I must admit that trying to provide you with the play by play of my time Buenos Aires would be futile. Days just began to blend into the next making spending time writing and often recalling events very difficult. I will change the playbook and provide you with a few observations and highlights of my week in BA.
Observations and Commentary:
1. Crazy Schedule - The US and China remarkably hold very similar daily schedules and Argentina shatters that mold. In BA breakfast goes to about noon, lunch fits in late afternoon and dinner is hardly considered before 10PM. In addition where in the US you might get in a bar before midnight, in BA the doors to bars won´t open before midnight and many clubs don´t open before 2AM. This is havoc on the body, but the Argentines sure seem to have it down pat. I´m not sure I could leave a club and go straight to work.
2. Beautiful People - I´m not sure the exact reason, but I can only speculate it is the wide gene pool and a European fashion sense, but it seems everyone in the city(women especially) are gorgeous.
3. Where´s the Beef? - Argentina is known worldwide for high quality beef. I had heard over and over again how amazing and cheap the beef is in Argentina. As I mentioned in my previous post the beef in Argentina is of tremendous value, but those of you who know me well know that I am keen on really nice steak. I must say that though I didn´t eat at the finest steakhouses in BA, the meat did not live up to my highest expectations for an individual steak experience.
4. City Living - BA has so much to offer in terms of night life as well as dining, but in terms of tourist experience it is very city oriented. I can see very clearly that it would be an amazing city to live in. There are a fair amount of museums and other cultural points of interest, but the main city activity is exploring the various city districts. Basically you struggle to get out of bed in time for the noon breakfast cut-off and then head out to explore a new area for a few hours in the afternoon before starting the evening routine all over again.
Highlights:
1. John Jenkins - The main reason I spent so much time in BA was to spend time with John,
one of my best friends from college. He has been living in Panama for the last 3 years moving up in the world of Peace Corp. He was planning on coming down to visit a couple of his close friends who had rented an apartment in BA for a month. I crashed the party and enjoyed spending time with him and catching up.
2. Hostel Experience - When I wasn´t hanging out with John and his friends, I was extremely comfortable and made a bunch of new friends at the hostel. It was an old building and I split my time between many floors. Living at times on the 1st and 3rd floors and drinking and socializing on the 6th. The staff was friendly and accomodating and I eventually had to go to them before I left to ask them to pay my bill, I r
ecommend the Hostel Estoril to anyone headed to BA.
3. Parks and the Modern Art Museum - BA has a multitude of large open green areas especially near to the Palermo district. I spent the first day in the city after I met up with John exploring this area and checking out the nearby art museum. There were 2 exhibits at this free museum, the first what I felt was an artistic stretch focusing on cabbages and dirty dishes, but the second floor 20th century South American Art exhibit was fantastic and you can spend a couple hours taking it in.
4. To The Club - There were a lot of late nights in BA simply due to the schedule, I only had a proper night out clubbing once. I am not a fan of clubbing much anywhere, but if there ever was a place to do it, I think BA is top of the list. We pre-partied significantly before heading to a Palermo(district) club between 2-3 AM when most US clubs must close by law. Things were just getting going and the place was still just as full when I left around 5:30AM, surely the party continued long into the morning. This is largely contributed, again, to the schedule of most Argentines, but also it seems clear that though Argentines drink at the club, they don´t drink as heavily as do those in other countries and it helps them sustain a longer night.
5. CABJ La Boca Juniors - I had a true Buenos Aires experience at the club futbol(soccer) match featuring the Boca Juniors, the pride of BA. It was my first real bigtime futbol match experience. I went to a couple of matched during the Olympics in Shanghai, but this was a totally different kind of thing. Close your eyes and imagine passionate singing, dancing and jumping amongst fans jammed together shoulder to shoulder on bleachers, sun blazing down, the smell of marijuana floating around from all directions and spit from the opposing fans in the section above raining down on your head....the true futbol fanatic experience. The Juniors lost the game, but Ii was a full day event and I enjoyed the truly experience even if I may or may not want to do it again.
6. South American Beats - We went to a great weekly drum show at an outdoor venue. It was a large percussion band of about 20-30 people playing jazzy latin beats. It was packed and the beer was cheap. It was particularly enjoyable for me because the feeling of the event and the type of crowd it drew reminded me so much of the live shows I loved so much when I lived in the US.
2. Beautiful People - I´m not sure the exact reason, but I can only speculate it is the wide gene pool and a European fashion sense, but it seems everyone in the city(women especially) are gorgeous.
3. Where´s the Beef? - Argentina is known worldwide for high quality beef. I had heard over and over again how amazing and cheap the beef is in Argentina. As I mentioned in my previous post the beef in Argentina is of tremendous value, but those of you who know me well know that I am keen on really nice steak. I must say that though I didn´t eat at the finest steakhouses in BA, the meat did not live up to my highest expectations for an individual steak experience.
4. City Living - BA has so much to offer in terms of night life as well as dining, but in terms of tourist experience it is very city oriented. I can see very clearly that it would be an amazing city to live in. There are a fair amount of museums and other cultural points of interest, but the main city activity is exploring the various city districts. Basically you struggle to get out of bed in time for the noon breakfast cut-off and then head out to explore a new area for a few hours in the afternoon before starting the evening routine all over again.
Highlights:
1. John Jenkins - The main reason I spent so much time in BA was to spend time with John,
one of my best friends from college. He has been living in Panama for the last 3 years moving up in the world of Peace Corp. He was planning on coming down to visit a couple of his close friends who had rented an apartment in BA for a month. I crashed the party and enjoyed spending time with him and catching up.2. Hostel Experience - When I wasn´t hanging out with John and his friends, I was extremely comfortable and made a bunch of new friends at the hostel. It was an old building and I split my time between many floors. Living at times on the 1st and 3rd floors and drinking and socializing on the 6th. The staff was friendly and accomodating and I eventually had to go to them before I left to ask them to pay my bill, I r
ecommend the Hostel Estoril to anyone headed to BA.3. Parks and the Modern Art Museum - BA has a multitude of large open green areas especially near to the Palermo district. I spent the first day in the city after I met up with John exploring this area and checking out the nearby art museum. There were 2 exhibits at this free museum, the first what I felt was an artistic stretch focusing on cabbages and dirty dishes, but the second floor 20th century South American Art exhibit was fantastic and you can spend a couple hours taking it in.
4. To The Club - There were a lot of late nights in BA simply due to the schedule, I only had a proper night out clubbing once. I am not a fan of clubbing much anywhere, but if there ever was a place to do it, I think BA is top of the list. We pre-partied significantly before heading to a Palermo(district) club between 2-3 AM when most US clubs must close by law. Things were just getting going and the place was still just as full when I left around 5:30AM, surely the party continued long into the morning. This is largely contributed, again, to the schedule of most Argentines, but also it seems clear that though Argentines drink at the club, they don´t drink as heavily as do those in other countries and it helps them sustain a longer night.
5. CABJ La Boca Juniors - I had a true Buenos Aires experience at the club futbol(soccer) match featuring the Boca Juniors, the pride of BA. It was my first real bigtime futbol match experience. I went to a couple of matched during the Olympics in Shanghai, but this was a totally different kind of thing. Close your eyes and imagine passionate singing, dancing and jumping amongst fans jammed together shoulder to shoulder on bleachers, sun blazing down, the smell of marijuana floating around from all directions and spit from the opposing fans in the section above raining down on your head....the true futbol fanatic experience. The Juniors lost the game, but Ii was a full day event and I enjoyed the truly experience even if I may or may not want to do it again.
6. South American Beats - We went to a great weekly drum show at an outdoor venue. It was a large percussion band of about 20-30 people playing jazzy latin beats. It was packed and the beer was cheap. It was particularly enjoyable for me because the feeling of the event and the type of crowd it drew reminded me so much of the live shows I loved so much when I lived in the US.
7. Don´t Cry For Me Aregentina - Though I may not fully grasp at this moment the political implications of Evita in the history of Argentina, I do love the musical. I got the chance to see the famous balcony in the Plaza de Mayo and visit her grave.
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