Before I left, a friend of mine at work told me to be careful, being a white person in South America. Whether or not that advice might be pertinent elsewhere, here I look so much like an Argentine it´s not even funny. So far I´m 3 for 4 on giving people directions (for some reason I always get asked directions anywhere I am), and every Argentine I´ve met says I look just like a Porteno (native of Buenos Aires). The central part of town is basically a mishmash of European immigrants (mostly Spanish and Italian), with a sprinkling of folks from other countries in South America, giving the people that vague ¨Mediterranean¨ look I guess I have. Plus, with the long hair, it cinched it. It´s funny, I jokingly told people I was going for the ¨Argeninian Soccer Superstar¨ look when I originally grew the hair out. Who knew it would actually work?

But anyway, I got tired of looking like a dirty hippie, so I found the first Peleqularia I ran into and told the lady to chop it off. The result - I now look like Corey Hart. Everyone else´s haircut (as well as a lot of stuff) is about 15 years behind the times also though, so it´s OK. I´ll probably still get asked directions all over town. Anyway, Antes y Despues

Pictures are shot from our second-story balcony. Millhouse Hostel´s in the backround. We´re right downtown, and our particular block a) has a huge club scene, including a goth night right below our apartment until about 9 in the morning on Saturdays and b) is a main bus route, with buses going by about every 10 minutes, even in the middle of the night. Not too conducive for getting a good night´s rest sometimes.

Anyway, the southern part of town as well as some barrios outside the central city are much more like Latin America than Europe. I´m going to a street fair in one of them Sunday - I´ll let you know if I still feel like a Porteno there.