Double the Stuff, Double the Fun.

Kendra just got here today, and I'm so excited! I'm using her computer and just realized my fingers have to readjust to using a US keyboard because the buttons are a little different down here and I had to get used to that.. It's cool that Kendra is here, mostly because I love this girl, but also because now there is stuff in the apartment and it looks like people are actually living here, haha. AND she brought me some double stuff oreos, genious.

So I finished my work for the week today at the farm. I love the farm. My dad made a joke that it's funny that I love working on the farm because I used to bitch about mowing the grass... but the two tasks are worlds apart. Grass keeps coming back, no matter what, and doesn't do anything. Growing things you can eat and sell, and that need to be nurtured and watched over, that's different. Plus, I get to work with other people and learn about how to grow food in an urban setting, something I find fascinating. And then, if I recall correctly, I don't think I really complained about mowing the lawn, because I think I kind of liked it, I think I just complained because, at the time, I felt I should have been paid to do it. But anyway, dad, I digress. I went out with some of the kids from the farm over the weekend and it was fun, and it's like anything-when you go out with someone and see each other in weekend mode, it's always fun to see them in "work" mode later. Jokes become funnier and you know something about each other that you didn't before. That night was actually really funny but I can't divulge everything...

I forgot to mention that I met a puppy at La Juanita the other day. The night they got robbed a little baby mutt wandered in, so they're keeping it along with a few other strays they've taken in. They told me that there was a kid from the US that found a puppy in the same way, named him, and ended up taking him home... then I thought how delighted would my mom be if I brought a puppy home... then really, how elated Michael would be if I brought my new little chico back to NY... but reality has to strike. It's hard enough getting a South American person into my country, let alone a dog, and how much all his shots would be. But anyway, he's really cute.

The week is officially over now, and Semana Santa begins. Tomorrow, most people don't work and then only die-hards will work on good Friday, and I get the feeling there aren't too many die hards. On a day of such great sacrifice, how could you even think of going to work? I'll be showing my appreciation with a drink in hand, dancing til the sun comes up. Thank you, Jesus, for making all of this possible! Seriously though, I'm not trying to be a heathen, but think about how much partying comes out of Christian holidays... How much we spend and drink during the Christmas holidays, and the whole Carnaval thing before Lent, mimosas until you forget where you hid the eggs on Easter Sunday, ya know? Whatever, I'm done with that.

To Michael, Drew, and Sam-thanks so much for all the stuff you sent! I now have a bunch of cute clothes so I don't look like a punk rocker when I go out dancing. It was like an early Easter full of presents when kendra unpacked her bag today. It's so nice to have some company in the apartment, someone to drink mate with and talk to on the balcony! Now I don't have to flirt with the people in the hotels across the street, haha.

No Sleep til Brooklyn

I`m going to make this fast because I`m dead. The schedule I have puts me at La Juanita, which is about an hour and a half away, at 5am Mondays and Tuesdays, so my plan has been that I sleep there Sunday and Monday nights. This Sunday, I couldn`t get in touch with my person there, so I ended up sleeping at this other kid`s house who teaches me Spanish while I teach him English. We didn`t really sleep because the neighbors were having a party all night, so I decided to go in at 8 on Monday. Then I found out why I couldn`t get in touch with my person there-the coop got robbed! Some guys came in and just broke a bunch of stuff. It was a pretty big deal, and the event was meant as a political statement more than anything, because there are different factions in the neighborhood, some of which don`t like what La Juanita is doing.

Tiny bit of back story. LJ is a coop that provides job training, kindergarten, a bakery, textile production, and computer training and recycling (and they sell pieces of metal to China to make money) in a pretty impoverished community in the province of Buenos Aires. So they are working to improve the community, and they have support from a Senator, but aren`t really affiliated with a political ideology. They`re not political, they`re just fighting to improve. Then there are people in the area, according to people from LJ, who don`t want improvement, who don`t want to work, and are opposed to the Coop being there because of that. I would like to hear the other side of the story, because it can`t be that simple. It never is.

So anyway, we couldn`t work at the bakery in the morning because we had to help clean everything up and start fresh with some stuff. They decided it would be better, and provide more security, if the bakery did a night shift, so I went with the other bakery guys and took a nap in the afternoon, and we came back from 11pm and worked til 7am. I was so dead. But the girl that runs it didn`t sleep during the day because her baby was running around, and she was totally fine. I`m such a baby. I mean, I like to party and stay out all night and all that wild stuff, but Latin America takes ´late night´ to a new frontier. I`ve always loved watching the sunrise, and I think I`ve seen more sunrises since January than I have my entire life put together, and it`s not because I`ve been waking up early.

Anyway, yesterday a funny thing happened at La Juanita. I was doing something and the lady in charge, Silvia, came and asked me if I could fill in as the English teacher because the girls who were supposed to be doing it went on vacation. That`s pretty common, for people to go on vacation and not let anyone know, haha. Then when people just don`t show up, everyone is like, oh, they must be on vacation today. Really, when will they get back?  Oh, I dunno, they didn`t tell me anything, I`m just assuming. Basically like that. So I started with these 2 teenage girls who were all giggles and didn`t have books or anything, and they wouldn`t tell me what they already knew, then I would start with something and they already knew that. Females make me insane, especially adolescent ones. They were fun though. Then a guy came and asked if I could take a couple more chicos. Of course. These two little boys walked in and I stopped dead because the one looked like he could be my baby brother`s twin. He had the same chubby cheeks, the same hair that sits silly on his forehead, half in his eyes, the same saunter...then he said hello and his voice sounded so similar! It was cracking me up, and he knew a lot of English too. Oh yeah, and he was 11, just like Luke. We talked about random stuff, and he kept saying things and giggling, looking down, with a semi-closed smile, like he knew he was being a smartass... just like Luke also. It was so crazy to me, I was cracking up. He asked if I ever flew in a plane near the Bermuda Triangle or knew anything about the supposed magnetic field around there, and that`s when the similarities with my brother started to fade, because Luke`s worries are far from the Bermuda Triangle.. I wonder if he even knows where that is.

But yeah, that`s about it. My friend Kendra comes tomorrow, and then we have Semana Santa-Thursday and Friday before Easter are holidays here, so I get a super long weekend!

There`s not much to write about, because like I said a few posts back, I`m now in the grind. Basically my mornings start the same. I wake up at an ungodly hour, listen to pop and reggaeton on the radio (my music is gone from my life til I get back to NY) drink coffee or mate and eat some bread that I`d bought at La Juanita, the bakery that I partially work at. While I`m doing this, I look over my Spanish notes from the week of classes I took with Juliana, the drug crazed, spitting professor I had, and get over my morning self. I can`t remember if I wrote about Juliana, but she was a really special lady. I guess she`s on some serious shit, maybe dealing with some inside-the-head problems, so she always said really funny things, and frequently with a sexual undertone to them. She taught me a lot of sweet-little-nothing words, which I certainly appreciated, but sounded a little funny coming from this drug crazed middle aged woman. I loved her. But she also spit a lot. The custom is a kiss on the cheek, hello and goodbye, always. And I would always have a nice puddle on my face before and after class. You can still see the spots on my papers from class where her saliva had dried.

Anyway I hate mornings usually, but the cooking area (doesn`t qualify as a kitchen) in my apartment is so tiny that I`m always knocking things over with my pre-awake girations. My body knows I shouldn`t be up and moving, so it rebels. I used to have this really cool beer mug. I saw it when I first moved in, got excited, washed it and was anticipating drinking some icey cold beer out of it. Just looking at it, I could almost taste the freshness, and then I smashed it on the floor as I was making toast the next morning. Everything that I`ve been doing in Buenos Aires is like a sign telling me that I should never have anything nice, ever again. If someone doesn`t steal it, I`ll destroy it. Things, things. Only thing that still actually sucks about getting robbed is that I have this persisting headache, and I`m almost positive it`s because the overbite that characterized my pre-teen years (before the orthodontist blessed me with a head gear, of which there are no pictures) is coming back now that I don`t have my retainer. All the movement is messing with me. All of my vanity has been stripped from me!!! I`ll come back fat, with bucked teeth, ugly shoes, and probably back hair creeping up my neck and growths on my forehead.. or something like that.

I was working on the farm today, killing myself actually, tilling rows of soil with a shovel. I don`t know anything about farming, but I have seen plenty of movies, and that kind of stuff is usually done with tractors in Hollywood. Not here, but I like working in the sun because I`m keeping my tan and hanging out with college kids, which has plenty of perks. One guy who`s really nice, Diego, asked me if I had any friends. I laughed because of the way he asked it, then he invited me to go to Palermo Saturday for his friend`s birthday party. Very exciting, an invitation from Diego...

Now I have to go back to the laundromat to get my clothes. The ladies there this time don`t speak English to me. My thing now is, either people know I`m struggling and speak English, or they laugh at me and wait until I say things right. At least they`re laughing, because I`m laughing too. Learning this way is crazy, because it`s like being a baby. I understand, but can only speak certain things, and then other words I say wrong. The kids that run this kiosk I`m at always laugh at me too, and tell me what things are really called. Then also, you can`t think about what things would be in English because the manner of speaking is different enough that it puts you at a disadvantage if you try to think of what things literally mean. It`s all about the ideas-we all communicate the same ideas, the way in doing so is the only thing that`s different. But I`m getting there, little by little, and everyone is laughing me through it.

Timetables, Obligations, and Jibber-Jabber

I was supposed to go to my first day of actual work at La Juanita today, but turns out I will start tomorrow. Wednesday is a national holiday in rememberance of the atrocities of the last dictatorship, so I won`t work then either. I didn`t go today because Lorena, my point-woman, was out of town and I didn`t want to try the complicated trip there by myself. Partly out of laziness, to be fair. Also though, it`s a bad place to be lost in, and she told me to make sure that if I go, not to get lost. So here I am. Argentina seems to be full of obligations, but even more full of excuses to break them, haha. Lorena said there are two rules of the program: Go with the flow, and don`t complain. She said Americans are funny because we always need things but they are things that we don`t actually need, but rather that we like. For instance, schedules. We like them, and so do most Europeans (Scandinavians at least) because they allow us to plan things, which gives us a sense of stability. There are no schedules here. There aren`t even bus stops here. You can recognize that a bus stops at a certain spot by the metal post that clearly used to have a sign attached to it, but you have to ask around to make sure your bus stops there. Then, once your bus comes, if it stops, you have to make sure with the driver that it is stopping at your destination. Wild. A lesson in letting go and letting god (thanks Denae for that beautiful phrase, haha)

I just got back from Palermo, the really nice part of the city, meeting up with a girl I met the other night. She`s from Brooklyn and does kind of the same things in NY as I have been doing-working with non profits for environmental things. We know some of the same organizations and people, so it`s cool, and we`re both doing similar projects here. Funny that the two of us met in Buenos Aires, completely randomly, and have these things in common. I met her at La Bomba last monday, which is a weekly Brazilian drum fest at an outdoor venue and is amazing. It starts early and ends early, so in a Carnaval-esque style, you follow the guys with drums to the next party. I was with my Scandinavian friends, and this girl, Sarit, got lost with another friend. I heard them speaking English so I told them they could stay around with us. Mostly because I wanted to talk to her friend, haha, but bam, there ya go. But anyway, she`s cool, and I had to spend the afternoon out because I literally have nothing to do if my work gets cancelled!

Yesterday it rained all day, it was awful. I hate rain, first of all, but it was raining especially hard, alllllll day. So I decided I would suck it up and go see a movie. I decided to see El Secreto de Sus Ojos because it won some awards, and I figured I`d be able to understand it decently. I didn`t understand anything! It was insane. Oh well, I`m trying. I know the movie must have been good, and there was this crazy plot twist at the end, so I want to see it with subtitles some day.

The weather here is perfect lately, besides yesterday. It`s decently dry, and totally sunny, but the temperature is at that perfect level where you don`t sweat with jeans and a t shirt, but you`re not cold. Beautiful. This kind of weather does something to me mentally/emotionally, it`s my favorite feeling. Thanks to that, Sarit and I sat outside a cafe in Palermo and had a beer while we discussed what we had picked up so far about the crazy history/current events of this country. People are sufficiently hushed about what happened in the late 70s, early 80s, but the lingering effects weigh heavily enough that you can still get a sense of the gravity of what went down. Arguably millions of people disappeared (a real body count can only be speculated, but somewhere between 100s of 1000s and a million is conceded) and the way of life was completely overturned for a decade or so (I`m shit with dates) and it only ended in the 80s, so plenty of people are still around who lived through all that. Lorena`s family had to move to Mendoza because her dad and grandpa worked for the former gov`t as doctors, so the military regime blacklisted them as enemies of the state, so they basically had to flee. Every Thursday, mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared march around the Plaza de Mayo, carrying on a tradition that was started during the dictatorship, reminding everyone of the wounds that are still open, decades later. While these little demonstrations happen, no one really ever brings it up. You recognize it but don`t talk about it. Then of course there was the economic crash in ´01 but that`s a different beast. Money`s money, it comes and it goes, society may upheave itself, but what people went through with the government, that`s something i`m not at all familiar with. It`s only something I ever heard about in history classes, and only related to communism, which made me wonder why, if we studied the soviet revolution, did we never hear about this mess in Argentina, which was a much more current issue, making it relevant, and just as brutal?

Anyway, it`s not all bad. At least in BA there is a pretty liberal attitude of be-who-you-are and everyone lives and lets live. Apparently things have changed a LOT in the past few decades and there is a lot of freedom, and lack of behavioral regulation. That is one thing about South America (hell, just about the entire rest of the world) I know I will miss so much when I get home. The police wouldn`t bother someone for something like jay-walking or riding their bike or skateboarding in the wrong place, or playing music too loud. I can`t say that cops are there for protection, I`m not a fool, but they are not there to tell you how to behave. The whole legal system in general is decently relaxed in that manner though. There are plenty of real, practical laws. Whether they are upheld isn`t the issue I`m arguing, but there aren`t laws regulating so many of the silly shit things that we have in the US-there aren`t many laws trying to protect you from yourself. That`s your job, and if you lack the sense to be able to protect yourself, that`s your problem. All of that rant isn`t to say, but doesn`t exclude the fact that, if this logic was followed in my hometown, I wouldn`t have a warrant for my arrest right now.. I would be in trouble, but not incarceration-worthy trouble. You go to jail for dealing drugs, and killing people, and stealing things. Anyway, no need to get all controversial about anything, there are plenty of bad things that such regulation prevents. For me personally, I prefer to be able to make my own decisions. As Bernie Mac may have once said, I`m a grown ass man and I can do what I want. If I want a beer in the street, damn it, I`m gonna drink my beer in the street. Without a shirt on! That`s a little bit of Georgia coming out.

So anyway, I`ll go buy some more red meat for dinner, and wish I had some fish. I can`t find fish anywhere, and I`ve never wanted seafood so badly. I`m sure it`s out there, but it`s hard to buy. I might be getting a little fatter right now-eating here is cheaper than in NY so I can afford to feed myself properly. Meaning, I haven`t eaten rice and beans since I`ve been in Argentina because, to me, that`s food of necessity, and I`ve had meat with almost every meal. To the point that I don`t even care about meat any more. It is really good here, even the crap meat you buy at the grocery store. It`s not packaged, you have to tell the butcher guy what you want, and he hacks it off from a big hunk of carnal delight. Then, BA isn`t the most diverse city in the world, but all the grocery stores around me are owned by Chinese ladies, and they always yell at me! So here, you have to pay a deposit when you buy the big beers in the glass bottles (there aren`t many 6 packs here) and the first time I was informed of this, I didn`t quite understand, so I told the lady so. She looked at me and sneared, and told me that yes, I did understand, and she`s sorry for her accent. I was like WOA lady, I`m the one with the language problem here, I`m not even going there! So I hit her with a little mira!mira! and set her straight. I don`t want her thinking I`m a punk.

Bombing thru Boulevards

Alright, so I started my work at the farm, called Pecohue, yesterday. It`s through the university of agriculture, I don`t remember if I had said that before, so I get to work with college kids. It`s awesome because they`re my age and they know what`s good in the city. And they`re really nice. I did some seed planting, some shoveling (mostly watched shoveling being done) and dug up weeds. We`re growing spinach, lettuce, radishes, corn, squash, it`s great. I love the smell of the farm, and getting dirty and all that.

I had my last Spanish class today, so I`m basically fluent. HA! yeah right. It`s crazy how fast you pick certain things up, yet how long it takes to really be able to speak properly. When someone talks to me, I understand them, but when it comes to responding, I can, but not with proper grammar. It`s coming along, but I`m a little slow.

I`m kind of in a funk today. Last night started off great... well the whole thing was great, but... I`ll explain. First off, I have a friend named Sarah, from Sweden, who lives at the volunteer house, and used to live in the Dominican Republic. We were talking about tostones the other night at a barbeque (which was amazing-grilled corn, potatoes, manioc root, and, of course, tons of meat, and 3 salads for 20 pesos, $5) then I found plantains at my supermarket yesterday. So I called her and made her come over for dinner and it was just lovely. I had plans to go to this place called El Palacio later, so we figured we`d eat then go our own ways. I got a ticket to enter for free when I was at another club last weekend, so I had to go no matter what. We decided to go to Piola after we finished dinner, and I ran into my pal Charly, the guy who gave me a bag full of his clothes. Then one of the waiters who I "talk" to had a bunch of friends who were also going to El Palacio, so we all went together. By "talk" I just mean that I try to make myself understood in Spanish. Great, so we got to the club and it was insanely fun. Great music, great crowd, even more fun than the one we went to last week. Sarah and I split off from the huge group, so we ended the night together around 6, she caught a cab then I walked home.. it`s maybe 20 minutes from there to my apartment.

On the way, I bought candy at a kiosk, and the guy there buying other stuff started talking to me and whatever. He sleeps on the street, pretty close to where I live, and we had kind of a crazy experience together, which could only be properly recounted by speaking it, but anyway it kind of messed with my head a lot. This city, as cool as it is, and for all the amazing thing it offers, kills you at the same time. Of course, any city does, I mean it sucks to see people living in the street, but here it`s ten times more intense. Anyway.

Other than that, this city is a great place. Anyone who likes the whole city thing would be comfortable here in an instant. The only thing that drives me crazy are the most ridiculously massive roads that shred the city into segments. Like, ten lanes in each direction. It drives me crazy, because crossing one of these avenues is like crossing 3 blocks, it`s nuts! It`s like they took the Parisian boulevard idea and American-sized it. They are pretty, with trees and plazas, art and monuments, but stupidly wide. Rarely do you cross without having to run before you get slashed by motorcycles and buses. But my street is small, and most of them are.

OK I have to get outta this place. Hope everyone has fun at Papa`s birthday party!

Family Matters

Why I was so lucky to be born into the family I have, I`ll never know... I definitely haven`t done anything in this life to have built up that kind of good karma. But, as it turns out, I guess you can be an idiot your entire life and still be lucky. Well no, that`s what affords me the ability to wander aimlessly like I do. Anyway I`ve always been kind of sickly obsessed with my grandparents and their youthful attitudes and activities... and senses of humor... but their generosity always makes me feel like such a little biatch! They spoil me too much. Anyway, my pops always told me that you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can`t pick your friend`s nose... you can`t pick your family either, for better or for worse, but nice enough, I ended up with the one I got. I still have to get a job because I need to be making my money, but damn.

I`m on my way to the 34th Street-esque Avenida Corrientes. Well, i guess it`s like a mix of Canal and 34th street-everything they sell is really cheap, but the clothes are nicer than what you can get in Chinatown in NY. It`s getting a little chilly now, so I need to regroup and grab a jacket. Shame, I was hoping the summer would last forever, but I guess I`d need to go back to Brazil for that. I have all of today free, so I need to keep busy. I go a little crazy because all of the people I`ve met are already in the middle of their projects, and until later this week, I have copious amounts of free time. At least I`ve been able to explore the city. I`ll wake up in the morning, whenever the sun shining through the curtain is bright enough to bother me, hang out, drink mate, listen to the radio (the radio sucks here, but one station plays a mix of reggaeton, american and latin pop, and random other things) study Spanish, attempt some push ups and what not, laughably, then go out and just walk around until I`m ready to die. I can walk around all day, but something about being somewhere new wears you out faster. Part of it is the constant attention you have to pay - the sidewalks are narrow, people walk slow, buses drive fast, mere inches away from you, and then the little motorcycles threaten to chop you up if you lose track of yourself for a second. Plus, you can`t walk around texting like a fiend because someone might rob you, depending on where you are, of course. I make it sound horrible, but it`s not, it`s just a little tiring. But I`m starting to get used to it, and the city really is one of the prettiest I`ve seen.

Last night I was hanging out in the apartment, waiting for a phone call to meet up with some people, when my power went out. I guess it`s not that uncommon for it to go out for a couple hours or whatever. It always comes back. So I went to Piola, even though I had decided to take a break from it. But there I was, and I met this guy who works for Continental Airlines, and after a while of talking, we decided that I could buy a really cheap ticket off of him to get back home. I love networking. He said I would have to fly through Houston, and he made it sound like I would be flying across the Bermuda Triangle in a hot air balloon, but what do I care if I fly through Houston? I asked if I could fly through Miami instead, and have a 2 day layover, but that`ll have to be hashed out later, haha.

Time is flying, it`s crazy. It`s one of those things where I feel like I`ve been here forever, and for no time at all simultaneously. That feeling is weird. I`m thinking that, once my apartment lease is up (on May 5) I might stay with a friend I`ve made until I try to go home in June. Once I ended up here, I realized that 2 months is nothing. It takes at least 2 weeks to get anything done, ya know? To get a job, to take Spanish classes, to sort out with the volunteer people when they want me and when I can come (I can go whenever), it just takes so much time! I`m going to be almost ready to leave by the time I get comfortable in a routine! So that just means I`ll have to come back some day. This guy I`ve met through the program, also from New York, by way of Philly, is working on a video project, and was toying with the idea of staying here to work. He`s plenty older than me and has a professional background, so he could actually do real work, but it sounded cool.

Anyway, I`m trying to think of something funny. I dunno. Watching me here would probably be funny to most people. It`s just funny getting accustomed to a new place-learning the little pieces of etiquette that make you look normal, the little mannerisms that you pick up, and the intonation in the way people speak, it`s all interesting. Yesterday I was walking around trying to find an internet place that was open, and asked this cop if she knew one. She looked at me, hard, for a minute, and asked how long I`d been here, so I told her a week. With a stone cold killer face, she said that she saw me walking the other day, so I asked "AND....?" and she just laughed and said she thought something (which I didn`t understand) but she guesses she was wrong and now she knows me, and told me where to go. Hmm. Well, there are a lot of things going on here, always, and through the volunteer program I`m always getting emails on different things-what nights are good at what clubs, movies to see, group events they do at the volunteer house (like barbeques and movie nights and yoga) and all sorts of tips, it`s really nice.

Alright, I`m going to go buy this jacket.

BAires Never Sleeps

I need to run to the laundromat in ten minutes to get my clothes..... don`t want them to get stolen again, haha, but wanted to update about the weekend.

Yesterday I went to a soccer (fùtbol if you prefer) match in Villa 31, this really poor neighborhood I talked about before. It was fun and got to learn about some of the less-fun issues around here. Honestly, it didn`t look that bad, it looked like a lot of other places in South America, but I guess it is that bad. Anyway. Afterward, I went to this free concert in a huge park.. An Argentinian benefit concert for the Chilean earthquake victims. Turns out I saw one of my friend`s favorite bands, Los Fabulosos Cadillac, and knew he`d be jealous. It`s this guy Oscar from work (some of you know him as papi chulo) and we both tried to see them at a summer stage concert in NY and he was mad at me for even trying (niether of us got in) because I couldn`t understand the words so what would I care. But anyway, I saw them here, and he`d be jealous. After the concert I went home and made some food, which made me sick later, then took a nap and waited for my plans to come together.

I met up with a friend I had made at Piola last week who promised to take me out. Now that I have a cell phone, I was able to get in touch with him, so I met up with him at his friends place around 1, then the 3 of us went out to this crazy awesome club. Reminded me a little bit of Hiro back home. Great music, no cover charge, we got a free ticket to another place on Friday, cheap-ish drinks, and a great crowd! We ended there at 5, at which point I thought we were going home, and I was hoping so because my stomach was churning from the poisonous concoction I made myself...I think it was the jarred tomatoes actually, never a good idea. But no, we got a taxi to the next spot. Won`t go into details, but it was definitely an interesting place, like nothing I`ve ever gone to before back home, but it was fun too. Then finally got home around 7. That`s normal, wow. But it was great to finally go super crazy.... well, crazy but not bad crazy. Niether of these kids drink, so I wasn`t in my normal indulgent mode, and I feel amazing today... how wonderful!

I`m learning so much new Spanish, I`m really loving it. The problem here though, is that so many people speak English and as soon as I start to struggle to find words, they just ask me in English. I hate that because it`s so easy to learn through struggling. I guess that`s true of anything, but especially language. And then I think about how frustrated some people tend to get back home when someone doesn`t speak English, and I`m that guy now, uhhhhh uh uhhhh! People here are really nice though, I love it. And my Spanish teacher is really cracking me up all the time. She goes on with stories, like the other day she told me she likes mate. Claro, everyone likes mate. But she doesn`t like to drink mate alone. Her kids don`t drink mate yet and she`s divorced. And her dog doesn`t drink mate. So she eats with her dog, but until he can drink mate, she only drinks it when she`s out with friends. She wasn`t trying to be funny though, that was just her thought process, and she really meant every word of it. Killing me. Then she made sure I understood properly, like she really wanted me to know. I was laughing, but she didn`t get why. I dunno.

OK I have to run and get my clothes. This stupid lady at the laundromat speaks perfect English, I hate her.

The Grind

OK, so I`ve survived my first week, and come out pretty well. Not that I`ve forgotten that I got robbed, but things feel pretty normal now. I got new contacts yesterday and didn`t realize how shitty my old ones were-my eyes feel so much better! I ended up going to my friend`s brother in law`s clinic instead of the public one. It was more expensive but I got a proper exam and didn`t have to wait 3 hours. Awesome.

So now I`m working on my Castellano for a week before I go for interviews with a couple different NGOs and other places. We`re going over all these basic things, many of which I know already, but there is one crazy thing in Argentina, the pronoun vos. It`s the same as tu for you who know Spanish, but it`s more familiar. And the conjugation of the verb following is different. Everyone uses it, so I know it`s going to screw me up when I get back and talk to non-Argentinians. But that doesn`t matter because I`m here now, and I need to talk to people properly. The accent is silly though, but to them, everyone else in the Spanish speaking world has a silly accent. This is a silly place in general, and I love it.

The buses squeak. It`s something with the shock absorbers, so you can always hear a bus coming because it sounds like a dog chewing on a squeaky toy. Punctuality is a virtue, and it seems like people expect it, but I`m finding that people are rarely on time, even though they`re supposed to be. I dunno. No one seems to believe in the peso...The country has a pretty tough political and economic history, really tough, but the people are still pretty light hearted about things. My landlord calls the peso `funny money` because its worth fluctuates constantly. He told me a lot of jokes shitting on Argentina, one being..... OK when God was creating the earth, he made France and said they will be masters of wine and cheese, he made Italy and said the food and the people will be beautiful, he made England and the US and said they will be great powers one day, and then he made Argentina, and said `they will have oil, gold, silver, mountains, coast, arable soil, every natural resource imagineable,` and the angels protested, `how can that be fair, you can`t give them all of that!` to which god replied,`no it`s OK, because I will also give them Argentinians´.

Anyway, if it`s not funny in text, it was funny when he said it. He`s a funny guy.

Saturday I am going to a soccer match between my volunteer organization and this girls team in Villa 31. It`s apparently a pretty bad area, like a favela type settlement, bordering Recoleta, one of the richest areas in the entire country. So it should be an interesting time. Typical of what I`ve seen in South America, the gap between wealth and poverty is astonishingly massive. It doesn`t appear to be quite as bad here as in Sao Paulo, where my friend and I found it a little disgusting how people flaunted their wealth, but it`s still really apparent. Anyway, when I start working, I`m meant to be helping out at this cooperative called La Juanita, which is a conglomeration of different things that brings services to the neighborhood, also really poor. My other project is to be working on a farm in the city.... urban agriculture is my favorite thing in the world at the moment, so this is perfect. I`ll be learning techniques and how to sustain crops in the city, and why they are doing it here-all knowledge that I can bring back to NY with me. So now I guess the blog should start to get pretty boring, because I`ll just be going on with the grind. The experience isn`t boring at all, every day I see something new and learn something that I didn`t know yesterday. Being away always makes me feel like a child again, because I have to accept that I know nothing about this new place, and open my mind up so I have a fresh perspective, like a clean slate from which I can draw conclusions and form opinions. And even then, there is so much room for something to have been misunderstood or lost in translation, so I`m glad I have a couple of months here to really nail down some things, and hopefully  get a pretty good grasp on the language. I`m finding that I already understand it really well, it`s just that the thinking required to actually speak is a little slower. If you know me well enough, you know that my process of thinking moves pretty slow in general, haha. Ohhhh well, I have to go meet my Spanish, no, Castellano, professor for lunch. PAPA-make sure you don`t miss the one I posted talking about you, below.

Movies and Literature

OK so I start with my volunteer stuff today. I have to meet them really soon so I just wanted to make a quick post before I run. I went to try to get an eye exam today at the public clinic, but it was going to take too long, so I have to go back tonight. Nice that they have something like that though, it`s going to cost me about 10 pesos, less than 4 bucks, to get checked up, then I can get me a pair of glasses, and maybe contacts, but I´ll be set!

Last night I saw Alice in Wonderland (Alicia en el pais de las maravillas) and loved it. It was really cute, the story was nice, and the visuals were awesome. I guess they have it in 3D too, and I think it would have to be really awesome to see it like that. Also, on the way home from that, I decided that I needed a book. I don`t have  friends yet, so when I`m not at the bar, I`m alone. Not in a sad way, it`s just how it is, I`ve only been here 5 days.. So I got The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (La Maravillosa Vida Breve de Oscar Wao) in Spanish, obviously. I saw it on the shelf and could almost hear my friend Kristina screaming at me to get it, because she loves that book and its author, and Dominicans. So I couldn`t pass it up. Learning Spanish by reading is pretty easy because everything sounds exactly how it`s written. I`ve been watching TV in English, with Spanish subtitles, then the other way around, and it`s actually helping a lot.

Lucky enough, I have a bunch of uncashed savings bonds at home that I didn`t know about, so knowing that I have some money coming means I can buy a backpack, a mochila! I have been carrying all my little things around in a plastic bag from the grocery store, so it will be so nice to have a normal thing again. And I`ve been nervous with this bag because I`m kind of like a child... sometimes when I`m carrying something for a long time, my hand just lets go of it, I don`t realize, and later I don`t have what I thought I was carrying. Weird as hell, it sounds like something one of my old roommates, a total space cadet, would do. But anyway, I`ll go try to find one. Everything is pretty cheap here, and I was pointed toward the Canal Street of BA so I can buy a bunch of knockoff stuff for nothing. But I don`t get the knockoffs because the quality is shit, and I don`t even like Ralf Lauren anyway....haha. Or Dulce & Gabana. Argentinian knockoffs are awesome.

So here I start my first day of routine in BA. I like waking up early, without having gone out the night before. I feel like a totally different person! And I bought coffee at the supermarket, which is actually pretty hard to find. All of the coffees are already mixed with sugar, and I HATE sugar in my coffee, but I got a bag. Then I decided I had to try mate because literally everyone drinks it here, nonstop. Always. They carry a lunch box with their water pitcher and gourd everywhere. So I tried it and it`s really good, just like tea. And I think it has more caffeine than coffee, and it`s maybe a little better for you (or probably not) so I can adjust and feel more like a Porteño (someone from BA). Yesterday I did a lot of walking around, and have been taking note of all kinds of awesome spots here. I feel like it`s the same as NY in the sense that there are so many cool places and you want to try all of them, but I will probably end up going to a bunch of the same spots over and over again, same as back home. But I`ve been looking out for vegetarian stuff for Kendra because it`s a little tough here, but I think it can be done, no problem. Ok, I`m grabbing lunch with my Volunteer Coordinator, and then I`ll go meet some new friends!

Hey Papa

So this morning I woke up after a decently chill night of some beer and pizza at my favorite spot in BA so far, and ----------skip to the next sentence if you`re squeamish, or are eating----------- had perhaps the largest bowel movement of my entire life. Largest in all respects-including the length of the operation. One might call it miraculous ----------OK---------- This inconsequential (to anyone else but me) start to my day naturally brought to mind my Papa. For those that are reading that know him, you know why, but I can`t really explain to everyone else how much joy these kinds of things give him, and how much I`ve laughed my ass off at his accounts of such moving, precious moments. I was reminded his birthday is coming up, so hey Pops, happy early birthday! Wish I could be there to celebrate it, but I`m thinking about you anyway.

On Buenos Aires, I love this city. I think if anyone in the entire world came here, they would find something that they liked about it. Like I was kind of saying in one of the posts, how you feel the European and Latin mix, it`s really really awesome. As much as I absolutely loved Brazil, and would have loved to go back (if my passport with the Visa hadn`t been stolen), BA is really cool too. It`s comfortable, it feels a little more like New York than anywhere I`ve been so far. And it`s a dream to walk around. It`s crazy that with the state of the economy here, the city manages to function so well and be so pretty. Buttttt, it`s also crazy to see entire families, mom, dad, babies, and dogs sleeping together in the street.

I`m in San Telmo right now, near a really huge street market. I guess it happens every Sunday, and it`s gotta be over a mile long, just selling all kinds of cool stuff. It`s pretty touristy, but even the mix of tourists here is really cool. I usually hate hanging around touristy parts for so many reasons, but the crowd is awesome. Everyone thinks I`m Brazilian, and I`m getting a kick out of it. When I am talking to somebody and reach the limit of my Spanish, they`ll just say something in Portuguese, it`s funny, and flattering. Brazilians are so hot, haha.

Last night, I ended up at Piola again. It`s like my cheers. I know the owner, I know the managers, but my bartender friend, Anastasia, worked her last night yesterday. But her boyfriend owns an oxygen bar in Palermo, so I guess I`ll have to give that a try. I`ve only ever heard of people going to one, I`ve never actually considered it for myself. But anyway, at Piola I met these two really funny 50-something ladies from Maine (heyyy Becca). They were cracking me up. Both are single, one just got divorced after 21 years of marriage, and the other hasn`t been married, and they are on a tour de force down here, enjoying the men as much as they can, hahaha. They were trying to bring me home with them, jokingly, but I explained a lot of things, and now we can work as a team. They could drink me under the table though, they`re insane. They actually drank too much and left early, then I met a Mexican dad and son who were hear looking for schools. They were really cool, and it felt good talking to Mexicans because I can understand them better when they speak. But I love this freaking bar! It`s the perfect mix of people-locals, tourists, families, couples, gay, straight, eating, drinking, and everybody that goes there is nice, it`s so much nicer than being at a bar in NY. People actually talk to other people here.  How wild.

The neighborhood where I am living is pretty busy and loud during the week, and I like that. It is totally crazy though, how much this city shuts down on the weekends. So many things are closed, and the streets are so empty. A lot of people leave the city for weekends, from what I`ve been told, but even so, it`s nearly dead! It`s nice to have that break from the pace though.

Alright, I`m going to try to make some phone calls now, and then I might go see Alice in Wonderland. Everyone here is going crazy for it.

Que Buena Onda

I just wanted to make this post really quick, just to say thanks to everyone who`s reading. I`ve gotten soo many countless offers for help, more than I could ever need! You guys are all so amazing, I can`t even say. Between friends, family, and people I`ve just met, it`s great. It`s crazy how one little bad thing brings out so much good from everyone, thanks thanks thanks!

 But really, I do have everything I need. I have clothes now, and I`ll be making money soon, and a good little crew down here that`s helping me out too. No one should worry, either, it`s just shit that happens. No danger or anything, just stuff. And now I know. It`s not stopping me from having a good time though, I just won`t be doing silly stuff.

Anyway, the address here at my apt is Suipacha 963, P23. Buenos Aires, C.F. Argentina. If you`re thinking about sending a package from the US, you probably shouldn`t because I probably won`t get it. But google the address though, I have a great neighborhood, and a lovely apartment! Next door to me lives a youngish couple. They were fighting (quietly) last night on the balcony, so I guess I`ll properly meet them some other time, but at least I know I can play music. And the floors don`t creak and I don`t have a crazy Dominican lady banging on her ceiling when I come home late. I would write more about the city, but there`s a lot to take in now, and I`m still running around trying to get the last bits of cash to pay for the apartment and rebuilding my personal inventory.

The bitch of it is that the nightlife here is incredible, and really cheap, which is really great after being in Brazil. But I don`t have any of my cologne or nice things... so now I have to rely on personality... it`s terrifying. But I went out last night with a group of guys and girls I met, and keep meeting new people every time I go to this Piola bar. Alright, I need to get out of this internet cafe before my eyes explode. Thanks so much to all of you for the responses, and please, please, nobody worry!

Buenos Aires, BA

Whewwww ok everything is settled. I spent almost all day yesterday between corner stores (for toilettries) 3 different police precincts and the US embassy. Well, it was 2 precincts, 3 times. The hostel told me go to the 17th, so I went there first thing, and they said it wasn`t their jurisdiction, I need the 15th. So I went to the embassy rather than back tracking to the other one. I had to pay a lot for this stupid new passport, and I had to pay a guy to take my picture in front of a tree with a polaroid camera so that I could bring it back with my paperwork, but now I have a brand new passport, good for one year, the police know about my stuff, and the US knows that my IDs are gone. Bueno. Then I went to the 15th. My new policeman told me that it wasn`t theirs, I need the 17th. I told him I went there, they sent me here, so he called them and told them to deal with it. Police, police, no one wants to work. They just stand around and look pretty.

So the night that I got robbed I went to the bar, like I said in the last post. Met this guy named Charly, a regular I suppose, and was shooting the shit with the bartender and we all just had one big chit chat in this bar. Charly told me he`d bring me clothes, just to come back to the bar again. So I did, and he gave me a bag of old clothes of his! He`s a rocker-guy, a couple inches taller than me, and a lot thicker, so I look like a hoodlum running around in his big, sleeveless shirts and cut-off jeans, but I`d rather look like a hoodlum than a bitch. I went out and bought some new clothes today, just some basic stuff, but now I have a solid week`s worth of clothes. Perfect. Too bad I´ll never get to see my pictures, or the 6 CDs I bought along the way, but it`s gone, might as well have never had it. That`s what I tell myself when I get mad about it. Anyway, at one of the police stations yesterday, a lady came in after I had told them what happened and was waiting to file my report, and the EXACT same thing had just happened to her, and the cops put us together to talk. She lives here, so it made me feel a tiny bit less stupid, and we comiserated together. But she was a little insane-like an Upper East Side lady-she went out shopping for expensive clothes, and as she was getting out, the cabbie just drove off before she got the bags out, door open and everything. She was really upset, and I wanted to shake her head a little bit and tell her to snap out of it, but I didn`t. The cops were pretty pleasant too, and pretty hot, all of them. If I`m lucky, I may find myself in a little more trouble while I`m here.

I moved into my apartment today, and to the confusion of the landlord, I just had one bag, haha. I told her why and she was so upset about it. Seriously, everyone here is amazing. Buenos Aires lacks the extreme, neurotic energy of Rio, but it makes up for it in this energetic suave-ness that I can`t describe, you just have to be here and feel it. Like everyone says, it has a more European feel, but definitely the Latin kick, I think it`s an awsome mix. Smooth like French (not like sleazy, just suave), Italian style and eating habits, and that fiery spirit that is so distinctly Latino. So far, I adore this city. And I love my apartment. It`s perfectly small, just a studio, but I have a little balcony, and the building is really clean and nice... I have a doorman who thinks my name is Zacarius, and I let him go with it. And it`s in a really posh part of town. The agent that brought me there said he was going to recommend me to a company that does English classes, so hopefully that will work out. Then he invited me to the beach this weekend with his friends. How crazy, I love this place. The land lady told me I can call her whenever I want, and her friend works at the hotel across the street and she is going to see if I can use their internet for free, instead of always going to cafes. If people could be any nicer, warmer, gracious... I dunno, they`d be on the floor dusting my feet off. It`s really incredible. I feel really good to have this apartment now. I loved hostel hopping, and the people, characters, you meet along the way really make for an awesome experience, but now it`s nice to know that I`m here, set, for two months. I can spread out, get comfortable, stock the fridge without someone eating my food, and always come home to the same spot. The balcony makes a big difference too. The view is really nice, I love it.

Today at 5, I go in to my volunteer place for the first time. I`m excited to get started and figure out my stuff. I`m more excited for the two week spanish intensive I`ll get, because while I can speak well enough to explain things to police and have normal conversations, I love the people so much so far that I can`t wait to really get get down and dirty with the language. So hopefully I`ll make my schedule today, so I can figure out when I can be available to teach English, and like that, the money disaster will be averted! But first, I`m going to go to the grocery store so I can stock up my fridge a little bit. Some of the people I met at that bar are leaving tomorrow, so I know I have to go there again tonight. The table cloth that the bartender gave me was the perfect towel for my shower, and now I put it on my table in the apartment, and it`s going to be one of those things that I`ll keep forever-the first thing I got after I got robbed, from a total stranger! Well, bartenders can`t really be considered strangers, I think too fondly of them.

So what else what else, I dunno. Now that I`m here for a while, I`m satisfied to chill out and take things slow. It`s obviously not hard to make friends here, and in my neighborhood there are a lot of bars and restaurants, and clubs aren`t too far away. I made some friends at the hostel last night, so I`m going back there tonight to find them, and then we`ll go to his bar. This stupid bar. It`s called Piola, and there is one in NYC and Miami too. The one in NY is on W 12 street, so all the NYers looking at this, let me say that, down here, it`s great. They have Italian kinda food-really good pizzas and some pastas and what not. That`s my plug, so now I`ll run.

Carrrrrrrrrrajo!!!!

I got into Buenos Aires tonight., the trip took less time than I expected. I HATED El Capital de Corrientes, there was nothing to do. I was pissed off I took the time to stop there, and was thinking the whole time that I should have followed my gut and gotten of the bus 4 hours earlier in Posadas, where I was going to catch the train. From now on, I follow my instincts, because they have yet to serve me wrong. I got off the bus just after 10pm tonight, then got a taxi to take me to a hostel. No vacancies. Next one, no vacancies either. So then my taxi from the station said good luck and left. He was nice though, he went further than what I paid for. I got another taxi in the street, to take me to a hostel in Recoleta, pretty close to where my apartment is going to be. I asked him if it was OK if he waited 5 minutes for me while I asked if this one had vacancies, he said no problem. I was thinking that I should take my little bag (mi manchila) with me when i went in, but I thought, no, it`s a legit taxi, I`m fine. I was thinking about how nice Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) are as I ran up the steps to reception. They had a room, more or less, or would find me one. 2 minutes later I ran back down the stairs to grab my bags. The taxi was gone.

I waited a second, in my naivete, to see if he had to circle the block, asked the police man on the corner if he saw a taxi over there, and he said yeah... The guy left, with all my stuff! I don`t have anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been keeping all my cash and credit cards on me, but he has everything else. The CDs I bought, my new contacts, my pictures, my glasses, my iPod, alllllll of my clothes, my retainer!!!.... Fu king Everything. I hope he enjoys them, and takes them to hell! I told the cop what happened and he said `bienvido a buenos aires, chico, lo siento` .. welcome to BA kid, sorry. I could only laugh. No use crying over spilled milk, right? Lo que paso, paso. So now I get a truly fresh start here-new clothes, new everything. I`ll go to an eye doctor and get new contacts, whatever. There aren`t many rules here so it should be easy. The only thing that pisses me off is that I have that warrant for my arrest and now my ID is gone, and I can`t renew it! OHhhhhh well. As my dad says, it`s Doritos, you can just get more. Thank god it`s just my stuff. I`ll miss it though, especially the CDs I bought along the way, and the photos on the camera Denae gave me before I left. Argh.

But other than that, I love BA so far. I did find a hostel, and they pitied me enough once my bags got stolen to give me a bed even though then don`t have vacancies. I went to a bar, naturally, to soak it all up, and met some really awesome people. I just have to go again tomorrow, and this one guy is going to give me some clothes of his. The bartender was really cute and awesome, and she gave me a table cloth (really cute, actually) to use as a towel for the morning, so I could shower. And we drank together, maybe a bit too much. Then I met this guy from Cincinatti and he was really cool, but all he did was take my cigarettes, hahaha. Enter chain smoking. It`s not like I`m desolate or anything, but what money I could have used for something cool is going to have to go to new clothes and toiletries, and I had just bought a bunch of new stuff! The funny thing is that I got thru big, bad, `developing country` Brazil with no problem, and the first hour I was in BA I got knicked of everything. That bag I had was expensive too.....(thanks Nani).

So anyway, I have to really get into this shit now. For whatever reason, niether my apartment people or my volunteer people have me confirmed for my start date of march 5, despite my incessant emails of the past 3 weeks, but I`m sure it will work out. I have people now, and they said I can stay with them, JUST IN CASE, but I`m sure I`ll be fine. I`m kind of glad my stuff is gone, it gives a new outlook on things. Sort of like the economic turmoil-it puts necessity into perspective. I have what I need, and that`s myself. Other than that, it`s all vanity. AAAYYY but I am a little bit vain!! I`ll miss my sneakers, my jeans, my graphic tshirts, all that nonsense! But hey, it`s my fault, and there`s nothing I can do now. I did have a really fun night tonight anyway, and can`t wait to get started with the project I`ll be working on.

I was about halfway through the book I started, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and was just starting to get into it. I`ll buy it here, in Spanish, so it can help me learn. Buenos Aires looks awesome from where I`m at, too. You can tell there`s a lot going on, and everyone is having fun. I can`t wait to get into it, find some work, and have Kendra come!

The beautiful thing about traveling, and something that seems to be lost on a lot of people, is that for every amazing thing you learn, your eyes are opened to countless more things you have yet to learn. For every beautiful person you meet, you have to realize there are hundreds more that you haven`t crossed paths with. For every shitty person you run into, you know there are thousands of others, contempting the maladies and hoping for better, ready to cheer you on in your silly little journey of life. Every mistake you make, you can consider a learning experience rather than a wrong turn. Ay que rico.

All in all, I like Buenos Aires so far. This is about 6 hours into it, so it`s just a feeling, but like I said, it`s the feelings that I`m following from now on. Ignoring my gut got me to the shit hole Corrientes, and got my stuff jacked here in BA. Time to keep my head on straight. Now I`ll look Argentino fore real, once I compile a wardrobe here. I`m actually darker-skinned than most of the people here, and they generally just assume I`m Latino and talk to me in Spanish. Ha. I think it`s going to be funny when the apartment people pick me up and I won`t have anything. What an idiot, I should have known!!!!!!!!

But anyway, for all of the bad things you hear about South America, I have found, so far, that you don`t really find yourself in mortal danger, people just want your stuff. And they need it more than I do. After all, I`m on vacation, and anything frivolous in my bag was something I shouldn`t have spent money on anyway. I`m ready to enjoy the hell out of the experience here, and I have no doubt I`ll get more out of it than anything I would be doing back home. The whole thing does, however, emphasize the importance of family and friends, as the people I`ve met tonight instantly offered what they could to minimize my tiny little calamity, and I don`t even know them! For every one bad thing that happens, thanks to the people here, you can rebound a thousand times. It is great to be here, learning, seeing, doing, experiencing everything, and the people really are incredible.

Anywy, I`m tired from my day-long trip today and the beers I drank earlier, and I paid for this bed tonight, so I should go use it!

Somos Americanos

OK I`m in Argentina, in the city Corrientes, capital of the state of Corrientes. People don`t say Buenos Dias here, they say Buen Dia. Castellano will take some getting used to, but my Mexican Spanish might actually be helping me, as far as sympathy goes. I have definitely left the tourist circuit that is Brazil-North Argentina is totally different territory, and it`s fun. In Brazil, I ran into the same people in different cities all the time, it was nuts.

Crossing the border was no problem, I didn`t get ripped off by the border police like I was expecting, and I spent the day on the Argentina side of Iguazu Falls. It was ten times more beautiful than the Brazilian side, and I loved every minute of it. My first order of business once I landed at the bus station in Puerto Iguazu, the Argentinian town for its side of the falls, was to figure out where I was going to be next. I talked to a guy at a tourist info office on my way back from the ATM, and he was crazy, first of all, but suggested a few places to go. So now it`s one of those things-who`s more foolish, the fool, or the guy who follows the fool? Corrientes kind of sucks so far, but I`m waiting to pass judgement until I can really see it. I`ve been walking for about 45 minutes, toward downtown, and have yet to see anything nice.

The bus trip here was the most excitement I think I`ve had so far. My original plan was to go to Santa Fe, then to Rosario, then BA. It was really expensive that way, so the crazy guy said to go to Corrientes, then backtrack to Posadas where there is a train that leaves Wednesday for BA, and the trip takes two days but would save me almost 200 pesos. So I booked a bus that left at 8pm last night, to arrive in Corrientes at 6am. I was sitting there and made friends with these English girls, we had some beers, and waited.

I was going to try to make friends with this couple of American families, but they kept looking at me like I was going to rape their daughters. All I did was ask if they wanted me to take a picture of them all together, and I obviously have an American accent.... but it was just downhill from there. One of the guys kept giving me stink eye like it would make me disappear. Such an idiot. But then this one little Argentinian kid, maybe 2 or 3 walked over to me. He looked a lot like I did as a baby actually, it was tripping me out that he took an interest in me and we could have been twins as babies. Then he kept grabbing my tatoo, his parents kept laughing, then he reached for my beer, and the parents thought it was hysterical and brought him is juice so we could ´Salud´ each other. Too cute.

Anyway, right at 8.00, one of the buses that had been sitting there for a half hour pulled out, and I was thinking ´man I hope my bus isn`t really late´ and I didn`t think that one was mine because the destination was Resistencia, not my destination. Then I looked at my map really quick and realized that Resistencia is just across the river from Corrientes, so it could have easily been my bus. I grabbed my ticket, ran to the police at the terminal, and they told me to RUN! I ditched my flip flops, ran my ass off to the end of the block, thanked god that the light turned red, and yelled to the driver that I was supposed to be there. I feel like there would be some regulation in the US preventing this, but the driver said he`d stop and wait for me ´up there´ so I ran back, grabbed my bags, and got on the bus. Brilliant. The girls said bye with a tone of doubt in their voice that I would be alright for the rest of my trip. They thought I was retarded. I do too.

Then I got on the bus, organized myself, and fell asleep as soon as I stopped sweating. Maybe a half hour later, this tough-looking military guy was prodding me with his baton thing and shining his flashlight in my face to wake me up. He asked me to get out my bag and open it (nicely enough), then I had to show him everything I was carrying (apples, a banana, cookies, toiletries.... he got bored) then he asked my nationality, I told him, he excused himself, but proceded to take a lady and her bags off the bus. I fell asleep with a big grin on my face with the realization that I am a clown and don`t know what the hell is going on, but here I am, having the time of my life!

This little corner of Argentina is nothing to write home about, even though that`s what I`m doing. Gotta run now because I`m out of time at the internet cafe. I`ll be on a bus for the next two days.