... is that you have to leave the country before 90 days. Trip to Argentina because I HAVE to? Yes, please.
I just spent the last 10 days in Buenos Aires, one of the coolest cities I have encountered. Big, beautiful, a little grungy, but full of nice people, great street markets, pretty parks, insane buses, wonderful cafes, dulce de leche, and fantastic night life. Just enough time to sample it all, but not quite enough to be satisfied (back in Santiago, I'm really lamenting my decisions to do some "cultural" things and not spend all my time, and money, shopping. Next time...)
I spent the first 5 days taking language courses and living with a local family. My castellano is progressing, though after listening to the Argentinian accent I now have more sh than ll (y) sounds, and am mixing "vos" instead of "tú" into my already rough conversations. At the school I met other travelers to explore the city with, and with my host family I got to live with a dog again (Catalina, the slightly crazy and incredibly fat perra), and eat tasty home-made Argentinian food. Good thing I am on hiatus from being a vegetarian!
I moved into a hostel downtown just in time for the weekend. Argentinians do not mess around with going out- bars aren't busy til midnight, no one shows up in clubs until 2 or 3, and an early night is getting home before sunrise. Hard to get used to, but, when in Rome...
One of my favorite things about the city were all the unique neighborhoods. There was Palermo which was beautiful and shady with bars and restaurants spilling out into the sidewalks, a great weekend market and so many shops it was overwhelming. Recoleta with an amazing old cemetery and the lavish houses. Puerto Madero on the "waterfront" of river lochs, full of uber expensive high rises, sidewalk cafes, and a little too much American-export culture: here's where you can find your TGI Friday's and Hooters. Yuck. Then there was San Telmo, the oldest part of the city and birthplace of the tango. Packed with antique shops, it was a little quiet during the day but the weekend market was one of my favorites. And the neighborhood La Boca, right on the dirty river where the old seedy port was, with a rambling street of houses painted bright but dirty colors, and everyone hustling for the tourist peso.
The city seems to go on forever. While it is filled with tourists, and rightly so, it seemed easier than most places to get lost in the shuffle of every day life, on a packed subte (subway) at rush hour, an old cafe at tea-time, McDonald's at 7am... Buenos Aires. Sigh. Nos vemos.
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