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Published: December 4th 2010
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It seems like ages ago that I was waking up at 4:30am and rushing out the door so I could stop by my Mom's house, an ATM, and then rush to the train depot and hop on the shuttle to SkyHarbor. After 24 hours of travelling I arrived in Buenos Aires, made my way through customs, and was able to find my name among the hundreds of signs being waved by various drivers as people were leaving the secure area of the airport. My driver, Carlos, after speaking rapid Spanish and then Italian and proceeding to make fun of my confused face, asked "Françia? Russe? Estado Unidos?" I replied English and he asked "London?" I said "No, no estados Unidos." Carlos laughed and said "I thought so."
On the way into town Carlos and I talked about Buenos Aires, where to go, where not to go, things to be careful of and things to do. He took me on a little tour of my neighborhood while I attempted to explain to him why American girls get so drunk and he showed me where all the Porteñas sunbaith. After about 45 minutes of cruising around with Carlos he took me to
my host family's house and pressed the call button to make sure that my "mom" spoke English and tell her I was a good kid and she should take care of me. He also gave me his card and told me to call him if I ever got into trouble or needed anything and he would be there right away.
My host mom, Betty, took me up to her apartment (we live on the 5th floor) and showed me where everything was. After taking a shower I took an hour long nap that became a 20 hour nap when I got up at 1pm Friday recharged and ready to go. On Friday my host mom took me to a mall where I exchanged my US money for Argentine Pesos, got some coffee, dulce de leche ice cream, and a dulce de leche cookie. She showed me around a bit, including la casa de Carlos Gardel and a few teatros where there will be a carnival de teatro niños in a few days. She also showed me how to use the subway (where I noticed I was the tallest person by about 3 inches!) and the best way to get
Photo 4
Av. Carlos Gardel downtown. I took a few pictures and was warned by a stranger to be careful with my camera, dully noted.
Last night I went to El Teatro Presidente Alvear Corrientes and saw a dance concert with Betty's daughter Vanina. It was called Tres Generaçiones, and there were actually three generations of dancers and each group did a variation of the same routine, all set to some badass electronica. It was pretty amazing. After the show I had my first taste of Porteños night life when Vanina, her friend Laura, another friend and her friends daughter Sol, went out to dinner. We ordered dinner around 8pm, dessert around 12am, and coffee around 1am. Definitely the first time I've been out with middle aged people until 1:30am outside of new years!
It's been an amazing adventure so far. I'll write more soon. Also please forgive any misspelling, the computer puts a read line under every word that is not español.
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Woohoo!
Right into it, eh Will! So awesome, can't wait to read more! Your host family sounds nice. :) About your camera...what I do is put a carabiner on my belt loop and always have my camera (and only that) in my left pocket. That way you're always aware of where it is and it's - at least to my experience after 15 mos doing it this way - virtually impossible for anyone to even think about grabbing it without you knowing, even in the most crowded subway or market. It's been really nice to never have to worry about it and still have it super accessible to whip out and snap pics within seconds. If that helps!