Blogs from Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America - page 408

My three weeks here in Buenos Aires seems to have flown by. It seems like only yesterday that I left Melbourne and the six months I´ll be spending in South America doesn´t seem like the huge amount of time that it first did. My life in Buenos Aires revolves around Spanish classes at the moment. I´m enrolled in a school in the city, in one of the main streets. After a brief test (which I flunked) they slotted me into the ´Basic´ level. I´m studying with a Korean girl (Heain), an American girl (Maddie) and another Australian girl (Georgia). The classes have been really great and I´ve got a lot out if it. I´ve progressed from saying single words to saying full sentences. As a result, I've decided to stay on in Buenos Aires for another ... read more

I have arrived safe and well in Buenos Aires. My plane flew in at 5pm on Monday night. I couldn´t see anything coming in because the air was so thick with what I thought was rain. It turned out to be the humidity. When I took my first breaths outside, the air was thick and smelt spicy, like cigars. This could have been because I was walking in the smoke trail of someone actually smoking a cigar, but I thought it was very romantic. The air now doesn´t actually smell that romantic, just the usual smell of any large city; exhaust. My shuttle bus took me to the ´Milhouse Hostel´ where I stayed in a dorm for the next three nights. The hostel was nice and clean (which I have since realised I didn´t appreciate enough ... read more

Hola, well after an extremely smooth 11 1/2 hour flight we landed in Buenos Aires early afternoon. Had stunning views of the snow laden peaks of the Andes well above the clouds as we passed over. It was 26deg on arrival, the 1st fine day in over a week. Passed thru customs ok, and then took a taxi into the city to our Hostel. Now I thought Italian drivers were crazy, but this guy who spoke as much english as we spoke spanish, only knew one speed and thought the road was his!!!!!! Spent the afternoon wandering the city along narrow sidewalks and avoiding the crazy drivers on the road. The Plaza de Mayo is the central area and home to too many pigeons. Viwed the Pink Presidential Palace and the balcony from where Evita used ... read more

I've hosted two Asados (BBQ's) over the past 2 weeks and have really been enjoying the new apartment. I've been taking some private Spanish classes two times a week to brush up on my grammar which is really helping. I have also just begun teaching English to an older lady who owns an internet cafe down the street. I was paying for the internet and she was saying how she wanted to take some English classes, so we set up a deal, that simple. It's kind of weird teaching English, makes me realize how much I forgot about sentence structure rules. I'm teaching twice a week for an hour, so it's a start and puts a few extra pesos in my wallet. I went to a soccer game (River Plate vs. Ecuador) with a friend the ... read more

Gary and I got out of the apartment a little earlier this morning and had to find a place for breakfast. The common breakfast here is coffee and croisants. Not what we needed at all. In our apartment, we've been having tea and oatmeal with toast. So, we lowered our usual gourmet standards and went into the McDonalds that is in the big theater complex across from the apartment. HEAVENLY DAYS!!! The LOWER floor is "McCafe" and has hard wood floors, couches, stuffed chairs, gourmet coffees and a whole counter of pastries, cakes, and cookies. The Upstairs has the regular McDonald's, but with fresh squeezed orange juice and homemade bread. The EggMcMuffin was on fresh crusty bread, but had the same kind of egg, cheese and canadian bacon. YeeHAW! My stomach was soooooo happy!! The tables ... read more