Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ben and I are having an unbelievable time down here. I have fallen in love with the country and am starting to fall in love with the language. While being quite different from the Spanish I learned for the past 6 months in Mexico City, it is beautiful (lo siento mis amigos de D.F.). Here is a brief recap of what we have been doing the past few days.

Thursday:
Ben and I had a great steak dinner in Puerto Madero which is on the river in Buenos Aires. We stuffed ourselves on empanadas, black sausage, fanstastic beef, and argentinian wine from mendoza. We explored several parts of the city as well, including the area near the river in Puerto Madero and Florida street in the center of the city. Florida is a pedestrian only street that has tons of restaurants and shops, most of which sell leather goods.

Friday:
In the morning we explored San Telmo which is a very historic area of the city. We had a great lunch there and then headed back to our hostel where we meet up with a guide to take us to a futbol game between Velez and Racing. The game was at the Velez stadium on the western edge of Buenos Aires. On the way to the match, our guide (a young guy named Santiago) told us all about Argentinian soccer, including how the mafia runs the fan base for all of the teams. Because of this, there is sporadic violence at the stadiums. Three weeks ago at the Velez stadium a Velex fan was shot and killed before the game against San Lorenzo. So, when we arrived at the stadium, there were various signs memorializing the man who was named Emmanuel. There was no violence at our game, although it was quite intense. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. After the game, we went to have dinner
in Palermo Soho. We were not able to get a table until about 12:30 and the place stayed packed all night. We ended up meeting a couple local Argentinians who actually thought I was a local. Apparently my hair and the pathetic facial hair Im growing is giving me a good latin american look. We ended up drinking there until 5am, which probably wasnt the best idea since we had a flight the next morning. But, we made some friends and hope to meet back up with them when we return to BA.