En Buenos Aires
Con Mis Amigas...
Con Mis Amigas...
May 6, 2007
9:30am
My internal body clock is out of control. It needs to stop. No matter what time I go to bed…no matter if I have been drinking the
night before or not…I wake up at 7:30am. Ughhh….
Lauren is still sound asleep right now. And my friend Natalie should be getting to our B&B at any minute (as her flight was supposed
to land at 7:00am). I guess it’s nice because it gives me a bit of time to journal. But really…I would rather be sleeping right now. Oh
well. At least I can see a blue sky and sun right now – something I haven’t seen for a few days. Good stuff.
Now that my sister – who was my personal Buenos Aires GPS system – is gone, it is time for me to take to the map when we head
into the city today. It will be quite a change from the past week…
7:00pm
I have no idea why I thought Natalie was coming in at 7:00 this morning. She actually came in at 9:30am. Oops. Maybe I should
learn how to properly read itineraries that my friends send to me.
We got a pretty late start but that didn’t really matter. We started the day in San Telmo – a neighborhood that is known for its
Sunday antique market. And what do you know…it is a Sunday. So we went.
None of us were impressed with what we saw. It looked like absolute crap, if you want to know my opinion. But I did get a kick out
of seeing some of the street performers – whether they were tangoing in the street or whether they had a ‘wind blown’ look to
them while just standing there (I guess you would have to see those people to know what I mean). The architecture and storefronts
were also very charming and picturesque. So it really wasn’t an entire loss going out there (though it was not fun fighting the
pigeons away from our table while we were eating lunch).
From there, we went to an even more touristy area – Caminito in La Boca. Is it bad that I actually loved walking around this little
area? We also stumbled across some sort of music festival. The first band consisted of three guys. The singer was beyond wasted –
just not sure if it was drugs, alcohol or both. He couldn’t open his eyes. But he did a great repeated backslap of his hand. He used an
impressive amount of force. The next act was a woman singer and her male guitar player. They were clearly sleeping with each
other. This guy was totally in love with her. He was like her young love-slave or something. It was during this performance that we
realized we had seen enough.
And we were off to walk up and down Puerto Madero – an area along the river lined with loads of restaurants, bars and cafes. And
most importantly, we would be reunited with our old friend Freddo (the name of the ice cream chain around here).
We ended our night in Palermo Hollywood for dinner and drinks. I was able to introduce Natalie and Lauren to provoleta at dinner.
Now they’re hooked. We went to a bar after dinner called Acabar where you can play games. At first I opted for Trivial Pursuit –
until the girl told me that it was a Spanish version (I feel like an idiot for not even assuming that would be the case). I put it back
and opted for something without a language barrier. Jenga! Call it bragging, but the three of us were Jenga Rockstars. Seriously. We
were.
May 7, 2007
I took Natalie and Lauren out to Recoleta today. I feel like it’s kind of best to crank through the tourist sites that you need to see
out here early on. Then later in the week, we don’t have to feel like we ‘need’ to do anything.
I did my due diligence last week so I knew where Evita’s body was at the cemetery. But something was different this time around
from the last time I was there one week ago. There were flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. There were some Argentinean women
crying at the site. I looked at one of the tombstones – it said ‘7 May 1919’. By sheer luck, we were visiting Evita on her birthday. We
also walked through more of the cemetery looking at the different styles of mini-mausoleums that different families had. Some
looked very old and traditional; others looked like they could have been the entrances to a boutique hotel or a cool bar.
Unfortunately, I got a pretty bad headache so I couldn’t even get too excited about our trip to the Patio Bullrich mall. That is how
you know I am not feeling well. At least Lauren made up for it by making many purchases there. I thought some Freddo’s ice cream
might do the trick. Nope. It tasted good. But it didn’t make me feel better.
There was only one thing that would be the cure for me: a three hour siesta.
Of course if I were back home it would be hard to wake up from a nap at 10:00pm. But things like that aren't an issue here as this
just meant I woke up at dinnertime...
May 8, 2007
We had high hopes for Murillo Street – the hub of the leather district. Those hopes fell way short. Every store starts looking the
same after a while. Off-the-bat, you can tell if something is more along the lines of a ‘mom’ store. Great for some people; not for us.
Other stores just had stuff that looked and felt plain cheap. One time up the street and one time down was enough for us. We all
knew it was time to move on.
We headed out to Florida Street since this is known as another ‘shopping area’. It served more as a ‘now you know you aren’t
missing much by not spending much time in this area’ type of outing. It served the purpose to get a snack (and for Lauren to pick
up another purchase at Prüne) and then head back out to Palermo.
We did some day-drinking during lunch and now I am back in my room after a failed attempt to take a siesta. In fifteen minutes we
are heading out to see a tango show at Café Tortoni – a place my sister recommended to us. I guess that means I should start
getting ready…
12:30am
We went to the tango show tonight. I liked the venue – which was pretty small and intimate. As far as the show went, I am sure it
was a bit different from a truly authentic tango show. But my question is ‘Do Argentineans even go to tango shows???’ Wouldn’t
they just do the tango instead of watching it? I think all of these shows are put on for the tourist’s entertainment. At least we didn’t
pick one in some theater seating the masses. We sat with a guy Luigi who was born in Italy, lives in Costa Rica and was in Buenos
Aires for a day for business. He asked what we had seen and done in Buenos Aires. We told him. I also expressed my desire to go to
the Jesus Christ theme park here. He looked at me like I was crazy. I guess some people don’t know as much about Buenos Aires as
they thought they did. A shame, really.
As for the tango show, I know Lauren thought it was pretty bad (with the exception of these amazing drummers). But I wasn’t that
disappointed – while the tango dancers were performing, I couldn’t help but think what an amazing dance it is. Oh yeah – I also
thought that I didn’t want to eat for the next three months if it would give me a body like these women had…
I also got to debut my new leather jacket tonight. Fun stuff.
9:30am
My internal body clock is out of control. It needs to stop. No matter what time I go to bed…no matter if I have been drinking the
night before or not…I wake up at 7:30am. Ughhh….
Lauren is still sound asleep right now. And my friend Natalie should be getting to our B&B at any minute (as her flight was supposed
to land at 7:00am). I guess it’s nice because it gives me a bit of time to journal. But really…I would rather be sleeping right now. Oh
well. At least I can see a blue sky and sun right now – something I haven’t seen for a few days. Good stuff.
Now that my sister – who was my personal Buenos Aires GPS system – is gone, it is time for me to take to the map when we head
into the city today. It will be quite a change from the past week…
7:00pm
I have no idea why I thought Natalie was coming in at 7:00 this morning. She actually came in at 9:30am. Oops. Maybe I should
learn how to properly read itineraries that my friends send to me.
We got a pretty late start but that didn’t really matter. We started the day in San Telmo – a neighborhood that is known for its
Sunday antique market. And what do you know…it is a Sunday. So we went.
None of us were impressed with what we saw. It looked like absolute crap, if you want to know my opinion. But I did get a kick out
of seeing some of the street performers – whether they were tangoing in the street or whether they had a ‘wind blown’ look to
them while just standing there (I guess you would have to see those people to know what I mean). The architecture and storefronts
were also very charming and picturesque. So it really wasn’t an entire loss going out there (though it was not fun fighting the
pigeons away from our table while we were eating lunch).
From there, we went to an even more touristy area – Caminito in La Boca. Is it bad that I actually loved walking around this little
area? We also stumbled across some sort of music festival. The first band consisted of three guys. The singer was beyond wasted –
just not sure if it was drugs, alcohol or both. He couldn’t open his eyes. But he did a great repeated backslap of his hand. He used an
impressive amount of force. The next act was a woman singer and her male guitar player. They were clearly sleeping with each
other. This guy was totally in love with her. He was like her young love-slave or something. It was during this performance that we
realized we had seen enough.
And we were off to walk up and down Puerto Madero – an area along the river lined with loads of restaurants, bars and cafes. And
most importantly, we would be reunited with our old friend Freddo (the name of the ice cream chain around here).
We ended our night in Palermo Hollywood for dinner and drinks. I was able to introduce Natalie and Lauren to provoleta at dinner.
Now they’re hooked. We went to a bar after dinner called Acabar where you can play games. At first I opted for Trivial Pursuit –
until the girl told me that it was a Spanish version (I feel like an idiot for not even assuming that would be the case). I put it back
and opted for something without a language barrier. Jenga! Call it bragging, but the three of us were Jenga Rockstars. Seriously. We
were.
May 7, 2007
I took Natalie and Lauren out to Recoleta today. I feel like it’s kind of best to crank through the tourist sites that you need to see
out here early on. Then later in the week, we don’t have to feel like we ‘need’ to do anything.
I did my due diligence last week so I knew where Evita’s body was at the cemetery. But something was different this time around
from the last time I was there one week ago. There were flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. There were some Argentinean women
crying at the site. I looked at one of the tombstones – it said ‘7 May 1919’. By sheer luck, we were visiting Evita on her birthday. We
also walked through more of the cemetery looking at the different styles of mini-mausoleums that different families had. Some
looked very old and traditional; others looked like they could have been the entrances to a boutique hotel or a cool bar.
Unfortunately, I got a pretty bad headache so I couldn’t even get too excited about our trip to the Patio Bullrich mall. That is how
you know I am not feeling well. At least Lauren made up for it by making many purchases there. I thought some Freddo’s ice cream
might do the trick. Nope. It tasted good. But it didn’t make me feel better.
There was only one thing that would be the cure for me: a three hour siesta.
Of course if I were back home it would be hard to wake up from a nap at 10:00pm. But things like that aren't an issue here as this
just meant I woke up at dinnertime...
May 8, 2007
We had high hopes for Murillo Street – the hub of the leather district. Those hopes fell way short. Every store starts looking the
same after a while. Off-the-bat, you can tell if something is more along the lines of a ‘mom’ store. Great for some people; not for us.
Other stores just had stuff that looked and felt plain cheap. One time up the street and one time down was enough for us. We all
knew it was time to move on.
We headed out to Florida Street since this is known as another ‘shopping area’. It served more as a ‘now you know you aren’t
missing much by not spending much time in this area’ type of outing. It served the purpose to get a snack (and for Lauren to pick
up another purchase at Prüne) and then head back out to Palermo.
We did some day-drinking during lunch and now I am back in my room after a failed attempt to take a siesta. In fifteen minutes we
are heading out to see a tango show at Café Tortoni – a place my sister recommended to us. I guess that means I should start
getting ready…
12:30am
We went to the tango show tonight. I liked the venue – which was pretty small and intimate. As far as the show went, I am sure it
was a bit different from a truly authentic tango show. But my question is ‘Do Argentineans even go to tango shows???’ Wouldn’t
they just do the tango instead of watching it? I think all of these shows are put on for the tourist’s entertainment. At least we didn’t
pick one in some theater seating the masses. We sat with a guy Luigi who was born in Italy, lives in Costa Rica and was in Buenos
Aires for a day for business. He asked what we had seen and done in Buenos Aires. We told him. I also expressed my desire to go to
the Jesus Christ theme park here. He looked at me like I was crazy. I guess some people don’t know as much about Buenos Aires as
they thought they did. A shame, really.
As for the tango show, I know Lauren thought it was pretty bad (with the exception of these amazing drummers). But I wasn’t that
disappointed – while the tango dancers were performing, I couldn’t help but think what an amazing dance it is. Oh yeah – I also
thought that I didn’t want to eat for the next three months if it would give me a body like these women had…
I also got to debut my new leather jacket tonight. Fun stuff.
The open flower at the UN Plaza..
The patio area of our B&B.
Before our tango show.
