I've never been one to espouse political opinions openly without being asked. I've always been interested in these things because they are important to where we are and where we're going. I'd say the level of my interest in following current events at the national level could be characterized as mild. I enjoy reading NPR and CNN, probably even more so now that I'm detached from my homeland as a way to try to stay in touch... plus I have a lot more time on my hands these days than I used to. However, by no means whatsoever am I the kind of person that consistently wants to discuss politics or argue contradictory points in order to prove to anyone listening that I have knowledge of a subject that they may not. That being said, taking a minute to post something on this blog that's so far been devoted to my experiences in Chile gives you a clue as to how important some recent news is and how much it's affected me.
While the people of Chile are literally celebrating in the streets after learning that 33 miners involved in a mine collapse almost three weeks ago are still alive, I'm reading about something that's made me embarrassed and concerned about my own country at the most basic of levels. I've read many, many articles about the current debate regarding the Islamic community center being proposed a few blocks from the 9/11 site and the controversy that has ensued. I remember reading an article about the proprietors purchasing the property months ago and how, at that time, there were a handful of concerned NYC citizens that thought the location might be insensitive. I remember reading the article because I instantly had a feeling of dread about what would soon follow. Although it took much longer than I thought, a group of hateful, scared people have created an enormous issue that could affect not only the discourse in many elections in the coming months but the image of our country as a free, welcoming place.
The right to practice and hold any religious beliefs is as important as freedom of speech, right to bear arms or even the right to vote. It's ironic that many of the people standing in these crowds trying to prevent the construction of a perfectly legal center are the same people who sing the praises of the second amendment's right to bear arms. How might they feel if someone tried to tell them they shouldn't be allowed to carry guns because sometimes bad people do bad things with them? The minute we begin to discriminate and attempt to prevent others from living the way they'd like to live is the minute we've ceased to be the United States of America. We were founded with these principles in order to make us different. We've in fact become different and as a result are, albeit arguably, one of the greatest nations in the history of the world. Sacrificing these same principles due to fear and ignorance can only lead to a fundamental change in the character of American culture, politics, expectations and capacities. Some of the community centers opponents have argued that Arab countries wouldn't allow Christian churches to be built near their historic sights (or at all in some cases). That is 100% true, of course they wouldn't. That's exactly what makes us different. We would, we should and we will.
I've heard multiple protesters saying incredibly ignorant, shameful things that make me squirm. While I would agree that the placement of the center was contentious and questionable, I must take the organizers reasons for doing so seriously. They say their hope is to educate and inform the people of the community about Islam in an effort to dispel the kinds of rumors and misinformation that lingers throughout our country. It's this very same hearsay that leads these protesters to make false claims and monger fear among people that don't have the time to find the facts. I read one specific article about a community meeting in NYC where the center was discussed and a man named Zaed Ramadan. When it was his turn to speak, he held up his US passport in an effort to deflect some of the obvious flippant dismissals that could occur when he spoke. Unfortunately, the crowd didn't even give the man a chance to speak as they shouted him down at a public debate as he began to explain his opinion. I can only imagine how terrible he must have felt to be surrounded by such disrespect and disregard. Again, it's embarrassing and I can't believe such shamefulness has been allowed to occur.
There are also those that demand President Obama take a position on the topic. I find the claims to be entirely convenient for this time and place. The President took the high road by reiterating our country's constitution that allows freedom of religion. He opted not to interfere with local matters that are out of his jurisdiction and frankly, none of his concern. Imagine that... President Obama, the same one who was being called a communist who couldn't wait to take control of every aspect of your life a few months ago, was letting the people work it out instead of exerting power where it wasn't needed. Demanding that he decide what needs to happen now is hypocrisy in every sense of the word.
It's very sad this Islamaphobia is gaining so much traction throughout the country because it will surely only prove to alienate and anger Muslim people across the world. This alienation and anger is the fuel for the terrorist fire that burns inside the schools and organizations that condone and support violence these protesters are so afraid of. The more we push these people away now, the more sure we can be that this issue will one day come to a point of no return in the future. We'll only have ourselves to blame if we allow this angry, awful energy change the nature of who we are.
Self-fulfilling prophecies are fun, aren't they?
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Mendoza, Argentina... I want you back.
Vacation Rewind Part 3 of 6
The minute I stepped onto the bus at the Buenos Aires bus station, I knew I was going to enjoy Mendoza. I can be accused of not having the most objective attitude when arriving and therefore finding it to be more awesome than it actually but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. It was more awesome.
I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of what the city looked like. I wasn't sure how large it was or what kinds of specifics things we would do. All I knew was that there would be fresh air and open spaces. That's all I had to know. The fact that Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina doesn't hurt either. Due to some incredibly shoddy internet service at our hostel in Buenos Aires, we weren't able to book a hostel before arriving. This isn't a great feeling to have when getting off the bus in a new place because you really have no place to go but you've got to figure it out as soon as possible. The bus station was very busy and we were quickly approached by different people offering their hostels. We took a couple fliers but were turned off by their persistence (also could have been interpreted as stalking). We got a list from a tourist info booth of all the hostels in the city and set on our way to find one relatively close to the center. As we walked around the city, I soon started to understand just how large a place it was. In my opinion, it was the perfect size which allows for a lot of the niceties of a large city without some of the nastiness. For example, it had various kinds of restaurants and bars that catered to almost any taste but it still remained quiet and clean. We ended up walking by a hostel towards the edge of center and basically settled on it because we were sick of walking. It wasn't until after we were showered and hungry that we discovered the gold mine we'd planted ourselves next to.
As became habit, we set out from the hostel to find something to eat without any real place in mind. It took all of two blocks of walking for us to find EXACTLY what we'd been craving... a vegetarian buffet. All you can eat for about $5. It was freaking delicious. They had plain salad and fruits as well as tons of dishes like quiches, stir fry, lasagna, empanadas & pasta. I think Jeff's organs were a little confused by the lack of meat as he had to take a couple breaks during the meal to figure out how to process it. He's a straight up meat lover. That being said, you may find yourself a bit confused about my excitement for such a place based on how much I've talked about delicious meat meals in Argentina & Uruguay so far. After all, Nick is the vegetarian Rossmiller, not me. I think this seeming contradiction is kind of a microcosm for the way my brain works. I LOVE bbq'ed meat, no doubt about it. However, I can't eat it day in and day out. My body craves nutrients that can only be gotten by chewing copious amounts of non-meat stuffs. I just appreciate both sides of the coin. I've never been too passionate or demanding about anything because I feel that everything anyone does or likes has an inherent value. This is probably a topic for another post. I'll remember it for later. At any rate, we went back to the vegetarian restaurant for cheap lunches multiple times.
The restaurant also served as a tourist booth for our first day. The girl working at the restaurant was very friendly so we asked her what we should walk around to see with the remaining hours of the day. She recommended walking through the plaza and then going to the large regional park they have nearby. It had a hill (which usually means great views) and a very famous statue commemorating the group of liberators that fought together to get Spain out of South America. We opted to walk the whole way to get some sun and exercise in an effort to sweat out some of the toxins we'd been building up. It was a beautiful day and probably around 65-70 degrees which feels quite hot to a few kids from the bottom of the world. Along the way, we walked by a soccer stadium that was used during the World Cup in 1978 when Argentina hosted the tournament. I had no idea it was there but the look on Marie's face as we saw the sign let me know that something was up. She politely asked if we'd be going in to take another soccer stadium tour. I could tell there was more to this. I had no specific urge to tour the place as there isn't any kind of historical significance about it but she didn't know that. I came to find out that she discovered the stadium existed online a day or two before we arrived but decided to keep it a secret so that we wouldn't have to make another soccer stop. She's sassy like that sometimes.
Anyway, we got to the top of the hill and saw the statue. We piggybacked along with some of the tour groups to learn about the history of the statue and it's significance, which was nice. Once we were ready to go we noticed that the sun would soon be setting so we decided to stick around to watch. It's not every day you get to see the sun go down over the Andes.
That night we made our way down to a street called Avenida Villanueva Aristides where all the best restaurants and bars are. Now as previously stated, I hadn't done much research about Mendoza but I did know that there was a mexican restaurant which needed a visit. For those of you that don't know, my emotions for mexican food are pretty intense. Let me put it this way, if I love the future child that I may someday have as much as I love mexican food, I'm going to be the best dad ever. With that kind of affection for the food, I was pretty confident that this random place in the middle of Argentina was not going to be that great. It was decent and it satisfied my craving for the ingredients in the food I love so dearly but it didn't taste mexican. I'll just have to keep waiting patiently until December to be reunited with some of my favorite dishes. It's one of the things I miss most (no offense, family).
The next day we planned to take a tour of various wineries, olive farms and chocolate factories outside the city. There are quite a few companies that rent bikes, cars or even horses to take these tours to help you move from place to place quickly. We opted for the bikes. We got a bit of a late start because it was more complicated to arrive than we anticipated but we were still able to visit 4 or 5 places. We tasted a good deal of wine and even tried absinthe at one of the chocolate/liquour factories. I'd tried it once before but I've come to the conclusion that it either wasn't absinthe or we didn't prepare it right because this time it was incredibly harsh. You could feel every bit of the 60-70% alcohol that it contains as it worked it's way down your throat. We also got to visit a small brewery that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. The wineries were a lot of fun and we got a good combination of small and large wineries. Since we got a late start, we actually stayed at the last winery and watched the sunset on a large patio they'd set up. I guess when you're in Mendoza you do get to watch the sunset over the Andes every day. We were definitely taking our time and enjoying the view and the wine because we weren't looking forward to our long ride back to the bike shop that would now be made in the dark. When we finally made it outside to start the trek back, we discovered a police car waiting near our bikes. It turned out that we didn't have anything to worry about as these were the "tourist police" and they'd come to personally escort us back to the bike shop since we were the last tour takers of the day. So we rode our bikes on the side of the street while our very own police car coasted behind us with it's lights on. It was exactly as funny and ridiculous as it sounds. We got lots of sarcastic "Gracias" & "Hasta Luego" comments from the Mendocinos along the side of the street as we made our way back.
The next day we signed up for a tour of Andes that would take us up through the different levels of the range (there are 3, just so you know) and make stops at different landmarks or sights along the way. After our first stop, we got the bad news that our bus had broken down and we'd have to wait for a couple of smaller vans to meet us before proceeding. This meant the Spanish/English tour group would be split into separate Spanish and English groups. Since we knew a least a decent amount of Spanish and all the seats in the English bus were taken pretty quickly, we took our seats in the back of the van the Spanish only bus. It was a challenging experience to say the least. On the bright side, Marie and I got about 6 or 7 hours of listening practice. We stopped at a particularly interesting place called Puente del Inca which is a natural rock formation that formed a bridge over a river that was used by...you guessed it, the Inca. Since we were visiting in the winter, there was lots of ice that made it look pretty impressive. The building you can see in the picture isn't some kind of castle structure built by the Inca. It was actually a day spa that a nearby hotel opened. Quite shameful, I think. Fortunately, things came full circle as the hotel was destroyed by an avalanche in the 70's. They didn't rebuild so the spa building is just a permanent part of the scenery now.
I definitely think Mendoza is a great place to visit and it seemed as though it can be even more impressive during the summer. There's rafting, fishing, kayaking and horseback riding more readily available then so you can easily get a great mix of city nightlife while also keeping busy outside the city during the day. I was sad to be leaving but strangely excited to be going back to Chile. It is after all my adopted home.
Our bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago was probably the only bus ride I'll ever be really excited about taking because it takes you right through the heart of the Andes and over the top to the other side. It was incredibly scenic, especially at the top where the border control offices sit. When we arrived at the top, and officially in Chile, Jeff and I decided to celebrate the occasion with a classic Chilean completo. It was the best completo I've yet to have. I'm pretty sure it was a chicken or turkey dog and they toasted the bun. They never toast the bun.
Next stop...Pucón.
The minute I stepped onto the bus at the Buenos Aires bus station, I knew I was going to enjoy Mendoza. I can be accused of not having the most objective attitude when arriving and therefore finding it to be more awesome than it actually but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. It was more awesome.
I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of what the city looked like. I wasn't sure how large it was or what kinds of specifics things we would do. All I knew was that there would be fresh air and open spaces. That's all I had to know. The fact that Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina doesn't hurt either. Due to some incredibly shoddy internet service at our hostel in Buenos Aires, we weren't able to book a hostel before arriving. This isn't a great feeling to have when getting off the bus in a new place because you really have no place to go but you've got to figure it out as soon as possible. The bus station was very busy and we were quickly approached by different people offering their hostels. We took a couple fliers but were turned off by their persistence (also could have been interpreted as stalking). We got a list from a tourist info booth of all the hostels in the city and set on our way to find one relatively close to the center. As we walked around the city, I soon started to understand just how large a place it was. In my opinion, it was the perfect size which allows for a lot of the niceties of a large city without some of the nastiness. For example, it had various kinds of restaurants and bars that catered to almost any taste but it still remained quiet and clean. We ended up walking by a hostel towards the edge of center and basically settled on it because we were sick of walking. It wasn't until after we were showered and hungry that we discovered the gold mine we'd planted ourselves next to.
As became habit, we set out from the hostel to find something to eat without any real place in mind. It took all of two blocks of walking for us to find EXACTLY what we'd been craving... a vegetarian buffet. All you can eat for about $5. It was freaking delicious. They had plain salad and fruits as well as tons of dishes like quiches, stir fry, lasagna, empanadas & pasta. I think Jeff's organs were a little confused by the lack of meat as he had to take a couple breaks during the meal to figure out how to process it. He's a straight up meat lover. That being said, you may find yourself a bit confused about my excitement for such a place based on how much I've talked about delicious meat meals in Argentina & Uruguay so far. After all, Nick is the vegetarian Rossmiller, not me. I think this seeming contradiction is kind of a microcosm for the way my brain works. I LOVE bbq'ed meat, no doubt about it. However, I can't eat it day in and day out. My body craves nutrients that can only be gotten by chewing copious amounts of non-meat stuffs. I just appreciate both sides of the coin. I've never been too passionate or demanding about anything because I feel that everything anyone does or likes has an inherent value. This is probably a topic for another post. I'll remember it for later. At any rate, we went back to the vegetarian restaurant for cheap lunches multiple times.
The restaurant also served as a tourist booth for our first day. The girl working at the restaurant was very friendly so we asked her what we should walk around to see with the remaining hours of the day. She recommended walking through the plaza and then going to the large regional park they have nearby. It had a hill (which usually means great views) and a very famous statue commemorating the group of liberators that fought together to get Spain out of South America. We opted to walk the whole way to get some sun and exercise in an effort to sweat out some of the toxins we'd been building up. It was a beautiful day and probably around 65-70 degrees which feels quite hot to a few kids from the bottom of the world. Along the way, we walked by a soccer stadium that was used during the World Cup in 1978 when Argentina hosted the tournament. I had no idea it was there but the look on Marie's face as we saw the sign let me know that something was up. She politely asked if we'd be going in to take another soccer stadium tour. I could tell there was more to this. I had no specific urge to tour the place as there isn't any kind of historical significance about it but she didn't know that. I came to find out that she discovered the stadium existed online a day or two before we arrived but decided to keep it a secret so that we wouldn't have to make another soccer stop. She's sassy like that sometimes.
Anyway, we got to the top of the hill and saw the statue. We piggybacked along with some of the tour groups to learn about the history of the statue and it's significance, which was nice. Once we were ready to go we noticed that the sun would soon be setting so we decided to stick around to watch. It's not every day you get to see the sun go down over the Andes.
That night we made our way down to a street called Avenida Villanueva Aristides where all the best restaurants and bars are. Now as previously stated, I hadn't done much research about Mendoza but I did know that there was a mexican restaurant which needed a visit. For those of you that don't know, my emotions for mexican food are pretty intense. Let me put it this way, if I love the future child that I may someday have as much as I love mexican food, I'm going to be the best dad ever. With that kind of affection for the food, I was pretty confident that this random place in the middle of Argentina was not going to be that great. It was decent and it satisfied my craving for the ingredients in the food I love so dearly but it didn't taste mexican. I'll just have to keep waiting patiently until December to be reunited with some of my favorite dishes. It's one of the things I miss most (no offense, family).
The next day we planned to take a tour of various wineries, olive farms and chocolate factories outside the city. There are quite a few companies that rent bikes, cars or even horses to take these tours to help you move from place to place quickly. We opted for the bikes. We got a bit of a late start because it was more complicated to arrive than we anticipated but we were still able to visit 4 or 5 places. We tasted a good deal of wine and even tried absinthe at one of the chocolate/liquour factories. I'd tried it once before but I've come to the conclusion that it either wasn't absinthe or we didn't prepare it right because this time it was incredibly harsh. You could feel every bit of the 60-70% alcohol that it contains as it worked it's way down your throat. We also got to visit a small brewery that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. The wineries were a lot of fun and we got a good combination of small and large wineries. Since we got a late start, we actually stayed at the last winery and watched the sunset on a large patio they'd set up. I guess when you're in Mendoza you do get to watch the sunset over the Andes every day. We were definitely taking our time and enjoying the view and the wine because we weren't looking forward to our long ride back to the bike shop that would now be made in the dark. When we finally made it outside to start the trek back, we discovered a police car waiting near our bikes. It turned out that we didn't have anything to worry about as these were the "tourist police" and they'd come to personally escort us back to the bike shop since we were the last tour takers of the day. So we rode our bikes on the side of the street while our very own police car coasted behind us with it's lights on. It was exactly as funny and ridiculous as it sounds. We got lots of sarcastic "Gracias" & "Hasta Luego" comments from the Mendocinos along the side of the street as we made our way back.
The next day we signed up for a tour of Andes that would take us up through the different levels of the range (there are 3, just so you know) and make stops at different landmarks or sights along the way. After our first stop, we got the bad news that our bus had broken down and we'd have to wait for a couple of smaller vans to meet us before proceeding. This meant the Spanish/English tour group would be split into separate Spanish and English groups. Since we knew a least a decent amount of Spanish and all the seats in the English bus were taken pretty quickly, we took our seats in the back of the van the Spanish only bus. It was a challenging experience to say the least. On the bright side, Marie and I got about 6 or 7 hours of listening practice. We stopped at a particularly interesting place called Puente del Inca which is a natural rock formation that formed a bridge over a river that was used by...you guessed it, the Inca. Since we were visiting in the winter, there was lots of ice that made it look pretty impressive. The building you can see in the picture isn't some kind of castle structure built by the Inca. It was actually a day spa that a nearby hotel opened. Quite shameful, I think. Fortunately, things came full circle as the hotel was destroyed by an avalanche in the 70's. They didn't rebuild so the spa building is just a permanent part of the scenery now.
I definitely think Mendoza is a great place to visit and it seemed as though it can be even more impressive during the summer. There's rafting, fishing, kayaking and horseback riding more readily available then so you can easily get a great mix of city nightlife while also keeping busy outside the city during the day. I was sad to be leaving but strangely excited to be going back to Chile. It is after all my adopted home.
Our bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago was probably the only bus ride I'll ever be really excited about taking because it takes you right through the heart of the Andes and over the top to the other side. It was incredibly scenic, especially at the top where the border control offices sit. When we arrived at the top, and officially in Chile, Jeff and I decided to celebrate the occasion with a classic Chilean completo. It was the best completo I've yet to have. I'm pretty sure it was a chicken or turkey dog and they toasted the bun. They never toast the bun.
Next stop...Pucón.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Big City Nights
Vacation Rewind Part 2 of 6
Buenos Aires was interesting. While some can be swept up in the bright lights, tall buildings and loud noises of big cities, I can never seem to find myself very excited about them. The pattern held true during our stay in one of the largest cities in the world. I wasn't overly excited about the prospect of spending a large chunk of time there but I knew I needed to give it a shot. I was excited about the famous parilladas and the chance to see a couple of my fellow volunteers that I hadn't seen since Santiago.
Don't get me wrong. Big cities are wonderful places where you can find anything you'll ever want or need. They are usually packed with all different kinds of people and you can usually find something somewhat exciting happening at any given moment. All that sounds great on the surface but I rarely seem to find much contentment when I find myself in those kinds of places. I suppose I can sum it up by saying I always end up feeling overstimulated and completely worn out. I consider myself to be an extremely observant person. I like to look around, listen and feel what's around me. I like to understand how I fit in with the surroundings before making them my own. I find it impossible to find any sort of balance in big cities. There's always something flashing by, someone talking loudly, someone giving you a weird look (obviously, this is amplified when you're traveling). As a result, I can never be comfortable and never fully enjoy myself in such places. I wish I'd more properly figured this out before my stay in Buenos Aires because it surely would have helped me try to fend some of it off... well, maybe.
At any rate, I did manage to enjoy myself at times and got to do and see a couple things I never thought possible. As soon as we arrived, we ran into our old friend Jeff in the hostel lobby. In typical Jeff style, he was already refreshing his thirst with a liter of the beer. This small facet of his personality I have come to love and hate... only because of the pain and suffering it inevitably brings the next day.
The nightlife did catch us a little of balance since there's not a whole lot in the way of clubs (for adults, anyway) down south in Punta Arenas. One of my clearest memories of said nightlife came at the end of the first night when Jeff and I stumbled into a closet-small shop that we'd found by asking the guy working at the hostel where we could find something to eat. The place was made of cinder blocks, had a grill that needed a bath and a couple Argentine gentlemen doing nothing but drinking beer, one of whom I found myself talking with about the Chilean and US national soccer teams. At the end of the experience, we ended up back at the hostel with a bag full of choripanes, which are just chorizo sandwiches, and another bag full of beer. Being that it was about 4 or 5 am, there's no way we were going to be able to finish the 10-12 choripanes and 5-6 liters of beer we brought back. I tend to suspect that we showed the man with the dirty grill how much money we had and asked him to give us all we could carry. I ate 3 and drank 1 and immediately fell asleep. The next morning hurt quite a bit. I'm still not sure whether the overall crappiness I felt was due to the beer and couple rounds of ''surprise'' tequila shots from Jeff or the choripanes.
The only souvenir I have from Buenos Aires is also the result of Jeff and I acting like jackasses. For reasons known only to 9 year old boys and myself at the time, I decided it was a good idea to jump on Jeff's back while we were walking down the street looking for a restaurant. He continued the sequence of bad decisions by attempting to run with me attached to his back. We made it about 20-25 feet before falling... kinda hard. Jeff broke his camera and I did quite a number on my hip bone. I now have a scar to remember it forever.
Honestly, the details of our 5 days are hazy because of the mental funk discussed above...and the booze. I remember there was lots of wine, beer and meat. There were a few plazas, some parks, big buildings and lots of graffiti, most of which had something to do with Diego Maradona since the World Cup had recently concluded. We did get to visit La Bombonera, where Boca Jrs (arguably, the most famous team in South America), plays it's games. I'd like to send a special thank you to Marie for allowing us to tour the stadium. I don't think she'd ever really thought much about soccer until this trip and she's done a great job pretending to be interested.
The Pink House at night was pretty remarkable and therefore one of my favorite places. We got to see lots tango shows throughout the city but there was a very colorful neighborhood called La Boca (it's not a coincidence that the team is called Boca Jrs) where there are tango cafes with dancers, singers and musicians. There was also other kinds of food which, at times, was what got Marie and I most excited which proves that we are indeed getting old. We made a couple particularly delicious stops at a an italian and indian restaurant. The indian restaurant was particularly exciting because of the spicy food available. Although it wasn't quite the mexican spices I've come to love so dear, it was close enough to satisfy the craving for heat.
As our time in Buenos Aires grew thin, I started to get very excited about our next destination in Mendoza, Argentina. I didn't know much about it but I knew there was wine, the Andes and clean air. Before we were able to get there we had to manage to find our way to the Buenos Aires bus station for an overnight bus which meant we needed to ride the subway system during rush hour with our backpacks and all our stuff. As if we didn't look like targets for pick-pockets before right? Unfortunately, we did have an "experience" with a thuggish porteña that had some happy hands. As we were getting on to one of the trains, I felt a hand hovering around my front pocket where my wallet was. Coincidentally, my hand was coming down right on top of it so it seemed to be just an accident to me at the time. However, as I turned to see where Marie was I saw the girl reaching for the zipper on Marie's purse. Now I knew there was no coincidence so I quickly smacked her hand away. She responded by pushing my arm and giving me a menacing look, which was easy to do because she wasn't the prettiest girl I'd seen lately and she had the sides of her head shaved. She knew she'd been caught so she didn't say anything else and got off at the very next station. I wish I could say that was the last bad experience I had but a kid came up to me at the bus station as we were about to get on our bus asking for money. I told him I didn't have any cash but he wouldn't leave me alone. I'm 95% percent certain he tried to threaten me with something sharp that he was holding in his sweatshirt sleeve but I just kept telling him I didn't have anything. Eventually, he left me alone and we finally got out of Buenos Aires.
All in all, I'm glad I went but I'm not sure it'll be on my list of places I need to visit again. If you enjoy big cities and the excitement it brings, Buenos Aires is right up there with LA and NY. If you don't, don't go.
Buenos Aires was interesting. While some can be swept up in the bright lights, tall buildings and loud noises of big cities, I can never seem to find myself very excited about them. The pattern held true during our stay in one of the largest cities in the world. I wasn't overly excited about the prospect of spending a large chunk of time there but I knew I needed to give it a shot. I was excited about the famous parilladas and the chance to see a couple of my fellow volunteers that I hadn't seen since Santiago.
Don't get me wrong. Big cities are wonderful places where you can find anything you'll ever want or need. They are usually packed with all different kinds of people and you can usually find something somewhat exciting happening at any given moment. All that sounds great on the surface but I rarely seem to find much contentment when I find myself in those kinds of places. I suppose I can sum it up by saying I always end up feeling overstimulated and completely worn out. I consider myself to be an extremely observant person. I like to look around, listen and feel what's around me. I like to understand how I fit in with the surroundings before making them my own. I find it impossible to find any sort of balance in big cities. There's always something flashing by, someone talking loudly, someone giving you a weird look (obviously, this is amplified when you're traveling). As a result, I can never be comfortable and never fully enjoy myself in such places. I wish I'd more properly figured this out before my stay in Buenos Aires because it surely would have helped me try to fend some of it off... well, maybe.
At any rate, I did manage to enjoy myself at times and got to do and see a couple things I never thought possible. As soon as we arrived, we ran into our old friend Jeff in the hostel lobby. In typical Jeff style, he was already refreshing his thirst with a liter of the beer. This small facet of his personality I have come to love and hate... only because of the pain and suffering it inevitably brings the next day.
The nightlife did catch us a little of balance since there's not a whole lot in the way of clubs (for adults, anyway) down south in Punta Arenas. One of my clearest memories of said nightlife came at the end of the first night when Jeff and I stumbled into a closet-small shop that we'd found by asking the guy working at the hostel where we could find something to eat. The place was made of cinder blocks, had a grill that needed a bath and a couple Argentine gentlemen doing nothing but drinking beer, one of whom I found myself talking with about the Chilean and US national soccer teams. At the end of the experience, we ended up back at the hostel with a bag full of choripanes, which are just chorizo sandwiches, and another bag full of beer. Being that it was about 4 or 5 am, there's no way we were going to be able to finish the 10-12 choripanes and 5-6 liters of beer we brought back. I tend to suspect that we showed the man with the dirty grill how much money we had and asked him to give us all we could carry. I ate 3 and drank 1 and immediately fell asleep. The next morning hurt quite a bit. I'm still not sure whether the overall crappiness I felt was due to the beer and couple rounds of ''surprise'' tequila shots from Jeff or the choripanes.
The only souvenir I have from Buenos Aires is also the result of Jeff and I acting like jackasses. For reasons known only to 9 year old boys and myself at the time, I decided it was a good idea to jump on Jeff's back while we were walking down the street looking for a restaurant. He continued the sequence of bad decisions by attempting to run with me attached to his back. We made it about 20-25 feet before falling... kinda hard. Jeff broke his camera and I did quite a number on my hip bone. I now have a scar to remember it forever.
Honestly, the details of our 5 days are hazy because of the mental funk discussed above...and the booze. I remember there was lots of wine, beer and meat. There were a few plazas, some parks, big buildings and lots of graffiti, most of which had something to do with Diego Maradona since the World Cup had recently concluded. We did get to visit La Bombonera, where Boca Jrs (arguably, the most famous team in South America), plays it's games. I'd like to send a special thank you to Marie for allowing us to tour the stadium. I don't think she'd ever really thought much about soccer until this trip and she's done a great job pretending to be interested.
The Pink House at night was pretty remarkable and therefore one of my favorite places. We got to see lots tango shows throughout the city but there was a very colorful neighborhood called La Boca (it's not a coincidence that the team is called Boca Jrs) where there are tango cafes with dancers, singers and musicians. There was also other kinds of food which, at times, was what got Marie and I most excited which proves that we are indeed getting old. We made a couple particularly delicious stops at a an italian and indian restaurant. The indian restaurant was particularly exciting because of the spicy food available. Although it wasn't quite the mexican spices I've come to love so dear, it was close enough to satisfy the craving for heat.
As our time in Buenos Aires grew thin, I started to get very excited about our next destination in Mendoza, Argentina. I didn't know much about it but I knew there was wine, the Andes and clean air. Before we were able to get there we had to manage to find our way to the Buenos Aires bus station for an overnight bus which meant we needed to ride the subway system during rush hour with our backpacks and all our stuff. As if we didn't look like targets for pick-pockets before right? Unfortunately, we did have an "experience" with a thuggish porteña that had some happy hands. As we were getting on to one of the trains, I felt a hand hovering around my front pocket where my wallet was. Coincidentally, my hand was coming down right on top of it so it seemed to be just an accident to me at the time. However, as I turned to see where Marie was I saw the girl reaching for the zipper on Marie's purse. Now I knew there was no coincidence so I quickly smacked her hand away. She responded by pushing my arm and giving me a menacing look, which was easy to do because she wasn't the prettiest girl I'd seen lately and she had the sides of her head shaved. She knew she'd been caught so she didn't say anything else and got off at the very next station. I wish I could say that was the last bad experience I had but a kid came up to me at the bus station as we were about to get on our bus asking for money. I told him I didn't have any cash but he wouldn't leave me alone. I'm 95% percent certain he tried to threaten me with something sharp that he was holding in his sweatshirt sleeve but I just kept telling him I didn't have anything. Eventually, he left me alone and we finally got out of Buenos Aires.
All in all, I'm glad I went but I'm not sure it'll be on my list of places I need to visit again. If you enjoy big cities and the excitement it brings, Buenos Aires is right up there with LA and NY. If you don't, don't go.
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