Buenos Aires

Boca Futbol Match- My first soccer game. Such high energy!

Local Flavors

Vintage Mate Gourds

My favorite restaurant that we luckily stumbled upon

    Booking flights and buses in Brazil proved to be a pain in the ass. If you are not a citizen of Brazil, then you have to physically go to the airport or bus-station rather than being able to purchase tickets online. Paul and I found ourselves wasting away much time trying to track down tickets to our next location. In Argentina we bought tickets online to Buenos Aires from an airport that we thought was in Argentina, but after closer examination the day of our departure we realized the flight left from Paraguay . . . shit!
    We scrambled to get our bags packed and hailed a cab to take us to the airport. Back through Brazil and then into Paraguay where the immigration official told us that we had to pay for a visa to enter Paraguay. We both knew he was lying, especially since he was whispering about how much the visa would cost us. We haggled with him and negotiated the price down from 200 pesos each ($50) to 2oo pesos total. We crossed the boarder cursing Paraguay and ourselves for not looking closer at our flight itinerary. At the airport, three other officials spent time examining our passports, making phone calls and eventually letting us board the plane. We thought the extra unanticipated costs were over with until we landed in Argentina only to find out that we had to pay $140 to enter the Country via international flight. I tried my best to explain that we were in Argentina earlier that day, but my efforts were to no avail and we ended up paying for the visa.
    I had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth from our extra taxes and fees getting to BA (Buenos Aires), but was quickly distracted by the fine dinner of red wine and steak we indulged ourselves in for less than $20 US. Back at our hostel we heard numerous horror stories of people getting robed, making us pay extra attention to our whereabouts while in BA. I figured out a tactic that proved to be quite affective while traveling through Brazil. If I feel in danger or feel that as if someone is sizing me up for a potential robbery I initiate what I call ‘Crack Eye’s’. I repeatedly open my eye’s wide and look around like I am a crazy person while shaken my hands by my side or clenching my fists. I don’t know if this strategy works but I figure a robber is looking for an easy target, so anything I can do that would make them think otherwise might deter them from robbing me. I can thank the countless ‘weirdos’ that live in Santa Cruz for this idea.
    Paul and I spent our days walking about the city, taking the underground subway to different districts and exploring the huge city of Buenos Aires. I saw my first movie since I left for S. America, it was nice to get a little taste of US culture. The old town district of San Telmo was my favorite part of BA. San Telmo has cobblestone streets with lot’s of shops and local artists with paintings of the architecture of BA. Driven  by hunger we lucked out and found a great restaurant where I had a great beet salad, steak and potatoes. The restaurant served the type of high quality meat that everyone keeps talking about in Argentina.
    Allow there are great steaks and wine in BA, the rest of the food we found below average. Traveling has made me realize how lucky I am to live in Santa Cruz where there is a diversity of food choices and many places to get healthy organic fruits and vegetables. I crave some veggies, it seems that every meal in Argentina consists of white bread and meat or white bread and cheese. The free breakfasts at the hostels consists of coffee and croissants with jam and butter . . . not a fan.
    Some Australian blokes that were staying at our hostel told us about a Flamenco show right next door. The Flamenco show was in a basement type restaurant with the smell of hookah as we made our way down the stairs. There are a lot of tango and Flamenco shows advertised at the hostels, we lucked out and stumbled upon one where we were the only gringos. We ordered a bottle of Malbec from Mendoza and sat back to enjoy our first Flamenco show. A guitarist and two singers started the show. I was instantly amazed by the passion with which the music was played. One of the singers sat on a box drum slamming a fast rhythm as he wailed his heart out. He reminded me of Antonio Banderas. Next a guy and girl stepped up on the small stage and started dancing with the music playing along to the beat with their hard-heeled shoes. Each had a solo dance performance along with partner dancing. The woman seemed as if she was having an out-of-body experience letting the music move her body in rapid and fascinating ways. I was thoroughly impressed by the performance, feeling fortunate to have witnessed such an organic expression of music and dnace.
    Our last day in BA I got to go to my first soccer game. The popular team from BA, Boca Juniors played another team from Argentina in the first game of the season. The Argentineans really care about their team; the energy in the stadium almost matched the intensity of The World Series. The fans were all on the same page with the entire stadium singing in unison the chants of Boca. They sang and sang, even after they went down 2-0 into halftime. Anytime people started to shout negative comments towards the team, the crowd would shush them. There were some great plays and passes by Boca, but many opportunities were blown and Boca only produced 1 goal. The opposing team seemed to have no problem putting the ball into the back of the net, they scored 4 goals embarrassing Boca on opening day. I told Paul maybe they should change their name to Choka.