The Beach!

---

Friday, after I wrote the last blog, I tried to rest up as much as I could until the concert. I ended up waiting over 30 minutes for the bus and it eventually came. The concert started late (like most things in Argentina), so I didn´t miss anything. I saw Santiago and Leandro, and Lucas outside, we drank a little Fernet & Coca-cola and went inside to wait for the show. Front row. The place was actually packed...probably about 100 people and at times every one of them were clapping, and pumping their fists in the air to the music. Almas Mugrientas put on a good show (www.almasmugrientas.com.ar) and afterwards we headed to an outdoor plaza in San Telmo for a beer. While we sat, there were two fights around the plaza. One was a brawl with a couple 30-somethings throwing punches. Although the police were right there, they did little to help and the two fighters kept getting back at each other. The other fight was hilarious. Two 13 or 14 year olds, one a boy and one a very fat girl. The girl was obvioiusly the one most upset as she tried to throw punches and grab the boys hair. The boy just tried not to get hit too bad. The girl won.

After the bar we drove around the city for a while and eventually it was time for me to get ready for by bus to Mar del Plata. I went back to Olga´s, packed and got to the bus station on time. Even though our bus left a half hour late, we got to Mar del Plata early. I was sleeping the whole time which is good if the driver was driving crazy. There was an accident last week where a bus and train collided. 9 people died and many more were injured. The driver survived. He had only slept 3 hours in two days of work. The bus companies are all private and during the heavy summer season often overwork their drivers. Big problem. Fortunately, my bus made it safely.

The beach was great! Hot, sunny, and barely any clouds. Perfect for that nice red, sunburn. Luckily, I used sunscreen most of the time and ended up with only a minor burn while another kid in my group looked like a lobster after half of day 1. I got to surf a bit on Saturday - it was my second time every trying it and I really have no clue what I´m doing. I thought I might take a class on Sunday, but it turned out to be a very calm day for waves. Saturday night I went out with a guy from my group, an argentine girl from the hostel and her cousin. We went to a club called Roxy and talked and danced til about 4:30. I was tired as shit and needed to get to sleep (especially after not much sleep the night before), and we headed back to the hostel. After an hour of talking, I went to pass out and they went to get coffee and stayed up til 7:30.

I got up at 10 to check out, and one of them was ready to go to a surfing class (after two hours of sleep! I still don´t understand the stamina...) I ate a bad ass mushroom pie for lunch, my friends all had earlier buses and left around 2. So I went back down to the beach for a bit and ran into the people from the hostel I had gone out with the night before. This is an incredible phenomenon because you couldn´t believe how many people are at the beach around 3 PM. It was the same on Saturday (maybe more on Saturday). The place is packed and some bathing suit styles are reminiscent of Borat´s banana hammock. The girls all wear next to nothing. It might be a competition to see who can find the smallest beathing suit, but they generally consist of a small amount of material towards the top and ZERO ASS COVERAGE. This rule applies to everyone - young (even 8 year olds), Old (even 70+), skinny, fat, etc.

My return bus was less comfortable and I slept less, so it seemed longer. There was a lot of traffic as we passed another horrible-looking accident and I got dropped off eventually in Buenos Aires (not sure where) to catch a cab home. The cab was about 15 pesos (that´s a lot, so wherever I was was far). I got home just as Mariela was returning from Rosario and the other guys in my house were coming back from Bariloche. Class starts 9:30 AM the next day (monday).

---