I've hosted two Asados (BBQ's) over the past 2 weeks and have really been enjoying the new apartment. I've been taking some private Spanish classes two times a week to brush up on my grammar which is really helping. I have also just begun teaching English to an older lady who owns an internet cafe down the street. I was paying for the internet and she was saying how she wanted to take some English classes, so we set up a deal, that simple. It's kind of weird teaching English, makes me realize how much I forgot about sentence structure rules. [View Full Entry]

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I moved into a new apartment yesterday and love it. It's only about 8 blocks from where I was living before, but much bigger, a little quieter and closer to the really cool part of Palermo with great places to go out. It has a great patio with a grill which I will put to use this weekend. Last weekend a friend of mine had a BBQ (asado) and he began teaching me the ways of the Argentinean BBQ. A BBQ, called an "Asado" here, is a science in Argentina. All the cooking involves real wood or natural coal, none of [View Full Entry]

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A good friend (Sean Pond) from Hawaii, who has spent the last year in Afghanistan, arrived in Buenos Aires on the 26th of April for a week long visit. It was great to catch up and to have another familiar face in town. We saw all of the main touristy spots and tried out some cool restaurants and bars while he was here. We even took a last minute trip to Uruguay the day after a late night out with friends, which made for a long next day and uncomfortable nap on the ferry across the River Plate, but still fun [View Full Entry]

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Laurie arrived on the 16th to visit for a week and we had a wonderful time! We spent the first few days in Buenos Aires, went to Uruguay (Colonia, Monevideo and Punta Del Este) for 3 days, and then returned to Buenos Aires for the rest of the trip. We put quite a few miles on our shoes and a few pounds in our stomach's walking throughout the city and trying out some cool trendy restaurants (to include at least one steak meal per day it seemed). Laurie took me out to dinner for my birthday at one of the most [View Full Entry]

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Here are some pictures of the wonderful city of Buenos Aires. It's such a big city and so many cool places to see....enjoy!!! [View Full Entry]

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I finally settled on an apartment...see pictures. It is so difficult to find a place with short term leases, fully furnished, etc, etc, so I went with a friend of a friend who I knew wouldn't charge me a lot. My first time signing a lease in Spanish too, it took me a good 20 minutes to read and understand it all. It's a nice little one bedroom place with a terrace and full kitchen, in a great area with cool restaurants/bars/cafés only steps away. I've signed a lease for a month and then will try to share a larger place [View Full Entry]

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Break on through to the other side….finally back in BA and haven’t looked back since. The city has such a great “vibe” to it; hustle and bustle, people everywhere, crazy drivers, beautiful parks and European looking buildings, next to colourful Latin style houses and barrios of every type, from the filthy rich to dirt poor. Graffiti on side streets placing blame on the demise of the peso only 3 years ago now land locking Argentines to their own country. Cafés and open air restaurants fill tree branch draped streets while internet cafes, phone centers and shopping ma [View Full Entry]

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The bus has become my new friend... and new mode of transportation throughout South America. There really isn't a train system in South America from what I've seen, and the flights are still quite expensive, so the bus is the way everyone gets around. I got on an overnight 10-hour bus ride back up to Santiago and made it into the city early in the morning. I checked back into my little guest house in Providencia (Av. Condel Guest House) and did some laundry that was well overdue. I had kept in touch with the New Hampshire Trade Mission director and [View Full Entry]

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Climbed a volcano, sat in some natural hot springs, went fly fishing and went to the beach...all within the little town of Pucon. I took a 10 hour bus ride "full cama" which means you sit in a chair that reclines almost 180...pretty comfortable for a bus. I arrived in the little town at 6am and it looked a lot like a smaller version of Vail, and had the feel of North Conway, New Hampshire. The main strip was only a few blocks long, with adventure tours and guides everywhere and little restaurants, bars and stores filling in the gaps. I [View Full Entry]

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I thought I´d be spending my time in Valparaiso and Viña del Mar kicking back on the beach getting some sun but it is actually colder here than it was in Santiago...and not nearly as clean. Valparaiso is an old fishing village with stray cats and dogs at your heels every step of the way. I thought it was going to be similar to the Italian Riviera but it is more like parts of Mexico, with bright houses stacked upon houses built into the side of hills that drop into the ocean (unfortunately ports and docks instead of beaches). The roads [View Full Entry]

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