Now that another few days have passed in BA, I have begun to feel more at home in the city. I am familiar with our host, her home, her cats, the closest subway stop, and even the cafes I enjoy best in our area of the city. We spent the past weekend trying to play “tourist” and soak up as much of the city as we could before an intensive week of spanish learning.
On Saturday morning we slept in and then lounged in bed for a while, which was much needed after a week of having to get up with an alarm (I’m not sure how I spent 2 years getting up early and with an alarm everday). When we finally pulled our lazy butts out of bed, we headed to a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant called Oui Oui for brunch. Although a typical Argentinian breakfast is only toast and coffee, Oui Oui served what I would call a typical brunch; scrambled eggs and bacon have never tasted so good! After brunch, we made our way to China Town. It was a cool area to see with its intricate archways and giant lions guarding the entranceway. The only bad part of our day was that it was pouring rain, and within minutes of being outside, my Tom’s and jeans had become soaked, making it unpleasant to walk through the China Town area. We returned back to our home stay soaked to the bone, and spent a few hours warming up and drying off before heading out again. Fortunately, the rain let up and we were able to make it down to Palermo Alto without getting soaked. One of our favorite date nights in Canada is dinner and a movie, and we did just that on Saturday night. We had a lovely dinner at a cafe in the Palermo area, and then saw The Grand Hotel Budapest; it was a great movie, and a pretty perfect night.
We woke up on Sunday to significantly better weather than Saturday, and made our way to Plaza de Mayo, shopping our way down the street to the neighborhood of San Telmo, which is much older and much more run down than Palermo. The closer we got to San Telmo, the more antiques and unique items were being sold at the market. Despite this, we only bought a mate cup to go with the straw we had purchased in Uruguay! At the end of the market, we hopped into a cab and made our way to the beautiful La Boca. We were dropped off at the famous Caminitos, which are very old, and extremely colorful buildings. We wondered through La Boca, stopping for Argentinian asado, admiring the multicolored buildings. Unlike the other barrios in Buenos Aires, La Boca has a completely different atmosphere. The streets smell of roasting meat, there is music pumping from every restaurant and bar, and the energy is intense and heavy, as it is an area packed with tourists, as well as tango dancers putting on small shows. I loved it all, and the area was definitely a highlight of BA for me thus far. The rest of the evening was spent at a cafe near to Amanda’s house called Nucha, where we got dinner and wine. We left the weekend off in good spirits, ready for the busy week ahead of us.
We woke up on Monday morning with cloudy skies and more rain. We arrived at school to find out that the lighting wasn’t working, so it was impossible to have class. Welcome to life in Buenos Aires! Normally, this would have been awesome, except the weather was pretty awful for exploring. Nevertheless, we dodged the puddles to get to the beautiful Galeria Pacificos mall downtown, with its expensive shops, and beautiful, picturesque ceiling. After wandering the mall (and buying nothing but a coffee), we headed to the subway to head back to Palermo. It turned out that the train line we needed wasn’t running, and we had to take a different line to get out of the city center. By the time we reached the far end of Palermo, I was feeling grumpy and annoyed. The day began to turn around though when we discovered a cafe with guac and chips, and then ran into our classmates at an Irish Pub, where we had a few beers and glasses of wine. Nothing like guac and wine to turn a bad day around!
On Tuesday, the lights were still out at school (once again, welcome to BA!); however, they rearranged the classes so that we were in the rooms that received the most light. Although it wasn’t an ideal situation, it was definitely better than not having any classes. We made up for part of our lost day on Monday by having an additional spanish class in the afternoon, and after 6 hours of spanish, my brain was completely frazzled. The more spanish I learn, I feel as though my brain can’t put together proper english sentences. At some point, it will all just click though, right?! Wednesday was much of the same as Tuesday, although we had our afternoon class outside in the park, which was wonderful. The sun was shining, and it felt like a perfect fall day! As well, it was great to get out of the classroom – I forgot how dull sitting in a desk all day can be! After our class, Ryan and I headed to one of the oldest and most famous cafes in BA – Cafe Tortoni. This place opened in the late 1800’s and doesn’t look like it has been refurbished much since then. The “hosts” are all older men dressed in full suits. They seat you politely, and then a waiter appears immediately to take your order. Although the coffee was expensive, it was worth it. Not only was it delicious, but the old buidlings, and antique decorations made it a pretty unique experience. Due to a transportation strike on Thursday, school was cancelled once again, so after a delicious dinner at Amanda’s place, we headed out to meet up with some friends for a drink at a nearby bar. We had originally intended to go out; however, we were told that the cabs would stop running at midnight, and didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the middle of no where in the middle of the night. I think this worked out for the best, as Ryan and I were both already tired.
Because of the transportation strike, we were stuck traveling only by foot on Thursday. We headed to the neighboring barrio of Recoleta, passing some of BA’s largest and most beautiful parks, where we stopped to enjoy the sunshine and some mate (we may just be Portenos in the making!). Upon arriving in Recoleta, we visited the trendy mall, Buenos Aires Designs, and had a coffee overlooking the area. From there, we headed to a famous cemertry, which contains some of the most extravagant crypts that I have ever seen. The people and families of this cemetery are definitely not hard done by. Most of the crypts were the size of small houses, and had intricate designs and statues surrounding them. It was interesting to see, although a bit too much in my opinion. After making the long trek back to Palermo, we headed to Nucha to do our spanish homework over coffee, and then enjoyed a glass of wine before dinner with Amanda.
Today marks our 12th and final day in BA, and I honestly can’t believe how fast the time has passed. We had our final day of school today, with a free celebratory lunch and certificate presentation, before heading home to pack and have our final dinner with Amanda. Although BA has been great and I am going to miss our routine here (for a short period of time), I am looking forward to traveling 1,500 km south to the tip of Argentina! Before we set off for Patagonia though, we have one final thing to see in BA: a tango show. Stay tuned….