Spanish classes, great steak and late hours in Buenos Aires

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I arrived in Buenos Aires with the intention of learning Spanish, eating a lot of great steak and drinking good wine. The latter two goals were definitely fulfilled but the Spanish part is still a work in progress. I set myself up with a school and they told me that they would provide me with the opportunity to live in an apartment with Argentinians, who would be about my age. They ended up putting me up in an apartment with a strange 70 year old Argentinian woman who claimed she was 55 and only spoke English to me. I was also living with two other students from the school, (Rebecca and Sophie) who became great friends, but not much Spanish was spoken. So much for really immersing myself in the Spanish language, but Buenos Aires was a great time.

Fortunately, I was able to adjust to the Buenos Aires time schedule which consisted of a 10pm dinner. All restaurants were pretty much empty before 9:30 and even small children were eating dinner until 12am on week nights. On weekends the bars don´t start picking up until after 11:30, the clubs don´t really open until 2:30 and most don't head home until 6am. The steak was really as good as they say and I think I managed to raise my cholesterol a significant amount during my time in BA. The food and drinks in most places were very cheap, but since I was eating out quite a bit my wallet definitely got a little thinner.

Besides taking Spanish classes I tried to get into a bit of the culture. I tried a lesson in Argentina´s famous tango, but found it a little too challenging. I also tried a bit of salsa which I preferred and even took some private lessons with my roommate Rebecca.

It was very interesting to see the Argentinians involvement in politics. There were constantly protests, most which had to do with the high taxes placed on the farmers exports. Some protests looked threatening especially when they contained police in full armor blocking a street while the protesters were approaching with bats and covered faces. Che Guevara´s legacy lives on and flags with pictures of his face were always amongst the protesters.

After I finished my Spanish class, Erica and Suraj came to visit for a week and a half. It felt great to see some family after 10 months of traveling. We rented an apartment in a great area of the city, saw the sights of BA and of course ate a lot of great food. I took them to my favorite steak place..three times. They were also able to celebrate my birthday with me on their last night in BA. The 10 days they were in BA went far too quick and it was tough seeing them go and leaving the nice apartment. I stayed in BA with some friends for another week and then finally was able to pry myself from the city.

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Photos

Meat!! Argentinian Parilla (BBQ)
San Antonio

The roomates
Sophie from England and Rebecca from Norway
(Should have got Maria to pose in this one!)