Buenos Aires is a very sexy city.

The architecture, the language, I dare say even the women, have a very distinct appeal not found in any other location I've visited on this side of the prime meridian. Often referred to as the "Paris of South America," hundreds of years of strong European immigration have given it its unique flavor; I was in a truly distinct city.

As soon as I arrived, I rendezvoused with my good friend Matt at his classically furnished, poetically hip town house. Classy yet modern, his place really lends itself to a feeling of twenty-something living in a non-American city.

At the outset, my priorities were certainly straight. The first thing I did was to dance the Argentine Tango. Passionate, poetic, and sexy, people come from all over the world to learn this famous dance. I decided to give it a try, even though I may not have qualified as any of the above.

I visited an outdoor, late night 'milonga' where there was open dance. There I was able to take my Argentine tango for a test drive. It was fairly crowded and difficult for me to lead, but I had a

Night Milonga

great time. Check out the Video!

Like always, I made sure to get in my standard sightseeing, visiting museums, plazas, and churches. Buenos Aires is home to two excellent Art museums. I saw a wide variety of high quality work and the experience was absolutely sublime.

Argentina is also famous for their beef. With a large grass-fed cattle industry, delicious, high quality steaks can be bought at just dollars to the pound. I certainly had my share of beef on the trip.

Things are generally cheaper there than they are in the states. The country suffered an economic collapse 7 years ago from which it is still recovering.

Argentinian Spanish is very different from the language I've been learning in Chile. Both dialects are known to be filled with non-standard, country specific idioms and grammatical constructions. The whole time I had to concentrate on speaking a very neutral, clear, non-accented Spanish in order for people to understand me. It was very interesting.

Every night I went to bed between 4 and 6 am. Argentinians, like most South Americans have a very late night schedule. On weekend nights, dinner is often eaten around 10, and people

Buenos Aires III

All of my nights were late nights in Buenos Aires.

do not start going out until 12 or 1. For this reason, the trip was pretty tough on me and I was glad to fall back into my normal routine upon returning home.

Overall, I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know such a distinct city. I have certainly caught the travel bug, though I will be happy to be focused on my studies for the rest of the semester. Stay tuned for updates in the future!

Please check out the video!

Additional photos below

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