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Published: October 15th 2011
El Caminito
The name of the main street/area in La Boca is called "El Caminito" the little walk way. Wow! We've been here for about 10 days now and are a bit more settled in. I've found some work, though not enough, so we're still looking for more. We've been living in a neighborhood called Almagro. It's a nice area with very few tourists. We're staying at a long term hotel called Hotel Mitre Suites. It's a family hotel with basic rooms and breakfast included. We've gotten to spend a lot of time in the neighborhood, so we know how to get around on the subway and are getting to know the bus system.
Last weekend, my friend Pilar picked us up and took us to her house in Zarate, about an hour north of the capital. We stayed there through the weekend, and since it was raining (people here don't usually go out much in the rain) we stayed in and ate a lot of great food! Pilar loves to cook and is very good at it! We had parrilla, Argentine bbq, and homemade gnoccis! A lot of the pastas here are freshly made, very delicious! We learned lots of new Argentinean words, and met her partner's parents. Her partner, Sol, is wonderful as well. Her father is
La Casa Rosada
This is the presidential offices. The presidential elections are on October 23, so the city is full of ads and campaigns. It seems to be expected that the incumbant will stay in office. a literature professor and taught me how to analyze compound sentences in Spanish. I only learned to analyze simple sentences, and as a grammar nerd, enjoyed the challenge.
Daniel is working hard on his Spanish. Every day he practices his list of words and verbs. He has a great accent and is able to get daily tasks (like laundry, purchases, etc. . .) done pretty well. He wants to learn faster, but he knows it takes time.
Here, the job situation is quite interesting. As I just have a tourist visa, I work under the table. As an English teacher, that means that I am paid about $9/hour, not including any prep time. This salary wouldn't be too bad, but as a foreigner, we pay rent in dollars. Sooo. . . the pesos I will be paid don't go nearly as far as they would if we could rent a place like a local. Oh well, we're doing our best to make it work. We've gone to see one potential apartment and are hoping it will work out. Otherwise, we've got some others to see and eventually something will work out. In the meantime, the Hotel Mitre is
Guards outside the Casa Rosada
There is a large line up of guards, tanks and armoured vehicles outside of the Casa Rosada. home for us.
A few interesting things we've noticed. . .
- lines: Argentineans love lines, they even line up to wait for the bus!!
- honking: Honking is a natural and necessary part of driving here. On the highway, if there is a backup at the toll booth, everyone honks until the workers open the gates and let the cars through without paying!
- Cartoneros: there is no official recycling program here, however, the cartoneros "cardboard people" go through the trash and take out metal, cardboard, plastic and aluminum to turn in for cash.
- Change: No one likes to give change if you pay with a "big" bill (like the equivalent of a $20 bill). Even McDonald's asks for smaller bills. The banks won't change them either, so you just have to convince vendors that they should take your bigger bill.
- keys: the keys here look like old fashioned skeleton keys! They are very cool and we're tempted to end up with one at the end of our time here. . .
Well, that's the quick update. I'm going to add some pictures too just for Heidi 😊
Love to you all!
Liz and
Protest
Like everywhere, near the president's office, there is typically some kind of protest. This protest was for veterans from the South Atlantic war. Daniel
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Kathleen Todd
non-member comment
Love these Blogs !
So great to be able to imagine better where you are and what you are doing. ! What an adventure ! Lola reminds me of Keisha. Is he/she a yorkie ? Are you getting recipes for all this interesting food ?