Monday, September 17, 2012

September 16th - 9:21pm

<p>By far one of my favorite days in Argentina today! Got up early to open the gate for the guys but after that got to sleep in. Around noon Meg and I decided to go into town and headed out to try to take the bus. We made it to the bus stop but once again we were not able to buy the tickets to get on the bus. Not at the kiosko or gas station or anywhere. But someone did tell us we could ride the bus if we had pesos in coins. So we went around to a couple different places trying to swap our paper money for coins. End result was 7 pesos. Enough for one trip but not both of us. So after some brainstorming about options we just decided to message Rodrigo. He has a car and has offered before to drive me to wherever. As luck would have it, he wasnt busy. So half an hour later (we waited it out in the ice cream store - yum!), we were out of the gas station and on the road to capital!
We had no idea where we wanted to go so kind of just left it up to him. First we ended up at a port on Rio de la Plata. It was kind of sketchy at first because there was a huge soccer game about to start and a lot of crazed (somewhat intoxicated) fans headed toward the stadium. Right as we got out of the car a huge group of people surrounded by riot police walked up the road infront of us. Rodrigo sent us right back into the car and seemed a touch confused with Megg and my fascination with the craziness. It was so different than anything I have ever seen at home though! Apparently they were Boca fans and since they're the best we should be too (according to Walter at least). Once they went by we headed out and Rodrigo showed us this street with all sorts of resturants and shopping places. The resturants spilled out into the street with outdoor seating and live tango dancing/demonstrations. I was fascinated. The dancing was beautiful, the people friendly and the stores full of fun stuff. I bought one of the special straws for drinking mate and did the ridiculous tourist thing taking pictures. The area was so pretty though. The art, architecture, the cobblestone streets, everything. Old and beautiful.
Once we'd seen everything we attempted to go to the Recoleta area but got side tracked by an absolutely gorgeous park. It was set in a hill with fountains and amazing trees. Again an older part of the city but so pretty. We walked around for awhile admiring the view and just hanging out. It feels like its been a long time since Ive just hung out with friends (one even speaking my language!) outside of the farm. When Ive gone with Alice its fun but also quite a challenge to get around with the language barrier. With Rodrigo to translate/do most of the talking it is much less stressful.
After our jaunt in the park we headed toward Av 9 de Julio which Ive gotten to know somewhat well. Meg got to see the Obolisk for the first time and I was wide eyed looking at everything even after so much time here. We wandered around a bit and saw some amazing Brazilian fight dancing on the street. We went to the grocery store and finally settled down in a cafe just talking and hanging out. We got a table right up next to the window on the corner of Corrientes and 9 de Julio so had a great view. Watched the military people take the Argentine flag down, the people on the street and just tried to take in the city. Neither Meg or I are from large cities so its incredible impressive for us. And of course Rodrigo was great explaining what things were and answering questions as he had been all day. All in all a fantastic Sunday.










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