Weekends in Buenos Aires

The one perk about going out so late at night/early in the morning is that even though my flight was delayed 5 hours from Iguazu to Buenos Aires, I still arrived in time to meet up with friends and have a fantastic night out. We went to Kika (aka Old Faithful) and the dj was great this time around.

I planned to go on a hunt for leather products Saturday afternoon. After waking up pretty late, I did make it out eventually and I walked around Barrio Norte (where I live) for the first time since moving there. I happen to be on the border of Barrio Norte and Palermo - I spend all of my time in Palermo.

Barrio Norte is like the upper east side of Manhattan. It's quiet and clean and the buildings are older and well-maintained. I walked to Avenida Alvear, the 5th Ave of Buenos Aires. There are beautiful stores of Argentine origen, but there's also Louis Vuitton and Hermes etc., which I thought was interesting. There are so many American imports in Buenos Aires: Starbucks, Staples, McDonalds, Burger King, and now these major designer labels.

The television shows are all American, too. People LOVE Friends and The Office. I would think that the irony of The Office doesn't really read in Spanish, but they eat it up. There's also House and The Simpsons. And so much of the music in the clubs is from the States.

When I first arrived to Buenos Aires, I remember that I was watching television and I laughed that even things that aren't imported or translated are very similar. For example, a commercial for 'women's products' here in Argentina still has the same girls dancing around in white clothes looking all smiley, even though the product is Argentine. The messages are the same. I thought it was funny that despite many cultural differences some things are just the same.

Anywho (after that little tangent) I meandered through the high end shopping district. Found a gorgeous bag that I could never fathom paying that much for. But it was nice to look at. I also passed through La Plaza San Martin, El Palacio de San Martin and El Palacio de Paz. I think I'll go back to El Palacio de Paz since the pictures of the interior architecture look beautiful.

After a couple of hours of browsing (I do so much of that without purchasing it's almost absurd), I headed to my night of tango. First I took class. It was hard. My teacher accused me of dancing alone with someone else. It may have been the case at the time, but that's only because my partner wasn't guiding me. I mean...I know I often have trouble following since I prefer to lead (in life), but really since I have almost no clue how to tango, it's easier to follow. After a bit of a frustrating class (its ok frustration means I learned) we had a Club Tango 101 party.

We had snacks and just a running backtrack of tango music for all of the beginner students to practice with each other. Apparently, this is similar to a milonga setup. Buenos Aires is full of milongas - little tango houses where dancers go to practice their skills amongst each other. This was supposed to be lan atmosphere with ess pressure since we were all among beginners, instead of potential professionals that frequent actual milongas. Well, I don't know how they qualify a "beginner" because there were some pretty impressive students there. It made me feel like I haven't learned much...although I hope thats not true.

I did have fun though. Met some great people and my tango skills improved slightly by the end of the night. But I was STARVING. So I went to my new favorite kosher restaurant and had a delicious platter of chicken stuffed with plums. Wow. Where do they think of this stuff?

It was 12:30 am by the time I was done so I went home and decided to get a little bit of rest. (And my friends were being lame and decided not to go out.) But I guess sleeping is ok.

Sunday I woke up early to do some "real shopping." By real shopping I mean I planned to buy things. It was not my lucky day. I dashed back to Plaza Serrano to buy the hat that I really loved and didn't have enough money for the previous weekend. But when I got there, the woman laughed at me because she had already sold it. It almost made me glad that I didn't support her business. Do you believe she laughed at me? Sigh.

I really liked that hat, too.

But nearby was another store that had a shirt and a vest that had been on my mind since I tried them on. I waited half an hour for her to reopen (stores often close for an hour in the middle of the day for "lunch" or something). The shirt was gone. At least I nabbed the vest!!

I was feeling a little lonely on this Sunday, meandering back around through streets I have strolled on a few too many times. Wandering back towards the high end district, I passed a restaurant where a man and a woman were sitting together and each reading the newspaper. I wanted to bang on the glass and scream at them. ENJOY EACH OTHER'S COMPANY! YOU CAN READ THE PAPER ALONE! I'm kind of done with eating meals alone. Alone time is good, but I like talking during meals. On my path to self-discovery, this I have learned about myself.

The thing about being alone is that sometimes its great to be alone with your thoughts and do what you want in your day without bending around someone elses plans or expectations. The thing about being alone is that sometimes it's redundant to be alone with your thoughts. You don't realize much conversation you have with yourself until you are alone for a day and then you come across a friend at 10pm and say "hi" and it dawns on you "wow, that's the first thing I've said out loud all day." Haha.

I think, in general, all of this time alone has been good. It's a once in a lifetime thing. To just get up and go at your own whim. To just do what I feel like doing. And I'm learning how to listen to myself and determine what I feel like doing, instead of doing what I think I should do.

At the same time, I was feeling lonely Sunday night. So I went to yoga to cheer myself up. Yoga can always put a smile on my face. I think the more I really want to go, the more I enjoy myself and the better my class. I have fun in the 105 degree heat - especially since it's the only reliably warm place in Buenos Aires.

Then I got home and packed for Salta. I was SO excited! As much as I love the nightlife of Buenos Aires, and as much as I loved the city day AND night during Week 2, I much prefer the time I have in other cities. They are more exotic. It's easier to fill my days exploring and trekking and feeling out the culture. Most importantly, I meet AMAZING people outside of the city. Bring it on Salta!!

(More about Salta soon! I'm having a blast!)

BESOS!!