Argentina

Wow. This has been a crazy past few days. I arrived in Argentina on the 1st. My friends Juliette and Arlo brought a few of their friends from Lewis and Clark (who are studying with them in Buenos) to meet me in a town in the south called Bariloche. It was incredibly beautiful- crystal clear (because they are glacier fed) lakes, giant pine trees, and vast expanses of sky. It was truly magical. They had a few days off for Easter weekend along with the rest of Argentina so it took us three hours to navegate the city and get to the bus station. Then it was a short metro ride from the bus station to the residencia where they are all living. For the time being, I am also living in the residencia but I will move Friday because that's the day Ju moves in with her family and I want to live close to her.

We just got in to BA yesterday morning and I already feel bombarded by the fast pace of the city. I ate dinner at a café yesterday on a corner and it had all glass windows so I could see people coming from four different directions. It was pretty incredible. The neighborhood we live in now ( there are 47 in Buenos Aires!) is not downtown or a business district or anything but there were people running to get where they we're going. One couple was speed walking while trying to maintain their conversation but their faces were clearly preoccupied with arriving on time. I know there are some parts of Santiago that are busy but, on the whole, just from the little I've seen, it seems a lot more tranquilo than Buenos Aires. And that makes sense because Santiago is known as the safest (big) city in South America and Buenos Aires is certainly not known for that but for other very interesting, cultural things. It has been interesting for me though because after six weeks I had just started to feel completely comfortable in Chile, like I had a handle on stuff and now I'm here and itś like being in another world. It completely jolted me.

As a result though, of coming from Chile, my lense is tainted. I see everything here in comparisson to Chile. As opposed to when I was in Chile and everything was just new, new, new. But here I have a lot of context- both of being in another South American country and of all the things I've heard about Argentina. Iḿ trying my hardest to be objective and see Argentina with new eyes but everything to me just goes in a category of better, worse or different from Chile.

We'll see how long that lasts. I am grateful that I am here because Adriana is from Argentina and already she makes so much more sense. I see her reflected in a lot of women here. For instance I heard one woman hang up the phone by saying : dalé, dalé. (pause) bueno (pause) un gran beso (pause) ciao, ciao. And that is verbatum what Adri says when she is on the phone. It was so funny and great to hear. Iḿ trying as fast as I can to pick up on little phrases they use and sounds they make and to cut out the Chilean words I picked up that are not used here. It's really fun for me getting to tailor my Spanish to each country I visit but it's very hard at the same time.

Today Ju and I are off to do some exploring and help me get to know Buenos Aires. I just sent out a big batch of post cards so everyone keep an eye out!
Un beso,
¡Ciao!