I´m slowly learning that some of the best things in life are unplanned and casual, and that this is especially true when it comes to steak and tango. For this tried and true planner this is quite an admission. But consider the evidence: by far the best steak we´ve had in Buenos Aires has been the one we picked up for $1.50 at the local grocery store and cooked ourselves in the hostal kitchen. The pad of butter probably didn´t hurt, but either way, that steak was muy delicioso. We have yet to dine at La Cabrera, which is apparently THE place for steak here in Buenos Aires, but we did splurge on a steak dinner and tango show the other night, and I don´t know if I'd even classify that steak as edible. The tango show on the other hand was pretty exciting, complete with cowboy costume and all. But then last night we wandered onto a much more impromptu tango party with live music right in Plaza Dorrego across from our hostal. For a few coins we got to sit and watch couples tangoing on a makeshift cardboard dance floor with christmas lights strung overhead. And we also got to see this lady who was muy borracha (rather inebriated) drag a 90-year old man out on the dancefloor where he proceeded to show her how it´s done. Now that´s a tango show!

We´ve also found that beneath their cooler, more formal exterior, Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) are actually quite helpful and definitely want you to like their city. We met an older couple on the bus the other day who seemed even more excited about our trip than we are, and warned us no less than 3 times in the course of a 10 minute bus ride to hang on to our wallets.

We ran into them on our way to a big outdoor artesan fair in Recoleta, which is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city. The jewelry and crafts were beautiful, but I have to admit that I was most taken by the wide assortment of fried sweets, cheeses, and salami at every turn. (Disclaimer: I will do everything in my power not to turn this into a food blog but have to admit that goes against my natural tendencies, exacerbated by the fact that every meal here naturally turns into a long dining adventure.) After the fair we wandered around the commercial and residential parts of Recoleta, which reminded us a bit of the Upper East Side of New York - little toy dogs and european architecture everywhere!

We did wander off the Lonely Planet guide path a bit to check out one of the world´s largest bookstores housed in an old theater. For Josh this was a bit like book purgatory - a comprehensive leftwing international politics section all in Spanish - argh.

In some ways this city also reminds me of New York in the sense that one neighborhood is nothing like the next. In contrast to Recoleta we took our first bus ride to the working class neighborhood of La Boca, which is much more sprawling and full of short, colorful stucco buildings.The most exciting part of the trip was figuring out how to pay the bus toll. Apparently you can only use coins, which we didn´t know, and just as we were about to get kicked off by the mean conductor who'd had just about enough of our ignorant American ways, we were saved by several people offering us the 50 cents we needed. I had a fleeting thought that maybe they just wanted to be on their way so anything to sit those darn American´s down would do, but I think ultimately it was just another example of simple human kindness.

We´re getting used to hostal living; last night when we helped get some drunkards thrown out at 2am I got a little nostalgic for my old hotel days. Other than that I´ve never slept so well in my life - something about being on permanent vacation and finally finishing my thesis must really agree with me. At this point we´re feeling ready to head out of the big city so after a couple more days to see a few more sites, and maybe even a museum?? we´ll be taking a ferry to a smaller town in Uruguay called Colonia del Sacramento. See you there!