Life in Argentina

We left Buenos aires via the biggest most comfiest bus ever at around 9pmish local time. Argentines know how to travel bus wise. Better than airplanes, for real. Had so much leg room, DOUBLE DECKER!!, and had airplane lighting, etc. It took a whopping 6 hours to get from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata. Right now, in retrospect, it was so worth it. The weather here is simply gorgeous. It can get very windy and chilly in the shade and at night, but the warmth of the sun and the beaches are quite amazing. Anyways, we got here around 2am in the morning. Jane and I luckily got a bigger room, with a better shower in which I can actually move around in. No A.C, but since its a bit cooler here than in Buenos Aires, its no problem. We were finally able to sleep around 4am, after unpacking and settling in.

It seems like I will never get any proper sleep while in Argentina- I’ve always been either traveling, or having to wake up extremely early to get things accomplished. Today, I woke up around 9am to shower and to get ready in time for the breakfast served at the hotel.( We have to pay and buy every meal from out other than the breakfast provided by the hotel). Breakfasts here are very light and very very VERY sweet. There basically is just sugared sweets, such as glazed croissants, weird wafers, slices of ham, and if you are lucky enough, a very small bowl of cereal. Coffee here is a must, and I must say its very delicious and soon becoming a staple of my diet here. The coffee served at the Liberty hotel in Buenos Aires was much more delicious than the coffee served here. Thankfully I picked up a banana along the way back up to the room- it was essentially the main portion of my breakfast. I’m scared I’ll one day die of hunger here because of how light breakfasts are here, and how lunch is hours afterwards. We’ll see what happens.

Afterwards, we ventured out to the beach, only a few blocks away. Again, Lonely Planet was correct in saying how Mar del Plata beaches get very veryyy crowded. As this is the Christmas break, and summer down here in the southern hemisphere, Argentines commonly flock to Mar del Plata and other coastal beach towns/cities to enjoy the sun and sand. It was quite amazing how we were able to park our beach towels and claim a bit of little real estate down there. I was overjoyed to be able to soak in the sun ( not so happy that I irrevocably turned a few shades darker) and feel the warm sand and cool water beneath my toes. The best prescribed medicine to that horrible winter blizzard the northeaster US seaboard suffered last Sunday.

We had lunch afterwards at what seemed to be a cute outdoor beach restaurant ( it turned to be almost deadly as the umbrella shades covering another table flew and almost impaled a few in the group). I had a hamburger with the best tasting beef patty ever. I normally hate eating hamburgers, but this was very delectable. Its really depressing though to know that I’m spending quite a lot of money in Argentina on food alone. Argh. oh well.

After lunch, we ventured a bit around in the city, and finally found a supermarket. Bought essential soap, fruits, bread and ham to supplement our thinning wallets and light breakfasts. Oh yeah, I also bought milk ( I can’t believe I have gone three days, THREEEEEE DAYS, without a cold tall glass of milk).

Now, its onto getting ready to ringing in the new year. I wish you all a Happy 2011!!!

Hello my blog readers! This post is beyond late, but I am finally in Argentina!!! I had initially written this blog entry and a few of the following entries in Microsoft Word, because Internet sucked. A lot. Internet at the Buenos Aires hotel was spotty, allowing me and many others to only access Gmail, Google, and Youtube. We had to live without Facebook ( sometimes our primary method of communication with our family and friends) for a few days, but it was an awesome experience. Which is so annoying because this is how the group communicates. Makes you think- how did people survive in the 1980s?

Anyways, forgive me if I mix up past tense with present tense- I’m injecting the post I had written on Microsoft Word with memories hehe 🙂 And its going to be long, so I’ll add titles or something so you dont have to schlep through the whole entry:D

Arriving at Buenos Aires and Getting to the Hotel

It feels like a dream, still foggy and unreal, but yes indeedy, I have landed and roamed Buenos Aires.

We arrived on Wednesday to the Ezezia airport , which is sort of on the outskirts of greater Buenos Aires ( sort of like JFK from Manhattan) at around 12ishpm, after departing from JFK nonstop at around 1am. The taxi ride from the airport to the hotel was interesting. Our driver was amicable, didn’t bother us, he knew we were Americans and laughed but didn’t gip us. He whistled as he whisked Christina and I to our hotel. Only about once or twice did I feel like I was about to die ( according to the Lonely Planet’s Guide to Argentina, Buenos Aires drivers are crazy drivers- Jane and Jaya almost died with their crazy taxi driver. You’ll see me refer to and often agree/disagree with the Lonely Planet along the way. It was the guide book I dissected while in New York, to get a better feel for Argentina).Our taxi driver was about to crash into the median twice on the highway, but I heard that this is better than other drivers here , who love to swerve in and out of traffic. And I thought that taxis in New York were crazy…

Our hotel in Buenos Aires was in a prime location, located next to the widest avenue in the world- 9 de Julio. Jane and I are rooming together, and we’re lucky that the A.C works pretty well ( We room together in both Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata). We just cranked it up and left it on ever since we got here, so we have a nice oasis of cool. The shower for the bathroom is extremely small, barely any space to stand. Since the heat is oppressive, almost muggy, the coolness of the hotel room was welcome. But even so was the heat, especially after that horrendous winter blizzard we were unfortunately unable to escape.

Walking Around Buenos Aires ( lunch, dinner, sights)

Around the hotel, there is a McDonalds and Burger King at almost every corner, almost like seeing a Starbucks every where in Manhattan. My first reaction to seeing the Burger King was WOAH thats a nice restaurant. So glitzy, so upscale- every American fast food lover’s dream ( especially my brother’s haha). After unpacking and settling down, we all ( Jane, Jaya, Christina and I, as well as Ankuri and Brian) ended up eating a very late lunch at around 6 pm at El Palacio de la Pizza. I had a mozzarella slice ( ehh) and vanilla icecream (YUM). I heard the empanadas were really good.

Afterwards, we walked around as much as we could around the city. Along the way, we saw a protest ready with lined and armed riot police and crowd control. Also walked through a ton of outdoor malls sort of, but didn’t feel like buying anything ( although I had heard it was better to buy souvenirs in Buenos Aires, rather than Mar del Plata)

All of us walked through 9 de Julio, the widest avenue on Earth. Eh no biggie. Saw an obelisk and a Christmas tree. Thought it was cute. But then later on, while walking to dinner at night time, it was pretty gorgeous. They really know how to light things up around here.

A hard to miss christmas tree at an intersection/ pedestrian plaza in 9 de Julio, the world's widest Avenue. It is quite wide, and difficult to cross.

For dinner, had an overpriced, not delicious dinner at a parilla(steakhouse- I think thats the spelling in Spanish) . Wasn’t able to eat steak because I wasn’t in the mood, so I ended up eating a hungara- a gnocchi with bits of steak in a weird sauce. I ended up shelling out about 70 pesos for it. Our waiter was at first very nice, more than willing to take out a stain in my friend’s pants . But then almost turned viscious when trying to explain how to tip ( which finally taught us how to tip in Argentina, because Christina and I ended up tipping the driver 20 pesos, or about $4.50).

I realized after a while that Buenos Aires is like new york- very crowded and bustling during the day, dies down very little at night. Less people on the streets so its easier to navigate at night. But on the other hand, I was only able to experience the city for 2 days, not even, so my assumption and conclusion of the city most probably is very biased to what I did and the very little slice of Buenos Aires I was able to see.

I feel sad that I haven’t been able to venture and raom the city. I feel like a tourist in Buenos Aires, I haven’t given it enough of my time or enough appreciation. But today, I will finally go to the really colorful La Boca barrio to watch a Tango Show with the rest of the program, and hopefully get some good food, as well as do a little shopping.

As luck would have it, my flight for 2:20pm was cancelled yesterday. It was such a hectic and stressful day yesterday after finding out the sad news at around 10 am. I had to wait on the phone for about 20 minutes ( which wasn’t too bad compared to the hour long wait a few people I heard had to do) to speak to an American Airlines representative, and finally, was able to reschedule flight time for Tuesday. All in the span of about 3 hours.

Which kinda really does suck, because the program already started today! I’ll be missing 2 full days of frolicking in hot Buenos Aires. Right now, I’m freezing, having just finished shoveling half of my house. The snow is crazy here- it goes all the way up to my waist!

Anyways, I always believe that everything happens for a reason, and rescheduling the flight for Tuesday night seems like a really good decision, because not only do I get to spend more time with the family, but I can also help out cleaning the snow, go a little more shopping ( I did that yesterday before the blizzard really got horrible), and finally clean up my room.

Hopefully my next post will be when I am in the airport, waiting to take off!