My Buenos Aires Studio

The first night in my apartment was excellent for a number of reasons; one being my mattress was actually soft. With a good night’s rest, I was energized for what my Sunday was about to bring.

I decided to head to the Recoleta feria again, but this time I wanted to take my time and actually look at the artisan items in detail. When I took my time I noticed a lot of items I didn't see the first time; 75% of the jewelry items where done in silver containing polished stones, many paintings were done in watercolor and acrylic, anything leather from belts to purses, and knitted scarfs.

The Dreaded Goodbye

My host: Vera

My first Argentinean goodbye was said today to one of the nicest individuals I have met in Buenos Aires thus far; Vera Ruy. 

After my morning shower, I zipped up my suitcase, put the last items in my backpack, and organized my room back into its original state. When I reached the second floor balcony, Vera was nowhere in sight. Walking through every room of the house, I concluded she was out-and-about running an errand. Having no clue what time Vera would return so I could have my check-out, I decided to catch a cab to take my stuff to the studio and return in the afternoon to drop off my key.

'Twas the Night Before the Big Move

I dished out a lot of US Dollars in Buenos Aires today, but it was for a good reason. Shelling out $1,950 ($1,450 for 2.5 month rent and a $500 deposit), I am pleased to announce there will be no further accommodation needs throughout the rest of my stay.

Today, at 12:00pm, I officially became a resident of Barrio Palermo. I rented a decent studio in proximity to the US Embassy and will be there until I depart on September 12, 2013. This means I now have my own address, so if you want to send me a letter or package…email me and I will send you the address. (Another positive, my studio is even closer to my beloved Jumbo. LOL!)

Cervesas Y Arepas @ Caracas

What’s the name given to Thursday? Throwback Thursday? LOL! Today was pretty chill throughout the entire day.

I again woke up to knocking noises on my door, except this time it was the cleaning lady wanting to change my sheets. Of course I wasn’t going to say no, so I let her in my room and with a blink of my eye (well, ok….maybe a couple of minutes later) my bed was neatly made.

It's City Life

I woke up to the familiar sounds of knocking on my door. It was Vera and she wanted to show a prospective renter my humble abode. With definite bedhead, the “morning daze”, and still in my pajamas I’m sure I was a sight to see. 15 seconds of glancing around doing 360s, I believe the renter was pleased with what she saw and accepted the place.

Look! I'm on TV! Well, Kind of...

My new apartment is almost official…well, it’s pretty much official because I gave my reservation fee to Christina and she has it listed as “booked” on the website. LOL! All I need now are the keys, which I will get Friday at noon! It’s exciting to have that task finally behind me. It was such a heavy burden on my shoulders but if it came down to the wire I had several backup plans to fall back on.

Must...Have...More!

Everyone has probably been told at least once, twice, or many times not to treat cough drops as candy; I will confess, I have been told many times by my grandma and mom. None of that matters down here in Argentina because I discovered this heavenly product containing flavors like apple, watermelon, mandarin-peach, and menthol. It’s an addiction that can’t be stopped. They are called Halls Colors, and they are not from this world. It’s like a 2-in-1 deal…you get the cough medicine and a hard candy. LOL!

A Tour of my June Home

Ah...Sunday...the day of rest, so that is exactly what I did. (Well..most of the day LOL!) Since nothing really exciting happened today, now would be the perfect time for me to take you on a tour and show you where I've been living my life for the month of June; a quaint house on Soler and Humboldt streets. I hope you're ready!

Barrio Chino (Chinatown)

Four loads later, I officially completed my first Argentinean laundry experience. See Mom…I can do it. LOL! Since Vera doesn’t have a dryer and everyone was gone, my clothes found areas to dry all over the house. I used the shelves in my room, the hallway banister, and the clothesline on the terrace. Everything was dry and back in my closet by 15:00 (3pm).

Sloppy Joes...The Argentinean Way

Happy “Bridge” Holiday! Yep, you heard correctly. Today was another Argentinean “holiday.” From what I understand, since Flag Day fell on Thursday they used Friday to “bridge” the holiday to the weekend making it a 4 day holiday weekend; maybe The States should think about this concept. LOL! Another day off for me!

Nothing too exciting happened on this very nice brisk sunny day. I watched a few more Netflix episodes after waking up around 11am again. On the bright side, I did feel the urge to cook something instead of eating out…so I did just that.

Happy Flag Day!

Feliz Dia de la Bandera! (Happy National Flag Day!) This public holiday marked my first Argentinean holiday, and I was given the day off. Just like most national holidays in the US, a lot of places were closed today but a lot were still open.

Bringing the US to AR

Watching the Announcement

I essentially took a break from Argentina today, and focused on an event that was happening back home in Washington, DC. Today was the announcement ceremony of the 2013 World Food Prize Laureate, or should I say Laureates. The State Department streamed the ceremony live on their website, so that provided me the ability to watch it at work. As mentioned during the announcement and on the Word Food Prize’s website, “Three distinguished scientists – Marc Van Montagu of Belgium, and Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley of the United States - with share the 2013 World Food for their independent, individual breakthrough achievements in founding, developing, and applying modern agricultural biotechnology.” Sounds like Mike and I will have our hands full this year organizing transportation for the Borlaug Dialogue, but it’s not an issue because I’m extremely passionate for this organization.

 

We were extremely busy at work today. I arrived at the office a little later than normal because I forgot my wallet and had to trek back to my house; plus, the internet was extremely slow in the morning. The task of the day was to create portfolios for nine of our video production company’s clients; all due by the end of the day. Despite my leaving at 4:30pm, we got them completed on time.

Kibbeh...Essentialy Raw Beef

One thing I still find amazing about Buenos Aires is the fact I’m living in almost two completely different worlds. When I walk to work around 10:45am every morning, it’s like the plague has knocked out all the businesses on my route.  About half of the stores are hidden behind graffiti decorated steel garage-style doors and blend perfectly into their surroundings. Come nightfall, or when I get off from work around 6pm, the atmosphere is alive again, and my route is much more interesting to walk.

Ah...Chinese Food, Finally!

Cravings…many cravings haunted me throughout my day. Mexican food from La Carreta; loaded potato pizza from Fong’s Pizza, and even Hy-Vee Chinese food; yes, I know the craving variety was beyond abnormal, but they were all present. Almost every block in Palermo has at least one restaurant on it and sometimes two! It’s a food-lovers paradise. I guess it is a perk of the big city life!

It was a Chili Type of Day

It was chili day in Buenos Aires, and no…that was not a misspelling of the word “chilly.” Today was Buenos Aires’s Annual Chili Cook-off competition in Recoleta. This event had over 25 participants who brewed up their own special version of chili, all competing for the title of champion. I was able to taste four chilies, with one of them being from co-worker Anish. Another one that s tried was a chili taking ingredients from Latin American places he traveled, with one of the unique ingredients being dried coconut leaf flakes. Everything was amazing except the venue because it was rather small and clustered. As the picture shows, it was difficult to move throughout the event because of all the people.

An Underground Market

I woke up with one mission on my mind, and that was to hit up the Buenos Aires Underground Market put on by the Argentina Independent. The concept of this event was help support Buenos Aires’s independent producers. I’m always up for those types of things; plus, one of my coworkers sells jewelry and it was her big debut…why not go out and support her?!

The Blue Dollar

I finally made a trip to the Cambio, and I’m back in the spending zone because I now have pesos again! One thing you need to know is that there are two different exchanges for foreign currency. You have the official exchange which is currently sitting at 5.32 pesos to 1 dollar, and then you have the blue dollar exchange which is done on side streets and is currently sitting at 8.05 pesos to 1 dollar. Now you do the math. LOL.

Couchsurfing Never Fails!

First of all, sorry for the late post but here is what happened yesterday. I decided not to go to the International Meet-up at Liquid Bar on Wednesday night because I still haven’t visited a Cambio to exchange some cash. I figured I would fight to make the 66 pesos stretch until Saturday, so far I’m doing pretty well.

US-US-AR-AR-AR-SA

Despite not hitting up Liquid on Wednesday, I decided to do some socializing at a Couchsurfing meet-up last night at Tip’s Bar on Thames. I’m glad I attended because I met some really cool people. I meet several Portenos, a student from Ohio who is spending a semester in Buenos Aires, and a traveler from Johannesburg, South Africa. Couchsurfing never ceases to amaze me because so far I have yet to gain a bad experience from them. PLUS, Tip’s Bar had this awesome deal for Couchsurfers where if you purchased a draft beer and got 2 free slices of pizza…can you say supper?!  LOL.

Beef, It Was For Dinner

With Buenos Aires being one of the largest international cities in the world, there is a wealth of “insider” information available on the internet. Not only are they interesting to read, but these sites are the source of my information, the backbone of adventures, and the explainer of the Buenos Aires "dos-and-don’ts." When traveling to any foreign destination it is always smart to do a little digging and fact finding prior your departure.

In general...

For All You Dog Lovers

Just like Iowa has cows and pigs, Buenos Aires has its dogs. Comfortably, I can say it’s very apparent that man’s best friend rules in this Argentinean concrete jungle because at least 1/3 of the people I run into on my ways to-and-from work have a leash firmly held in hand.  You can expect to see any type of dog to be at the other end of that leash, but more commonly a Boxer, Dachshund, or Golden Retriever.

Daily, I run into several dog walkers and their entourage of four-legged companions.

Just Café Workin'

Today started the second full week of my Buenos Aires internship. My Monday started off abnormally well, unlike the Snapchats I got from some weary workers in the USA. LOL. It was sunny with not even a cloud in the sky and only a slight breeze to keep some movement in the air; overall, it was a picture perfect day.

The City's Oldest Barrio

Calle Defensa in San Telmo

Visiting the Buenos Aires barrio (neighborhood) of San Telmo was today’s objective.  Many of San Telmo’s streets still contain their 17th century cobblestone and are lined with colonial style buildings. Engulfed with countless antique shops, this barrio is home to Buenos Aires’s most popular Sunday feria. It attracts tourists from all over the world; in fact, I heard many English conversations while I walked down Defensa Street.  San Telmo contains the heart of the tango, as there are many tango parlors in the neighborhood.

My First Impression of Recoleta

Friday night was my first weekend night out. I hooked up with the Italians, Mario, Sergio, and a dude from England, and we hit up a popular night club called LIV. This place was definitely a boliche (club in Argentinean). It played house music non-stop switching djs about every hour. Disco balls are huge in clubs down here; speaking of huge…this boliche had the biggest disco ball I have ever seen.  Just like any club on a Friday night, drinks were expensive. Two cervesas cost AR$55.

 

There was even a point in the night where Minnie Mouse...

The Band Lavail

Lavial @ L'arc 6-7-13

Last night was another night of adventure in good ol’ Buenos Aires, Argentina. It started when my flatmates invited me to have supper with them. Vanesa and Nicolas were very nice and welcoming, plus Vanesa made a great torta. Both were interested in learning about my home town and where I grew up, so I told them. I kept the questions going by asking them in return questions about their hometown, La Plata, because I’m a curious one as well. After showing each other pictures and such, they invited me to go with them to L’arc, which is a night club about six blocks from where I’m living. So far all of the clubs here have been been similar to those in Las Vegas.

Here we watched a live Argentinean band called Lavial.

I'm definately from Estados Unidos

By now you are all probably wondering what the weather has been like since I’ve been down here in the southern hemisphere. This week the weather has been similar to an Iowan spring, minus the precipitation. High temperatures have hovered around the mid-60s and there was one day it hit 70 or got close to it. I’m told that will change as Argentina moves further into winter.  Lows have been around the low 50s and upper 40s. Overall, it has been pleasant and warm enough for me to walk the distance to work and other destinations in just a t-shirt; however, I am the one from Estados Unidos (United States) because everyone else is wearing winter coats already.

 

A Night to Remember

This morning I woke up to a pleasant email in my inbox! I received my first Smarty Pig donation, with a message that went like this, “Lance, have an amazing time! I’ll be living it though your blog :)!” That message explains the entire concept behind The Rural Iowan blog! The conversational style I’m writing in helps me bring my Buenos Aires experience to you! (As you can see I’m excited because I just got done using five exclamation marks consecutively.) Also, if you do contribute, please include your mailing address because I would like to send you a personal thank you from Argentina.

Immediately after sifting through my email, I had a nice Skype session with my former work crew at Barzen & Associates; who I highly recommend purchase a microphone before our next session LOL!

Toddy Galletas...should be Illegal!

Buen dia, amigos!  I believe I finally found out where that morning whistling tune was coming from; it was in fact my host because when the kitchen light came on the whistling started. LOL! Today I woke up at 9 am with a noon deadline to be at work; I don’t have my keys yet. However, before I get into any more details about my day, I must tell you about my first favorite junk food item I have down here!

Oh yes! My Toddy Galletas

Yes, you heard correctly…health-nut me had some Argentinean junk food, but not just any ordinary junk food…they were Toddy Galletas! (Click the link!) As you can see these round, crumbly, cookie disks are packed full of chocolate chips. Just look at them! Hungry yet? Now I know what you are probably thinking…those are just the South American version of Chips Ahoy cookies. Nope; those are called Pepitos. (Click the link!) If my heath goes decreases because of these Toddies, I have my co-worker, Rachael, to thank because she was the one who introduced me to them on my first day. LOL!

Taking the Subte (Subway)

I’m kind of getting use to this waking up naturally thing. Today, I was up at 9 am again because I didn’t have to be at work until noon. It’s nice; you don’t have the abrupt, repetitive, annoying wake-up alarm blaring in your ear just to snooze it for another 5 minutes. LOL. However, every morning since I’ve been here there has been this really loud whistling happening outside my window. I want to say it is a parrot because it happens around 9 am and I swear I heard another noise with bird-like characteristics. I will have to ask my host in the morning when I see her again.

Before I did anything today, I had to figure out how to get to ByTArgentina, so I could pay June’s rent. Whipping out my trusty map I noticed it was quite far from where I was living, so I decided taking the Subte (subway) was my best and cheapest option. Note: this would be a first-time experience for me! Out the door, I walk with a mission to ride the subte.

Buenos Aires Subte D Line

When I reached Avenida Santa Fe, I saw those steps that lead to the city’s basement…the subway system. Not knowing what to expect I prepared myself for the worst. Stepping up to the boleteria (ticket office) I purchased a pass for dos viajes (2 trips), there and back. Catching my first glimpse of the subte, my initial thoughts were this isn't so bad. It wasn’t crowded and was fairly up- kept.

Once my rent was safely deposited, I made my way back to my house to pack up my computadora (computer) and headed to Uplifted (my employer) which is in walking distance from where I live. After ringing the white intercom buzzer I was greeted by Rachael, the one who found and interviewed me for the position. After a brief tour of the small office...

OHHHH...MY ACHING LEGS!

Man my legs are sore! You would be saying the same if you walked nearly ten miles through Palermo; the neighborhood in which I live. Today was all about discovery and becoming familiar with my surroundings. I will not lie; my first night was a bit overwhelming. It could have been because of the nearly 24 hours of traveling I did and I was tired, or because of the language barrier. I’m going to say it was a little bit of both.

After a good night’s sleep and waking up at 9 am , I was off to make my own map of Buenos Aires. I studied several maps my host provided me with for about 30 minutes or until I felt my routes were memorized. Basically, I didn’t want to be caught standing on a corner with a map in my hands looking like a tourist. LOL. I slipped my shoes on, put one map in my pocket for emergency use, and out the door I went...

Living on the Tarmac

As I stated previously, goodbyes are hard even if it is for a definite amount of time. Last week I said my temporary farewells to the rest of my friends, relatives and parents. Sure those farewells were melancholy in a certain context, but everyone was extremely supportive of what I’m doing. (Despite a few worst scenario thoughts LOL) I’m blessed to have all of these individuals in my life because without them it would make what I’m doing a lot harder.

From the Boeing 777 before leaving the US of A

Friday, May 31^st was departure day.  My mom and Aunt Pat were gracious enough to drive me to O’Hare; which neither of them would ever voluntarily drive in Chicago traffic. (A BIG thank you goes out to them!) O’Hare was the first of four airports on my departure itinerary, and following are my stories: