So my journey began right after Filipe's departure and a ridiculously hard geography test so I was pretty exhausted and emotionally spent from the start. At the airport in Rio I had to ask 1000349023948 questions to figure out which lines to stand in and at what exact times. Traveling between foreign country to foreign country was hard but but maybe Brazil just constructed it extra confusing. I had to change planes in Porto Alegre (Happy Port), a city in the south of Brazil. The terminals there were NOT happy and actually really uncomfortable with weird lanes of chairs.
I got into Buenos Aires pretty late at night where I was unpleasantly surprised by a $US130 TOURIST VISA FEE )(#*@)$(* It was so bogus, only English speaking countries (UK, Canada, Australia, US and New Zealand) have to pay for the visa and I had no idea about it since it's a recent development. I had about $US200 when I got to Argentina so from that moment on I had to be hardcore on budget. The most money I spent the whole trip was probably on the taxi to Gustavo's house. Antonio from São Paulo set me up to stay with Gustavo and unfortunately as soon as I got there I found out I couldn't crash for more than two nights. No money and no place to stay was an interesting way to start my trip. My first day in the city I took a bus to the microcentro of the city, which was pretty disastrous at first. The Buenos Aires transit system only accepts change for bus fair which I found out after trying to feed my $2 peso through the ticket dispenser. Gustavo's housemate Sam told me that there have been so many lack of change ('monedas' in Spanish) problems in Argentina that they had to make a law requiring all banks to give a certain amount of monedas for all transactions. 'NO HAY MONEDAS' (there's no change) signs written on little pieces of paper outside hang outside most 'kioskos' (little stores to buy cigarettes and gum) because people are constantly buying candy so they can ride the bus. Anyway, after the bus driver helped me out and gave me some change, I arrived here.
Plaza del Congresso! The architecture and city planning in Buenos Aires was supposed to be like that of Paris. Everyone says that BA is the most European city in Latin America, which I agree with if they're talking about Europe 200 years ago. BA has too many stray dogs and people selling fruit out of their garages to be what I imagine France to be. The way people dress and the cooler climate reminded me more of San Francisco. Everything is really beautiful but a little too cold to enjoy it fully.
My first day I kept thinking I was going crazy because I heard portuguese being spoken in the streets, but indeed there were a lot of brazilians there. I liked this sign too because it reminded me how wonderful Brazil is.
I went to this really famous Cafe Tortoni place that used to have a lot of tango shows. Now the only Argentine people who go to this place are the waitors and bartenders. It was pretty though and even though I was poor, I had enough money for a coffee and churro. God Bless you Argentina for being so cheap!
Traveling alone was awesome as usual but I did have a couple of awkward self-portrait moments in public. Exhibit A:
Like I said, Europe 200 years ago. I think the massive amount of dengue prevention signs in Brazil and apparently also in Buenos Aires is funny. I didn't get dengue but somehow I managed to get a lot of mosquito bites on my hands--just about the only part of my body that saw the sun during the trip. I brought one jacket, one pair of jeans and tights that I wore together the whole time. Not 90 degree weather freaked my body out very much. Had I been more well prepared though it would have been fine.
Microcentro architecture
After awhile I got lost on purpose and found myself in a huge shopping district.
Sandwich store
I ran into this tango-rock group playing on the street. They were actually really good and attracted a crowd that covered the whole walkway.
I loved the way signs and little things written on newspaper stands are written in BA. So charming.
Just like brazilians, people in Buenos Aires LOVE MCDONALDS. My god, I never understand why people from down here ask me why Americans love fast food so much since they love it so much themselves. I saw so many mcdonalds in Buenos Aires and they're always packed! I find it really interesting. This one was in the centro right across from the obelisk.
The following are a lot of pictures of the biggest street in BA. It takes 4 traffic signals to cross.
Awkward self-portrait, Exhibit B
Did you know that Disney translates their songs into other languages e.g. Spanish, Portuguese and it actually makes sense? I have no idea what Beauty in the Beast would be like in Spanish.
Here's pictures of Playa de Mayo. It's a really central area in microcentro where most protests go down. The mothers of the disappeared during the military dictatorship still gather here every Thursday.
I wandered all the way to the river where I stumbled upon a beautiful college campus. I loved being in BA so much I think I may get my masters in Spanish Literature or something similar there.
The river and famous woman bridge 'Puente de la Mujer'
ON the bridge
All of the food in BA is so much cheaper than Rio. I think had I known all this I may have studied in Argentina rather than Brazil but I'm glad I didn't because the fruit at the grocery store on my street kicks Buenos Aires selection's ass.
I managed to find some people on couchsurfing to let me crash for the rest of the trip. Here's a picture of my host Lorena. She had a really cute apartment in Barrio Norte and the most comfortable and warm bed everrr. I only stayed with her one night and during the day went to the MALBA museum. BA is great because you could spend a whole year seeing just their museums, which are mostly free.
My last two nights I stayed in an apartment with two Argentine boys who also had two Mexican girls and a Colombian girl staying. We were an international house of travelers and it was great. Mafie, la colombiana and I went out to San Telmo together to take pictures. It's an older neighborhood with this really awesome antique market. All of the Italian immigrants that came to Buenos Aires died and left so many treasures!
San Telmo streets
At night I saw Melissa Segil who's studying a semester in BA.
Argentina has a lot of 'dulce de leche' would would translate to carmel I guess in English but it's much more of a sensation over here. It's in everything! Even oreos?
I didn't really understand why BA's cemetery was such a must-see but it turned out to be so beautiful. All of the tombs are still well-kept by family members of the deceased and are covered in very Italian sounding last names.
Hey God, no hands!
More wandering led me to this Earth Day festival
On my last day I went to La Boca, the most touristy and simultaneously sketchy neighborhood in the city. Everyone told me to be careful there but it seriously seemed like Poway to me compared to walking around Rio. I'm glad that at least Rio has given me so much confidence traveling around in other cities. La Boca was the first port in Buenos Aires and used to be an african slave colony before Italian immigrants took over.
Pretty much anywhere in the city you can find a guy selling coffee out of these little canteens. I miss shit like this in Rio, here there's very little informal economy and you actually have to go to a store to buy food and drink--lame.
After seeing a lot of cheap tango performances in La Boca I walked over to this park where there's a Russian church.
SUPERPANCHO is an Argentine way of saying 'hotdog' which is just ridiculous. Can you think of a more stereotypical latino name than Pancho? Hahah
And if you can sell superpanchos why would you ever be the guy who sells peanuts? Do they ever break even?
My host Mauro and all of his lady guests
My last night Mauro took me to a birthday party of a friend of his and it was perfect. My time in BA was so ideal despite having no clothes and being freezing, being broke and having to struggle to find a place to sleep.
During the night I mentioned how I think it's silly Brazilians learn 'The book is on the table' as their introduction to English. Argentines apparently learn 'the cat is under the table'. Who the hell designs these classes?
The cat is inside the oven?
Haha, porteños watching Lady Gaga on youtube
Happy birthday best friend picture!
My biggest achievement of the trip though was I went from speaking absolutely no Spanish (it got stuck with my portuguese) to leaving Argentina being mistaken as a Spanish girl. Who knows where that accent comes from. Buenos Aires definitely won my heart but I was so glad to be home in Rio. The 247 sunshine and my wonderful housemates make me feel like I'm at home. Looks like Brazil is starting to win me over!
this post > the mona lisa
ReplyDeleteI read this once and I just read it again; makes me so excited!
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