Day 2 with the new family

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I am sitting in the computer lab of FLACSO (my program´s building).

Sunday, February 24th

I woke up around 11 just in time to shower and wake up enough for the welcome party the family had set up for me. Around 1 PM, Olga´s children arrived with their families. Her daughter, Natalia is divorced with two kids. And her son has a wife and two kids. Her son´s family had just gotten back from spending 20 days in Mar del Plata...tough life...

We had leftover empanadas, a quiche-type tort thing, and lots of steak. Everything was pretty good and it was great to meet the whole family. After we ate, the older kids did their own thing, running around the house and playing with eachother. It seemed that they got along quite well. The rest of us ´adults´drank coffee and talked in the living room. They brought up the topic of Michael Moore movies of whom they are big fans. Olga mentioned that she was thinking of selling her apartment and wanted everyone´s thoughts and comments. She told me that she could get around $500,000 US for the apartment and with that much could move just about anywhere she wanted (she wants to stay in Buenos Aires). She has lived in Buenos Aires almost her whole life and siome of her family lives in Rosario, where she grew up. Her husband died two years ago and she started opening her home to students a year and a half ago...I think the two may be related.

We were drinking coffee made with a french press which reminded me that I really enjoy good coffee and hadn´t had it in a while. Even the coffee you can buy at cafes is crap (for the most part). Everyone left the house around five, and I left to go walk around. I thought I might try to walk to the river, so I headed in that direction. I was soon inside an incredible area that I later learned is called Palermo Viejo. In a neighborhood completely covered in trees of all types, Palermo Viejo consists of mostly old houses with great yards and tall fences. Almost all of them are incredibly well-kept and renovated. In addition, the occasional super-modern house stands out usually on corner lots.

I kept walking, past the University of Palermo and another Universitie´s Law building. Across a bridge, I saw a whole shitload of booths set up all around a plaza, and began to hear music playing as I got closer. There were hundreds of booths set up selling food and crafts. The majority of the craft booths were touristy, however there were some unique artists amidst it all. I walked around as much of the fair as I could take and asked someone one what it all was. This was the Recoleta Feria that occurs every Saturday and Sunday. I saw a man playing a harp and another playing a very out-of-tune bagpipe (I am convinced there is nothing worse than this). I wondered to myself where all the street saxophonists were. I bought a very nice handmade wallet from a Peruvian family and went to lie down on the grass around the stage. Green, Yellow and Red flags told me the band coming on would be a reggae band. They are called Señor Tenga Reggae. The lawn was packed as the band played and peddlers walked through the crowd selling hot, filled bread peanuts and beer. A few people got up and danced, some juggled, and many danced while sitting. I closed my eyes and fell asleep for a few minutes.

After listening for about an hour, I started walking back to my house. After a few blocks, I recognized some of the street names and they were not streets that ran near my house. I was suddenly in a very ritzy shopping area and I whipped out my handy dandy "Guia T" that FLACSO had given every student. I figured out where to go, and realized I had a much longer walk back than I had planned. I saw a mime duo in a plaza on my way whom I had seen at the other fair a couple hours earlier...making the rounds. I passed a bunch of bars and noticed the fútbol game on TV of Boca Juniors vs San Lorenzo. In some bars, people were going nuts. Boca Juniors were up 1-0.

I arrived back to the house at about 9:30 and Olga was already in bed watching TV. I heated up a couple empanadas and sat down with my computer. I called a couple people with Skype and passed out. I had to be at FLACSO at 10 on Monday

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Comments

[ya boi]

no sax, huh?
if you brought your sax, you should post up one weekend and see if you cant make a couple of bucks.