A short boat ride (2 hours)

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December 16, 2010

We’ve been staying out really late with a few of Fernando’s friends these past two nights. As we sat on Buquebus boat to Uruguay, Kristen and I both felt exhausted. With all of the walking that we’ve been doing, exploring the city of Buenos Aires, it’s incredible how we can still stand.

On Friday, December 16, a few of us ventured to one of many ‘disco’ clubs in Buenos Aires. Before we left, Fernando’s friends came by the house and drank bottles of beer for about 3 hours. One by one, each of them took turns and played their own favorite sets of Latin and American music using Fernando’s apple laptop as the loud beats filled the room. With the exception of Fernando, barely any of them spoke English. Kristen and I sat amused by the Spanish words being thrown around and only a few of them even remotely made sense to us. I think it’s somewhat of a Spanish classroom. All I needed was a dictionary that can look up 100 words per minute. I guess once you get used to hearing the words, it should come as a second nature. They talked really fast. We finally headed to one of the hottest clubs in Buenos Aires and I mean that literally. As we walked in into this crowded bar of twenty something club-goers, the lack of air conditioner was apparent. Any girl who had put on a make-up that night would have washed it away with their own sweat. Spanish songs blared on the background as the crowd danced to the beat. The service was terrible, well maybe it’s just the way they do things here in Argentina. To get a drink, you have to go to a bartender (I wouldn’t call her a bartender since she didn’t serve a drink.), order a drink(s), pay the drink, then you’ll get a ticket. After that, you go to a different bartender, give the ticket and then you’ll get your drink. Basically, you’ll get in line twice. It took about 20 minutes for us to figure that out. As much fun as it would have been to stay, the excruciating heat was just unbearable. Keep in mind that the drinks were also expensive, which I shouldn’t be surprised. We left the bar soaked in our own sweat and a wet spilled beer on the back of my shirt. We hailed a cab and headed home.

It was a Saturday. All three of us slept through early afternoon. Nothing special planned for this day except to help Kristen find the park where people play pick-up Ultimate Frisbee. My initial plan was to go to Puerto Madero and figure out the way around to get to the boat for our trip to Uruguay to avoid getting lost. We were scheduled to leave the following morning. Plans changed. Fernando drove us to the park after a circle around Buedo to find garden pots eclectic array of vegetable garden. We also stopped by the supermarket to buy fruits to take to the game and vegetables to cook for dinner.

The park was located just across Ciudad Universitiana, a public university in Buenos Aires, surrounded by café shops, express ways, the Atlantic Coast and of course, a football stadium. The weather was nice but a little chilly and very windy. The traffic was horrible. We eventually got there and met with one of the organizers. One guy was from Switzerland and the girl was from Mar de Plata, Argentina. Okay, I’m horrible with remembering names. They both have been playing Ultimate Frisbee for quite a while now and it showed. All three of us warmed up with a few throws and catches. I was focused a lot on my planning for this trip so I didn’t have the time to even exercise. To say the least, I was a little out of shape. Thirty minutes have passed, new players and old players started to arrive. I’ve never played in an ultimate Frisbee league before and I’m amazed by how good these people are. I’m saying that about Kristen as well. I can only do forward pass and these guys and gals can throw from different directions with great precision, especially with the gusty wind. After a few minutes of warming up, the game finally started. The Frisbee was thrown and the players started to converge in the middle of the field. These guys were awesome. I sat out the first half as I watched these guys make incredible leaps, catches and throws. I wasn’t sure if I should even get in and play. But my time eventually came and I was ready, well as ready as I can be. I stayed in the game for just a little while and even had the captain throw one at my direction. I almost made a catch and but I dropped because I blinked. Really, no excuse. I might have scored or at least an assist. We left the park while the game was still in progress. I heard that they would keep playing until the sun comes down. We had to leave.

That night, Fernando took us to his brother’s party at bar in San Telmo. It was a graduation party. Before we headed out, we cooked our dinner courtesy of Kristen. I cooked beef steak two days ago. It’s been great to have been able to just prepare home cook meals instead of going out everyday. Fernando is a great cook and even using his own vegetable balcony garden. The first few days of our stay, he’d cook for us and even barbecue on his other balcony. It’s a nice building. You can’t find that in Chicago for cheaps. Though it might not be a good idea to barbecue out in that balcony since tree limbs hovered about a yard from his building. But hey, it’s not my place and I wouldn’t complain. The food was great.

We were exhausted from playing Ultimate Frisbee but a party couldn’t keep us from staying in. Fernando drove us to the bar but before we picked up two of his friends. Again, I’m horrible with names but they were so gracious when we up to their apartment. This bar was a lot better from yesterday. The music was great and atmosphere was welcoming. We walked in and Fernando introduced us one by one to his friends. Unfortunately, only a few of them spoke English as well but a great conversation nonetheless. As the clock strike 3:30 in the morning, we decided to leave the party since we have an earlier boat ride to Uruguay. We went home and made sure our bags were packed. Fernando was so generous that he let us keep our bags at his place and allowed us to come back for 1 night before we head out to our next destination, Bariloche in Patagonia after Uruguay.

We arrived in Colonia, Uruguay about 4 hours ago. We’re both pretty exhausted but had to walk around the city. I’ll write more about it next time. Later.

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