When I Die Bury Me Inside the Recoleta Cemetery

Che Amigos y Familia!

Today was such a busy day...so much jam packed into one day. But before I can tell you about today's events, I have to start with last night. So let's rewind:

Ayer
             In Buenos Aires, it is safe to take radiotaxis at night. Radiotaxis are just like normal taxis except for you have a number that you call to reserve the taxi in advance. Kassidy and I took the radio taxi for a 15 minute ride to Plaza Serrano. Plaza Serrano kind of reminds me of the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach minus the water. There are a bunch of bars and restaurants all located next to each other with plenty of places to sit outside when the weather is more favorable. When we arrived we met the rest of our group at a restaurant/bar which I cannot remember the name of. Throughout the night we walked back and forth to several bars. It was really hard to decide where to go because our group is somewhat segregated by sex and each sex had different motives. All the girls just wanted to dance and all the boys wanted to buy beer. Whenever we would go to a bar, the boys would be like "we'll be right back we're going to check the drink specials." & if they weren't what the guys wanted to pay, then we would leave. LOL! We went into several bars before everyone decided that it was time to find a club. We tried to go to a club called Kika, but when the bouncers  heard our American accents they tried to rip us off and charge us 80 pesos (about $10) to enter (it is usually 30 pesos). $10 was not bad for a cover. I'm used to paying that (or more) to get into parties/clubs in America and could care less about buying alcohol. But most of the students on the trip were only used to bars in downtown Athens that are free to enter & they did not want to pay the cover. Oh well! Tonight a smaller group of us will try to go to Kika again...hopefully for a cheaper cover fee. We ended up going into a smaller club for about 10 minutes.
             I was really surprised that all of the clubs in Argentina play Reggaeton (Puerto Rican rap). It's super popular down here & I was not expecting that. The clubs played a lot of the songs that I have on my iPod. None of the girls in my group knew how to dance to the reggaeton beat. Haha! They also played a lot of American music...top 40 and 80's music is really popular here as well.
              I definitely jinxed myself when I said that I had not had a problem with catcalls in my last post. Today they came in full force. Here men are not afraid to express that they are attracted to you. They'll whistle, make kissing noises at you like you're a dog, and purse their lips at you. I even heard the infamous expression "Hola morocha" (morocha=morena) numerous times. One man started singing the song "La negrita que me vuelve loca con su voz (the black girl that drives me crazy with her voice)" every time I walked by. Needless to say that was very awkward...especially considering that we walked past him three times and he sang it EVERY time.
      Last night was very interesting to say the least. We returned home at 2, which is very early in Argentina. Most clubs in Argentina don't begin to fill up until 2 or 3 and people return home at 6. I guess that is something us shankis (Argentine slang for American. This is not an insult) will have to get used to.

Hoy
     We did sooo much today. Today we had our city tour (pronounced "see-tee-too-or in Argentina). It began with lunch at a restaurant called La Payuca. It was delicious and there was SO MUCH food. Our meal began with three different types of salads served with bottled water that was poured into wine glasses. Our next course was an appetizer, I had an empanada. Next, was our main course. I had matambrito de cerdo, a pork dish consisting of a cut of meat from the pig's stomach. It tasted very similar to a grilled pork chop. (I am noticing that Argentines do not cut the fat off their meat & much of their meat tends to be fatty.) It was delicious. Next we had dessert. I had a chocolate mousse. By the end of our meal, I had the itis (black people talk for when you get tired after you eat lol) and my body was yelling at me for running on 5 hours of sleep. But we had to keep on pushing. It was time for our see-tee-too-or.
       Our city tour began in el sur de Buenos Aires. As we drove through Once, a commercial  area that contained a mall and many shops, I noticed that the European presence is not as strong. There were many indigenas (Spanish for natives) as well as other minority groups. I saw many African vendors selling things along the streets and also many Asian vendors as well.
        We then began to enter the distrito federal. This is where the capitol building is located. In Argentina they have a female president and she lives in la casa rosada ("the pink house"). How's that for girl power? *flips hair* As I mentioned in my last post, el 25 de mayo represents a celebration of Argentine Independence. As we approached La Plaza de Mayo, there were many people in the streets waving flags. We got off the bus and walked around for a little while. There were soooo many people. Bus filled with people from other parts of Argentina  came to celebrate and participate in the festivities. Vendors lined the streets selling hamburguesas and chimi pan ( hot dogs). Men with miniature ponies and llamas were selling rides for los nenes (children). In the center of La Plaza de Mayo, men and women spoke into microphones. They were practically screaming and if you did not understand Spanish you would have thought that they were protesting rather than celebrating. The people here are so passionate for their country and have a very strong sense of patriotism. Claudia explained to me that this is because Argentina has been ruled under dictatorships several times and during those periods celebrations such as this would have never been allowed. Thus, the people here are so appreciative of the fact that they have a democratic government.Very different from Americans who take advantage of the fact that we are a democratic country with so many rights. Rather than celebrating the true meaning of the 4th of July we inebriate ourselves and eat until we can't move.
          After we walked around La Plaza de Mayo, we headed to the barrio of San Telmo. Here is where La Univesidad de Buenos Aires, the school that Sophie goes to, is located. Next, we headed to La Boca, where one of Buenos Aires' popular soccer teams La Boca Players is located. La Boca is also known for its colorful buildings. As I have mentioned before there is a large Italian presence here in Buenos Aires. There were many Italian immigrants who came to La Boca. Because the immigrants were poor and could not afford professional painters, they would paint their houses in whatever color paint they could find. This resulted in a very colorful neighborhood. Today La Boca is very poor and dangerous, but there is an area of about 5 blocks that is world renowned and safe for tourists. We got off the bus once again and walked around. There were artisans selling paintings and tango dancers posing for pictures for a small friends. My friends and I all bought oil paintings for our rooms for $170 (about $20 US dollars).
           After La Boca, we hopped on the bus once again headed back towards the city proper. We had to pass through La Villa Miserias (the slums) on the way. It was a very sad sight to see. Everything looked very poor. There were houses made of aluminum and stray dogs running everywhere. Many of the people who lived here were indigenas. What surprised me the most was that there were often cars parked outside of the slums and the clothing of the people that lived in the villas wore were not rags. Such a shame to see the original inhabitants of an area living in the worst conditions.
       After La Boca we drove through Puerto Madero, the upscale and modern part of Buenos Aires facing the river. It reminded me of Wall Street in New York. Puerto Madero is very expensive because like Wall Street it is the business section of Buenos Aires. After Puerto Madero we reached Recoleta. Recoleta is even more similar to New York. It had many hilly, picturesque parks that look very similar to Central Park. There are also many great shops, collectively known as SOHO (just like NY). Finally we arrived at Recoleta Cemetary, a cemetary filled with mausoleums where aristocrats and members of high society rest. Recoleta Cemetary is probably the most beautiful thing that I have seen in Buenos Aires thus far. My pictures could not even capture half of the beauty of the cemetary. The mausoleums were humongous and the insides looked like decorated foyers. One of the most famous mausoleums in Recoleta is that of Evita Perron, the adored wife of Argentine president Juan Perron. We learned about the controversy behind her death and burial. Many of her enemies did not want her to be buried in Recoleta and she was buried in two other places before she was finally laid to rest in Recoleta. I had been looking forward to Recoleta all day. I charged my camera the night before. However, because Recoleta was the last stop on our tour and I had been taking pictures all day, of course my camera died as soon as we got to Evita's grave. This ALWAYS happens to me...ALWAYS. Luckily Kassidy snapped one of me.
        By the time the tour was over I was exhausted and cranky.  In Argentina, you don't eat dinner until 9 and around 5, you have a small snack and coffee or tea. Kassidy, Aki and I stopped at a cafeteria to have cappucinos and muffins. I'm really having a hard time getting used to this, especially considering the fact that Argentines do not drink as much water throughout the day. If I had drank water throughout the day, I would have felt more full  by 5. I'll have to stop by the grocery store tomorrow to buy a water bottle. When we got back to the apartment I was ready to pass out. I was sad that we did not get to spend a lot of time at Recoleta. But to my surprise, tomorrow is family day with our host family & Claudia told us that we will be spending the day at la feria in Recoleta :D
         Kassidy and I are going out once again tonight. Hopefully we will get into Kika...sin problemas. I have pictures so if you're friends with me on facebook, be on the lookout for them! I will also go back and add them to this post!

Ciao Ciao,

Jackie