Buenos Aires

Muchas aventuras to talk about. Good news, I am finally on Argentina time! Oh, and a few corrections from my last post--it is a three hour difference here in BA, not four. Also, I spelled "ridiculous" wrong, go me.

I thought I would fill you in on some random facts about Argentina. Buenos Aires is home to about 12.4 million people and is known as the "Paris of South America" because it is very European and cosmopolitan. I've never been to Paris, but it seems like a good description. BA really reminds me of NYC, t00, in the sense that the city is divided into a bunch of neighborhoods, has an insane subway system (that I need to figure out), and has scores of crazy, one-way streets (where cars do not like to stop for pedestrians). We are currently staying in Palermo, which is full of cool shops, fun places to eat, and spacious parks. Funny side note: Palermo is divided into a few subsections and two of them are called Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho! My Mom and I have been trying out different cafes for lunch and getting food at a local grocery store for most of our dinners.

Here is a neat view from the balcony of our apartment












First meal

Funny story from our first lunch: When I was ordering our drinks, my Mom told me that she wanted iced tea. I thought, "Crap! How do you say that in Spanish?" So, I decided to describe it as best as I could and told the waitress that I wanted tea with ice (te con hielo). She smiled and seemed to understand and I was feeling pretty good about it....well, when she brought it to the table, it was hot water with a tea bag AND ice! I felt so silly, but I guess it worked. So, does anyone know what the word for "iced tea" is? At least when I ordered the empanadas, I didn't get a pig's foot or something gross.
Empanadas are like a small fried pastry typically filled with meat or vegetables and are oh so delicious.

Some pictures from today....
Biblioteca Nacional












Inside the Cementerio de la Recoleta

We walked to another neighborhood today called Recoleta, which is very close to Palermo (maybe 20 minutes). We hunted down the popular cemetery there and also passed by some neat parks and monuments. The Cementerio de la Recoleta is home to the city's past elite, including past presidents, military heroes, and of course, the rich and famous. Evita Peron is buried there but we didn't find her grave. That place was huge, as it did take up a whole city block and was kind of confusing inside. It was beautiful, though! There was a market in a large park near the cemetery as well, so we poked around there for awhile.


The Leff gals on their Recoleta adventure!












After resting at the apartment for about an hour, I met up with my friend's boyfriend (who is actually studying in BA for the semester) at a shopping center near us and we took the subte (subway) to the obelisco de Buenos Aires. It is huge monument and attracts many tourists and I guess it is a destination for sports fans when they have a big win to celebrate! During the summer, there are free concerts every weekend and we went to the last one. They played awesome music and we saw a live tango performance.

Live music









Some things I like about BA so far:
1. Empanadas, duh.
2. The way it is broken down into sections and I still have so many things to see.
3. The beautiful parks and monuments.

Random things:
1. You think drivers in New York are crazy? Come to Buenos Aires, they do not like to stop for pedestrians. I am SO glad I won't be driving here.
2. Some of the avenues are nine lanes across!
3. There was a girl on the subway, singing and she had a sign taped to her that said, "I am fucked up and I can sing." Yep, welcome to Buenos Aires.