Week 2

Hello aLL- ok, voy a describir -- im going to describe the photos for you. Sorry its taken me so long to do all this, ive been busy walking around the city, playing by night & sleeping by day (typical Argentinian activities).So, last weekend we took the train to El Tigre, which is the delta that connects the rivers around the city to the Atlantic Ocean. We hopped on a watertaxi and floated down the river to a restaurant tucked in the countryside. The water is very muddy as you can see.

This is my friend, Jenn: 

The restaurant was very secluded. This is a little lake where they caught some of our lunch :)

The restaurant owners lived in this house which was attached to the restaurant. It was so beautiful! The meat was cooked in an outdoor grill.

The meal: Steak, Chicken, Chorizo, Blood Sausage, Papas Fritas (French Fries) and for dessert, crepes with Dulce de Leche. so yum 

This was the train station. it was really cute with a cafe next to the tracks. If you haven't gotten the drift, they drink coffee constantly here

Then last week, i attended ArteBA, a modern art festival. It was huge, but there were many interesting pieces. These were a few of my favorites:

 

These are taken at AMIA, which is a Jewish cultural center. The center at its original location was bombed in 1992, so they relocated and this commemorative sculpture is at the entrance of the new location. The installation is 9 panels that portray a different image from each angle in which you view it.
   

I like this picture, i wanted to show you the orange bus :)

This is a really nice building next to a plaza commemorating Holocaust survivors

One of the highlights of the trip has been the futbol game we attended. The local team here is Boca Junior. IT waas really wild, alot of fun. Here's dan and i on the way to the game.

Buenos Aires is muy bueno

Hello men, women and children. Welcome to my blog in which I will attempt to capture my month-long journey to Buenos Aires and share it with you. The city is starting to have a incredible impression on me and I just can't wait for a month until I get back to tell you about its mysteries.

So, today is unofficially day 1 because I can't ignore a few notes about yesterday-walking around and getting to know my neighborhood. I am staying at Concord Callao on the corner of Avenida Callao and Beruti (close to Avenida Santa Fe) in La Recoleta/Barrio Norte.  The area is very cosmopolitan, very much reminds me of New York City but friendlier. There's a park nearby, inhabited by a few seemingly harmless homeless people and some goth hooligans from the local high schools. There's a movie theatre, several cafes and a bunch of very SOHO-esque boutiques which you will be hearing about in later posts, im sure. oh and  a liqueur store across the street which was among the first stops. :) 

Leather stores everywhere, stray dogs walking the streets, music on every corner

a city enhanced by music- tango, electronic, etc   there's a bounce in everyone's step. there exists a very cool rhythm. 

Last night we had a welcome dinner with all 4 of our professors at a wonderful buffet-style steakhouse called Bistecca. the best buffet i've EVER been to! :)  The steakhouse was located on the river and after we walked down the boardwalk. 

Along the way, we stopped at a nice photo-op stop at La Puente de la Mujer- a draw bridge dedicated to women. Oh yea, ladies, that's what it's about, huh? What's interesting about this bridge, also, is that it swivels instead of going up and down. Muy coolio. (note to self: learn more slang)

Ok, now for today (Saturday). We walked to where we are going to have class (about a 20 minute walk through a beautiful neighborhood) and seriously, it looks like we're taking classes in HOGWARTS.

It's a regal building, looks like a castle on the corner of a few very quiet streets. 

Then we navigated our way through the "subte" (subway) to the Catedral stop. Oh, I should mention that today is the DAY OF INDEPENDENCE, like USA's july 4th. There was a big group of people at La Plaza de Mayo, where you might recognize La Casa Rosado, below left ("Evita Evita!") and another government building, below right.

    

We then proceeded down a street called Defensa where there was a long street fair with venders selling antiques and leather goods and street performers doing puppeteering, music and tango dancing. 

While eating at a Uruguayan pizza joint along Defensa, I noticed this small graffiti on the way to the bathroom. It reads: "The Singer, The Bathrooms: A Disaster!" haha

Here's a clip from one of the puppet shows: