Ahh, Buenos Aires 2

Oh, Buenos Aires. A week later I still miss the place and look forward to going back and doing all the things I didn´t get to do. *daydream*

Ok, so less about what I did in B.A. and more about it. I´m going to start this blog post off with safety in this big city, and well any big city, because I think it´s definitely something to know and very real that your chances of being robbed, pickpocketed, etc. are likely.

I can´t tell you how many I know that have gone to Buenos Aires and came back with a story about how they were robbed, lost something, tricked, etc. It happens. So, why have I been to Buenos Aires twice and nothing has happened to me when I scream tourist, am a women, and tiny at that? Because I learned from a wise friend how to visit Buenos Aires and return with everything you came with and not paying more than you should. I´m sure I´ve talked about what happened to her in this city, but it deserves repeating. Rachel was walking through a park between two museums off very little sleep. So, she had everything in her camera case (money, camera, passport) and was not fully alert to prevent what was about to happen to her. It is common for people to rig things that will fall on your or throw things on you to make you flustered and lose your sense of awareness. In those few seconds where you´re wondering what happened they are stealing everything on you that they can reach as they pretend to help you out. Rachel had "bird poop" fall on her via a device rigged to a tree and while she was looking to see what happened two people approached her pretending to be great samaritans and stole her passport and expensive camera. Ouch. She was on her way to Mendoza, so immediately she was stuck in Buenos Aires going to the US embassy to get an emergency passport and she still hasn´t replaced that expensive camera.

So, how to avoid this?

First off, protect your passport! ALWAYS lock it up (even if you´re all buddy buddy with your new hostel friends) when you aren´t willing to carry it on you. Then I think one of the best inventions for travelers is the pouch you wear under your shirt or under a jacket. It easily holds passports, money, and important paperwork (folded) and should contour to your body so no one even knows you´re wearing it. When I am in the midst of traveling I never take it off since I sleep very easily on buses and on airplanes I´m more worried about dying than if someone is reaching for my purse and not the cup they just dropped. Protect the passport, ladies and gentleman. It works better than a license, school id, credit card, ISIC card, bus ticket with your name on it, etc. and in the case that it is stolen head for the embassy and be aware you might have to file a police report first.

Second, spread your things out. I usually use the pockets I have on the front of me to put things in, so I will put money in one pocket and my camera in another. Being mindful of pickpockets, though, I try to wear tighter jeans and I wrap the string of my camera around my belt loop once. I, also, have a jacket that has zippers on the pockets so I will use those as well. And being a proud new owner of a traveler´s backpack don´t keep important things in the outside pockets but in hidden pockets (usually on the inside with zippers) and between other things like pairs of pants.

Third, be paranoid and keep checking to make sure you have everything... but be subtle about it. I would casually make sure I had everything as I was reaching in my purse for my wallet at Mcdonalds and patting my pockets while waiting for a light to turn.

Fourth, don´t make it easy for them. Examples: I keep my hand on my purse at all times. If I feel like someone behind me has been by my purse or my backpack too long I shift to the other side. With my smaller backpack I would use my two small locks and keep the two compartments closed at all times.

Fifth, even if you don´t know what you´re doing or where you are look like you do. Confidence is a huge crime deterrent. Go into a super market, Mcdonalds, or some place that seems safe to ask people questions and pull out your map.

Sixth, trust people when they say a certain area is safe or not. This one I say with a condition. If you´re a traveller who is there for a few days then please follow their advice. If you´re like me and you´re living there and people say not to go to Cuidad Vieja then, I can ignore them. Hah, I probably shouldn´t but I think I know how to handle myself and I never take anything with me I wouldn´t mind losing or that isn´t easily replaceable. And my pepper spray (thanks, dad).

Those are just some of the big things I think people know to do so your awesome trip to the big city won´t be spoiled. And, by the way one of my goals while I´m here is not to get robbed and it´s still alive!

Other things about Buenos Aires are that there is a neat arts and crafts fair on Defensa which is partly made of cobblestone which I always love. I didn´t have time to walk the whole street but it seems like it covers a great deal of it and some side streets as well. It is tourist central! I heard some languages being spoken and saw a lot of North Face jackets. The fair has lots of painting, jewelery, antique pieces, and a few shows such as tango, a guy with a doll with the strings attached (I forgot what this was called-- marinette?), and I saw a guy who painted himself and his costume white and stood still like a statue.

Riding the subway or the subte was fun. Usually maps have the routes marked in different colors that match the colors in the subway so you can figure out which train to take and where it goes. Despite how many times I wondered around aimlessly it is a pretty straightforward system and even when you get on the bus there is a little map telling you all the stops in both directions so you can figure out if you got on going the right way or not.

Buenos Aires is also called the Paris of South America. I cracked up at this when I read it and had to read the reason why because Paris didn´t cross my mind a single time when I was in B.A. They actually say that because there is a big French ifluence in the city which can been seen through the architecture and pasta restuarants. The closest thing they have to the eiffel tower is the Oblesico which I will see next time I go and instead of burets the most popular hat at the moment seems to be the gaudy blue and white hats to support Argentina in the World Cup. Paris, indeed. Haha I´m making fun of it but I read about this after I went to the big city, so of course I didn´t notice it.

Also, while researching for a paper yesterday I came across another blog that talked about Argentinan bus tickets.

Buenos Aires, te extraño! I´ll probably be back around my birthday in July though on my way to Mendoza then to Chile, but that´s another post for another time. I´m off to walk 8 de Octubre and hopefully buy a Uruguayan Flag and whatever else I feel like I need for the next Uruguay game. Dale, campeon!

Ahhh, Buenos Aires

The first time I saw Buenos Aires (as a pit stop to Ushuaia, then on the way back to MVD) I wasn't very impressed. In fact, I was overwhelmed, nervous, and very naïve. Then again, I had only been in South America for a month when I hit up the B.A with my friend Rachel, so it was perfectly natural to feel the way I did. This time, though, it was just me using the Spanish skills I´ve learned thus far and my paranoia. Haha I´ll explain this one later.

My trip actually didn´t start off very well. I had packed everything the night before and had enough left over Argentinan pesos from my other trip to bring with me, but no matter how prepared I was, I was not prepared to leave wide awake at 5:30 in the morning. This meant I was in no shape to double check my passport to make sure the slip of paper inside of it which contained my entrance stamp for Uruguay was still in there. Huge mistake. I took a bus/boat combination to Colonia and when I had to present my passport to immigration in order to get on the boat for Argentina... I didn´t have it. This is where all of the episodes of Locked Up Abroad that I've watched came back to haunt me. As soon as the lady realized I had no evidence proving I was a study abroad student and legally in the country, she demanded to know what I was doing in Uruguay and why in the world I didn't have my stamp. I´m not going to lie... I did get a little teary eyed as she made me look through all of my stuff and made me hang up my phone as I tried to call someone in my apartment to see if I had left it somewhere (like that would have done any good). But the lady was reluctantly nice to me after watching me having a badly contained almost panic attack in the middle of immigration and let me pass with a stern look. Lesson learned!

I didn´t do too much in B.A. because I was actually leaving to renew my 90 day tourist permit and could only stay the weekend. This is called a border run, my friends. I did manage to do a few fun things, however.

The first day I arrived to a rainstorm and a quiet city. Buenos Aires a quiet big city? Nahhhh. I actually arrived right in the middle of the Argentina vs. Nigeria game. There were tons of empty resturants and full pubs/bars as people watched the game and it was actually kind of cool to walk through the city that way. I then arrived at one of the best hostels I´ve ever stayed in, Carlos Gardel, and headed out to find a cheap lunch. According to my guide book Calle Florida was a great place to grab something to eat and indeed it was. Calle Florida is a nice, long pedestrian street that is full of resturants and all kinds of shopping. My orginal goal when I arrived to Buenos Aires was to buy a big coat and a backpack and I definitely could have done so within the first few hours of arriving to B.A. after walking this street. It goes for blocks and being a Sunday it was flooded with people and even more so after the fútbol game ended. I ended up just grabbing some Mcdonalds and walking to a fancy mall called Galeria Pacífico where I had fun listening to the baristas of Starbucks try to call out my name and sat down in the middle of the food court cheering on the USA in their game against England. The mall wasn´t really my style because it had expensive designers like Dior, but it did have a museum that I´m not sure I was suppose to pay to see, but no one said anything to me.

The second day there I had all day to try to find a backpack and a jacket, so I set off just before the Australia game for a shopping center the girl at the hostel told me about called Abasto Shopping. Loved it. I had to take the subway and definitely spent a good while looking for the entrance on the right side of the street which was conveniently located in the middle of a park. Then I had to pull my map out several times to make sure I was going the right way and that I knew how to transfer trains and then which direction the next train needed to go in. It was confusing and I looked like such a tourist but I made it without asking a single person. As soon as I stepped out of the subway on the other side Abasto Shopping was right in front of me. So, I spent the next few hours trying on jackets and travelers backpacks making sure I would be content with my purchases. The guy at the first shop I went too was actually really frustrated that I was taking up so much of his time and when I went back the third time to buy the backpack I knew he and another of his coworkers were betting if I would buy anything from the store. It was annoying at first, but honestly, I had taken up a lot of his time and I probably would've done the same thing if roles were reverse, though, I would have been more subtle about it.

So, I bought my things and headed to the biggest food court I have ever seen in my life to go on another adventure via the subway. By the way, the food court had tons of restaurants lining both sides of the space which included an Arabian restaurant, McDonalds Kosher, a sushi restaurant, two sit down restaurants in the middle of the food court, among plenty of others. I was so happy to be there it made not being able to find a seat for over 15 minutes of walking around and having to eat while standing seem not as bad. It was still bad though after all the walking I had done and would do that day. Ooouch.

The next day I had to leave at 2pm so I tried to wake up early and see at least two more things. I actually woke up two hours later and got hung up watching the Denmark game and got to see one of them-- el Caminito. I´m really glad I chose that as my one thing to see. It´s basically a block of houses and restaurants that were painted by a famous artist some years ago. It´s a huge tourist trap but it was worth it to see this part of B.A. that you find all over post cards and to just take your time to look at how colorful it is. And when I saw a famous artist painted the houses, I mean solid colors. No huge murals or abstract paintings cover the buildings. Just bright colors. It is unique though and actually was somewhat near the boat terminal I had to walk to, so it worked out.

My overall impression of Buenos Aires is that it was awesome! There were so many things I didn´t get a chance to do and will definitely have to do next time when I will hopefully have more time to meander. It almost makes me wish I was in B.A. instead of Montevideo, but I´d never get anything done because there is just so much to do.

Did you think I could say everything I wanted to about B.A. in one post? I think not. This one is long enough already, but I´ll write another one to cover what I missed.

And notice how I marked my days by fútbol games? I´m not a soccer person at all but put me in a continent where it is a big deal and in a hostel where the games are always on and people are talking smack then I´ll watch a little.