Day Cuatro: Who Wants To Be A Milion-aire?

The past 24 hours have been fantastic. And you know why? Because I´m having a good time, that´s why. Care to hear about it?

After the post last night I headed back to the hostel to see that my new roommates were a bunch of girls (including one ambigiously gay dude) from the States who work in Sao Paolo. Anne is from Seattle, Tina is from Ohio, Sandra is from "I guess you could say DC" as she put it and Todd is from Breckenridge. Good crew. They don´t keep weird hours, welcome sleeping with the fan on, speak English, and shower on a so far regular basis. The room that I checked into that simmered at around 85 degrees with a strong aroma of feet has been transformed into an enjoyable climate with no discernable odor. I like that.

My siesta was great, got some sleep and popped out of bed at 10:45 with a text from my defacto tour guide and number one reader, Victor, who told me to meet him at a Recoleta bar called Milion sometime around midnight. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that Milion was no ordinary bar but a tricked out townhouse with 3 floors of restaurant/bar/chillout areas. I was in love with the place from the super-cool scene to the artwork to the good-looking and well-dressed crowd. It was sophisticated but not pretentious, a line that way too many places back home cross over. I got there before Victor and his friend Derek and managed to stake out a position in the corner of the bar area, clearly making me that creepy guy in the corner sipping on a Red Bull with vodka while not talking to anyone. Victor and Derek came to my rescue a little while longer and we took an upstairs position overlooking the 2nd floor. A litle late after coming from a punk rock concert with the daughter of his host mom, Victor went into some story about moshpitting and swift kicks to the chest that took place at the show. Can´t say I was upset about missing it but it gave me a serious laugh. A few minutes of drinking gave way to going back down to the 2nd floor for dinner (at around 1am no less) and having not eaten anything since 10am I ordered a really tasty empanada. Frankly my belt would have been really tasty at that point, I was more than a bit peckish.

Observation alert: I´ve come to realize that I, as with all other humans, am a creature of habit. On a typical day of work I´ll get up at the same time, shower, dress, take the same train to the same stop, get the same thing for breakfast with the same cup of coffee and usually repeat this routine again and again. But traveling to a foreign country, especially alone, completely messes with your routine to the point where you actually forget to eat. It´s not because I´m not hungry but because that Starbucks where I normally get my grande coffee with an egg wrap isn´t downstairs. And because it´s not downstairs I just move on and forget about it. It´s not because I´m anorexic (anyone who has seen a photo of me at any point in my life can slash that off the list) but because I don´t have a place to go. The grander point here is that after being here for just a few days I now see that instead of just a vacation this trip is more like a life reboot. An opportunity for me to completely disconnect myself from the day-to-day routines that I´ve settled into, giving me the chance to take a step back and give my life a chance to take a little breather. This, my friends, is a very, very good thing and recommend it to anyone.

So, back to Miliones. Derek, Victor and I took a table and traded a few stories and beers until a girl at the table next to us asked Victor if he was speaking Hebrew. Not sure if that was a pickup line but it got us to move over to their table where we started chatting with the three girls: one from England, one from Scotland and one from the Land of Mute and Disinterested Cold Bitches Who Have Been Recently Fired From Their Job as The Guardian of The Fifth Ring of Hell (aside: I believe that country, the often difficult to pronounce acronym LMDCBWHBRFFTJTGTFRH, has applied for membership to the UN but was recently rejected). This is when the whole not eating thing began to catch up with me a bit. You see, Victor took a bit of a liking to the British girl which left me with no choice but to talk with the Scot. While nice, after 30 minutes of talking and only 3 drinks I began to see her face start to wobble. I felt like I was Dr. Gonzo from ¨Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas¨ when he starts hallucinating in the bar and sees people as dinosaurs. I stared blankly at her face while blinking my eyes in an exaggerated manner. She asked if I was OK and, realizing this conversation could end up with me seizing on he floor, I took my leave. She´s planning on going to El Calafate on Monday, as am I, so we made plans to try and meet up but I won´t lose any sleep over it.

After my first solid night of sleep and took the show to the Aerolineas Argentinas office down the street where I booked tomorrow´s flight to Mendoza completely in Spanish. Up to now, my proudest moment of the trip. I then hit up Casa Rosa for a photo op, walked around a bit and headed out to Palermo Soho for lunc with Victor and a few friends at a place called Olsen. Olsen is the kind of place that locals think is too trendy but tourists flock to. It´s a Scandinavian spread with good food and a supremely relaxing ambiance. Lush gardens, a water sculpture and wood everywhere make it sleek but chilled out. Proved to be a solid move. I ordered up graxlax on a bluberry blini with roast potatoes and corn soup and just took in the atmosphere for the better part of the early afternoon.

I parted ways with group and resumed my solo tour of BSAS, heading to MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires). It´s much smaller than the MoMA in NYC but maybe even cooler. The top floor was a career retrospective of a Brazilian artist named Tarsila do Amaral who almost immediately became one of my all-time favorite artists. She´s got a style very reminiscent of Bottero but far more colorful and playful. One of the final works she ever did named ´Segunda classe´ was stunning. I sat infront of the painting for a solid 10 minutes in total awe. Google it if you want a worthwhile explanation. the second floor was filled with Latin artists from the last century, most notably Antonio Berni. Some notable pieces were an American millitary plane hanging nose down from the celing with Jesus being crucified on its wings another had the faces of workers from all over Latin America. The direction the curator has chosen clearly refects the Latin social phenomena of the past century. Most works feature a leftist angle and nearly all have some subverted political message. While now democratic, it is still clear as you walk around this city that these people still have past events of millitary rule and secret police very much engrained in their consciousness and certainly shows in the numerous number of protests that I have witnessed since being here. These people know what´s it´s like to have their rights infringed upon and being able to freely speak their mind is still a new thing that they certainly take advantage of.

The day ended quite nicely with Victor, Derek and I finding a spot overlooking one of the city parks and sharing some ´mata,´ an hebal tea like beverage that is taken very seriously here by the locals. At first I thought it tasted like jet fuel but quickly came to like it and it´s coffee like buzz. Perhaps there´s a market for this stuff in the States?

My time in Buenos Aires is coming to a close and I have fallen for this city. While still dodgy in some areas, it is sophisticated, cosmopolitan and super hot. I vow to return and will not be the list bit surprised when American tourists start flocking here in droves, in fact it´s already started.

It wouln´t be a post without some extemporaneous (sic?) observations:

1) I took the A line Subte today which was quite charming. The trains from the 50´s are still used today which means you get the same wooden interiors with vinage Argentine ads selling everything from handsoap to horse carriages. It was a blast from the past. Loved it.

2) The Argentine people are far less conservative than their American counterparts. I know that´s no startling revelation but it does get a little weird when every square inch of every park is taken by a couple engaging in the ubiquitous sport of cataglottis (look that one up Dad!). That said, having a liberal perspective on life makes me believe that these people are less deviant than Americans as well. My guess is that if Larry Craig or Eliot Spitzer lived down here, people wouldn´t treat their issues with much regard. I like that.

3) Ran into a couple from Wisconsin on the train today with the wife wearing an ´Wisconsin for Obama´ pin. She told me that people here stop her in the streets pleading that he win the election. Ask me who is running for the presidency or prime minister of any other country and I couldn´t tell you but that just goes to show you how important the politics of our country is to others in the world. I just wish all those people could vote.

Tomorrow I´m off to Mendoza to visit Vivian Holz, seeing as it´s a travel day I probably won´t have much to write but if I do or see something worthwhile you know it´ll be in here.

Signing Off,
Farms