Touchdown
I don´t even know where to begin…I´m running on 2 hours of sleep since yesterday morning and I´ve done more walking today then I´ve probably done over the course of the past year. Note: should´ve gone for the Industrial size Goldbond before I left. Ouch.
Anyway, I´m utterly exhausted (but trying hard to stay awake so I can be on a normal schedule) but I´ll try to give a quick rundown on the first day.
First of all, the business class seating was incredible - best flying experience I´ve ever had…but I´ll save this unimportant nonsense for another time. So I land in Buenos Aires without a hitch, pick up my bags, clear customs, and I´m off. Ignacio (a family friend from Colombia) set me up to be picked up by a friend of his at the aeropuerto, a fair gentleman named Adolfo. Senor Vitulli picks me up, and takes me into the city (which is about 45 minutes away). On the way we pass some real shantytowns…and I´m not talking about East Bmore my friends, I´m talking straight up shacks. A few minutes past that though we start to get into the city, so it starts to get more 1st world-looking.
So senor Vitulli drops me off at my hostel, but before he does he invites me to an “asado” - basically a BBQ but it´s alot more serious, more like a tradition at his house next week…plus, he has a 22 year old who he´s gonna put me in touch with. Niiiice. I get into the hostel and throw my stuff down, explore it for a bit, then head back out. It´s a very cool hostel…let´s just say I don´t think the Jamaican flag hanging up in the main room is coincidence. Bonus points - the guy who runs it is French and we get along! Anyway, I leave this place and meet up with Metzner (friend from Barcelona) at the Alto Palermo mall. This will be the first of three times I meet up at said mall for the day. We hang out, grab a bite to eat, shoot the shit, etc…then he leaves because he has a spanish class. After that, I go back to my hostel to get the number of this 20 year old UBA student - Jewish - that I got from the hillel in Buenos Aires. He takes me around town on a walking tour, and boyyyyyy did we do some good old walking. Anyway, from walking around the city, a few first impressions came to mind:
1) The city is really interesting architecturally - alot of the buildings look like Madrid and Paris (I´m told, having made it to neither of those places) but with alot of modern looking highrise apartments…of course, its completely and utterly chaotic. I´d characterize it as a sort of cross between Barcelona, with the chaos of Tel Aviv and the grit of NYC…and although I hate to admit it, it proably is alot dirtier than NYC. Definitely a very european feel though. Oh, and the drivers are absurdly crazy.
2) If there´s an ” economic depression,” then I must be one poor bastard. Granted all of the areas where I´ve been frequenting are the more middle, upper-middle class areas…but during my 2nd visit to the Mall, I couldn´t help but notice some of the exorbitant prices on clothes and everything…and the place was packed. People still dress nice, places are packed, and all that. But, there are alot of poor people milling around, collecting trash, or asking for change (most of whom are darker-skinned, Indian looking).
3) The real reason all of you are reading this: Yes, yes…the women are really hot, and I haven´t even been to any bars or clubs yet.
4) Basics, like food and taxis are really really cheap. My pizza at lunch today (at a rizty place) was like 8 pesos, or about $2.5 bucks. I just bought a bottle of water for 1 peso (35 cents) and bus fare is 80 centavos (peso cents). One of my cab´s was 3.80 so I “tipped” the guy by rounding up to 4 pesos…I know, my generoisty is unprecedented. All of the imports are really expensive, but it seems like everything domestic is really reasonable.
Anyway, that´s the story so far. I´m so beat but I´m gonna try to grab a quick cafe con leche, go back to my apartment, then meet Metzner for dinner. Perhaps apply goldbond. Ouch.
Adios muchachos.
Tags: Buenos Aires
