A little fun in the graveyard.

Another week finished! My time here in Argentina seems to be going by faster and faster each week.  It’s hard to believe I’m already half way done with my stay. 

I went to the Sublime concert with Jeff on Wednesday which was a nice break during the week.  Because besides that, this past week was just busy with play rehearsals and classes.  Speaking of classes, I haven’t gone to spin class in over a month.  Oops.  The most exercise I’ve gotten was walking all around Quilmes with Facu, trying to find a post office that actually sends packages and not just letters.  Because who would have guessed that you can’t send packages at the post office?  Silly Argentina. 

Things here are “flexible,” as someone recently told me.  And in all honesty, that is the best way to describe it.  One of my favorite games to play is “put credit on your cell phone” because it’s quite common for the “system to be down” here so I usually end up having to go to 2 or 3 different places to get it done.  Another fun game is “collecting enough change for the bus.”  The buses here only except coins, or monedas, and the shops are extremely stingy with coins when they give you change.  Even as a paying customer, when I ask for my change back in coins they get a little fussy and shake their heads “no.” So you have to be strategic about how to get enough coins: like buying a Subte pass one way and giving them 2 pesos because then they HAVE to give you coins back.  Because if you buy a roundtrip pass and give them 5 pesos then they will give you back 2 pesos in cash. So better to stand in line twice to make sure you have money to get home. 

Jackie and I tried to solve our coin problems on Saturday by buying a Monedero card for the bus but the place that sells them had a sign out saying they weren’t selling cards that day, only recharging them.  So then, the two of us tried to wait for the expensive bus because it takes cash (and by expensive I mean $1.25 USD). But I guess they just decided they weren’t going to run that day which we discovered after waiting 45 minutes.  Well, at least it’s consistently inconsistent.

But despite Quilmes’ best efforts we prevailed!  We made it into capital around 3:30 pm.  But only because an angel of a newspaper salesman exchanged money with us.  Bless that man! 

Tomb in the Recoleta Cemetery

In town, we sat down for a bit and had una cerveza and then went to visit the Recoleta Cemetery.  I know that sounds weird, but I promise, it’s completely normal to walk around the cemetery and take pictures.  It is actually quite an incredible place.  The tombs were huge and so ornate that some even looked like mini cathedrals.  I do feel kind of like a weirdo though because I was taking pictures of dead people’s tombs, but they were just so cool.  But at the same time, it seems a little invasive.  Especially since some were super creepy because the doors were cracked open or the glass was shattered and there were all these rando cats running around.  But we all know that cats are evil, so it was perfectly appropriate for them to be there.  And since Jackie does pinhole photography she had to take some of her homemade cameras to set up.  We had fun finding them at the end; a little scavenger hunt in the graveyard when it’s closing, no big deal.  And of course we made sure to stop and say hi to Evita on the way out.

Melted sidewalk in Recoleta

Then we headed back to home sweet Quilmes.  When we got back, we met up with the boys and went to a local club here for some dancing.  Here are some more pictures from our day!  I hope you enjoy them.  

Jackie setting up her camera.

This is a little Eerie.

The inside of the previous tomb - I'm sorry for intruding!

Creepy hand...

plants growing inside a tomb

say hi to Jesus on the right!

This looks like a building you might find in a city.

Shoes?

 Also, I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazing mom!

Look out Hollywood!

So apparently my towering 5'3" frame is so intimidating that the prep school has asked me to be, not only a Titan, but the Hydra as well in their upcoming Hercules play.

It's pretty fun because I get to attack a bunch of 5 year olds and have my heads chopped off multiple times by Hercules; I even have some lines too: "DESTROY HIM!" which I'm sure Erika will find extremely fitting.  There's only one problem I've found so far, and it's that one of the 1st graders keeps hugging me when she's supposed to be killing me.  It's quite funny, I just hope she doesn't do it in the actual play. 

Also, I'm not sure if it's because I agreed to be in the play, but there is some strange rumor going around that I'm a good singer.  And, like most rumors, this one is definitely NOT true.  Quite the opposite actually.  But because of this rumor the music teachers here keep asking me to join their choirs or sing at the assemblies and such.  Which they would soon find to be a bad idea if it did actually happen, so I've finagled my way out of it by agreeing to play a piano piece at an assembly before I leave.  We'll see about that one.  But the conversations are always pretty funny because the teachers sound so confident in their statements that they've almost convinced ME that I'm a good singer.

-"Would you like to sing in the assembly this Friday?"
--"No, that's probably not a good idea."
-"Oh, but you are a very good singer."
--"Haha, no. I'm not actually."
-"No, but I have heard you sing before, it's very good."

Oh Reary? Well then, in that case, I think I like this place.  But seriously, I would never let anyone hear me sing, let alone do it in front of all the parents and students. And I plan on keeping it that way. 

La Bomba and Uruguay

Last Monday the boys and I went into capital to watch this local show called La Bomba.  I don’t really know how best to describe it, but it’s basically this drum/percussion show that a group of guys puts on that is just SO GOOD.  I plan on going again and definitely taking Lauren there when she comes to visit in July.  It’s definitely a must for anyone coming who comes to Buenos Aires - unless you can't handle being engrossed in the smell of pot because I'm pretty sure I got high off all the fumes in that place.  If that is the case, then just be satisfied with this video here because I managed to steal a quick snippet of one song, along with some stellar moves from Sam.  

My 90 days here were almost up so yesterday I ferried over to Uruguay to renew my visa.  The other two gappies and I left from Puerto Madero and ended up in Colonia, Uruguay about an hour later.  Colonia is a quaint little town with some ruins from colonial times.  It was a beautiful day so we just walked around and had some lunch.  There is a traditional sandwich there, un chivito, that is filled with steak, ham, eggs, cheese, etc.  It was huge yet delicious, especially when accompanied by un clericó, which is a drink made with white wine, fruit, and sugar.  We even had some local entertainment as we ate since there was some rando stray dog chasing cars right next to us.  I’m actually really surprised it survived the afternoon. 

Puerto Madero before we left.

After lunch we walked around a bit more and then sat down to enjoy the sunset with a bottle of wine.  Sam worked on his photo taking skills until we had to head back to Argentina.  Here are some more pictures from our trip. 

Street in Colonia

On top of the Lighthouse.

Back in Argentina I've been taking care of my friend Peggy's cat while she was home in England.  I've been living it up in her apartment, throwing crazy parties and such! Kidding.  But she has a lovely view of Quilmes from her balcony, it almost makes it look like a nice city!

Quilmes

I think that's it for the week.  Let me know what you think.

Besos.