90% of the Americans are from Boston. Pretty funny. There's a group at the school called Accion Social, a club that does some after school tutoring and mentoring programs for poor communities near Tigre, as well as some work like helping small businesses get off the ground and doing economic analysis around the city. Since I cant play rugby here Im going to do that, I think.
Last night and today have been an invasion of BC in BA. Some girls from my BC group met about 10 guys that had graduated from BC in May and moved down here about a month ago. In about a week or 2 theyre all taking off in different directions to travel South America for some time, ranging between 2 months and 7 months (and one guy not planning on leaving). One guy is actually from Huntington, about 3 minutes down the road from me. Again, "small world" is not just a phrase. The guys invited us to their apartment last night, where we hung out and talked BC and traveling all night. They were real cool.
Today we went to the zoo. It seemed like a good idea but the truth is, zoos are sooooo depressing. The zoo was very poorly kept and the areas all of the animals had were super small. We saw one penguin swimming back and forth with his beak against the glass for about 5 minutes. Malcolm looked at me and asked "Can you imagine spending everyday of your life going back and forth against a piece of glass just looking for a crack to get out of?" It was real sad.
On a happier note, after the zoo, Malcolm, Hannah, and I went to a cafe where I found real turkey!!! I looked at the menu and found "pavita" on a sandwich, the three of us were pumped because its impossible to find turkey here. After the cafe we went to a yoga class. This yoga class is taught by a girl who also graduated from BC in May. We got there and it was 5 of us from my BC group, all of the BC guys from last night, a guy from UMASS, and a few girls from Union College in NY. Out of about 20 people in the class, one wasnt from the US and only 3 or 4 werent from Boston. Even funnier than that, I did yoga. It was sooo hard. I was sweating and shaking after about 10 minutes, and when we laid in the dark at the end, I fell asleep.
When I got home, we were having asado for dinner. Asado is seriously the most delicious thing ever.
Another post soon to come!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Photooooosssssss
Flat Evan visits the famous Recoleta cemetary!
Cool shot of a tiny part of the cemetary
Some BC folk enjoying a perfect day in the park
Flat Evan in the port of Tigre!
One of the "neighborhoods" on a small Tigre "road". There's no cars in most of Tigre, because there aren't any roads, just streams and boats. Each dock is a "driveway" you might say.
Dave on the flooded sidewalk. I wanted to take a picture of a dry spot.
One of the main roads in Tigre, and the sidewalk/now-floating-dock we took to find our restaurant.
A very small part of the massive Puerto de Frutas.
Thats all for now. I have the rest of the week free, so more adventures to come. Maybe the zoo or the Rosedal? Maybe both? We'll see. Svetlana will be here Saturday morning too! The good times never end.
Tigre, the land of the flood
After 2 hours of sleep on Saturday night, we got up and headed for the train to Tigre, a small city located on the river delta. This place was awesome, probably one of my favorite things we've done so far. There's a little port on the river filled with motor boats that you can pay a small fee to take anywhere you want on the many little tributaries/rivers that form a big spider web on the delta. We took a boat up the main river for about 25-30 minutes, on which I met a man and his friend from Palm Beach, fairly close to North Passage according to him. They were in Argentina/Chile for a few weeks for a friends birthday. We had a good time talking about Florida and traveling. The BC people got off at one of the millions of tiny little docks sticking out into the water. Apparently there's normally beaches all over the place on this river, but this month has been one of the rainiest months in years as far as water volume goes, and EVERYTHING was flooded. There were little houses and cabanas and stuff all over the land like isolated little getaways for vacationers, it was real cool. We walked around the flooded paths on the narrow strips of brush-covered land until we found a restaurant in the shade overlooking one of the rivers. We sat for about 2 hours eating and relaxing, all were pretty tired from the lack of sleep.
Afterward we took the same kind of boat back to the main port. The man from Florida and his friend happened to be on it again after they traveled a bit further up the river. There was also a girl from Boston who happened to sit right next to us and heard me say I was from BC. I always thought the phrase "Its a small world" really was just a phrase. We walked for a bit from the port to a place called the Puerto de Frutas, a huge outdoor marketplace. We spend about an hour and a half walking among the hundreds of tents selling leather products, fruit, candy, soccer jerseys, furniture, posters, ice cream, and everything else you could possibly imagine. It was real fun.
We got home around 7pm, passed out until about 915, and then headed back out. Dave, Malcolm, and I went to a bar called The Alamo, a place opened and run by Americans, to watch to USA-Canada Olympic hockey game. This place is American in every sense. The waitress didnt speak any Spanish, everybody in the place was speaking English, there was something other than soccer on tv, and the menu consisted of buffalo wings, nachos, pizza, and fries. We loved it.
Yesterday was incredible as well. We went to the famous Recoleta cemetery where all of Argentina's national figures are buried in a small city of mausoleums. These things are HUGE. The "graves" are very ornate concrete houses with entire families buried inside. We also spend a ton of time laying in the park because it was the most beautiful day I can remember, about 82 degrees, no humidity, a slight breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. Then we went to Puerto Madero, a more modern business/restaurant district on a port, to get some dinner.
Today was our last day of Spanish class. We're taking it easy now and then going out to celebrate tonight with a bunch of friends. Tomorrow we have to be at the other end of the city at 930am for our visas. Should be another fun morning.
Ill post pictures in a separate post. Talk to you soon.
Afterward we took the same kind of boat back to the main port. The man from Florida and his friend happened to be on it again after they traveled a bit further up the river. There was also a girl from Boston who happened to sit right next to us and heard me say I was from BC. I always thought the phrase "Its a small world" really was just a phrase. We walked for a bit from the port to a place called the Puerto de Frutas, a huge outdoor marketplace. We spend about an hour and a half walking among the hundreds of tents selling leather products, fruit, candy, soccer jerseys, furniture, posters, ice cream, and everything else you could possibly imagine. It was real fun.
We got home around 7pm, passed out until about 915, and then headed back out. Dave, Malcolm, and I went to a bar called The Alamo, a place opened and run by Americans, to watch to USA-Canada Olympic hockey game. This place is American in every sense. The waitress didnt speak any Spanish, everybody in the place was speaking English, there was something other than soccer on tv, and the menu consisted of buffalo wings, nachos, pizza, and fries. We loved it.
Yesterday was incredible as well. We went to the famous Recoleta cemetery where all of Argentina's national figures are buried in a small city of mausoleums. These things are HUGE. The "graves" are very ornate concrete houses with entire families buried inside. We also spend a ton of time laying in the park because it was the most beautiful day I can remember, about 82 degrees, no humidity, a slight breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. Then we went to Puerto Madero, a more modern business/restaurant district on a port, to get some dinner.
Today was our last day of Spanish class. We're taking it easy now and then going out to celebrate tonight with a bunch of friends. Tomorrow we have to be at the other end of the city at 930am for our visas. Should be another fun morning.
Ill post pictures in a separate post. Talk to you soon.
The good times just keep on rollin
Whats happenin everybody? Sorry I lied last time, I was going to post again with a bunch of random thoughts and observations that Ive been making a list of since I got here, but of course I got a last minute phone call about a party and wasn't able to post. That post will come soon, I promise.
Friday we went to my friends apartment and met and hung out with a ton of new people from all over the world. That night alone I was with people from the US, England, Canada, France, Morocco, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Australia, and a few more. Im pretty sure that by the end of the semester Ill have met somebody from every country. I had a great time, until this British girl from Bristol, England got into an argument with me about where Stonehenge is. She was trying to tell me that it was on an entirely separate island, part of Ireland or something. Now, as my dear Aunt Suzy can certainly attest to, Stongehenge is located precisely between Bristol and London, about 2 hours away from where this girl claimed she lived. And its Stonehenge! Thats like me saying the Empire State Building is in California. To make things worse, she had the audacity to say to me, verbatim with a sharply condescending tone, "Are you kidding me? You're just proving the point that all Americans are idiots." If this was a guy I would have pummeled him, instead I just gave her an earful and then got a computer and proved her wrong. Sorry for making that into a story, but it was the first real negative encounter Ive had down here and I was really upset afterward.
Saturday we didn't do much during the day I dont think, but at night we had a great time. Some kids from our class are living in an apartment that's almost like a hostel. Its like a big house that all the people in it share, but each has their own bedroom. It had this super cool rooftop with a room that had a kitchen and big table like a standard kitchen, and then an outdoor terrace with a big brick parrilla. About 30 people came and mingled and listened to good music, and the owner of the building offered to have asado for 10 pesos per person. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asado. The steak here is unbelievable. After the apartment we met some porteno friends at the Belgrano Atheletic Club for the rugby teams huge party. It wasn't my cup of tea- a lot like a high school dance with a big younger crowd and huge rugby players who just acted like meatheads and pushed everybody around. It was kind of shocking how brutal they were, especially with girls.
Sunday we went to Tigre. All that in a new post-
Friday we went to my friends apartment and met and hung out with a ton of new people from all over the world. That night alone I was with people from the US, England, Canada, France, Morocco, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Australia, and a few more. Im pretty sure that by the end of the semester Ill have met somebody from every country. I had a great time, until this British girl from Bristol, England got into an argument with me about where Stonehenge is. She was trying to tell me that it was on an entirely separate island, part of Ireland or something. Now, as my dear Aunt Suzy can certainly attest to, Stongehenge is located precisely between Bristol and London, about 2 hours away from where this girl claimed she lived. And its Stonehenge! Thats like me saying the Empire State Building is in California. To make things worse, she had the audacity to say to me, verbatim with a sharply condescending tone, "Are you kidding me? You're just proving the point that all Americans are idiots." If this was a guy I would have pummeled him, instead I just gave her an earful and then got a computer and proved her wrong. Sorry for making that into a story, but it was the first real negative encounter Ive had down here and I was really upset afterward.
Saturday we didn't do much during the day I dont think, but at night we had a great time. Some kids from our class are living in an apartment that's almost like a hostel. Its like a big house that all the people in it share, but each has their own bedroom. It had this super cool rooftop with a room that had a kitchen and big table like a standard kitchen, and then an outdoor terrace with a big brick parrilla. About 30 people came and mingled and listened to good music, and the owner of the building offered to have asado for 10 pesos per person. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asado. The steak here is unbelievable. After the apartment we met some porteno friends at the Belgrano Atheletic Club for the rugby teams huge party. It wasn't my cup of tea- a lot like a high school dance with a big younger crowd and huge rugby players who just acted like meatheads and pushed everybody around. It was kind of shocking how brutal they were, especially with girls.
Sunday we went to Tigre. All that in a new post-
Friday, February 19, 2010
Settling In
Hey everybody. Sorry its been a while since I updated, Ive had some work to do and the internet was out for a day. Things have really been settling in lately.
Not much happened this week. We've had lots and lots of class, some homework, etc. On Wednesday we went to MALBA (translates to Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art). It was pretty cool, some sweet paintings, some not so sweet. Theres a decent size Andy Warhol exhibit there right now. That was very cool. Afterwards the BC guys and I headed to Las Canitas to sign on that sweet apartment I told you about last time. I'm super excited for it, Ill post some photos below. Besides that we went out a tiny bit this week, twice exploring the ritzy neighborhood by the new apartment.
Class is going well. My comprehension has gotten significantly better, and my speech is a little more natural now, I just struggle because my vocab is still very small. Once I know the word I can usually say things pretty well, although its immediately apparent to everybody that Im a "gringo" (American).
Here's some pictures, click to view full size:
Not much happened this week. We've had lots and lots of class, some homework, etc. On Wednesday we went to MALBA (translates to Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art). It was pretty cool, some sweet paintings, some not so sweet. Theres a decent size Andy Warhol exhibit there right now. That was very cool. Afterwards the BC guys and I headed to Las Canitas to sign on that sweet apartment I told you about last time. I'm super excited for it, Ill post some photos below. Besides that we went out a tiny bit this week, twice exploring the ritzy neighborhood by the new apartment.
Class is going well. My comprehension has gotten significantly better, and my speech is a little more natural now, I just struggle because my vocab is still very small. Once I know the word I can usually say things pretty well, although its immediately apparent to everybody that Im a "gringo" (American).
Here's some pictures, click to view full size:
Flat Evan goes to MALBA!!! Sorry it took so long, Johnsons,
I never have my bag when I go out, but I finally did. More to come!
View to the east from the wrap-around balcony. Front to back: Horse track, polo fields, airport, Rio de la Plata.
View to the southwest from the balcony. This city is HUGE. The overexposure on the right side is the sun setting. $350/month is stealing from these people.
Our enormous and beautiful common room, complete with sweet chandelier (1 of 2 in the apartment).
Our kitchen. Pretty standard.
Its pouring outside and the streets are flooding, so I may or may not post again in a minute with some random thoughts. Chau.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Homework? Wait a minute....
Hola todos. This week has been pretty laid back if you can believe it. We've had class everyday so things are starting to settle in.
We went to a drum circle show on Monday. There were probably about 2000 people there in this big outdoor theater and about 15 people on stage with all sorts of percussion instruments. Obviously I loved it. I'll post a short video below, but you can find tons of them on youtube. Search "La bomba de tiempo". After the show we went across town to San Telmo to meet our friend's cousin. About 150 people showed up with us- there was a bar crawl that night. The Puerta Roja probably doesnt want to see another American again. Highlight of the night- meeting a Colombian guy named Julian wearing a Yankee hat.
Besides school we've just been hanging, doing homework :(, and apartment hunting. We found one place that we're hoping to get that is huge and has a view of the entire city, the river, a horsetrack and polo fields, and you can even see Uruguay from the balcony because its one of the taller buildings in the city. Its really incredible.
We've made some friends from class and hung out with them a bunch. The French kids are ok, very French if you know what I mean. There's a guy from Torin, a couple people from Norway and Sweden and Amsterdam, and 2 more from the US.
I'm out of things to say, mas photos!
We went to a drum circle show on Monday. There were probably about 2000 people there in this big outdoor theater and about 15 people on stage with all sorts of percussion instruments. Obviously I loved it. I'll post a short video below, but you can find tons of them on youtube. Search "La bomba de tiempo". After the show we went across town to San Telmo to meet our friend's cousin. About 150 people showed up with us- there was a bar crawl that night. The Puerta Roja probably doesnt want to see another American again. Highlight of the night- meeting a Colombian guy named Julian wearing a Yankee hat.
Besides school we've just been hanging, doing homework :(, and apartment hunting. We found one place that we're hoping to get that is huge and has a view of the entire city, the river, a horsetrack and polo fields, and you can even see Uruguay from the balcony because its one of the taller buildings in the city. Its really incredible.
We've made some friends from class and hung out with them a bunch. The French kids are ok, very French if you know what I mean. There's a guy from Torin, a couple people from Norway and Sweden and Amsterdam, and 2 more from the US.
I'm out of things to say, mas photos!
Cool view of the residential area in Colonia.
You can see the church above the trees to the top right.
Cool pickup truck we found near the port in Colonia
One of the Punta del Este beaches
Julian, The Man
Out with the Frenchies
That video of La bomba is taking forever, so just youtube it.
Plans for the week: Class, homework, explore new stuff (The Rosedal, Museum of Fine Arts, the zoo, etc.), Chinese New Year tomorrow, ???. Talk to you soon.
Plans for the week: Class, homework, explore new stuff (The Rosedal, Museum of Fine Arts, the zoo, etc.), Chinese New Year tomorrow, ???. Talk to you soon.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Vacation on vacation Part 2
Yes we passed out the entire way to Punta del Este. How could we not after that super long day. We arrived and wandered around lost in the big city trying to find our hostel. We checked in and headed right for the beach. Beach was not very crowded because it was a little overcast, but gorgeous nonetheless. We all got sunburned then headed back to the hostel for showers for the first time in a couple days (I counted the rain in Colonia as a shower but others did not). We hung at the very cool, hippie kind hostel for a bit then got ready for dinner. We walked to a bustling, rich area of the city (the whole city is super rich for Uruguayan standards) filled with people at bars and classy restaurants, with live music all over. We found a nice seafood restaurant and sat for a few hours. Afterwards we walked around the city for a bit, its like a beach town on Fire Island or the Cape, except in city form. Sounds controversial but it really is just an enormous beach town, with ice cream and surf shops everywhere, people in flipflops, lots of music, tons of restaurants, craft fairs, etc.
Sunday we checked out and headed back to the beach. The weather was picturesque until about noon and it started pouring. We went back to the hostel to grab our stuff then grabbed lunch and headed home. Got back to BA around 1030, just in the middle of that light show that The Who played in front of. We found a bar called Krakow with a bunch of Americans in it and grabbed dinner and watched the Saints fulfill my prophecy.
Today we had our first day of Spanish class. We took a little questionnaire to test our Espanol, got lunch with 12 new foreign friends from class (almost all from France, but with a few French Canadians, a Dutch girl and an Australian). Class was great, teacher is nice, students are all about at my level of Spanish, with a few superstars and a few hopeless ones.
Mas photos:
Sunday we checked out and headed back to the beach. The weather was picturesque until about noon and it started pouring. We went back to the hostel to grab our stuff then grabbed lunch and headed home. Got back to BA around 1030, just in the middle of that light show that The Who played in front of. We found a bar called Krakow with a bunch of Americans in it and grabbed dinner and watched the Saints fulfill my prophecy.
Today we had our first day of Spanish class. We took a little questionnaire to test our Espanol, got lunch with 12 new foreign friends from class (almost all from France, but with a few French Canadians, a Dutch girl and an Australian). Class was great, teacher is nice, students are all about at my level of Spanish, with a few superstars and a few hopeless ones.
Mas photos:
Bad picture of a small part of Punta del Este
Bad picture of the cool hippie room in our hostel
BC students in Punta
Sorry a lot of these pictures arent the best and that I have very few pictures of the cool stuff we do. This weekend I wore board shorts the entire time and they have one pocket for phone and wallet, so camera was sacrificed. The girls always have their cameras and take pictures nonstop, so as soon as they post them, I'll steal them and share them all with you.
Drum circle show tonight! Estoy excitado! Talk to you soon.
Vacation on vacation Part 1
Que pasa? I'm back in BA now, just hanging out finally. So Friday morning us BC students took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. Colonia is a quiet, old city/town right on the coast directly across the river from BA. The weather was pretty gray when we arrived so we just checked into our hostel, grabbed some food, then just sat on the docks in the harbor and chilled. It was pretty fun. Then things cleared up a bit and we walked for a bit down to a beach and went swimming in the river (the widest river in the world). We headed back into the town and searched for a place to rent go karts or scooters or something of the like. Me and Dave and 2 girls got a golf kart and explored the town for a bit. Theres a church from like 1650 or something like that, extremely old for South America, a cool old lighthouse, some cool little houses on cliffs overlooking the water, etc. Then we headed back to the hostel and took a nap. The guys the went out for dinner and found this cool little pub on a side street.
Uruguay is cheap. I mean really cheap for Americans. In this little pub we (4 guys) ordered 4 pizzas, a salad, a steak, sausage, 2 bottles of water, a coffee, and 9 bottles of wine (I honestly only had 3 glasses, mom) and it cost us $9 US each. For 4 people. Thats 9 dollars, nine dollars, nueve dolares, however you want to say it. Makes you want to say hooray for the American economy we love to complain about so much. I guess us gringos really are spoiled.
Then we went to a dance club because no matter how tired you are in South America, sleep isnt an option. Just after we returned the golf cart it started pouring rain and continued monsoon-like until we left the next morning. So in this dance club the ceiling leaked, just like every other roof in Uruguay, no joke. We got to the dance floor and ditched our shoes and frolicked about in 2 inches of water, as the ceiling rained on us. Normally this wouldnt be fun but we were entirely waterlogged from the day already (including clothes). We danced for a bit then realized we needed to catch our 530am bus to Punta del Este in an hour, so we ran out real quick.
Stop at hostel to grab clothes, run to bus station, begin dance party. I'm sure the ad hoc dance party at 530am in the station annoyed a few locals, but we just wanted to make sure we wouldnt wake up during the 5 hour bus ride.
Picture time, click to view full size:
Uruguay is cheap. I mean really cheap for Americans. In this little pub we (4 guys) ordered 4 pizzas, a salad, a steak, sausage, 2 bottles of water, a coffee, and 9 bottles of wine (I honestly only had 3 glasses, mom) and it cost us $9 US each. For 4 people. Thats 9 dollars, nine dollars, nueve dolares, however you want to say it. Makes you want to say hooray for the American economy we love to complain about so much. I guess us gringos really are spoiled.
Then we went to a dance club because no matter how tired you are in South America, sleep isnt an option. Just after we returned the golf cart it started pouring rain and continued monsoon-like until we left the next morning. So in this dance club the ceiling leaked, just like every other roof in Uruguay, no joke. We got to the dance floor and ditched our shoes and frolicked about in 2 inches of water, as the ceiling rained on us. Normally this wouldnt be fun but we were entirely waterlogged from the day already (including clothes). We danced for a bit then realized we needed to catch our 530am bus to Punta del Este in an hour, so we ran out real quick.
Stop at hostel to grab clothes, run to bus station, begin dance party. I'm sure the ad hoc dance party at 530am in the station annoyed a few locals, but we just wanted to make sure we wouldnt wake up during the 5 hour bus ride.
Picture time, click to view full size:
Brendan and Dave
Lots of people salsa dancing
Upon arriving in Colonia
Courtyard in our hostel
Sunset from Colonia
Friday, February 5, 2010
Salsa dancing is not easy
Hola todos! I'll try and keep this one a little shorter because I seem to be giving a bit much detail.
Normal day yesterday, nothing too exciting. Last night was unbelievable, seems to be a trend. We went to a place called Terrazas del Este on the river with some friends of friends. It seemed like a 5 star tropical resort which was actually a nightclub. When we pulled up there was a massive line of cars and tons of people walking towards this place. Its what they call here an "after office party" starting at 7pm, about an hour or 2 before normal dinner time. Dress code was pretty strict, dress pants, shoes, belt, shirt, etc, or no admission. We sat until about 830 getting some food and talking with new people, then suddenly people started walking out the door. Where could they be going?
One of the many massive dance rooms in one of the other joined buildings or patios or decks, of course. This place was so big that they had about 6 live djs. Each room had its own music style- reggaeton, salsa, techno, more salsa, etc. There were about 5000 people there (about one to two thousand less than normal because it was raining) and every single one of them was dancing. I've never danced that much in my life, or seen that many people dancing. Around 130am we couldnt move from exhaustion so we headed home.
Today we hung out all day until a quick little interview with our history and culture professor. At 7 we had tango/salsa lessons. We went to this cultural center/restaurant and arrived as tango started. Two instructors gave us step by step instructions on the basic moves of tango. Tango is really hard, but really fun. Then after that a few new instructors came out and gave the same thing but for salsa. Salsa is really really hard, and really really fun. We sweat like crazy and danced for a while, then ate dinner and watched everybody else dance for a while. Around maybe 11pm all of the tango instructors cleared the floor and put on a show. Watching professional tangoers tango is sooo cool. Its crazy that they dont get their feet tied up and can stay together so perfectly. Its a super beautiful dance too.
Afterward we headed right home because tomorrow morning (actually in about 7 and a half hours) we are headed to Uruguay. We're taking a high speed ferry to Colonia and spending the day and a night there, then Saturday super early we're taking a bus to Punta del Este. Saturday night is there, then back to Colonia and BA Sunday night. No internet there, so I'll update with lots of pictures and videos from tonight on Monday. Hasta lluego.
Normal day yesterday, nothing too exciting. Last night was unbelievable, seems to be a trend. We went to a place called Terrazas del Este on the river with some friends of friends. It seemed like a 5 star tropical resort which was actually a nightclub. When we pulled up there was a massive line of cars and tons of people walking towards this place. Its what they call here an "after office party" starting at 7pm, about an hour or 2 before normal dinner time. Dress code was pretty strict, dress pants, shoes, belt, shirt, etc, or no admission. We sat until about 830 getting some food and talking with new people, then suddenly people started walking out the door. Where could they be going?
One of the many massive dance rooms in one of the other joined buildings or patios or decks, of course. This place was so big that they had about 6 live djs. Each room had its own music style- reggaeton, salsa, techno, more salsa, etc. There were about 5000 people there (about one to two thousand less than normal because it was raining) and every single one of them was dancing. I've never danced that much in my life, or seen that many people dancing. Around 130am we couldnt move from exhaustion so we headed home.
Today we hung out all day until a quick little interview with our history and culture professor. At 7 we had tango/salsa lessons. We went to this cultural center/restaurant and arrived as tango started. Two instructors gave us step by step instructions on the basic moves of tango. Tango is really hard, but really fun. Then after that a few new instructors came out and gave the same thing but for salsa. Salsa is really really hard, and really really fun. We sweat like crazy and danced for a while, then ate dinner and watched everybody else dance for a while. Around maybe 11pm all of the tango instructors cleared the floor and put on a show. Watching professional tangoers tango is sooo cool. Its crazy that they dont get their feet tied up and can stay together so perfectly. Its a super beautiful dance too.
Afterward we headed right home because tomorrow morning (actually in about 7 and a half hours) we are headed to Uruguay. We're taking a high speed ferry to Colonia and spending the day and a night there, then Saturday super early we're taking a bus to Punta del Este. Saturday night is there, then back to Colonia and BA Sunday night. No internet there, so I'll update with lots of pictures and videos from tonight on Monday. Hasta lluego.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Another marathon
Yesterday was another super long day. Woke up late, ate breakfast, headed out to catch a tour with the BC students. The tour started in a super cool area like a gigantic outdoor mall. It was a giant grid of narrow sidewalks with stores forever. We sat for a bit waiting for the bus and discussed everybody's travel plans. Then a coach bus took us around the city showing us all the touristy stuff like parks, monuments, important buildings, etc. I'll attach a few pictures finally.
We stopped at the section of the city called La Boca. La Boca is famous for its bright colors, soccer fanaticism (Boca Juniors is like the Red Socks, really good but looked down upon because its fan base is lower class), and poverty. The area called Caminito is sooo cool. All of the houses are painted a million different colors, and everything, literally everything, is dedicated to the Boca Juniors. Google image-search "caminito".
After the tour, me a Dave came home for a quick dip in the pool with the whole family again, then dinner. We showered and napped, and headed back out to meet up with everybody. The tour was just with the Di Tella students (my university) so we wanted to go out with the BC kids studying at UCA. We went back to Madagascar and sat outside at a table, then played some pool at Tazz again, then got pizza, then went home around 530am again. Long day.
Here's some pictures from yesterday:
We stopped at the section of the city called La Boca. La Boca is famous for its bright colors, soccer fanaticism (Boca Juniors is like the Red Socks, really good but looked down upon because its fan base is lower class), and poverty. The area called Caminito is sooo cool. All of the houses are painted a million different colors, and everything, literally everything, is dedicated to the Boca Juniors. Google image-search "caminito".
After the tour, me a Dave came home for a quick dip in the pool with the whole family again, then dinner. We showered and napped, and headed back out to meet up with everybody. The tour was just with the Di Tella students (my university) so we wanted to go out with the BC kids studying at UCA. We went back to Madagascar and sat outside at a table, then played some pool at Tazz again, then got pizza, then went home around 530am again. Long day.
Here's some pictures from yesterday:
Cool outdoor mall
A street in Caminito in La Boca
Di Tella students in front of the Casa Rosada,
the Argentine version of the White House, except pink
The Obelisk in the middle of the widest avenue in the world.
Its like 18 lanes wide, you just cant tell here.
My room
That's all for now. No plans til Thursday night when we have tango lessons. Stay tuned.
Que paso?
After dinner, around midnight, we students wandered through the city looking for a place to go, aiming for the area around Congo where there were a lot of bars. We found a place called Plaza Serrano, aka US college students Mecca. It was a big plaza completely encircled with bars and clubs, and completely filled with people from 18-35. We went into a place called Madagascar and found a table in the back. We ordered some drinks and a bottle of champagne and watched a girl of about 25 sing live on the stage we apparently were sitting on. She sang a couple of popular American songs (not uncommon here, neither is 80s pop music) and danced around. The crowd sat for the most part, until one song came on. Suddenly, in unison, the entire place stood up cheering, cleared every chair and table out of the way, and began dancing. For the rest of the night the entire place drank and danced. It was an incredibly fun time.
Around maybe 230-3am we left Madagascar, can't remember why. We started walking in search of a discoteca (dance club, although we were kinda at one). After a few minutes of being lost we asked some guys who looked like locals if they knew where one was. They replied that they were also looking for one, they were from Colombia. We walked and talked with the Colombians for a bit and found a club called Kiwi that was literally, no exaggeration, entirely empty except for a bartender and a dj dancing fervently to his own sweet jams. So we went in and ordered a round of tequila, and continued to learn about our new friends. When it hit us that the 15 of us were alone in this creepy club, except for an eager young lady that had walked in, we headed back towards Plaza Cerrano.
We got lost for a bit more, and found ourselves safely back in the plaza around maybe 415am. The plaza was still packed with people, it was crazy. There was a pool hall called Tazz selling 8 peso games and 20 peso liters of Stella Artois. Sold. We drank plenty and talked plenty more, trying to improve our Spanish and the Colombians' English. Around 530am all of the day's activities, drinks, parties, dancing, spanish-speaking, wandering, etc hit us like a train. We exchanged numbers with Diego, the 23 year old Colombian who has been living here for 2 and a half years (his friends had taken a 20 day bus ride all over South America to stay with him for a week or 2) and said our goodbyes.
Around 6am Dave, Brendan, Malcolm, and I piled into a cab and headed home. To our great delight, the taxista was a huge fan of ACDC. The 5 of us blasted the music and screamed the words to such hits as "Back in Black", "Hell's Bells", and "You Shook Me" the entire way home. Me and Dave got out and walked a few blocks home in the daylight. We got to bed around 615-630. What a night.
Around maybe 230-3am we left Madagascar, can't remember why. We started walking in search of a discoteca (dance club, although we were kinda at one). After a few minutes of being lost we asked some guys who looked like locals if they knew where one was. They replied that they were also looking for one, they were from Colombia. We walked and talked with the Colombians for a bit and found a club called Kiwi that was literally, no exaggeration, entirely empty except for a bartender and a dj dancing fervently to his own sweet jams. So we went in and ordered a round of tequila, and continued to learn about our new friends. When it hit us that the 15 of us were alone in this creepy club, except for an eager young lady that had walked in, we headed back towards Plaza Cerrano.
We got lost for a bit more, and found ourselves safely back in the plaza around maybe 415am. The plaza was still packed with people, it was crazy. There was a pool hall called Tazz selling 8 peso games and 20 peso liters of Stella Artois. Sold. We drank plenty and talked plenty more, trying to improve our Spanish and the Colombians' English. Around 530am all of the day's activities, drinks, parties, dancing, spanish-speaking, wandering, etc hit us like a train. We exchanged numbers with Diego, the 23 year old Colombian who has been living here for 2 and a half years (his friends had taken a 20 day bus ride all over South America to stay with him for a week or 2) and said our goodbyes.
Around 6am Dave, Brendan, Malcolm, and I piled into a cab and headed home. To our great delight, the taxista was a huge fan of ACDC. The 5 of us blasted the music and screamed the words to such hits as "Back in Black", "Hell's Bells", and "You Shook Me" the entire way home. Me and Dave got out and walked a few blocks home in the daylight. We got to bed around 615-630. What a night.
Catching up
Hola a todos! Its been 2 days since I last wrote and so much has happened I don't even know where to begin. There's a lot to tell, and some other stuff I just kind of want to write that isn't a story, so I'll break this up into 2 or 3 posts. This post will be long, but trust me, its good.
Saturday night after I wrote, me and Dave went to a bar called Congo in Palermo, the young, rich, trendy part of the city. We met with all the other BC students and got to know each other a bit. The bar was very cool, with a big back patio looking like a jungle (Marie would love it). We got pizza and headed home exhausted around 4am.
Sunday we woke up late, ate, and headed to Ann Glotzbach's house, she's the resident coordinator for BC. There we sat with a porteno friend of Ann's (porteno is a citizen of BA) and learned about Argentine customs, traditions, and received advice on every aspect of living here. We had yerba mate, a common tradition here. Mate (pronounced mah-tay) is a strong, bitter tea that you drink out of a dried gourd with a metal straw. There are a lot of rules and customs with drinking it that I don't want to write about, so read the bottom section here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mat%C3%A9
Afterwards, we went to dinner at an all-you-can-eat restaurant (here called "tenedor libre" or "fork-free") with one of our professors, Sergio Serulnikov, and his wife Silvana, another coordinator for BC. We sat for 4 hours talking (in Spanish almost all the time except when its just the BC students) about everything imaginable.
I'll continue this in a new post.
Saturday night after I wrote, me and Dave went to a bar called Congo in Palermo, the young, rich, trendy part of the city. We met with all the other BC students and got to know each other a bit. The bar was very cool, with a big back patio looking like a jungle (Marie would love it). We got pizza and headed home exhausted around 4am.
Sunday we woke up late, ate, and headed to Ann Glotzbach's house, she's the resident coordinator for BC. There we sat with a porteno friend of Ann's (porteno is a citizen of BA) and learned about Argentine customs, traditions, and received advice on every aspect of living here. We had yerba mate, a common tradition here. Mate (pronounced mah-tay) is a strong, bitter tea that you drink out of a dried gourd with a metal straw. There are a lot of rules and customs with drinking it that I don't want to write about, so read the bottom section here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mat%C3%A9
Afterwards, we went to dinner at an all-you-can-eat restaurant (here called "tenedor libre" or "fork-free") with one of our professors, Sergio Serulnikov, and his wife Silvana, another coordinator for BC. We sat for 4 hours talking (in Spanish almost all the time except when its just the BC students) about everything imaginable.
I'll continue this in a new post.
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