Argentina

Brazilian bureaucracy had me needing to border-hop yet again so I decided to hit up the next country on my to-do list: Argentina. I wrote a friend of mine who lives there, who I had met last year while he was here visiting Rio. He'd come to visit a mutual friend of ours and ended up spending a few days hanging out with me and two friends (from the U.S. and another city in Brazil) who happened to be visiting me at the time. We all got along really well and he and I stayed in touch afterwards...you know how these kindred-spirited travelers do.

I wrote him a few months back saying I was thinking about visiting Buenos Aires and, because he's amazing, he responded saying that he'd come get me at the airport and that I could stay at his house! Ridiculously freaking nice!! So I bought the ticket.

I found out as soon as I got to the country that the airport is very lax with their rules--important for me because I'm not the best rule-follower. I'd done a half-assed job filling out the customs form (by that, I literally mean that I only filled out half of it) and nobody even looked at it. They just threw it onto the pile of other papers and I walked right through. Then I got up to the customs counter and the woman asked me for the address of where I was staying.

the view

"Great question," I told her,  "I didn't think to get that ahead of time."
"Well where are you staying?"
"With a friend."
"Okay, well at least just give me his phone number."
"Uhhh...I don't have that either."
"Then HOW are you in touch with him? How are you getting to his house?"
"He's picking me up here. We talk on facebook."
"Well I need an address or phone number."
"Well...do you have wifi here?"
"No."
"Uhhh....."
*awkward silence*
Finally, she pushed my passport back through the window with an angry "Whatever! Bye!"and I sailed on through the glass doors to find Walter and start exploring Buenos Aires!

I don't know if Walter thought he was auditioning for World's Best Host or what....but not only did he let me stay in his bomb-ass apartment in Palermo (a super nice area of Buenos Aires), he gave me his freaking bed for the week and slept on the couch (which I still feel bad about).

halfway through our run

 My first day there (and then again a couple days later), we ran Walter's 9km route throughout Palermo. Palermo...and the rest of the super nice parts of Buenos Aires that I saw, looked nothing to me like the other parts of Latin America that I've seen. The older buildings reminded me of the architecture in Spain and London, while the newer buildings reminded me of the latest renovations that Brendan showed me the last time we were in downtown Cincinnati. Then the smaller streets reminded me of Italy while the bigger avenues made me think of a (much) cleaner version of a big city like New York or Seoul. I was seriously confused about where we were the entire time we were there. Anyway...it was beautiful. And there's nothing like going on a run through a brand new city to make me feel alive!

The whole trip was perfect. Exercise, food, minimal tourist activities and maximum time spent with the people and getting to see the real culture. A day after I got there, Walter invited his friends over for an Asado, which is a typical Argentinian barbecue. It's a whole process. The first step is to buy a giant-ass slab of meat...dead carcasses are not typically my thing but I handled it like a pro...and they even got a chicken (not typical) for my gall-bladder-less self. They spend 4+ hours cooking the meat and, in the meantime, other people help out by making other typical foods--salads and whatnot--to go with the meal. They also play a card game called truco which is super confusing to me, although they claim it's easy. It's like a mix of Poker and Kemps but the cards are all different and the hands are not the same as in Poker. Walter's friends were super nice--and hilarious--and I had a great time talking to them...not to mention getting to speak Spanish again and listening to their beautiful, beautiful Argentinian accents. I may need to spend some more time there at a later point to have a little bit of that accent rub off on me... We'll see. ;)

See? Giant-ass slab of meat.

El Asado!

We watched plenty of soccer (including the Argentina vs. the U.S. game in which the U.S. got their asses handed to them over and over for 90 minutes straight...awkward) and explored some of the other neighborhoods in the city as well (San Telmo, La Boca, the Historical Center, Recoleta & the cemetery, etc...).

La Boca

Centro Histórico

I want to add a side note on the cemetery....but I'm not even sure what to say. People say that it's beautiful. It is. For sure. But the whole idea is seriously so weird to me. The concept of trying to keep dead bodies around for any reason is weird and then building them their own expensive-ass shrines while other people who are alive and could actually really use some of that money (or some of the organs, for that matter) actually exist. I could go on and on about this and all the other things that weirded me out there but whatever....I'll say no more.

So overall, the trip was freaking amazing! The travel bug bit the shit out of me while I was there so I am currently planning my next move. Traveling is almost the most beautiful thing in the world...but the people you meet in each place actually top it.

Our last mate!

Walter, thank you for such an amazing week, for giving me your bed and sharing your friends with me, for taking time off work to hang out with me, for all the laughs and great conversations, for all the mate and my own pollo, and for being the all-around bomb! You're an amazing person and an inspiring traveler! I'm excited for your next adventures!

In other news....Colombia, anyone? ;)