First Month in Argentina

Wilson and I been in Argentina for nearly one month now and have settled nicely into our furnished apartment. We've adjusted to a daily routine of classes, late meals, going to the gym and continuing our exploration of the city.

One of the major differences we've noticed are the very late night dinners here. It's rare to find people in a restaurant at 8:00 pm. In fact, most restaurants don't open until 8:00 or 8:30 pm for dinner. You will find a restaurant start to fill around 10:00 pm and later. Although it was a hard concept to grasp at first, we've quickly adopted to the 10-11 pm dinners, even when we cook at home.

With dinner starting so late, it only makes sense that the bars and discotecas start even later. Last weekend we went to a bar that served Happy Hour until 12:00 am. Normally, bars have Happy Hours to attract people during unfrequented times. We met some friends at 10:30 pm and noticed we were the only people there. It was not until 12:00 am that people started trickling in.

Since we started our evening out earlier than the rest of the Portenos (known as the folks in Buenos Aires according to our good friend Jaime who was nearly a local here :)), we headed over to a club and were the first to arrive (and it wasn't early - 1:00 am). As such, we were, again, the first ones there. The club started filling up around 2:30 am.　We were pooped by 4:45 am and were some of the first people to leave. We asked our Argentinian friend (we'll just call her Argentinian since she lives here but she's really from Brazil) told us that people stay at the clubs until 6 or 7 am in the morning. Call me old but we didn't have the energy to stay out until then.

Other Findings (mainly in the food category)

We've made some other little (and not the most worldly) discoveries in Argentina. For instance, two of Wilson's biggest discoveries has been learning to use the bidet (he swears we'll have to get one when we get new home) and dulce de leche. He eats it (the dulce de leche) regularly with bread and is addicted to the bidet. It's a shame the US never embraced this European discovery.

For me, it has been choripan (a local sandwich with thick white bread and two fatty sausages in the middle) and shoes. Since I have awful feet with the biggest bunions in Northern America, flats are the best type of shoes for me. I've discovered every store carries a majority of flats with different styles.

We've also found some of the best, cheap steaks and wines here in Argentina. Some of our favorites include lomo (filet mignon) and bife de chorizo (I think it's equivalent to a NY strip). For the wines, we've really enjoyed the Malbec wines. Prices are unbelievably cheap compared to the states. Our favorite is Finca Flichman's 2007 Malbec.

One Month to Go
It scares me a bit that we only have one month left of this trip. A part of me wants to go home but a big part of me wants to stay. Going back to reality is always a little scary especially given the economy at its current state. I will try not to think about it until the day we leave.

On another note, our friend Betty is coming to visit us this week so that should be fun playing tour guide and showing her the sites.

Our New Apartment in Buenos Aires

We´ve finally moved into our new apartment in Buenos Aires. For anyone that wants to write us (or even better, visit), our address is 2225 Bonpland, Piso 2, B, Buenos Aires.

I´ve included some shots of our new place (not the best shots of the rooms since our place was a mess, after just one day, and I just threw the sheets on top of our two twin beds - yep, we are sleeping on two twins pushed together). We do have a SPARE room so please come and visit. We are here until the end of March.



Besides a day of headache and haggling for Wilson, moving-in was a breeze. Apparently in Argentina, you have to pay everything up front in cash before you move in. Unfortunately, we only gave ourselves a day and a half to look for an apartment. Given we had to pay everything in cash, our ATMs had a limit on the amount of money we were able to take out. If we were nationals, we can simply write a check but since we are not (no, we couldn´t pass as Argentinians), we had to pay everything in cash. Luckily, this agency gave us 48 hours to come up with everything after we moved in (the headaches of being a renter).

One other note - I went to the post office yesterday and can you believe they ran out of stamps... I was able to buy stamps today at a stationery store. The guy would only sell me the stamps if he put them on my postcards and mailed them out for me. He said it was a law for stores other than the post office to sell stamps specifically for use on letters (cards, etc.) so he could not sell them individually. Interesting little details of other countries.

And did I forget to mention, you guys should all come visit before we go back to reality! :)

Argentina

After spending over a month in Colombia, we are finally at the last leg of our trip: Argentina. Our latest project in Buenos Aires has been searching for an apartment to live in. We plan to stay here for about 8 weeks or so, enjoy the city, and learn some more (Argentinian) Spanish. That's also proven to be a challenge since, as Wilson can tell you since he's been doing the research, most of the teachers here only want us to take 2 hours of class. Not sure why, but most of them have told us 2 hours maximum is their recommendation. I think the teachers get bored (or are just lazy) and don't want the same student for more than 2 hours, which I don't blame them. But since we are paying them, we will both shoot for 3 hours a day with the same teacher and a couple hours of conversation (doesn't sound like a lot given our 6-hour Spanish lessons in Guatemala).

The only place we've been so far outside of Buenos Aires is Iguazu Falls. This was one of the most beautiful waterfalls cascade I'd ever seen. I believe they say there are 275 waterfalls cascade into a great gorge at Iguazú at the northern border with Brazil.

We've also visited various districts in Buenos Aires, including the zoo. Here's a funny at the zoo: we watched an adult monkey rub himself on a baby monkey and then stare into the audience with an erection. Although the baby monkey kept biting the adult monkey on the leg, he would continue rubbing himself on it. And though we were all laughing, many parents with little children left the scene very quickly. Couldn't get a photo of this scene but did get a good one of a camel (see photo).

More to come as we learn more about the city and, hopefully, meet more people.