- On the 3rd of Sept. I finally re-visited La Boca with a group of friends. (And when I say I visited La Boca, that really means I visited El Caminito --literally the small walk-way-- since that is the only "tourist friendly" part of La boca... or at least so I'm told). For me, La Boca is the coolest barrio of Buenos Aires. The streets are narrow, the brightly colored buildings clash and complement one another, and it is a place proud of it's history. La Boca is the birthplace of the tango and also of the fútbol team, Boca Juniors. Throughout El Caminito you can find homages to Evita, Carlos Gardel (father of tango), and Maradona (debatably one of the greatest fútbolistas of all time). The only downfall is how touristy El Caminito has become. Its somewhat of a paradox; the one place that you're supposed to experience the "real" Buenos Aires, has become very un-real, and sort of like an attraction. So in order to really get a taste of La Boca, one would have to venture outside of El Caminito, but it isn't highly recommended... especially not for foreigners, not to mention gringos. Nonetheless, I had a good time taking pictures of the bright buildings, watching all the tango dancers, and my over-priced pasta dish at a tango show restaurant.
- The following week (on the 9th to be precise) I visited the Museo Nacional de Bella Artes. I never know how to talk about museums (especially art ones)... but there were tons of extremely old and beautiful paintings. The names I remember seeing/recognizing include: Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Rembrant, Rodin, and El Greco. I don't know too much about art, but it was very cool to see works by names that I've heard of and seen in various classes. I also got a mini history lesson from one of the security guards: after viewing a huge painting for a good minute, he explained to me that it was a portrait of General Juan Manuel de Rosas and his daughter. He then showed me how that is the exact same portrait that appears on the Argentine 20 peso bill. And that's the extent of my applicable knowledge of Argentine art.
- The next day I went to Zoo Lujan. Lujan is about 2 hours outside of the city of Buenos Aires, and has a zoo in which you are able to pet animals otherwise known as dangerous man-eaters. Here I got a chance to pet and bottle-feed lion cubs (and lion pre-teens), pet full grown tigers, ride a camel, and hand-feed an elephant. I also thoroughly enjoyed the children's area where I played on a seesaw for an age-inappropriate amount of time, held a little duckling and a baby goat, and survived a crazy old goat's attempt to eat my hair. Also the zoo had piggies!!! They were not the cutest of pigs, but I loved them all the same. Another priceless memory to note, is that our two hour return home turned into a 4+ hour return home when our bus literally took over 2 hours to stop at the bus stop... gotta love that reliable public transportation system. Argentina wouldn't have it any other way.
- The next day (Sunday the 11th) I went to the first annual Harvest Moon Festival in Barrio Chino. I love every chance I get to go to China Town, so I obviously enjoyed this day. We saw traditional dragon dancing and Chinese drumming (all humorously performed by Argentines and not a single Chinese person), ate a delicious Chinese meal, were discriminated against because we weren't Chinese (a store owner was only letting in people of Asian descent into the grocery store--- not necessarily fun, but I found it funny in a way), and tried a moon cookie (or cake, or pie... I don't remember the technical term, but whatever it was, it was over-rated). This is also the day that my second phone was stollen on the bus ride home... but that process will be receiving it's own blog post, so stay tuned.
- The next two weeks of September were dull. This was the time period of my parciales (midterm exams) so I'm going to use my responsible dedication to my studies as an excuse... During this time period I also bought my first pair of Argentine-style boots, a very exciting occurrence for me, and I also visited the San Telmo feria, which is practically a giant outdoor market that runs for blocks and blocks and blocks of people selling crafts and touristy gifts. Didn't even make it all the way through the first time, so I'll probably be re-visiting before my time is up here. During this time I also missed an excursion with ISA due to my lack of phone, and hence lack of reliable alarm clock. It was the Día del Campo, which was meant to be my first official Argentine meat tasting, but don't worry, in the meat capital of the world, other opportunities have presented themselves... but more on that later.
Aside from my cellphone ordeal (which will be elaborated upon in the next post), that pretty much sums up my month of September. A catch-up on the month of October, will be following very, VERY, shortly.
Chau!
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