Mi Buenos Aires Querido

So I'm going to try to update, but I'm really sleepy for no reason so I don't know how much I'll be able to write. Last week my parents came and it was Semana Santa so I had a Wed, Thurs and Fri off to hang out with them. A little day by day break down of what we did:

Sunday: Went to mass and then we went to a River Plate game against Racing, but I already touched on that in my last entry, pretty memorable.

Monday: I had class most of the day, but I gave them a short tour of the area around Plaza de Mayo, and then they went to the cemetery and did their thing there while I was in class.

Tuesday: Again I had class, but we met up to grab a bite for lunch and went out to La Boca and el Camanito, which is a pretty famous part of Buenos Aires and if you've ever seen pictures of anything from Buenos Aires, La Boca has probably been a part of the scenery. All of the buildings are painted in different colors and it's a pretty big tourist hotspot, complete with tango dancers who, without warning, will wrap their legs around you for a photo opportunity for which they expect payment. Not too great of an experience, but still an integral part of one's trip to BA.

Wednesday: We went to Colonia, Uruguay on the ferry for the day. I planned the trip without knowing too much about the town, and decided to buy tickets to get there at 10 in the morning and leave at 10 that night. The town itself was pretty cool to see, but there was NOTHING to do. It's a colonial city (hence the name) that went through a lot of hard times and was fought over by Spain and Portugal in the last few centuries, but a lot of the city has really cool colonial type buildings. It's right on the beach and overall it's just a really relaxed place to be, quite a contrast to Buenos Aires which is only an hour boat ride away. We went back to the boat station around three because we were literally that bored, and somehow managed to get on a boat that was leaving right when we got there. Quite a relief. Our tickets were first class because that's all they had left when I bought them originally so they brought us champagne right when we got on board. Pretty nice little touch, if I do say so myself. When we got back to Buenos Aires, we rested for a bit and then went out and got a good steak dinner.

Thursday: Wasn't too eventful, we went on a city tour with a guide who knew nothing outside of his script, as I tested by asking him a couple questions about things to which he had no idea how to respond. Dad pissed him off by asking him which soccer stadium was bigger (Boca's or River's) and being a Boca fan, he was upset and ashamed to admit that River's stadium was actually bigger. Silly Porteño pride. We then went to a few leather shops, and they shopped on Florida avenue, which is one of the biggest shopping areas in Buenos Aires.

That night, my parents met my host mother and saw my apartment and we all went out to dinner. I think they really liked Greta, and vice versa! It was a pretty good evening with lots of gift exchanges. She gave my parents a palm from Palm Sunday, which is totally different from what we have in the U.S., it looks more like an olive branch or something, and she gave Sam a little hand-painted box with an Argentine flag colored ribbon and some little dolls inside and a chocolate bunny for Easter. All of it was incredibly nice and it was a really good night.

Friday: We met up and went out to the zoo. South American zoo's have a bit of a reputation and this one seemed to fit the mold quite well. The zoo itself wasn't too bad, but overcrowded and the cages were awful. They did little to reconstruct the natural living environments of the animals except for a carefully placed puddle of water or a couple rocks and a bush in a corner in some of the cages. They sell pellets of God knows what kind of food to be fed to the animals, which in the eyes of most zoo-goers means pitching the food like a fast ball at the animals to ensure that they get their fair share of slop. The animals didn't look healthy, and the polar bear looked miserable in the 90°+ weather.

After the zoo we went to the Japanese Garden which has good sushi according to the guidebooks, and since it was a Friday during Lent we gave it a try. It was actually really good and the trip to the garden offset the zoo experience as much as one could hope.

That night we scheduled a venture to a tango show through the hotel, so after the garden we went back to their hotel and rested up before going to the show. It started raining pretty hard, so the door-to-door bus service to the tango show was pretty much awesome. The tango show itself was awesome as well and it was pretty incredible to see how talented the dancers were. A lot of the stuff was pretty unbelievable, the women dressed in flowing dresses and somehow not tripping over themselves. It was a bit pricey, but I think everyone had a pretty good time.

Saturday: The last day of their trip, we went to Santa Fe and did some more shopping, mom being the only one to really buy anything the whole trip. We ate at a little corner café off the beaten touristy path and had steak and wine for lunch in a mini-celebration for my birthday since I won't see them again for the next four months. We took it easy the rest of the day and went and got coffee and walked around the cathedral to take pictures and just hung out.

Overall, it was a really good week, and really nice to get to hang out with the family for a bit. It was a little hard adjusting to not being independent when they first got here and it was almost a culture shock, which I guess is a sign that I am adjusting to the way of life here, whether I know it or not. Their hotel was absolutely amazing, in a beautiful part of town, complete with a free breakfast, tea time AND cocktail hour. We took advantage of the cocktail hour almost every night. Pretty luxurious! It was a little bit of a reality check when they left, but it didn't last as long as I thought it would; that's not to say that I don't miss them, however. A picture I took from the balcony of the honors lounge in the hotel:

Saturday night my host mother's son and his family came over and we had a traditional Italian fish dish and a pretty good time just hanging out. Sunday was Easter and since my a lot of my friends are out of town right now, my host mother invited me to accompany her to her sister's apartment a little bit outside of town to eat. We had a meatloaf type dish and green-beans and overall it wasn't too exciting of an Easter.

Today I went to the Museo Arte Latinoamericano Buenos Aires (MALBA) with a couple of friends. It's mostly modern art and it was really cool, it felt a lot like MoMA or something. I'll definitely be going back, especially since I can get in free with my student idea. The reason today is really worth mentioning is the discovery of Carrefour, which is as close as you get to Wal-Mart without being Wal-Mart. I realize it doesn't sound too exciting, but it was absolutely glorious, for reasons I can't even fathom. We bought a box of wine and some cheese and crackers and went to a park and hung out for like 3 hours and just talked and hung out, it was probably the most relaxing thing I've done in a long time.

That's about it for now, sorry for the dryness of the entry, I need to start updating a little bit more regularly so I can insert more thoughts about things and random cultural observations. For another day…

P.S.

1492,
HOUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Y.I.T.B.
1491