Day Two - Buenos Aires

Lessons learned: Portenos (people that live in Buenos Aires), like Americans, like to run around in circles in grassy areas.  But they also like to erect statues of dead people in grassy areas.  And if you're a doctor you can get a big ass mausoleum erected in your honor.  If you're an awesome general, you get an even bigger one with a sweet sword-wielding angel statue on top.

Since I was dead tired getting off the plane yesterday and forced myself to stay up until 7 or 8pm, I woke up around 7 or 8am.  Feeling rested, I decided to start walking.  I came across the running old people in the parks before it got hot and the youngins got out of bed.  There were more parks and more statues/busts and the runners were replaced with bikers of the spandex wearing variety.  I soon came across a giant metal flower which may have been put there to appease the gods of the UN.  But it was in spanish, so I may be way off.

 This surprise made me whip out a map and I realized I was next to the cementeria de la recoleta.  Which means "the recoleta cemetery" literally, but in spirit, i'm pretty sure it means "cemetery of doctors and generals and other rich people".  If I were more up to date on Argentine History, I'm sure I would have recognized more names.  But the reason tourists go, I think, is because Eva Duarte de Peron shared a nickname with someone in a Broadway Musical and Madonna Movie.  The whole place was hauntingly beautiful.  Beautiful because rich people really made sure that their corpses rotted in style and haunting because every now and then you realize you're surrounded by corpses rotting in style.  But it was definitely worth the price of admission (0 pesos, but I would have paid like 1 or 2).  It was pretty sweet to see the contrasts between these old ass tombs built for rich people with modern billboards and seemingly run-down apartments in the background.

For lunch, I ordered a steak, but when it came time to ordering, I was all confused because the waitress asked me something in Spanish.  Then she began to offer the same question in English, "Medium...?"  "oh right, medium"  and she walked away... before I realized that steak cooked medium, like warm beer and taking half a shit, is barely worth the effort.  But I had no idea how to change the order and was going on 5 hours of walking around with only toast and jam and pomelo juice in my belly, so I choked it down.  So not the best first experience with Argentine beef.  For the foodies out there, the only thing I've realized is that empanadas carne are fucking awesome.  3-5 pesos ($1) for meat in a pastry.  Done and done.

Side notes:  I'm approximating that I've spent $136 so far when allocating airfare and other costs over the number of days they're used.  This is well under the $100/day average I'm imagining.  Oh, and my ATM card totally works!  And I went to see if they had empanadas at the Golden Arches here.  They don't.  But they do have a "Triple Mac" (big mac with an extra patty on the bottom, but no extra layer of bun and sauciness) and a "McNifica" (looked like a McTasty?).  Both very tempting to order, but I passed in favor of two slices of pizza and a faina.  Still not sure what a faina is.  But it was eggy.

Future side notes:  I'm goin to a Boca Juniors football match tomorrow.  If Buenos Aires is New York and Futbol is Football, I think Boca Juniors is the Jets.  But they could be the Giants.  Rio Plate is the other team here in BA.  Oh, and I'll hopefully be able to order steak rare or medium rare after Monday when my Spanish class starts.

Anyways, there are pics on my picasa website.  Google Blogger isn't quite linkin up to that site right now and I'm too tired to figure it out.  So if you can navigate your way to my Picasa site, the new pics are like warm beer for your eyes.

From Buenos Aires