Mar Del Plata

After only two weeks in BA, I was definitely ready to escape the heat and head to the beach. Molly and I hopped on a bus and headed south for 5 hrs towards Mar del Plata to meet up with Laura and Alberto. It took us about 30 minutes at the ticket counter to make our itinerary and purchase our tickets, and, of course, only VIP tickets were left on our outbound trip. So the two Americans sat first class in a "cama suite" on the 5 hr ride to the beach. The buses here are amazing, it's pretty much like sitting in a lazy boy.

We stayed at one hostel the first night, and a different hostel the remaining 3 nights due to availability. The beaches were PACKED. The most crowded beaches I've ever seen for sure. We'd walk around for at least 10 minutes just trying to find enough space to plop down 3 towels. It's summer vacation in BA and everyone heads to the beach during January and February...

Our 1st hostel was....skeevy, to say the least. (older folks: check www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=skeevy for definition) The people were awesome, we hung with all young college kids from Buenos Aires that were at the beach for vacation, and one kid from Sweden. It was the best practice I've had with my Spanish thus far. So the people were great, but the bedrooms were gnarly. Oh well, it was do-able for one night. We shared the room with two other girls from Argentina...Molly woke them up at 3AM when she decided she was hungry for some cheese puffs in her bed....That's what drinking games with fernet branca will do, I suppose.

In the morning we were "politely" told we needed to leave ASAP if we didn't want to be charged an extra day, so at 9AM we started trekking to our next hostel that was on the other side of town. When we booked them online, we didn't realize the beach town was actually a HUGE city. So this hostel was a little less fun (we called our hostel manager 'La Diabla'...the devil), more family oriented, but CLEAN. The picture may not do it justice, but compared to the first place, it was clean. We stayed in a bedroom w/ 3 other people. A couple from Sweden and a guy from London, Rob. I'm new to the hostel culture, but I think it's pretty awesome. You get a chance to meet a lot of new, interesting people from around the world who are all on their own journeys. It's also weird, you make a connection with some people, then leave in the morning, and will potentially never see these people again.

The beaches in Mar del Plata aren't the best beach I've seen.

The main beaches are actually quite dirty. The sand is filled with cigarette butts, plastic, glass, condoms, etc. ewww. And the Atlantic is FREEZING. I mustered up the courage to get in once. I walked a couple miles down the shoreline to Playa Grande which was cleaner and classier, but equally as crowded, if not more...I've heard the beaches in Uruguay are a lot nicer, so I can't wait to go check them out.

Alberto and Laura were staying at a nearby hostel and invited us over for my first asado (BBQ, but Argentina style). Alberto spent a solid hour getting the grill ready and Laura, Molly, Rob, and I hung around eating snacks and drinking fernet and coke....Fernet Branca is the liquor they drink here. It's made from a bunch of herbs and spices. It's an aquired taste-super bitter, but it's starting to grow on me. We spent several hours hanging out and eating a ton of meat. MMM, bife de chorizo. The beef here is delicious. So we headed home at midnight, when guests are no longer allowed at the hostel, and walked back to ours.

I still can't believe the night life here. We were walking through the streets at nearly 1AM and families were just going out to get dinner and ice cream, etc. All of the restaurants were packed, the streets were packed....new borns were out, grandparents were out. When do they all sleep?????

Bugging out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r92LRZ-bD18

Molly bugging out.... Unfortunately I didn't capture the several minutes prior.

Sunburns, Bedbugs, and Ants OH MY...

Nothing like getting accustomed to a new country. I thought after the DR I'd have this one in the bag....but, without fail, there are difficulties.

1) 

Apparently the sun is strong enough here to scorch you at 4PM while walking in the shade. Who knew?     

(I guess it could also be my stubborn self boycotting sunscreen?)

2) I'm debating whether I was attacked by an angry mosquito while outside on our terrace or by mean little creatures living in my mattress. According to google, and Molly's Merck Manual (which is super frightening and pretty much informed me that I would die of Hep B), it's nearly impossible for even dermatologists to differentiate. I think I'm screwed. I have 18+ bug bites on my right calf alone. So I took my sheets and mattress cover to the laundromat and tried explaining to the woman who worked there what had happened. Earlier in the day, and following the advice of my new roommate, I marked all of my "bug" bites with a pen so that I could tell if I was getting more throughout the day. 

This seemed like a great idea at the time, however the woman at the laundry mat thought I was crazy when I pointed out my bug bites - and each was well marked by a big blue line. 

Once again, as I walked down the streets of BA, I can't imagine how much of a foreigner I looked like. Anyway, she took my sheets and will apparently soak them in bleach overnight-or in some other strong chemical, I hope.

3) 

Cucarochas galore. I was settling down for the night and about to do some things on my computer when I heard a screech from the kitchen. It was Molly along with her little insect friends. Clarence and Leroy had been our house pets, as Adam informed us when we first arrived. But tonight all of their distant relatives stopped by for a visit. There were 10+ just scurrying across our hallways, kitchen, bathroom. I have an amazing video clip of Molly wigging out as one entered her room which I will post as soon as I figure that advanced tech. out. Adam was not so impressed. Um, welcome to living with girls :)

   

4) 

And last, but not least, our ant farm. We don't have a garbage disposal. Not surprising at all. 

So, inevitably, we leave all of our food remnants in the trash. This corner behind our door to the kitchen is where we keep our trash can....ironically this is the same corner where a family of ants decided to inhabit. hmmmm. 

Next stop? Hardware store. Next Purchase? Screens for our drains, OFF, and Raid. Bring on the chemicals. 

Errrr Technology

I posted my pictures on picasa instead. It seems to be more user friendly.

http://picasaweb.google.com/leslwells

Getting Acquainted.

I'm realizing there's no way I'll be able to write down everything I do, or I'll spend half of my time here on this blog, but here's my shot at the last few days. It may be kind of boring, but it should help me remember all my happenings-I'll work on highlighting the best parts in the future to keep it entertaining for you...

FRIDAY:

After waking, Molly and I excursioned around Palermo to check out our neighborhood. Went down to the Italian Plaza, passed the zoo, walked for hours. We stopped at a market to pick up some groceries as we plan to eat all of our meals at home to save money. There's a market on pretty much every street corner and things are cheap. We bought a lot of fruit and vegetables and and beer for about $10, much better than in the States. Some things are more expensive, a jar of Jiffy is almost $15. We've put ourselves on a budget and so far we're doing well. Neither of us are that great of cooks, which poses a problem, but we'll learn. 

Friday night we met up with Laura and her boyfriend, Alberto, but they didn't come over until 1AM. It's going to be tough adjusting to this. People don't go out until 1 or 2AM, then stay out until 5Am...We had a drink here on our terrace with Adam, the roomie, played some cards, etc. Then walked a few blocks to a bar where Alberto's friends were waiting. 

We waited for half an hour outside the bar b/c some girl needed an ambulance. The EMT response time was awkwardly slow. Drank some beers on the rooftop terrace, where they played MGMT, didn't expect to hear that in BA. I practiced my Spanish, or castellano as they call it here, but there's no telling if I'm following the conversations correctly. 

I'd be really interested to hear a translated version of the conversations I've had thus far and see how far off my interpretation of what we're talking about is... Molly and I decided it was time to leave around 5Am-we just couldn't hang anymore. We ran across the sketchy train tracks to get home and made it safe and sound and exhausted.

SATURDAY:

We wasted most of Sat. Getting home at 6AM makes it difficult to be productive the following day. We ran a couple of errands and that was about it. Alberto and Laura came over again Sat night to continue celebrating his birthday weekend. We went to a bar that was next door to the bar we were at on Friday night. Best Mojitos ever, hands down. It's very bohemian here. I love it-people are so laid back. All of the people are beautiful. All the girls are TINY. From what I've experienced so far, girls are super fashionable, but casual, they go out in sundresses and flip flops, guys are in t-shirts. I practiced castellano again with Alberto's friends and decided I'm definitely going to take Spanish lessons while I'm here. It's frustrating not being able to express myself.

SUNDAY:

I was supposed to get up at 11 Am for brunch with Laura and Alberto but slept til 1PM. I'm getting very tech savvy here. I don't have a cell phone yet, so I've been calling Laura via Skype. Whew, technology these days...

Excursioned with Molly again on Sunday. We ventured to the subway, "subte", for the first time and took it to San Telmo, where there's a huge outdoor market every Sunday. We walked down the stairs of the subway entrance and bought a 10 trip pass, following the instructions of my tour guide book and thinking we were so ahead of the game. However, we soon realized the subway on our side of the street was going the wrong direction. We explained our dilemma to the guy behind the

 ticket counter and he told us to just walk upstairs, re-enter the subway on the other side of the street, and tell the woman at the opposite ticket counter our situation. So we did. And she said OK. But we looked at each other somewhat confused on how we would get through the locked railings. A local gentleman interrupted us and started asking us if we needed help, meanwhile, he's grabbing Molly's subte pass and showing us how to run it, so we were minus one trip. Then he explained that we had a 10 trip pass so it didn't matter if we ran it again, so he showed us...again. Down two trips. Then ran Molly's for a 3rd time, apparently so I could go, but I was thoroughly confused why he was all of a sudden taking control of her pass, so I swiped mine in another line. Danggggg. We're now down 5 trips and haven't even seen a train yet.... smart americans. go team.

We got off the subway downtown and came across a huge movie set. They were filming a movie right downtown-hence the picture with all of the pink and red petals in the air. It was pretty awesome, I've never seen a big production like that before and there had to have been hundred of people involved in the production. People were walking around with walkie talkies and there were tons and tons of these petals flying around downtown. Really cool. We proceeded to the Sunday market that we've heard about. It was crazy. Huge, busy, etc. Hundreds and hundreds of people. A lot of tourists and people selling everything from vintage clothes to barbies. It was really amazing and at times really overwhelming. I'm not a huge fan of big crowds. Ummm, I can only handle NYC for 3 days at a time and BA is 1.5x the size. oh boy....well, more details to follow...hopefully my blogs will be short and sweet next time around.

aesthetic stuff

me and technology are building a relationship. check out my photos:

http://elviajeaba.shutterfly.com/

Las Primeras Dias

So we made it. I met Molly in the Houston airport and we had some time to catch up on the last few months of our lives.  Soon after boarding our 10 and half our flight, we became quite friendly with our seat mate, Maria. She didn't stop talking from take off to landing so Molly and I were exhausted upon landing to say the least. Thank god for Tylenol PM. We shared a cab with two other Americans from the airport to our apartment in Palermo Viejo. I asked the cabbie lots of questions, including "what's the local beer?" which was followed by him pulling over the cab on the side of the highway so I could take a picture of a truck driving by with Quilmes, the local brew, on board. He was hilarious. Clara, the house manager, wasn't at the house like we expected so we waited on the sidewalk with 4 large suitcases and our obviously foreign appearance for about 45 minutes. Our apartment is on a major four lane street that's full of shops, restaurants, etc. It's situated between two clothing stores. Luckily, the girls working in one of the stores told us to come inside with all of our luggage and wait for Clara in their shop so we wouldn't look like dumbasses. They didn't speak any English. I can only imagine what they were thinking about us. 

We spent most of yesterday checking out our apartment and unpacking, which consisted mostly of Molly laughing at me for overpacking. I guess 15 pairs of shoes is somewhat excessive, and I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my back trying to lift my carry-on into the overhead compartment on the plane, but where else was I supposed to put the extra 10 lbs that wouldn't fit into my hiking backpack? But thanks Mom and Dad for all the new clothes :) I'll be a little american fashionista since I can't afford to do any shopping here. 

The apartment is quaint. Kind of what I imagined. The foyer and main part of the downstairs don't have a roof. Off of the main hallway/foyer area is my room, Molly's room, a bathroom, the kitchen, living room, and dining room; all of which have roofs. If you go upstairs, there is a big terrace then two more roofed bedrooms. The kitchen is tiny. We've already seen a cockroach and plenty of ants, but they stick to the kitchen so I should be safe while I sleep. Keep your fingers crossed.

We walked around a bit to find some food and Quilmes. We're super close to Plaza Serrrano, a central spot for hanging, drink, and eating. We ordered 2 liters of Quilmes, not realizing how big a liter is. Um, we're retarded. So we stopped by the supermercado to get some groceries and walked back home a little tipsy then slept from about 7:30-10:30PM. My body had absolutely no idea what time it was, still groggy from the flight. We woke up and decided to stay in and relax on our first night. We continued getting situated while drinking some vodka and sprite. We thought the 11 peso vodka was a bargain (that's about $3 for a handle), but after my first few sips I realized why it was so cheap. Gross. I could barely finish it.

I guess I haven't mentioned that we have a 3rd roommate right now. Adam. From Portland. He's probably about 35. Definitely an interesting experience living with a complete stranger. Molly and I await our 4th roomie. He's supposedly coming on the 15th of Jan. He's from NY and is a photographer. Hopefully he's awesome. I'm bummed b/c we thought we were living with at least one native speaker. Oh well, it'll force us to leave the apartment more frequently.

Today we did just that. We cooked some breakfast/lunch at the apartment then headed out to explore. I'm realizing how big the city is. We spent 4 or 5 hours walking around and only saw part of our barrio, which is one of about 9 or 10. Today was much hotter than yesterday. Now I understand why everyone says "Don't go to Argentina in January or February" and I understand why anyone who can afford to leave the city does. I imagine today wasn't as bad as it will get either. Oh well, bring on the tan.

Ok, I have to get a nap in before tonight. I'm trying to meet up with Laura and her boyfriend to celebrate his birthday. I'll post some photos soon.