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Published: April 21st 2005
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Tom and Gigantic Metal Flower
We never figured out what that thing was all about. After a wonderful week with Becca in Mendoza it was off to Buenos Aires. I decided to treat myself (not that I hadn't already been treating myself every day) to Andesmar's Primera Clase bus service to the capital. For 125 pesos (about 40 bucks) I would ride in style into the big city. Thats right, fully reclining leather seats, champagne, all the mendozan red wine you can drink, mediocre meals (certainly a step up from the airplane food they normally serve aboard Andesmar) and the company of fellow rich people. I was tired of riding with the riffraff you normally encounter on "normal" buslines, so it was nice to have civilized company for a change (i say this with a heavy dose of sarcasm).
but it was nice. similar to first class on a plane, only youre on a bus. i got a decent night of sleep and was ready for the nightlife that friday in Buenos Aires.
I had come 2 weeks early to BA with the intention of looking for a job so i could remain in Argentina through the summer. I was not looking forward to coming home, so finding some shit job in BA seemed
WAlking with my friend Anna
If I hadn't met Katie and Anna when I did, it would have been quite a depressing first few days in Buenos Aires. like the best option for sanity maintenance. But, on the first day there I decided instead to walk around and get to know the city. That I did, and it was a mistake. By the nighttime I had not met anyone and was still wandering around alone. I was in Buenos Aires, the capital of nighttime fun in South America and I had nobody to chill with. Jason and his peace corps friend charles were still in Córdoba, my argentine friends, eugenia and mariana, were out at their parents house in the BA suburbs. So, I spent the evening alone. I walked around, drank some beers and ate some pizza - alone. it was a depressing experience.
In the morning I woke up, still depressed from the previous day of solitude and packed my bags to leave. I switched hostels from this prisonlike building right off the plaza dorrego in san telmo called residencial carly, to another hostel called the hostel inn tango city, also in san telmo. btw san telmo is a barrio within buenos aires known as the home of the tango.
This new hostel was much better, and soon enough I was hanging out with
newfound friends, anna and katie - both gringas recently graduated from elon university. They helped rid me of my stereotype that gringas are all cold and distant. they were actually extremely friendly and we hung out all day and ended up going out together that night. our plan was to go to a tango/dinner show in a nice theater in san telmo. upon arriving we knew immediately that something was wrong - a man greeted us at our taxi wearing a tuxedo. -side note: tuxedo is called "esmoquin" in spanish, god are those spaniards a hoot. anyway, as we were escorted into the theater by the esmoquin-clad concierge, we saw a bunch of rich people mingling about inside. they were busy eating hors d'oeuvres, giggling like school girls and doing other such things that rich people like to do. We definitely felt out of place, so we asked an official looking gentleman how much this little show was going to cost. BAM, 180 pesos (about 60 bucks). we had heard that it would be somewhere around 25 pesos, so we made a quick sprint for the door. but before we could leave, the manager in charge stopped me to ask
Snob - Brand Name Clothes
An odd choice for the name of your store, no? why we were leaving. I explained that we were students and that we couldn't afford the show. He then said that he could make a discount for us, to which i responded that we were sure that the price we were expecting to pay was well below any discount he might be able to grant. He then asked how much we thought the show was, and I said 25 pesos. muhahahahahaha, he laughed as I skulked out of the building with my tail between my legs.
after that embarassing debacle we went to a big barbecue in palermo and had delicious steaks and some salad. then we went out drinking at a pool bar and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
So, now no longer friendless and lonely, I hung out the following day with katie in san telmo, enjoying the big tourist market they hold every sunday on the plaza dorrego. there we watched sexy tango dances, perused the antiques in the many stands, and watched some rather odd street performances. It was quite an experience, and anyone who is in BA must visit the Plaza dorrego on sundays. Its worth the trip. that night we went to a budget-friendly
tango show (only 10 peso tickets), which was nice, if a bit frumpy.
The rest of the time in Buenos Aires I spent doing rather untouristy things. Jason and his friends Charles and Rebecca came and we went out with my argentine friends from Salta, Eugenia and Mariana. We rented an apartment in palermo for 50 dollars a day and grilled out there. Besides a quick visit to the MALBA museum for modern latin american art (a definite must see), my last week in south america was spent staying up WAY too late, eating wonderful steak, drinking great wine (and this drink called vodka con speed, which is a redbull type drink), and hanging out with eugenia, my argentine friend.
eugenia is 24 years old, smart as hell, and drop dead gorgeous. we spent nearly every night of my last week together and enjoyed every minute of it. It was the first time in a long time in my life that I have felt this way about a girl. however, it soon became clear that my idea of getting a job in Buenos aires was futile - the only prospect I had was to work as a bartender
Recoleta Cemetery
This is a big tourist attraction in Buenos Aires - yes, the cemetery is touristy. Its full of self-important rich people who didn't know what to do with their money in death, so they spent it on gaudy, oversized tombs. in some irish bar earning only 600 pesos (200 dollars) a month. So, just as I was falling for this amazing woman, I had to leave. Pues, asi es la vida.
So, on Thursday, April 14, Tom, Chrissy and I got on our plane to leave. On our 8 hour layover in Santiago, Chile we managed to polish off a bottle of vodka - making the layover fly by, but adding considerably to the pain of ending our great trip.
This was, without a doubt, the best 3 months of my life. I had the most incredible experiences, saw some incredible sights, and met incredible people. This travelblog is but a small slice of the things i did on the trip - i'm not good enough to encapsulate everything in this small space. I ended up spending something in the range of 2700 dollars over the 3 months, though i could have done it MUCH cheaper had i been more disciplined. but i felt that worrying too much about costs would have diminished my enjoyment of a lot of things - so i spent 3 months splurging on myself, and it was totally worth it.
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