I would just like to take a moment to apologize for some of my typos in previous posts. I was reading them over the other day and cringed in embarrassment. I will do my best to proofread better so that never happens again…
Well, last Friday was yet another gloomy day in Buenos Aires, though Santa Rosa was coming to an end. Since there wasn’t much to do outdoors, several of us visited the Evita Peron Museum. It was very interesting, however I regret not reading up more on her before I went. I found that some parts were difficult to catch on to if you didn’t know about her life at least somewhat well. Many of her outfits were put on display as well (Argentina’s Jackie Kennedy?), including many fun hats and cute shoes. The museum was in a house that used to be one of the halfway houses for women and orphans that Evita established.
Saturday morning we left for Tigre! Tigre is a town about 40 minutes from the city that is basically a weekend getaway for most porteños, many of whom have homes there. It functions mainly by river. Kinda like Venice…except not at all. They do have libraries that move around by boat, which is pretty cool, I guess, if you’re into reading and that sort of thing…When we arrived in Tigre, we walked around the Feria de frutas, a Tigre street fair, and later grabbed some lunch before we headed to the Tigre Museum of Art.
We arrive at the Tigre Museum of Art, and it is closed. Why? Because it is flooded. Cool. Thank you, Santa Rosa.
Apart from that minor hiccup, Tigre was just all around wonderful. Upon our arrival at the beautiful La Becasina Delta Lodge, we were directed to our cabanas. BEAUTIFUL cabanas. Complete with a large bath tub, insanely comfortable beds with goose down pillows, and a personal porch with cushioned beach chairs. Later we had coffee and pastries, then had snacks, and then had dinner…we literally did nothing but sit and eat. It was also very nice to be able to all hang out in one room together. One of the downsides to homestays is the inability to be able to all just lounge around together because we live in somebody else’s home. So it was great to be able to chat and snuggle up in our luxurious beds. Before I went to sleep I noticed the stars, absolutely breathtaking and covering the entire sky, with none of the city’s air pollution to block them out. I also realized that I could not recognize any of the constellations. I felt so lost. No big dipper? Oh right, that’s what happens when you’re in the southern hemisphere.
Sunday morning, we went on some sort of nature hike, though it did not deserve the name hike at all. It was a very pretty morning, though, with Santa Rosa now over and gone. After our hike we floated around on paddleboats, and later ate more snacks before lunch. The trip was only one night, so after a relaxing weekend with WAY too much food, we headed back by boat towards Puerto Madero, where IES buses picked us up. On the way home, the sun was setting, and I included one of my favorite pictures of Argentina so far.
Monday morning I had no tango class. It was such a sad day. Apparently there is some kind of student strike at IUNA, because they have over 2,000 students and only 11 classrooms or something ridiculous like that, and are now protesting to get more money from the government to expand their school. This is even evident in our tango classes, which are very packed and should be held in bigger classrooms. Hopefully this ends soon, because I really need to get back into those awesome pink tango shoes.
Monday I also officially booked my tickets for Rio! We have a made-up spring break, thanks to IES abroad, in the beginning of October. We will be going to Oktoberfest in the city of Cordoba (Argentina) the first weekend of October, and then heading up to Brazil after. I am very, VERY excited.
Tuesday was a very short day, it seemed. After early 9am Spanish class, I rushed to buy my official Argentina soccer jersey, as we were going to the Argentina vs. España soccer game that afternoon. A group of us found a lovely park nearby, sat on the lawn and had some afternoon drinks in the sunshine before heading to the game.
The game was great. We bought tickets for the Centenerio Popular section, basically the peasant/dirt cheap seats. There was barbed wire fencing at our end. Aggressive? The amount of passion at these games is unreal. So much yelling and flailing arms and swearing and whistling. Whistling, however, is for bad plays, not good ones. Counter intuitive? I thought so. When the game began, tons of blue/white and red/yellow confetti shot up into the air, with the crowds cheering and all the players running out onto the field. All the best Argentine players were there, including Lionel Messi, who is a soccer god. He scored Argentina’s first goal within the first 4 minutes of the game. We hope to be able to learn all the chants they sing. The only one we knew was “Ole ole ole oleeeee Messi, Messi.” Wasn’t too hard to catch on.
The final score was 4-1 Argentina, of course. It was pretty embarrassing for Spain, I have to say. So much for World Cup champions. At the end of the game there were fireworks going off for probably 10 whole minutes. It was bigger than some Fourth of July displays I’ve seen. These people love their fútbol.
The highlight of my day on Wednesday was being able to go out to this patio we have at our IES center on the 12th floor. It overlooks Avenida 9 de Julio, that gigantic street that’s one of the largest in the world. I lied down on one of the benches and soaked up some sun while chatting with friends.
Yesterday, Thursday I had to go back to the DMV-type government office to pick up my criminal certificate for immigrations. Apparently I cleared. Grand. After that was done, we headed to Puerto Madero and walked around the ecological reserve nearby. It was so nice finding such a quiet, beautiful place literally right next to the city. Later we walked back home and got ice cream along the way. I chose apple, and it was absolutely delicious. Life is hard, right? I know. I think Jesus thinks I’m weird…that evening I had been watching an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and dying of laughter, when she came into the room, gave me a funny look, started laughing at me and then called me crazy. Oh well.
Last night I stayed in because I had to be up bright and early this morning for my immigration appointment at 9:30. Oi. I have to say, compared to other people’s experiences, mine was a breeze. I was in and out in 38 minutes. I timed it. On the way home, we met Jimmy the cab driver. Jimmy is probably about 70 years old and the happiest man alive. Jimmy not only handed me the morning’s newspaper to catch up on current events, but he also let me try out his fantastic electric in-car neck massager. He proceeded to give us a long history lesson about Argentina that was actually quite interesting, but too long to recount here, apologies. Quick fact though: There was one large clock tower that we passed that was, in fact, a replica of Big Ben in London. It was a gift from the British for Buenos Aires’ 100th birthday. Jimmy also recommended that we take a tango class from on Saturdays from a woman named Stella. Apparently she is great, so I am definitely up for that. 30 pesos for a 3-hour class sounds like a great deal. He made sure that we had his correct cell phone number so we could call him up when we were going to Stella’s class. Jimmy says that Stella could always use some more talented men. He says he’s a pretty damn good dancer. Jimmy is my new best friend.
Yesterday, Saturday, I dragged myself out of bed to go to MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. I’m not very art savvy, but I believe those exhibitions were considered contemporary art. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, considering many times contemporary art can be a square on a white canvas, and I just really don’t get it. But to my surprise, it was actually very interesting, and I really enjoyed myself. My favorite exhibition was that of Alfredo Prior, an artist from Buenos Aires who had a selection of 21 paintings on display with very interesting abstract images and vivid colors. I recommend googling him. After the museum, I met up with one of my friends from Northwestern that grew up in Ann Arbor, and together we walked (almost ran) to a nearby sports bar to watch the U of M vs. Notre Dame game. We had nachos and pizza and were literally giggling from excitement as the game began. It was a perfect Saturday afternoon.
In the evening, we went to a Mediterranean style restaurant named A’ Manger to celebrate our friend Lauren’s birthday. The food was absolutely incredible. Most of us shared platters of various cheeses and meats, not to mention plenty of bread, hummus, and babaganoush. The one I ordered was a platter with salami and cheese stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and herbs. Unbelievable. That evening we hit up a few bars, chatted with some porteños, and headed to a boliche called Crobar to ring in Lauren’s 20th birthday.
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