After our first week in Buenos Aires, it is safe for me to say that this is one Latin American city not to be missed. The city, with a population of 13 million (nearly half off Argentina), is thriving at all hours of the day, everyday of the week. The subway is almost always packed with people of all different races, ethnicities and backgrounds going to all different parts of the city. In BA’s downtown or “microcentre” the people are trendy, and well dressed, and if you stop for a moment on the street, you are trapped between the waves of business people rushing here and there in either direction. Our first few days downtown were a bit overwhelming, and it reminded me of being in NYC, London or Paris. Standing in the famous Plaza de Mayo, I was reminded a lot of being in Paris. The architecture of the government building, church, and old city wall are all very Parisian. We have since learned that the people of BA didn’t want the city to be Spanish, so it was purposefully designed to be more European. They definitely succeeded in doing this!
Each morning this week, we got up at 7:30am, had breakfast with our host, Amanda at 8am, and then made our way on the jam packed subway to language school downtown for 9am. After 3 months of doing as we please, it has been refreshing to have a bit of a purpose, as well as a structured schedule. Each day after school, we found a different area of the city to explore, or a different school organized activity to participate in, before heading back to Amanda’s for a delicious dinner. Argentinian’s tend to eat quite differently than I do back in Canada, so we have been eating toast (rice crackers and rice cakes for me) with jam, cream cheese, and/or dulce de leche for breakfast, sandwiches and salads for lunch, and then a variety of meats, pastas, and casseroles for dinner. Breakfast is light, lunch tends to be on the go, snacking isn’t that popular, and dinner is eaten late and is a heavy meal. Despite the differences, I have been enjoying delicious gluten free home cooked meals, and a regular eating schedule.
On Monday after class, we made our way to Belgrano to exchange money, and here we saw a beautiful dome-shaped church, and spent some time poking our heads in the various shops. There are plenty of trendy shops in the area, and it was a struggle to only window shop. On Tuesday after class, we went to a free tango lesson. Although I enjoy dancing, Ryan isn’t really a fan; however, this activity was actually his idea! We learned only the very basics of tango, and tried to make our bodies flow as one without staring at our feet, a much more difficult task than one would expect. We switched partners throughout the lesson to get a feel for how other people dance, and although Ryan wasn’t very good, he was definitely my best partner!
On Wednesday, we took a big yellow tourist bus around the city to get a feel for the different areas. We started downtown and went down the famous Avenida Florida, and then made our way through dingy, tango filled San Telmo, and over to the colorful La Boca. From there, we made our way over to BA’s newest barrio, Puerto Madero, which is filled with beautiful apartment buildings and modern skyscrapers. From there, we made our way over to the Palermo area, where we jumped off the bus and headed to Palermo Alto, where the streets are lined with boutique shops, restaurants, and cafes. We poked our head into the shopping mall there, grabbed lunch, and left before spending an amount of money too absurd for our backpacker budget. It’s hard to resist buying something cute, when everyone here is dressed so trendy and I am stuck in my backpacker gear. Although, it appears that bell bottom jeans and platform shoes are back in style down here, which I am definitely not on board with (cue Spice up Your Life).
The following day, we had a longer day at school, and spent the afternoon playing games in Spanish. The time actually passed quickly and was quite enjoyable! Afterwards, we headed down to the river to enjoy the traditional tea that they drink here called mate. Mate isn’t like any other type of tea, because drinking mate is a social event. It is drank out of an open top cup with a straw that filters out the herbs (yerba) and tea leaves. The tea is packed tightly into the cup and then the matedor/matedora (person in charge of the mate) adds water, and sugar if he/she wants, and then takes his/her turn with the mate. The matedor/matedora drinks until finished, and then refills the cup with hot water, and passes the mate to the next person. You go in a circle like this, and after each person is finished, the cup is passed back to the person in charge of the mate. It all seems very strange at first, but once the conversation was flowing in our group, it was actually really fun!
Friday was our final day in language school for the week, and I felt like I was back in highscool, where everyone is obviously itching for the weekend. As soon as our final bell rang, our whole class (8 people!) beelined it out the door to start the weekend. Ryan and I grabbed lunch in the Palermo area and then made our way back to Amanda’s place with time to change before heading to a yoga class nearby. The class was in the upstairs of an adorable natural food deli, and one of the walls was hand painted with a giant sun, a beach and waves – the perfect backdrop for a ying/yang class! After dinner, we met up friends from our spanish school for an “intercambio”, which is an event at a bar where you have stickers representing the language you speak. It was pretty cool, although more people wanted to speak english with me than spanish!