You probably should know by now that I was in South America back in August. Being in the US on a tourist visa means I can stay for 6 months, so when that time comes up I have to leave. I didn't want to go home and I didn't think it would be that easy for me to leave back to NY if I did. I could've gone to Europe but I'd been to quite a few places in Europe and wanted to try something different. South America was one place i'd never been to, but being in NYC it's probably as close as i'm going to get to it, so why the hell not?!
I have some family in Argentina so I spent some time with them, but alot of the time I did my own thing. I also had a friend from NY in Argentina. Well he wasn't exactly a friend, I knew who he was but we had some friends in common who suggested we connect. And connect we did :) I only had a week there so I tried to make the most of it. Things were fairly cheap (coming from New York with US dollars). Food, transport, Museums. Lots of things to do there.
I began by taking a free walking tour of the city. It was great to get an overview of the city as well as its history from a local. It was a few hours long and met a wide variety of people. A retired couple from California, people from all over Europe and even an Australian. We saw the main sights like the Congresso, we walked along Avenida de Mayo and came across a protest - whats new. Another day, another protest.
I checked out cool areas like Palermo Soho, the botanical gardens and the Evita Museum. There is a kosher McDonalds there, i think I was there almost every day for lunch! The subway is soooo cheap! Less than 30c US a ride, and cabs are cheap too, but I did alot of walking because thats the best way to see the sights. I walked through Recoleta, I cruised along Avenida Santa Fe, saw lots of embassies, the jockey club, and even got kicked out of the Sofitel hotel because I wasn't a paying guest. I mean really?! All I was doing is sitting on a couch!
Now here comes the fun part. I googled gay nightlife to see what the clubs were like and where they were. I wasn't sure if I'd go but it was an idea. But things start reeeeeeealy late over there. People aren't eating dinner till about 10pm, no-one goes out clubbing till 12, or even more likely 1am. So I met up with my friend P. We started off at someone's house for drinks. I met a bunch of his friends, they were all doing some kind of study in Argentina and they were from all over the world. Eventually it was time to hit the club. It was called Club 69 and had a drag show as part of the entertainment. We all got in and it was packed! Had to stick to basic drinks because these people just didn't know more than that. First time ever having a screwdriver with freshly squeezed OJ. Nothing better!
I got hit on by a bunch of girls. There was a guy that was eyeing me on the dancefloor but I wasn't interested. I had my eye on someone else actually but he was hanging with another guy. But I stuck around anyway. Eventually when his friend went off I made my move, and his friend returned only to find us making out, well he wasn't impressed. But my boy kicked his venezuelan ass away and we continued what we were doing. He was Australian and cute! Funny thing happened though, the boy that had shown interest in me earlier went up to this guy and whispered something in his ear. I asked my aussie friend what the guy had said. His answer? That he'd made the right choice! :) We literally spent a couple hours just standing there on the side making out. Too bad neither of us had a place to go back to. We were both tourists in a foreign country. By the time we called it a night and I got back home it was 6am. A fun night as always :)
Ok what else did I see in Argentina... back to the regular touristy things. checked out the Obelisk, went out to eat a number of times. I checked out the San Telmo markets, Recoleta cemetary where Evita is buried, La Boca stadium and the camanito area. I also went out with P again, this time to dinner at a kosher place called Mama Jacinta. I was a bit concerned because what if it turned out to be lousy, i'd never eaten there. And he brought a bunch of his international friends along. It actually turned out really nicely. The food was great, as was the company.
Of course I can't forget churros. They're sort of like a long doughnut, and often served with hot chocolate. My guidebook recommended La Giralda as the best place to have them in BA. They were absolutely divine! And of course I couldn't leave without getting a shoe shine from a street vendor.
All in all it was an amazing trip, and I hope to make it back someday and do all the things i missed out on. And of course practice my spanish!
Jay
Posts
2 comments:
Sounds like you had a great time.
You must have been wiped out when you came back! ;~D
Great Post! I love reading blogs of people who travel. I wish I had written a post like this when I was in Austria - all I wrote about was the guy I was interested in while I was there, nothing about the sights. You had a good mix of both :-p. Hope you had a blast in Argentina - I've never thought about going there and now I'm really interested!
Post a Comment