Something about hot, sweaty dance parties involving a wicked good drum circle just doesn’t let you fall asleep like you should when you need to wake up early.Chatting with friends at colorful bars doesn’t help much either.What I’m saying is—Mondays rock.I hereby declare that Bomba de Tiempo is my new favorite thing in the city.What’s not to love—drums drums drums in an amazing venue and dancing in tribal ways you didn’t know you had in you.Granted, the mosh pit that developed was not exactly my cup of tea, but I’ll keep dancing as long as I’m standing.Or not as the case was when all of us were hunching and bouncing in some quasi-ritualistic circle as the music got softer, and then jumping and rioting when the music exploded.Ahh, that’s the beauty of live music—you make friends from strangers just because you are experiencing the same awesome thing at the same wonderful moment.
Such was the last night here in the city for our dear friend, Katie.To her I wish safe travels and all new adventures on the home turf.
As far as New Years go, I'd say this one started out to a pretty beautiful (if not delicious) start. Somehow, I seemed to have a surprisingly Asian-themed weekend, despite the fact that I'm, well, in Argentina. We visited the Japanese garden Saturday morning and it was stunning! Definitely the kind of place begging for camera-happy tourists to snap the little red bridges, bonsai trees and gigantic carp. The lakes were filled with these brightly colored fish, which must have pretty good eyesight because as soon as you moved closer to the water's edge, they'd "glupglupglup" up at you, waiting for crumbs. We didn't plan for this, so, alas, no new fish friends.
After sadly leaving behind potentially new pets (we do have a swimming pool, after all!), we meandered around all the different parks (after harrowingly darting angry buses on Libertador, that is). Particularly gorgeous was the Rosedal, which had more colors of roses than I even knew existed! The thing about Buenos Aires is, even though it's a megacity, their parks are HUGE! There is sort of a network of gorgeous parks in Palermo that link up to be the Central Park of BsAs....lakes with rentable paddle boats, rollerblading trails, gazebos galore, and, a boundary-waters-worthy amount of hungry mosquitos. It's amazing to escape the crazy traffic, urban jungle and suddenly be surrounded by miles and miles of verdant parks! With a little more bugspray next time, I could definitely spend a whole weekend here. See photos!
China-town was, obviously, a pretty big deal Sunday. We just didn't know how big of a deal it would be! It was almost comical how ridiculously packed these little streets were. Trying to walk down one block took an hour, easily, and you'd definitely come out a little banged up. It was worth it to find steamed dumplings on the other end, though! I reached my pot of gold! Except instead of being at the end of a rainbow, it was an abusive dragon-parade. Oh well, you say potato, I say dim sum.
After, we had friends come over for a BBQ--the first one we actually hosted! Besides eating your weight in meat (or in my case, delicious soy burgers!), a rite of passage here is definitely hosting an asado. A duty we do not mind undertaking--expect greatness when we return!
Love you all, Lee
ps: More photos on Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/leeann.sit/Argentina#)
Hope you are all doing well (I heard word of a winter storm—hope you’re all bundled up!).We’ve been thinking of you all tons!Sounds like lots of fun adventures are happening all over—please write us back and give us all the juicy details!
As far as us, we’ve been busy actually making a life here.Funny how now that I have work (even if they are random hours all over the place), makes me feel much more like I “live” here.I started classes at an English Institute where I work part-time, and the kids are AMAZING!I imagined loving the three-year old class the most, and they are pretty adorable (and TINY!), but I’m surprised by how much fun the senior high-school class is, too!In all my classes there’s singing, dancing, activities (...involving throwing a tennis ball?), games…--all sandwiched in between long hello and goodbye sessions that involve kissing on the cheek every kid, teacher, and neighbor passing by until the school’s locked up.This week’s song for the little kids is, “Let’s be friends!”and, oh yes, there is also a dance.
Unfortunately, these dances were not at all helpful last weekend at five in the morning when Peter and I were jamming to “Sweet dreams were made of these”-dance remix at a “boliche” (dance club) …under a fog machine and flashing lights, no less.We were finally convinced by our host-sister to go out dancing after she had been tirelessly asking us for weeks.We thought the fact that it was her birthday was a pretty solid reason to finally go.And, actually, we had a blast!Sure, we didn’t know a majority of the songs that sounded peculiarly identical.Sure, it was so crowded that routinely getting elbowed in the ribs became a fun, new dance move.But, let’s face it, Peter and I can tear it up.
But, there’s no rest for the wicked and we were up and atom (or is it Adam?Or a..dumb!?) early Saturday morning.I spent the day with my friend from school, Lindsey, exploring the river delta culture of Tigre where boat is the main transport.After enjoying the markets and delicious fruit smoothies, we took a “tour” around the “neighborhood.”Of course, it wasn’t so much a tourist attraction as just the Tigre equivalent of a city bus…a municipal boat that went around a series of little rivers that connected tiny islands, home to houses on stilts.This is the kind of place everyone knows each other; couples sit on their docks, drinking yerba mate (tea) and waving to the boats passing by, or getting on and off as they need.Kids take the boat to school, and the post-worker is also a sailor.We spent the rest of the night enjoying the company of our host family and their friends, speaking SpanishSpanishSpanish until we forgot we were.Relaxing on the terrace under moonlight, smelling and tasting the barbecue of a master, and laughing with new friends and family—these people have truly mastered how to best enjoy each other’s company, and we feel pretty lucky to be included.
This weekend looks promising, too, especially because…it’s Chinese New Year!Being that it’s the year of the tiger (the best, and my year) I’m expecting a lot of great things.Hope you all enjoy your weekend as well, and “Gong Hei Fat Choy!”
