Fly South: Meat and Tango Attack

....those are exactly the words I´d choose for the "Paris of South America," city of over 16 million people, the 9th largest city in the world, the capital of Argentina: Good Airs. Coming from Santiago, which is around 6 million people, Buenos Aires seemed like Mount Everest to our 50 ft. hills in Illinois. And a little strange at first. We came up to customs, and there was no one there, so janitors just waved us through. We saw a sign that said in Spanish, Center for Instruction, Perfection, and Experimentation. The airport for 16 million people was more than a little daunting. We finally figured the easiest means of escape was a bus, so after about an hour and a half, we finally rolled into the center of the city.

After the how-to-get-out-of-the-airport game, my friend Ali and I played the find-an-open-hostel game. We lugged our stuff around the narrow streets, looking like total targets for pickpockets, to about three different hostels, but we finally found one that seemed decent. At least it had running water. We stayed there the first two nights, and then moved to another cheaper hostel down the road, recommended by statravel.com (cheapstuff.com, really) which we found more to our liking.

The next few days, we explored the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. We spent time sight-seeing in Recoleta, buying boat tickets to Uruguay in Puerto Madero, going out and to tango shows in San Telmo, exploring bohemian La Boca, and looking into artensan fairs and Italian restuarants in Palermo and Palermo Hollywood.

Before leaving, my Chilean mother said to aprovechar Argentine men, because apparently they are considered to be the best-looking in South America. I thought that pretty much every person in Buenos Aires was freaking amazing looking. They all dress very classy with that European flair, and they´re tall and blonder than their Latino counterparts. I picked up on their accent too, so now I will be speaking Spanish like a Chilean-Argentinian-American.

The trip to Urugay and the tango show, along with barrio La Boca, were my favorite parts. We spent $60 on the show, which for me is like chopping off my arm, but it was worth every cent. We entered the building and were seated at a bar were there was free champagne, wine, appetizers, and also live music. It was great. We then walked up the stairs to the dining room where it was half restaurant, half stage to eat dinner. Among the three choices in each category, I ate chicken and palm hearts, steak and potatoes, and chocolate cake. The show was great; it went through the different types and progressions of tango throughout the ages.

Kristina was a fellow American student Ali and I met while at the bar. She is in Argentina doing research on advertising to post-dictatorship countries that aim their ad campaigns at youths. The information she relayed was new to me. I had no idea that 30,000 people disappeared during the 1970s and early 80s. In Chile during the military dictatorship, the number of the disappeared is significantly less (3,000.) Also, the disappeared were mostly young people, in their late teens, 20s, and early 30s because they were the ones protesting at the time.

Kristina also told us that every single Thursday since the 80s, the mothers of the disappeared gather in the Plaza de Mayo holding pictures of their kids, demanding answers from the government about what happened to their children. Ali and I barely missed it on Thursday, but it would have been an emotional and moving sight.

Buenos Aires would definitely be on my list again if I come back to South America. We met tons of people from other parts of the world, including an American familt from Talahassee that has been coming down for years. The city is so full of history and things to do, and although it didn´t strike me as being my typical image of Latin America, I was pleased that it was how it was.

The old-school elevator in our first hostel that we took at every opportunity.

Argentinos after winning the semi-final in a huge South American fútbol tourney, (Chile did not qualify.)

Kids getting attacked by pigeons.

Plaza de Mayo in the downtown area.

Central Bank in the plaza, next to the Casa Rosada, (a pink house the presidents lived in, including Salvador Allende.)

View of the street downtown.

B.A. had some of the widest streets ever.

Down by the dock.

Check out those wide streets. And the architecture is fabulous.

Boca Junior stadium, supposedly one of the best atmospheres in South America. I saw a video of when the national team won the semi-final against Venezuela that Thurs., and it was nuts!!!!(firecrackers, cheering for the whole game, and just madness when a goal was scored.)