but it was a very comfortable flight. When we got int the cab driver was a lot of fun, of course talked up Argentina, as all Argentineans do. Got to the hostel, which didn't look like anything from the outside but it was a beautiful old building that had been renovated into a cute hostel. We met Paul who was the owner, Chilean who grew up in LA so he spoke perfect English. He had a musical background so we talked bands for a long time. We also met Michel who is from the Netherlands but moved to Argentina a few years ago to work at the hostel as well. Both guys were really nice and we had fun chatting with them throughout our stay. That night we went to a restaurant they suggested and had some great steak dinners (best steak in the world!) and explored
the neighborhood (La Recolletta) a little bit before calling it a night.Wed: Got up and did some shopping- which is hard to pass up since Argentina is so cheap! We probably stopped in at least 10 shops around our hostel and then caught a bus to Palermo, which is an older neighborhood with a beautiful old plaza and some really unique shopping. On the way we stopped at the botanical gardens which were lovely, but instead of tons of stray dogs it was full of giant stray cats- disgusting!! The majority of the day was spent exploring and shopping and getting ready for Maggie to turn 21 at midnight. We started out the evening
at Millon which is a bar that Paul suggested. It was really nice, and the crowd was a little older than we expected but we had a few fun drinks and made the most of it. It was in an old mansion that had been restored and was now a restaurant/bar (this is very typical in Buenos Aires as many of the bars we went to were in restored mansions or other buildings- it really is beautiful!). We met some Argentineans and some Americans who are currently living in B.A. so in true US 21st birthday style, a few shots were purchased for Maggie and not too long afterwards she was ready to go to bed! Once she was all settled Rachelle and I went to another bar that Paul suggested called "Shamrock" which was an attempt at an Irish pub- though I would not say a successful one. We met up with some British guys who were also in our Hostel and hung out for awhile. It was a good night.Thurs: We woke up really late and eventually pulled ourselves out of bed to
get crepes for breakfast- as it is the closest thing to Pancakes we could find. None of us was feeling particularly awake, but we made the most of the day. We headed to Plaza de Mayo- which is the main plaza in Buenos right in front of 'CasaRosada' which is the equivalent of the White House in B.A. Every Thursday since the end of the Argentinean "Diry War" the mothers of the desaparecidos
march around the plaza, protesting the disappearance of thousands of Argentineans during the war. It was very powerful, and really moving to watch. At the same time there was another protest coming through the plaza, I couldn't quite catch what they were protesting- but this has become somewhat of at theme of my time down here. After spending some time in the plaza taking photos we walked around a bit and made our way onto a big avenue full of shops. We did a bit of browsing and stopped for a sandwich at a deli. It was pretty relaxing and Mangie and I went back to the hostel to take a little nap while Rachelle explored some more. I stopped back at a shoe store where I had found some gorgeous purple heels that I planned on wearing that weekend- a little out of character for me, but we all
decided to splurge in B.A. That night we went to a tango show for Mangie's birthday. It was really neat, the setting was very intimate as we were sitting at a table right next to the stage. We had dinner and were seated with a woman from New York who does a lot of traveling on her own- she just takes advantage of deals when she finds them, and it was really fun hearing stories of her travels. The show itself was spectacular, they went through the history of Tango and how it has evolved, the music was wonderful and there were three couples who did the dances, some of which were really modern and exciting. There also was a woman who came out and sang, and we couldn't help but laugh because she was wearing a ridiculous dress and was all done up and got
really into her songs, but it was interesting- especially to see all of the native south americans singing along to the songs! The show ended at about 1, which is early for Argentina. We
took a cab back to our hostel, and the cab driver got us all to sing along to "Pretty Woman" which was pretty funny. When we got back we decided we didn't want to go to bed yet so we headed to a bar really close by that Paul had suggested called El Living, which was pretty laid back with lots of comfy leather chairs. There was a big screen that was playing old music videos, so we got a drink and hung out and watched music videos for a couple of hours before calling it a night.Fri: We headed to the cemetery which was also in Recolletta. It was magnificent, much bigger than the one in Punta Arenas. There were tons of mausoleums and marble st
atues, it was beautiful and huge, easy to get lost in. We got to see the grave of Evita Peron, but there were so many tourists around that it was frustrating. After spending a couple hours there we found a little fer
ia where a talked to one of the vendors for awhile about B.A. and bought a couple of beautiful stone necklaces for a good deal. We decided to head to La Boca which is a big tourist spot that everyone told us to check out. It is a poorer area but all of the buildings are painted in tons of different colors- its breathtaking! There are lots of restaurants with seating in the streets and tons of tango going on. We stopped for lunch, Maggie got to dance with a tango dancer, and later an old man (
at least 80) chased me down to tango with him, which was adorable! We planned on doing some serious dancing that night and took a cab to Asia de Cuba, which was supposed to be one of the best dance clubs in the area,
well we waited in line and when we were about to get in we found out it was a private party- what a downer!! We hailed a cab and the driver took us to a club by the coast that he said was really popular. It obviously was, there must have been at least 1000 people inside, almost all Argentinians which was refreshing, but it was almost too crowded to dance and the music wasn't that great so we only stayed for an hour or two before decided it just wasn't all that fun! When we got back to our neighborhood we decided to try El Living again since Paul said that there was dancing on the weekends. It was a great call because when we got there they were playing lots of hip hop music from the states, which is something that we all had been missing a lot! We danced there for a couple hours, had a great time and eventually walked back to the hostel.Sat: Went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch which was delicious! We bummed around the neighborhood for a bit and then headed to San Telmo which is an older part of the city with a very
European fell. We browsed some antique ferias and stopped at a cafe since it was pretty cool that day. We then headed down to the huge avenue that reminded me a lot of New York, it was all lit of and there was at least one theater on each block. We walked and explored for awhile until eventually we found that one big street had been closed off and there was a band playing on a stage in front of a huge crowd of people dancing tango in the streets. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen- couples of every age just dancing tango in the streets, no one was professional, some were better than others- but they all did it with so much PASSION! It was really moving and I am pretty sure we watched that for at least an hour! We stopped at a nice restaurant on the way back for a delicious dinner, that still wasn't very expensive (Argentina :-) ) and then got dressed 
before heading out for the night. Paul suggested Kilkenny as a good place to hang out for a drink. The name says it all- a very typical Irish pub filled with tourists, but we met an Am
erican- Duane and a Brit- Amman, who we ended up hanging out with for the night. We stayed at Kilkenny for a few drinks and ended up running in
to the guys from our hostel again, the bunch of us took a couple of cabs to Palermo where the guys from our hostel had heard of a good dance club. We got there and there were people literally spilling into the street and we figured it would be just like the club the night before so we passed, but went with Duane and Amman to a club across the street that was a little smaller. We had a great time goofing off and dancing and then us girls called a cab to get back to the hostel.* side note: cabs in Argentina are ridiculously cheap and that is why we took them EVERYWHERE, if only they were that cheap in the states!!
Sun: Headed to Palermo for the bi
g feria, and spent a few hours going through all the shops and got some unique treasures. We stopped at another Irish pub for a burger (yes Irish pubs seem to be a theme, but it was what was available) and then headed to the coast where we walked around and explored for awhile. We decided to go to mass, which was right by the cemetery in a really beautiful church that unfortunately I was not able to take a foto of! For dinner we went to Siga La Vaca, which is a famous buffet where they have a ton of food and you go to the grill and ask for any kind of meat you can imagine! It was delicious but we were stuffed by the end! We headed back and packed since our room was a disaster!
Mon: Got up and did some last minute shopping as Mangie wanted to get some shoes for her mom. We stopped at a nice restaurant where we had a good lunch and then got our stuff and headed to the airport to go home. Overall it was a great time. I wish we had done a bit more than just shop, but I am absolutely in LOVE with Buenos Aires. I could see myself living there for at least some time in my future. It is gorgeous and full of old architecture, and the culture is so vibrant. I will return some day!
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