Que Tal?

We've been staying in Buenos Aires throughout March, our last month abroad before returning to the States. When we made the bittersweet decision to book our plane tickets home, we decided to reward ourselves for a trip well done by relaxing. No long-distance buses. No customs. No 10 a.m. checkouts. So we rented a little apartment over the Internet, brushed up on our Spanish (well, one of us anyway. Brendan still spells it "ola"), and got our asses down to Argentina's capital to wind down in style.

Buenos Aires is great! I love it here. It's an easy city to "live" in for a month. Lots to do. Good public transportation and cheap taxis. Insultingly affordable food and vino. Tons of shopping. Parks. Museums. Tango. Futbol. And we couldn't have picked a nicer time of year. From November-February, Buenos Aires is hot and muggy (reversed seasons, remember). But by March, the air starts cooling off, leaves change, and midday gets a little more pleasant for people like me who love wearing tank tops but don't want to sweat through them.

As our plane landed, Buenos Aires looked to me like a huge metropolitan city teeming with high-rises, but the vibe is different from the ground. Split up into a dozen or so different "barrios", the city is defined by its variety of neighborhoods, all of which have their own community feel. We're staying in Palermo, one of the most popular areas to shop, eat, and drink. Seriously, there's a parrilla, pizza joint, cafe, or sushi house at every other awning. I'm in heaven.

A word about the sushi, now that I've eaten at three different establishments. It isn't anywhere as good as California's. Argentina has access to deliciously fresh salmon, but that's pretty much it. You can find tuna, crab, or shrimp rolls, but they're offered sparingly and usually dressed up with cream cheese (blech!). Most of everything else is salmon-based. We're delighted to satisfy our raw fish cravings (and loving the reasonable prices), but it's not quite world-class.

What is world-class, though, is the steak, and so plentiful that prices are insanely low. Brendan's been overdoing it. I hope he doesn't give himself a heart attack get stuck down here forever. Although that sounds just like something my husband would do to keep from having to get a job back in the States. Slacker.

Some BA highlights so far:

1. Recoleta cemetary - If there's a cooler cemetery in the world, I want to know about it. I realize that "cool" is a weird adjective for a cemetery, but trust me - this one is. Eva Peron's buried here, along with famous presidents, war generals, and people who had enough money to buy themselves a plot.

2. San Telmo street fair - I'd be buying up a storm in antiques if I had anywhere to put them. Awesome finds from a million different vendors.

3. A Boca Junior football game - A totally weird experience. Fans sing throughout the game, and clap when a player tries, and fails, to score a goal. Rabid, these guys (and the fans are mostly guys). There's also no alcohol allowed inside the stadium. I'm sure it helps keep fights to a minimum, but when I go to a ball game I want to drink beer. Period.

4. The parks of Palermo - We live literally steps away from several parks that include botanical gardens, a zoo (what IS this adorable creature???), running trails, and paddle boats for rent. Life is good.

5. Shopping - Argentina isn't the cheapest country in South America by a long shot, but the quality of clothes is high for what would be bargain-basement prices back home. I'm loading up on staples that I know I'm going to need eventually anyway. Or at least that's what I tell B.

We're here for another week or so, during which time I hope to get into some more trouble worth blogging about. Stay tuned.

Oh, and if you've visited my Flickr page recently, you know that I'm in the process of uploading and organizing all my favorite photos from our entire trip over the past year. It's kind of a pain, but I'm almost done! Man, I love Flickr. I'm the biggest idiot for not embracing it sooner.

Oh oh, and for those days when I don't update anything here at sarah. on the run., I'm updating sarah. snippets. with lots of useless information even my biggest fans will probably find pointless and mundane. You're welcome. :)

Comments

[Bob]

Que Tal? It is more of a statement than a question. also if you are going to ask a question in spanish you need the upside question mark in front of the first word ¿Que Tal?

[Laura]

The animal looks like a capybara:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara

PS. My husband and I have had much enjoyment reading about you and Brendan's first year while experiencing our first year of marriage, too.

PPS. AOTS sucks now that you're gone.

[Doug]

Hey you guys there is a great episode of Anderson Cooper on about the sex trade in Phnom Pehn. It reiminded me of your expeience at the bar. Although I don't remeber if you were in Cambodia you may want to check it out.

[Text Pirate]

Buenos Aires has always sounded like a cool place.

I was thinking the animal might be a capybara at first but its legs are too long. Then I thuoght agouti but that doesn't look quite right either. I'm stumped.
http://www.wellingtonzoo.com/animals/animals/mammals/agouti.html

I've been checking out sarah. snippets and it is indeed pointless and mundane but I look anyway. Pointless and mundane is a complement, I swear.

[Liana]

I love the picture of the tree in the park, with the pink petals contrasting on the freakishly green grass -- my new background.

I like sarah. snippets. It's fun to see what's going on in your head! :)

And I wholeheartedly agree with Laura, above. On both accounts.

[Buckly]

How are the natives in Buenos Aires towards non-Spanish speakers? I'm always leery of traveling to other countries because I don't want to embarrass myself by butchering the language.

I'm certainly glad you embraced Flickr. I'd use it all the time if I had interesting pictures.

Oh and Laura is totally right about AOTS. It is awful these days. Your replacement is worthless. Nice job ditching that sinking ship.

[jaden]

so sorry to hear about your camcorder. fawking thieves.

[Linda]

Wow, that stinks about your camcorder. I hope Karma is on your side. I always figure that if people do sucky things that sucky things will happen to them. Not very poetic but true!

[faridz]

Hey sarah, sorry to hear bout your stuff getting stolen. Hope karma kicks their ass.

[Dave]

I think the little animal dood is a "Mara"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_%28mammal%29

[Text Pirate]

Dave, thanks for the animal ID. I've been wondering and you're definitely right.

[Heath Lopez]

WOW 13 month honeymoon? My wife and I only got one day. We will hopefully make it up soon, were thinking Hawaii. Anywho? My wife and I were big fans of you when you were on AOTS. We are wondering what you are going to do when you return to the states? TAKE YOUR OLD JOB BACK PLZ... we stopped watching AOTS after you left.

[David]

I love the blog that you have. I was wondering if you would link my blog to yours and in return I would do the same for your blog. If you want to, my site name is American Legends and the URL is:

www.americanlegends.info

If you want to do this just go to my blog and in one of the comments just write your blog name and the URL and I will add it to my site.

Thanks,
David

[Wayne_In_Akron]

I agree that it is a serious bummer that Sarah had her HD camcorder stolen 2 days before coming home. If there is some good news, at least it didn't happen on the 2nd day of a year-long around the world trip.

Sarah, we will be glad to have you and B home again. I hope you will continue to find time to allow us a glimpse of your daily life once you guys return to the "reality" of the working world.

[PG]

oh nooooes... I was hoping for a final "we're home" episode =[

[Addison]

As your guys' adventure comes to an end I just thought I'd let you know that the constant updates of your trip around the world kept me incredibly entertained throughout multiple courses here at Devry of Fremont that should have been taught back in high school. Thanks for letting me keep my sanity.

Oh, and don't even contemplate taking your job at G4 back if it's offered. You guys got out at the most oppurtune time. That channel is a festering heap of recycled trash from the late 90's and early 2000's now. AOTS is a mere shell of what it used to be...but then again, from the start AOTS was just a mere shell of what the Screensavers was back in the day.

-Addison-

[marcos]

Sarah, I only vaguely know about you and your dearest because I killed my TV a few years back, but discovering your blog and the story of your trip is very exciting! I'm planning a two month trip into Mexico soon, so I will be combing your blog for ideas and hints.

I'm really big on low budget travel for a variety of reasons. One, I'm not rich. Two, the cheaper you can travel, the longer you can travel. Third, and perhaps most importantly, I believe one gets a much better sense of a place and its people when one is living modestly, eating the food the locals eat, taking the same transportation, staying in the same inns and hotels, etc. Traveling poor is a much richer experience!

Lastly, I wanted to ask you about BA. You said it was a good place to live for a month. Do you think you could have happily stayed there for longer? Granted, you were at the end of a long trip, but if you had been fresh, could you see yourself living there for six months? A year? What was your sense of the cultural life of the city?

Thanks!

[jeroenenevy]

Hye Sarah,

We've been travelling the world in 2006 too! What a wonderfull discovery your blog is... oh my god! It all comes back!

You're definitely in our favorites list now.

Thanks for your stories and keep on writing!

Your Belgian fans
Jeroen and Evy

[Dave Greiman]

Nice person touch on your write up. I've visited Argentina on some of my missionary work and feel your overview is accurate.

[Dave Greiman]

Nice person touch on your write up. I've visited Argentina on some of my missionary work and feel your overview is accurate.

[Sydney hotels]

Excellent review about Buenos Aires.Even though i have never been there,but your post gave me a picturesque description of Buenos Aires.

[Ryan]

Hey, last year I went to Argentina and really enjoyed it. People there are so passionate about Tango and Soccer. It was amazing. I also stayed in an apartment in buenos aires which was great since it was near all the tourist attractions.
I had the best of times!
Ryan