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Buenos Aires, Argentina
34° 35' S 58° 40' W
Jan 14, 2006 01:04
Distance 1324km

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Other entries in Buenos Aires

yea for first day in B.A.

Text written in: English

we woke up this morning to our first full day in buenos aires. we got in yesterday in the late afternoon, took a bus to downtown and walked around to find a hostel. we got to the first hotel and the prices the book quoted were much less than the prices the hotel owner quoted. we couldnt stay there so we went to find the nearest hostel. this place, the Lime House, is much more of a backpackers hostel but has a strange vibe intaht they choose to blare techno music almost constantly, and especially at strange hours like 11 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. but the people have been nice and the price is right. we were both feeling somewhat crummy from our extensive traveling or maybe it was because we finally came down from the altitude weve been living in for the past week so we took a nice nap until 10 pm. we woke up, showered, and decided to mingle with the guests. some were friendlier than others but we found some really nice australians at the pool table so we made friends and also got some cheap pool playing in. at first the two looked like they didnt speak english, one was german looking and the other looked Andean. turns out that the former was austrian living in australia so he obviously speaks great english and the latter was born in Chile but has lived his entire life in Sydney. its funny to see an indian looking fellow speak with a thick aussie accent. anyway, we played and talked for a while and we came to the conclusion based on both our somewhat extensive travels that its better to go to small towns than big ones and the locals know the best cuisine more than the books do. we also met a girl from wisconsin who asked us if we wanted to talk about american football. obviously she didnt know who she was talking to. she kept forgetting that i said i went to USC when we talked about the rose bowl and only remembered that we said we were from texas so she kept asking us if we were super stoked about winning the big game. but i guess its fair cause i kept forgetting that she was from wisconsin and kept asking her about the Vikings, so i guess we were even. we left for a bar, me david, and the chilean aussie, and when we got there, found a argentinian rock band already playing. they were like my friend joe's band single file only in appearence because they were pretty awful. loud and uncoordinated, but the crowd loved it and asked for more. they didnt oblige and we were happy. we werent too happy with the bar so we decided to make ourselves more unhappy by going to a club across town. in the cab, the driver again pointed to davids hair and noted the astonishing resemblence to Valderoma and then began propositioning us to purchase girls he knew for escort purposes. he wrote down his number on a card and everything and told us he had the best girls in buenos aires. we thanked him for his generous offer but thanks to reminders of safety and health from people like Dr. Harford and Regina Merson before we left, we made no intention to call on his services again. thanks guys. we got to the club at 330am and they were still swinging and charging a cover. we went inside and found it very similar to every american club we'd ever been to: loud music, crowded dance floor, expensive drinks, and the only lights were strobe or lasers that blind you. david immidiately soured up like he had eaten a bag of lemons but nelson and i attempted to have a good time. we failed and left about an hour later. i dont blame david for his attitude, i like clubs as much as cats like baths in the sink but i figured as i would do as the argentinians do, when in argentina. we cabbed home, felt the need to eat, and found a delicious, irresistable offer from a 24 hour hamburger joint next to our hostel. we ate leaning on the counter and then went to bed.

this morning we woke up feeling the effects of our gluttony last night. we also woke up because the worker on duty had come into our room to kick us out. people with a reservation had showed up and wanted their room. we had to vacate. but they were nice enough and were patient with our slow movement. we changed rooms, brushed our teeth, drank some water, scratched what needed to be scratched, and were ready for breakfast. we found a place next to our hostel, on the other side this time, and went in to get incredibly bad service. the only waiter on the floor repeatedly walked past our table to wait on others including people that came in long after we had. eventually it took me staring at him blatantly to get his attention and we ordered our recovery meal. david had a bowl of tomatos and an ham and cheese empanada, and i had four of the latter. plus a pepsi. we enjoyed it all while watching horrible shows on mtv (including one self promotion saying in spanish ¨watch our programming so you dont have to think¨). then the music videos started with the black eyed peas, why did they become popular, song about your rump followed by a very interesting video of a song we first heard in colombia, Camisa Negra, where an old man begins playing a guitar and a sound wave comes out of the instrument and passes through the entire city at night. the sound wave makes people dance but they chose to show them dancing a beat, then put it on repeat so its jerky and identical movement. then at the end the sound wave retracts to the guitar, and while they go in reverse order of appearance, the dancing people disappear and eventually the guitar consumes their souls. at least that was our interpretation.

after eating, david went to work on his law school application and i tooled around on the internet for a while. then we went in search of a few necessities and a good walk. we needed information about changing our trip slightly to possibly increase the number of days we have in certain places like thailand and vietnam and maybe others, we wanted post cards and to send those postcards, we also have finished reading our books and are in need of new ones, and we wanted to see the city on foot. whoever it was that told us that this city is insanely hot needs to adjust their perception. it was a gorgeous day but the temp was perfect because we were beyond comfortable especially with a nice, steady breeze. we followed our directions past a crowded sidewalk and stepped into many a bookstore to look at the english selection. this city reminds me of Paris because it has loads of french architecture, the streets are wide with lots of small efficient cars, and there are tons of plazas and colonial style buildings. pictures coming soon. after a while we found the street where the student travel store was supposed to be but coulndt find the store. we eventually asked for directions and found the place on the third floor of an obscure building. we were there for maybe 2 minutes because we quickly discovered that we needed our ticekts for htem to be able to do anything and we had left those in a safe back at the hostel. so we will go back monday and see whats availible. then to the post office where there was a line longer than the Portland Trailblazers NBA Championship drought steak (zing!) so we decided to leave. we went to FedEx where fatty went to the counter and i sat in a chair and proceeded to have a teeth showing and grrrrrring contest with a little boy. david learned that to send a whopping two postcards to the states using fedex, it would cost 28 dollars. what a deal! so we left that place as well. the kid won the contest by the way.

so after our multiple failures for our multiple tasks today, it was time for icecream. icecream has become an almost daily ritual for us and we both have a profound appreciation and respect for the delicacy. today it was sitdown icecream time so we found a shop that specializes in the frozen treat and were waiting at the front of hte line deciding on which to gorge on when a tall, well dressed argentinian came up and asked in spanish if we were in line. we fumbled a response as we werent sure what he said and he discovred that we spoke english. he asked us where we were from and we told him the states. we soon started conversing while standing there eating our ice cream and he asked if we would mind if he practiced his english and we asked if we could practice our spansih. we took seats in the back of the shoppe and proceeded to have a two hour conversation involving topics from politics to dialects, him talking in english and we in spanish. he is a student here in the city who one day wants to travel like we are and has a serious issue with our government and some confusion with how we as americans can not make bettter decisions. he wasnt offensive in his criticism and often made a point to tell us so. during the conversation, david and i exchanged looks signifying our inablitily to see an end to the situation but also that we were enjoying this unique opportunity. Sebastian was his name and he was making no movement to get up and leave; he clearly was relishing the chance to practice his english with us and was being very generous with information about his own culture and city. eventually we exchanged information and he promised to help us if we were in need or offer more advice when called upon. we thoguht this was the end of it but then he asked us if there was anything in the city that we wanted to see in particular. we didnt really have a preference so he offered to take us around on a tour of an area he enjoyed. he took us to San Telmo where we passed old, decaying buildings with beautiful exterior designs and plazas with plastic tables set up to allow people to enjoy the late afternoon atmosphere. we made it down to a river and we walked along the promenade and across a pedestrian bridge near a replica of the Sydney Opera House. the whole time it was more conversation about politics, women, cultural phrases, sports, basically whatever three guys talk about. it became late and we said we were hungry so he suggested an all you can eat place within our backpackrs budget. he walked us all the way back to where we origianlly met and then further to the restaurant. there we said goodbye to our unpaid city tour guide and were grateful for his unsolicited services.  as we were nearing the end of our trek, he mentioned that the reason he liked us and started talking to us was because whne he asked where we were from, we said the United States and not that we were Americans. he feels that everyone from Canada to Argentina are Americans and has a certain distaste for the arrogance that is implied when people form the US say they are the only Americans. we thanked him again and ate our dinner.

we were actually quite close to home where we were eating so the walk home was short. along the way, we passed an oblisk that i feel resembles the Washington Monument but Fatty tells me there are similar oblisks all over the world. i choose not to believe him. there was a group set up doing a dance routine, we think it was Capoerora (however you spell it), the dance/fighting ritual from Brazil. there were also a few other street performers juggling bowling pins or wands with sticks. one of the men, more of a old looking teenager, came up to me after seeing my digital camera and asked me to photograph him doing his tricks and later send him the images. at first i didnt understand him so naturally, based on my experiences, i thought he wanted me to pay him something. but it turned out his intentionas were completely honest and i despite the fact that i told him it might be several weeks before i could get anything to him, he was more than happy to have me take his picture. i saw him run up to his friend afterward and tell him what he was able to secure. ill send them when i can.

so my impression of Buenos Aires so far has been a good one.the city is beautiful, the people are nice and unimposing, there is plenty to do and see, the food is excellent, and its by far the most familiar feeling city i've been in to date.  today, we expected to be relaxed and uneventful but it turned out to be the complete opposite. we got a lot of exercise, met some interesting people, learned some important and different information, and ate extremely well. we can only hope that the next 10 days will be equally full and enlightening. the most valuable advice we have gotten thus far has been from two sources: davids uncle Bill who said ¨if something sounds stupid or boring or weird, go ahead and do it anyway for the experience¨ and the second was from and Brit named Simon in Bocas del Torro who gave us parting words that were simple and short as he went to bed knowing that in the morning we would be gone. he said only, ¨talk to strange people¨. we followed both today and it was an amazing experience.