por el amor de futbol y tango...

These Portenos are a passionate bunch. Last week I went to a soccer game in Buenos Aires with a group from school and the fanatics were a sight to see - perhaps even more so than the game itself! Watching soccer live was incredibly enjoyable though and I was US was more into it. So much more fun to watch than football, but to each their own. The game was River Plate (one of the two most important teams for Buenos Aires) vs. Arsenal ( of the Argentine variety, not British) and the favored, much higher ranked River Plate was not playing well so it ended with a tie and a disappointed crowd. Ok, so the fanatics. There are two types of seats in “la cancha” (the stadium), “popular” and “platea” and the popular section is where the Porteno version of the English soccer hooligans sit. Well, here they are called barras bravas. Our group was sitting in the very calm platea - an older, family friendly, generally more wealthy section, and from our section we had a fabulous view of the field and also the spectacle that is the popular section. I’ve never experienced such a fanatic display of pride for a team of any sort in my life and it was incredible. I wish I had an audio feed because no exaggeration, these barras bravas sang, chanted, jumped up and down from behind an elaborate display of flags and banners, and beat some really intense drums for an entire 2 hours. Honestly not a second of rest. My pictures don’t do it justice but they kind of give an idea. Muy impresionate, and a very fun first taste of latino Americano soccer. Vaaaaaamos, vamos, vamos, River Plate!




Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take picures inside (this one I took from a street in La Boca will have to suffice), but this week Suzie and I had a lovely night at a classic Buenos Aires tango show + dinner. The ambiance was great, as were the dancers and orchestra. The performance was a variety show of sorts, some singing, 4 tango couples that did various dances in different costumes, a group dressed in traditional northern Argentine garb playing pan flute, and a cheesy nod to Evita and Argentina pride with flags and “No Llores Por Mi Argentina”. All in all, a very fun time and I’m glad I got to see some serious tango pros.

Last night a group of us from school went to a dinner and show at a small restaurant that prepares typical food from northern Argentina. I ate an amazing llama stew called Charquican, a dish made of llama, veggies, quinoa, all inside a bread bowl of sorts. Incredibly delish!!! The show was a really intimate, folkloric performance by a seriously amazing young singer and band. She interpreted various songs from “el campo” in a beautiful, dramatic way and everyone in the room was captivated and moved. Definitely a memorable night in BA.


AND after school today I head off on an overnight bus for a weekend exploring Iguazu Falls! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls

I have been wanting to see this for years and am incredibly excited. Cross your fingers for better weather than last weekend for me!

When I return I only have a week left in Buenos Aires and seriously cannot believe how fast this month has flown by. I love my Spanish class and know that I have earned a lot with all the speaking I get to do everyday - I need more though… After a quick month I have created an enjoyable daily rhythm here so I am kinda sad to say goodbye to it already but I have too much more of this continent to see:) But, I did decide this week that I am going to do another month of school in another town along my journey and would very much welcome any recommendations of schools or places to set down my backpack for a bit...

Muchisimas gracias por seguir mi Blog, amigos!

inundaciones!

Sooooo, Buenos Aires flooded on Friday. This made for some interesting complications with my weekend plans…

Before I arrived in Buenos Aires I knew that at some point in my time here I wanted to take a ferry over to a quaint little town in Uruguay called Colonia del Sacramento. Not knowing of course that a severe storm would be coming through the area, I decided to go this weekend for a relaxing time outside of the city. Suzie decided to come too, and after a busy week of school and sightseeing we were looking forward to some mellow time in Colonia, laying out on the beach, renting bikes, café sitting, etc. Well, on Friday the clouds rolled in and the downpour began. I’m talking some seriously heavy, tropical rains. Our boat was to leave port at 6:30 pm and we planned to leave at 5 from school to make it there by 5:30, the required hour before departure in order to take care of necessary paperwork for crossing from Argentina into Uruguay. At 5pm we were informed at school that it would be near impossible to get a cab to the port because of the rain. Lorena, the school organizer/founder was on the phone for an hour trying to track one down for us and Suzie and I took it to the streets to drench ourselves in order to try to hail a cab. Absolutely no open cabs to be found. P.S. this city has more cabs than I have ever seen in my life. Maybe it is what NYC is like, but I don’t really recall. Just A LOT of cabs everywhere, always, no matter where you are. That everyone apparently hopped into before us when it started raining - OR were not stopping to let us in because we were soaking wet. So, time is ticking, clearly we are going to miss our boat to Uruguay, and meanwhile in other parts of the city people apparently were having to be rescued by boat while walking home from work!!! Somehow our last desperate attempt to flag down a cab worked (Suzie saved Christmas!!!) and luckily got an amazing driver who was doing everything in his power to navigate the rapidly flooding city and subsequent mess. He was essentially driving us through a river at points, with about 5 minutes till boat departure time. Again, I have no idea how but we got there just as they were shutting gates, gave cabbie a very generous tip for being “el milagro del dia” (the miracle of the day) and once inside, more fun! I had purchased my boat ticket and Suzie’s boat ticket on my credit card on separate days, and I don’t know why but this confusion of names and documentation and numbers had thrown the Colonia Express computer system into a complete frenzy. They did not have record of Suzie’s ticket at first but then found it after a big fuss, then issued her an official entrance and exit pass to Uruguay stating that she was an Argentine citizen. Mine said that I was a man named “Jerry Cole”, which got a laugh from the immigration official. Needless to say, when we got on the boat, completely soaked to the bone, Sailor Jerry and the fake Argentina were laughing the whole thing off, just happy to have made it on the boat.


After an hour long ride we made it to Colonia, got a short cab (so random, the cab driver’s daughter has lived in Fresno for 17 years!!!) to our wet hostel, chatted for a bit with our Australian roommates for the night, and got some dinner at a restaurant down the road.

The Australian girls departed verrrry early and loudly the next morning, which was annoying at first but we privately thanked them later because it forced us to start our day early and beat the other tourists as a result. The weather wasn’t bike to the beach worthy (sad) but we had a great day though - it is SUCH a cute, sleepy little town, with a wonderful “life as it used to be” feel still very much intact. The “Barrio Historico” is a Unesco world cultural heritage site for good reason. After roaming around taking pictures all morning we sat at a great café along the water where we enjoyed some calamari and sausage parrilla, a Corona to get the pretend sunny vacay feel going, and just chilled and listened to a fab guitarrista play some sweet Spanish guitar.











Unfortunately our relaxing day turned for the worse once back on the boat home. Officially done with ferry boats. Ridiculously stormy seas, people vomiting all around me, trying to maintain but residual effects of the traumatic boat experience in Thailand with Stephanie were coming back in full force. Fogs, you were there right along with me again in spirit, keeping me strong in silence like last time:) I narrowly escaped getting ill, poor Suzie was not so lucky. We were happy to find that conditions in Buenos Aires had improved when we set foot on Argentine ground again, no taxi drama, and no more water in the streets. The whole flooding thing is a HUGE problem for the city. I don’t know what is up with the drainage system but things are clearly a mess if people need to be rescued by boat after 20 minutes of hard rain. Yikes. In searching for video coverage of the flooding I came to find that this happens ALL the time… try it for yourself - Buenos Aires inundaciones.

BUT, last night I went to my first soccer game in a fanatic country… SO FUN! Pics and info coming very soon…

dale, amigos.

Hi again! Week two is off to a great start here in The Good Airs and I have seen/done many things since we left off...

First and foremost, I got to sink my teeth into my first famed Argentine cut of beef! Last week I went to restaurant in San Telmo with the Holland housemates and 2 girls they had met through a friend, one from Boston and one from London. I tried a very generous cut of jugoso (rare) bife de lomo (tenderloin steak) and it definitely lived up to its reputation. So tender and delicioso! The restaurants that serve the typical Argentine bbq feasts are called parrillas, which refers to the grill or barbeque where they cook all their almost always grass-fed meats. Oh, and this generous, tender cut of grass-fed beef? $5. Umm, yeah.


The parrilla restaurant Desnivel on the right, and one of many more pics of the colonial, cobble-stoned San Telmo neighborhood to come.

Unfortunately this weekend was mostly spent recovering from a short-lived but un-fun stomach bug of some sort (I blame the sub-par tapas) but I was able to get out on Sunday to explore some points of interest in my general "barrio." It was a lovely day- much milder than it has been so I comfortably basked in the sun in Plaza Lavalle and wrote. A little too comfortably, as I am now a bit of a lobster-shouldered mess. So, sunburned but back to full health again!


I exist, kind of! Half of me in front of BA's most phallic - El Obelisco.


A view of Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest street in Buenos Aires, or the world according to Portenos. This pic could be taken straight from my Madrid photo album.


A beautiful day in Plaza Lavalle...


Yesterday I found myself in my new favorite place - the second most fabulous library in the world, according to Britain's The Guardian. It is called El Ateneo Grand Splendid, and splendid it is. An old theater converted to cinema in the 1920's now houses a seriously incredible bookstore, 5 blocks from my apartment. I spent my whole morning there just browsing, wandering, and OH! Those theater boxes you see in the photo below are filled with chairs and couches to sit and read. So cool! And the part that used to be the stage is now home to a lively cafe where many people were enjoying coffee, books, and conversation. As impressive as the architecture and feel of this place is though I must say that the actual selection was a buzz kill.


I decided that since I am here and really trying to soak up as much spanish as possible that I must to read at least one classic novel in spanish, start to finish. Top 2 on my list were Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cien Anos de Soledad, and Isabel Allende, La Casa de Los Espiritus. Ummmm, this place didn't have either one!!! Come on people... not ok. I asked an employee if the Marquez and Allende sections were really as puny as it appeared, and he told me that yes, that is all there is. Lame. I can find them elsewhere obviously, but it was just funny that the Grand Splendid's Latin American author section wasn't so grand, or splendid. I settled for a spanish novel that looks like a fun read, by an Argentina named Laura Beilin called dicembre-dicembre. I also bought a fabulous big and sturdy map of Argentina, which I really need for my travel planning and bus journey that I will embark on in the beginning of March. My spanish teacher was laughing at my sketches of Argentina that I have been using in attempts to plan my route of exploration. Hurray for new friend, the map!

Not to worry though, I have met some humans to hang out with as well. Today was a fabulous day wandering the city with a new partner in exploration, Susi (also from Holland!) who started at my school this week. We have a lot in common and both solo travelers who just began our respective journeys, so I think we might be able to coordinate for some destinations beyond Buenos Aires. Pictures below show our visit to the popular tourist destination El Cemeterio de Recoleta. This wild labyrinth holds the most opulent burial "homes" ever. Among them lies Evita, which was actually quite controversial because not only did she lack aristocratic roots she also fought the good fight for the poor. Truly a unique place, like a miniature city of Argentina’s wealthiest dead. Bizarre, fascinating, beautiful, and eerie all all at once.

Walking down one of the “streets” of El Cemeterio. My sister, if she is actually looking at my blog (yes sisterface, I am publicly calling you out for not yet commenting on my homage to cats, hehe) will enjoy my trademark “flinging of the arm” captured here.


Burial home of the Duarte Family where Evita now rests.

Today I'm off to check out the MALBA- Museum of Latin American Art, the Japanese Gardens, and Evita Museum. Sightseeing like it is my (very fun) job over here! :) Tonight is a night dedicated to tango at one of the famous milongas (tango halls), and a skilled dancer here in BA is going to take a few of us with her to learn a little more about the dance and culture. Fun!

Chau, chau! xoxo

p.s. If you were curious, the first most fabulous library in the world is apparently the Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in The Netherlands, a library inside an 800 year old church. Who knew?

¡muchas cosas!

I’m back! 5 days in Argentina under my belt (I actually didn’t bring any belts. Another thing that did not make the cut in the final space-making frenzy. Total shocker for those who see me all the time, I‘m sure) and I feel like it has been way longer than that. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty impressed with how much I’ve already seen/done in such a short amount of time. Despite the rain and now intense heat/humidity, I have been a serious walking maniac. Trekking all around, trying to be discreet as possible with my map and camera in tow. I don’t seem to stand out as a foreigner until I pull those outta my bag.
This weekend I also conquered the subway system in order to visit another really interesting neighborhood called Palermo, an upscale area of boutiques and café/bars. I never shop in boutiques in the US but this place is dangerous! Unique, boutique worthy summer shirts and dresses are currently $10-$20. I bought 3 great items that now comprise almost my entire wardrobe, as I really don’t want to wear anything I brought here. I knew that would be the case!

On Sunday I moved my stuff to the apartment where I will be living the next 4 weeks, and yesterday I started school. The apartment sitch is just ok, but granted I have only been here 2 days. Maria the owner of the apartment lives here (which was unexpected), along with myself and 3 people from Holland who also recently moved in. Another room will soon be filled as well. Maria is an older woman, nice enough, but it is reeeeeeally quiet in there, everyone kind of keeping to themselves in a stranger’s home. It is essentially a home-stay without the coming together for meals, which is the best part of a home-stay! And Maria speaks to me in broken English for her own practice, while I respond in Spanish. Oh well, I guess we are both practicing. So yeah, this is not exactly what I imagined, but it will suffice. On the bright side, I have my own space in a nice apartment in a really great area called Recoleta. Yesterday the sun finally came out and I had a glorious day walking around the amazing green spaces close by, and enjoyed a lovely lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes. I found several museums to return to, 50000 shops, and a beautiful running path. I also had my first complete grocery store experience and loaded up on fruits, veggies, and eggs for home cooking. HURRAY for local produce, especially Argentinean avocados, $1 for 5! There are also small produce stands all over the city (was able to get some great fruit right by my hostel) so I will usually go there, as the grocery store around the corner was packed and mostly selling the same packaged stuff from the same corporations as the US, just different names. My first time going into “Disco” the grocery store, I made the BIG mistake of bringing my one banana to checkout without weighing it first. Clearly I did not know that you have to take all your produce to a man at his weigh station in the back, where he weighs and places a sticker with barcode on each bag. Well, my un-weighed banana caused an embarrassing stir and as I walked away from the frustrated clerk he told the next man in line “so sorry about that, I can’t believe she forgot to weigh her banana, how strange!” Haha, now I know!

Yesterday was also the first day of class and it is going to be really great. I was wrong, my class is from 2-6 every day and just me and my fabulous teacher Paola! My first two classes went well and I think after 80 hours of one-on-one this month I will be feeling pretty darn good about my Spanish. It is kinda funny because I feel like I am doing a version of my college Madrid experience all over again, but this time with more flexibility, more on my terms. The appearance of the city itself is very reminiscent of Madrid from what I have seen so far, but with a little more flair and quirk to it, more green open spaces, nicer and quieter neighborhoods to explore. More variety in architecture and use of space I guess you could say. And the people…To seriously generalize here, there are even more Anglo-Saxon looking faces speaking Spanish than Spain, but basically take Spaniards as a whole, swap out Flamenco for Tango, one wild Castellano accent for another, throw in some heavy Italian influence and that is the Argentino in a nut shell. Again in general, I get a really good feel from people here. I love that people seem so much more friendly and open to one another than Americans, so much affection amongst men, and people expressing their exuberant personalities. And they are really curious and genuinely interested in foreigners visiting their city, rather than being annoyed by them.

This photo series is my ode to the amazing green public spaces that I have encountered along my meanderings thus far.





This thing is awesome! A huge metal flower in La Plaza de Naciones Unidas that curls up at night and opens up in the morning.





Ok, now these pics are dedicated with love to Stephanie, Shannon, and sister Emily - my favorite feline fawning females ( ya like that?) I happened upon a lush park/botanical garden the other day and came to find that it is where people of the city discard of their unwanted cats. No joke! Verified by my guide book and by the 1000000 cats of all types roaming the grounds. Seriously, Ernest Hemingway’s house ain’t got nothin’ on this place. It was absurd. I think people were mostly visiting the park to hang out with the cats of the park - every bench was filled with either a cat or several people with cats on their laps.

Kitty hogging the prime Vitamin D spot!


There are 9 kitties in this shot! See if you can find them!




Alright, time to head home after class #2 - about a 30 min. walk or a quick ride on the colectivo (bus) which I have not yet tried.

Besos!

J

In the beginning, there was rain.

I am happy to report that my arrival was incredibly easy (seriously almost creepily easy, like what's the catch...) and I am quickly learning the ways of the Porteños (the lovely people of Buenos Aires). I was nervous about entering Argentina with my one-way ticket after hearing a wide range of stories about the potential difficulties involved, but no one even asked me about my length of stay after all my worry. As of last month, Argentina now charges a $130 entrance fee, FYI, so I paid that, breezed through customs, found a squirrely but endearing taxista, and off we went to my home for 3 nights - Hostel Estacion Sur.

The time since my flight landed yesterday is all sort of blurring together now that I sit down to write about it. After getting settled in at the hostel (which is nice enough, feels very safe, and currently home to about 10 Brazilians, 4 girls from Sweden, and me) I walked around the corner to La Escuela BueSpanish (where I start classes on Monday) to get situated. I was greeted by friendly and helpful Carlos who gave me a ton of information about sightseeing and told me that my "class" will be M-F from 2-4 with only one other person from Stockholm! The school is basically just a small office space in an apartment building, but a very happy space and I am so excited to start. I already feel like I have spoken more Spanish in the past 2 days than the sum of all my life's conversations, which is awesome. I can already report that the people here are SO friendly and love to chat it up. Passionate people, such an interesting mix of cultures and roots that I am enjoying getting to know. Argentinian español is a trip, but it is quickly getting easier to understand.

Today was my first day of city exploration, aka the most amusing deluge of a day I have ever experienced, hence the title of this post. I started off with a 30 min. walk down to the Plaza de Mayo, which is essentially the city center, and a bustling area of museums, business people, and tourists. It has been extremely humid, light misting, and foul sky ever since I arrived, so pictures aren't the greatest...





Don't cry for me Argentinaaaaa! Casa Rosada, where the government offices are housed. The Peron's would address the public from those balconies.



Then, I ventured to a great neighborhood of the city called San Telmo to join a bike tour. Now, normally the city bike excursions are a huge group, but due to the impending dark clouds the tourists were nowhere to be found... just crazy me and my personal tour guide Diego who took me all around the city. It was awesome! The best way imaginable to see sights and my pal Diego was like a talking history book who really broke it all down for me. And the whole day was exclusively in Spanish:) Then, enter torrential rains. It started sprinkling, but it felt nice after the nasty humidity and my trekking around and I didn't want to cut the ride short, so we peddled on. Then it just got ridiculous, so Diego pulled out a plastic poncho that was pretty much useless at this point, but I put it on and we continued on to a barrio called La Boca - a poorer, "shantytown" of sorts that has been turned into a touristy zone during the day. Crazy colored homes made of a hodgepodge of building materials, cafes, souvenir shops, and several tango shows going on. I wandered around for a bit in the midst of the deluge, as the drowned rat wearing a plastic bag. The rain stopped for the most part as we made our way back to the city center, through the newly revamped port area that feels a little bit Boston, a little bit Seattle and a little bit Silicon Valley. Whatever it is it doesn't really fit with the rest of the city, and Diego confirmed that there is sort of a love-hate relationship going on there.



El Caminito in La Boca... taken from under a small shelter from the rain. Normally this little road is filled with artisans and people checking out their wares.



Impromptu tango en la plaza, just another Friday at 3pm in Buenos Aires. Love it!

After bidding farewell to my awesome orange bike I began the wet trek home to end my eventful day. Yeah, I opted not to pack my umbrella in the "must remove all things that are not absolutely necessary" stage of my packing frenzy and rather than stop to find one somewhere I just went with it. A lot of others were "just going with it" too, so I wasn't the only person that people were quietly feeling sorry for/laughing at. As amusing as my rainy times were, I'm desperately hoping for some sun and I want to go to la playa! (pronounced plyjah) Basically insert a harsh j sound in place of a y or ll and there you have the Argentine accent, aka Italians speaking Spanish.

Hasta proximo...

The wait is over, folks.

My blog officially exists and my adventure has begun!!!

Before launching into the fun details about my journey I feel the need to catch you up to speed by summing up the past four days in one word: absurd. Looking back I have no idea why I thought it logical or necessary to allot a buffer of only 2 days between job exit + apartment move-out, and my grand departure to South America. Luckily, I know some pretty incredible people who helped me stay sane amidst the chaos and keep my eyes on the prize. I need to give a serious shout out to my tireless moving helpers/belongings storers, goodbye breakfast/lunch/dinner treaters, bed/couch lenders, patient and resourceful packing guru, technology pro, and all the amazing well wishers. You know who you are, and I am incredibly grateful for your support.

Now as I type I am literally flying to New York, en route to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I will be living for a month doing intensive Spanish studies at a language school. In leaving for this open-ended trip I am committing myself to not coming home until I have solidified my fluency, once and for all. My passion for the language and Latin American culture is what leads me South, and when I return I aim to find a job that involves speaking Spanish.

Beyond my stint in Buenos Aires my plan is merely a cobbled outline of places that have sparked my interest. My goal is to explore Argentina and then venture into as many countries as I can, namely Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. I also intend to volunteer along the way in towns that inspire, working with community members in some capacity.

My hopes for this blog project are that you will come back often to check in on my whereabouts, comment mucho, and share experiences of your own. Thanks for accompanying me from afar! And off I go...