Empanadas, Mate y Gigantes

So I started to write this blog four hours ago...then stopped, realizing that the last time I wrote my blog was right before the Giants played. And they LOST. Being quite superstitious when it comes to sports I of course could not jinx them again.  Well as everyone now knows..thanks to me (haha) it worked!!!! Giants are headed to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2002 to take on those Phillies.  Cali vs. Philly.  Love it!!!

Anyways...the weather here has been absolutely incredible.  70's and sunny everyday...feels like I'm back home!  Buenos Aires has absolutely no hills which makes it easy to walk almost ANYWHERE which is exactly what Kate and I have been doing.  Saturday morning we checked out the Palermo district a bit more.  Went to breakfast at a nice little spot a few blocks away from our apartment and enjoyed a delicious breakfast outside.  Later we decided to take a walk to a gorgeous park about 25 minutes away.  Everyone here is so peaceful and friendly.  The parks are all extremely crowded on the weekends yet there seems to be space for everyone to fit.  Kate and I found out quickly that while walking it is safest to always look DOWN as people do not pick up after their pets...enough said haha.  The parque was pretty big and on the outside of the park it was lined with what resembled a farmers market with hundreds of booths set up with people selling...well basically anything you could possibly imagine that fits in a shoe box!  Kate got a neat little bracelet and I picked up a pocket knife.  There were a few pick up soccer games going on and stray dogs running around that provided some entertainment until we headed back for the night.  On the way back we experienced our first of what I expect to be many encounters with empanadas.  They are everywhere around here and we got one chicken and two meat...delicious.

I was able to get in contact with some friends of friends here in BA and we had made plans to go out with them at night.  Going out at night in BA pretty much starts at two o clock in the morning...and that is considered early.  To try and prepare for this we took naps from 8-10...it didn't help!  We got to our new friend Michelle's apartment at around midnight after a late dinner and started the pregame festivities.  Her roommates were very very nice and after drinking a bit we headed out at around 2ish.  We were going out "early" tonight because we had to be at this club before 2:30 to get in free (even though it ended up costing guys 30 pesos).  The "club" was definitely just an old warehouse with portable bars brought in but it was still a great time.  Kate and I only lasted til like four (and most people hadn't even began to dance) but we made the trek back to our apartment and called it a night.

Sunday was an interesting/adventurous/awesome day.  Michelle and her roommates are quite good friends with a local rugby team (Michelle dates one) and they had a quarterfinal game today!  As ya'll may expect, after going out til 4 in the morning we weren't up too early today.  By the time we got moving it was time to meet up with the girls to head to the game.  **Side note: Second experience with empanadas.  Michelle has a little pastry shop down the street from her that makes empanadas that are "to-die-for". We got two meat, one chicken and one ham n cheese...oh and a few incredible breakfast pastries as well.**  Then the adventure began.  The game was about a ten minute cab ride (40min walk) from the pastry shop...but apparently the cab driver didn't know where it was.  He dropped us off no where near the fields.  So we started walking in the direction of the field and as we went asked people for directions along the way.  The first person we asked said it was about a five minute walk...not too bad. Off we went. After about five minutes of walking (and no field in sight) we asked another individual.  This time the field was "very far away" and suggested possibly taking a cab.  For some reason this is the only person we didn't trust (and the only person who was right) so we continued walking.  After about five more minutes and still no field in sight we asked a couple guys working at a street vendor.  They said the field was about a three minute walk away just across the park...thank goodness! At this point were about 15 minutes late for the game. They were wrong.  After walking for about 20 more minutes we FINALLY found the field and made it just in time for the end of the first half.  I love that every person seemed to know exactly where the field was...yet no one had any idea how far away it was.

The game was incredible.  The rugby was top notch and the players were much bigger, stronger and faster than I expected.  The club we were cheering for was St. Brendan's and they were up against Club Geba.  The game was close the entire time and after the full 80 minutes they were tied 13-13.  (This after both teams missed multiple kick attempts during regulation that would have won the game.)  In overtime St. Brendan's had a chance to win it with a 25 yard penalty kick that their kicker sent wide right.  About 5 minutes later Geba capitalized on this miss by making a similar kick to win the game (sudden death OT).  I chose NOT to go introduce myself to the team after this loss as I would have no desire to meet a poor Spanish speaking American after such a devastating loss to end the season.  I have since contacted a player on the team and plan to attend sevens practice next week with them!!! I am very excited and a bit nervous as they are highly skilled and I am definitely not in proper shape to play.  I do think they get paid to play tho...which would be freakin awesome!!!

So after the game the girls we went with were staying to hang with the rugby guys and Kate and I decided to leave.  Poor decision.  I had very few pesos on me at the time as I had not found a currency exchange place yet (and none were open on weekends anyways).  So we began to walk back hoping to find an ATM somewhere along the way.  The beginning of the walk was incredible as we walked through some beautiful parks the along the way.  One park in particular was a bit different from the rest.  As we were walking Kate noticed a few...used condoms on the ground.  Wow. Were there more than a few.  It wasn't enough that we had to keep our eyes peeled for landmines covering the ground from dogs...we now had to watch our step for wrappers scattering the field.  There were literally hundreds littering this OPEN field.  I guess people in Buenos Aires aren't shy about there sexual activities.  Thank goodness this was only the case in one of the smaller parks.  We continued our walk and were thankful it was still light out because we were definitely walking through some pretty sketchy areas of the city.  We finally found a mall with a Jumbo (basically a Argentine Wal-Mart) and they accepted US Dollars.  I got change in Pesos and we took a cab home.  We were exhausted and stayed in for the night after that.

So we have quickly discovered that Argentines will celebrate ANYTHING to get a holiday.  As this Monday was Columbus day in the US...well it was Columbus day here as well and everyone had the day off  (hahaha)!! And apparently all schools were closed on the first day of spring to celebrate that as well!! As expected, Monday was another incredibly gorgeous day.  I had contacted some people through craigslist regarding potential apartments for the following month and was meeting with someone at 13:00 in San Telmo.  Our first time using the subway! They are extremely cheap, 1.10 Pesos (25cents) per ride.  Of course we got talking to a gentlemen who spoke good English and had traveled all over the world...and informed us to get off at the wrong stop.  We hopped in a cab and got to the apartment in about 5 minutes, right on time by the way.  The apartment was very neat and the landlord was sweet. It is in a very safe area due to high tourist traffic and is surrounded by shops. Going to continue the search though in case there is something better.  San Telmo is a really cool little town and Kate and I grabbed lunch outside where there were Tango dancers performing.  Kate bought a few gifts for her family at more street vendors.  One of the more incredible things we got to do today was ride Subte A.  This is the longest running subway in the entire WORLD (a tid-bit we learned from the English speaking gentlemen on the first subway ride).  It is made of wood and the inside feels like the inside of a small boutique or restaurant.  Incredible that it has been running since 1913!

Before we made our way back home we made one more purchase.  We noticed a unique item at a lot of shops that we had never seen before.  I asked one of the vendors what they were used for and he told me it is an Argentine tradition to drink this tea called Mate.  We purchased some and tried it...not a fan but I'm hoping it will grow on me because we had to buy quite a bit of the tea leaves.

Having an incredible time and we are planning on going to the Zoo tomorrow which is only about 15 blocks North of us!!! Pictures soon to come!!