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:
