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.