Loquis and Post-Loquis: My last week of work in Buenos Aires

The week the boys spent here was phenomenal and very caloric. On Monday, we met up with my friend Kelly to see La Bomba del Tiempo (an improv drum band concert). The show was wonderful until some random lady started singing and ruining each piece. Around that time, we decided to head back home. On Tuesday, I decided to let the grupo loco go out without me because I wanted a quiet night at home -- something that is extremely hard to do when you´re in a city like this because there is always something else that you could be doing. On Wednesday, without other plans, we did what any sensible person would do -- we went on the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl. One word: Wow. Brazillians dominated the group because this is the time of year when they come to Argentina to take a break from the heat, but they were all pretty friendly with us since Eric speaks a bit of Portuguese and almost all of them speak a moderate level of English. *DETAILS HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED* because, as I told my dad the next day, what happens in Buenos Aires, stays in Buenos Aires. On Thursday, the boys met up with me to go see the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. If you don´t know about the tragedy, you owe it to yourself to read about it (on Wikipedia, at least...). I then went back to work for a bit and returned home at the usual time. Then, we had a laid-back night and went to a restaurant around the corner from where I´m staying. The food was great, very tastey and very reasonable. For their last night here, Friday night, we had a very packed evening. First, we went to a Chabad Kabalistic service for Shabbat. The Rabbi then took us into his home and invited us to dinner, along with 20 other people (from all over the world - including Argentines, other Americans, Brazillians, and Israelis). I guess it just goes to show you that the song is true...¨Everywhere you go, there´s always someone Jewish.¨ After engaging with Jews in Argentina, we went to Mandarine, a club located at Punta Carrasco, an area right on the river. It started off super slow, but it picked up rather quickly. We stayed there for a while, and it seemed like the boys had a great time (mostly because of the ridiculous girl-to-guy ratio). The next morning, we went to Murillo, the leather district, and I helped the boys buy gifts for their friends and family. Geez, I have never seen so much leather in my life. As Jerry put it, SENSORY OVERLOAD!!! After shopping ´til we dropped, we went to a parilla and split a gigantic piece of steak...still not entirely sure what cut. We also tried their pancetta and some of their empandas. Yum. At that point, it was time to say goodbye...o, chau chau. The boys left for the airport, and I had a timely reunion with my bed, since I was starting to get sick.

After spending all of Saturday night in bed, I woke up early on Sunday morning for a little excursion to Tigre and San Isidro. The former is an area about 30km outside of Buenos Aires, and several people live on the Delta, which is only reachable by boat. Thus, there are entire industries that exist by boat in Tigre - Supermarket Boats, Taxi and Bus Boats, Police Boats, etc. Crazy, no? All the while, I was explaining everything that the tour guide was saying to the Chinese woman next to me because she didn´t speak any Spanish. I then did some shopping in San Isidro, the Argentine equivalent of Highland Park, before heading to the antique/artisan market in San Telmo, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Argentina. Upon finding some bargains, my Chinese friend and I stumbled upon a man making fresh-squeezed orange juice, a rarity in a country like this that doesn´t believe in vegetables or fruit. For being her translator, bargain-maker, and acquaintance, my Chinense friend bought me a glass of his juice...which turned out to be the very best orange juice I have ever consumed. I then walked 3 miles in the rain (probably not a good thing since I was sick to begin with) and arrived home. At night, I drank maté (Argentine tea that is super bitter and consumed in a really interesting fashion) with my friend, Daniel, and finally saw The Blind Side. It was a good way to close out the week -- relaxing and watching an awesome movie. That was, of course, until I remembered that I had to finish my applications for On-Campus Interviews for when I return to the U.S. Oops!

Since the week is almost over, I am going to leave my updates about this week until tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Besito,
A