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...