WARNING: This entry is quite long. Perfect for someone: bored in class, bored at work, or who REALLY wants to hear about my trip! With that in mind…
At the request of my sister, I am posting a new blog. No just kidding Nicki you’re not thaaaaat special…I’ve been meaning to for a few days now! A (very, very) brief update … since I last wrote, Kate has left to go back to school, I have moved apartments and started class, and two VERY special people have celebrated their birthdays!!! HAPPY (Belated) BIRTHDAY Dad and Nicole from BA.
As planned Kate and I made our way to the Buenos Aires Zoo on Tuesday which costs 22 pesos per person INCLUDING the cost of all the rides/attractions they have available. For those who don’t know it costs about $35-$40 (110 pesos) to do so at the “World Famous” San Diego Zoo…but admittedly the San Diego Zoo is much more impressive than this zoo. Entering the park was quite easy, we intentionally went on a Tuesday so it wouldn’t be too crowded (though after going I am not sure if it is ever “too crowded”). I figured the safe bet to enjoy the park most was to get a map and follow that around…unfortunately they do not have maps available EVER at this zoo. This seemed very funny at first but we soon realized that we didn’t really need a map on us at all times as the zoo was not very big. (There were larger maps scattered here and there throughout the park to assist). As Kate and I began walking through the park, we noticed a beaver looking thing walking around. (Side note: prior to visiting the zoo a few friends we had met mentioned that this zoo would be a little different than those in the states. They told us the zoo keepers are very laid back and do not care much about what the animals do…which included the fact that some may not be in their cages!) Even with this warning, we were shocked to see an animal walking around in front of us and were inclined to take pictures. We soon came to understand that this was nothing special…though we did take quite a few more pictures when we saw animals out of their cage because it was mind-blowing to us! Not to say that they allowed the Lions, Tigers, Bears etc… out of their cages. There were really only about three or four rodent-looking animals wandering the park. Still very interesting to see. I don’t think we saw more than 2 or 3 zoo keepers the whole day, only people seated at the entrances to smaller attractions within the park to collect money (if you hadn’t bought the all access pass). It only took us about 2-3 hours to walk around the whole park, see all the animals, and check out all the added attractions. There were no loud buses driving around the park or vendors at every turn trying to sell you something. It was actually very relaxing and neat to experience!
Since I was expecting to be at the zoo for about four or five hours, I had scheduled an appointment to see an apartment just down the road from the zoo at 6:15pm. We were done at the zoo by 4:30. We checked out Avenida Santa Fe (one of the larger roads that run through the city) for about 45 minutes then took a short nap in a nearby park. The apartment was pretty nice, but the room was small and the two gentlemen renting out the other rooms were also from the U.S. (definitely NOT my preference…that’s why I left there!!!) We made our way back to the pad and stayed in for the night, ordering Chinese food for dinner! You may be surprised to know that it was absolutely delicious!
On Wednesday we had plans to meet with two more landlords…I had to leave the apartment I was currently in on Friday so I needed to find a place! These two places were in Recoleta, the same barrio that my TEFL course was being held, so I was pretty excited to see how they were. The first place turned out to be more of a home-stay with a very sweet lady (who later that day emailed me to offer to cook for me and help with laundry because according to her I was a young boy who could use the help if I chose to stay with her!!!) and was very nice, but a bit further from my course than I had hoped for. We had planned out the day pretty well and after checking out the first place Kate and I walked to the TEFL International location to check it out. The building was extremely nice and everyone there was very friendly. I met some students who were only a few days away from completing the course and they had some very encouraging words. They also recommended that we check out the Recoleta Cemetery, a famous spot for tourists and locals alike to check out. Our next destination was the other apartment, I was hopeful it would be nice and not too expensive because it was less than a block away from the course. To my delight, it was very nice AND not outrageously expensive. Unfortunately there were three issues, (1) it was not available for two weeks (2) it had a minimum of one month stay and (3) the couple I had been in contact with about sharing an apartment planned on leaving very soon after the course was completed. I told the landlord I would get back to her about living there.
From there Kate and I walked about 3-4 blocks to the Cemetery which was absolutely amazing!! The graves were built both above and below ground and looked almost like very very small living quarters. Of course the size varied based on how wealthy a family was, but all of them were incredibly gorgeous. This is where Eva Peron was buried along with many other famous figures from Argentina.
For Kate’s last night, I had read about a nice restaurant that had been ranked in the top 50 in the world for best hamburgers. Surprisingly, there was only one from Argentina as they are known for having some of the highest quality beef worldwide. The place is called Kansas and Kate and I headed to dinner around 7 in hopes that we would go out afterwards. We arrived to an almost empty restaurant, at the time I thought a sign of the poor economy. I was wrong. It was a bit of a shock to see that the only hamburger on the menu was a cheeseburger. We decided to split one and also try something else which was a wonderful decision. The burger, which I ordered with bacon, was delicious though I am not sure if I’d rank it top 50 in the world. As we were finishing our meal I realized why the place was empty when we got there. No one goes out to dinner until 9 or 10 in BA. As we left the place ALL tables were filled (close to 100) and there was a wait to get a table for people just arriving! Good for them! Unfortunately it was also raining outside. We hopped in a cab and headed home for the night.
For Kate’s last day in BA, we wanted to check out Caminito. A very small street which was famous for its lively atmosphere with Tango in the streets, murals covering the walls and a very Argentinean atmosphere throughout in a small barrio known as Boca. The weather had other ideas. It was still cloudy and overcast and as we sat down to eat breakfast, it began to rain. We decided not to journey to the other side of the city and just hang out. I was pretty bummed that Kate didn’t get to see it, but hopefully when I get a chance to visit pictures will do it justice.
After a long night of partying on Thursday “night” I had to be up by 10am to leave the apartment I was in. I am quite proud of myself as I packed the night before, knowing I would be out late and hung-over (or still drunk) at 10 in the morning! I had contacted the landlady at the first place I looked at in San Telmo and asked if I could do just two weeks there for now. She had no problem with that so after getting my deposit by, I hopped in a cab to my new residence. The landlady is very nice and I talked with her for about an hour…she speaks a bit of English…I speak a bit of Spanish…makes for interesting conversation! But to be honest I was exhausted and passed out for a few hours after she left. I barely remembered leaving the first apartment as I think I was basically still asleep through the whole process…but I made it successfully to my new place! Unfortunately, San Telmo is not where the clubs/popular areas for kids my age to go out. Hasn’t been a problem yet, but I imagine I will move back to Palermo or Recoleta area after the course is over. Anyways, after sleeping and unpacking a bit during the day it was time to go out again. I made it over to a buddies place by around midnight to start the pregame. We checked out a couple of clubs/bars…none of which I was a big fan of. Then the real adventure of the night began for me. After saying bye to friends I hopped in a cab to head back to San Telmo. Being a bit drunk I must not have noticed that he DEFINITELY took me an alternate route to run up the tab. Since I had just moved to this new apartment I didn’t know the streets well enough to really say anything…and more importantly I only had 25 pesos on me. This should have been enough to get back home…or very close. But this was not the case. Luckily I knew a cross street nearby and began the trek…jogging a bit of the way as well, I like to call it making good out of a bad situation. I was actually more awake than I would have expected (at 6 in the morning) and didn’t much mind the journey, other than being upset that the driver had ripped me off…and thus discovering that the sun also RISES.
For those of you not lucky enough to experience a sunset in San Diego, it is truly one of the most breath-taking scenes I have ever laid eyes on. It is hands down my favorite part about living in San Diego and being so close to the beach. Well on this night, I got to watch the sun rise in the city of Buenos Aires. Though not as breath-takingly gorgeous as a sunset…it was something that put a smile on my face at a time when I could have been in a terrible mood. Thus the title: the sun also rises!
Of course to make things a bit more difficult…why make anything easy right? I forgot an alarm clock. Why does this make things difficult you ask yourselves? Other than the obvious…on Saturday morning my “flat mates” as they would say, arrived. As they stayed in a hostel the night before, they had to leave by 10am and guess where there next destination was! Here! So after sleeping for maybe 3 hours I woke up to my computer alarm until they arrived. David and Nadine are there names, Nadine is doing the TEFL course with me and they are both wonderful people. They are from Glasgow, Scotland and have been travelling the world for the past 18 months. China, Australia, New Zealand, other countries throughout Asia…really really cool. I have been picking their brains about quite a bit…but I am sure I will hear many more stories over the next month.
***I do not have time to finish writing all this as I need to get some rest for class tomorrow! Kate’s advice was to post this now and finish tomorrow…which I thought was brilliant…so here it is. The rest soon to come!***
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