Hello!!!

I hope all of you are well. Chris and I are just hanging out in the apartment right now watching "Liar Liar" (great movie) and I figured I'd write about our past couple of days. Wednesday was a day of exercise. We pretty much walked the entire length of the city and back again (around 12 miles), but, it was completely worth it as we not only saw "touristy" attractions, but also the real "nitty gritty" Buenos Aires. We went to two neighborhoods called San Telmo and El Centre. San Telmo is the oldest part of the city, and while it was very quaint with cobblestone streets and outdoor cafes, it was easy to see the run down areas as well. El Centre is the hub of the city, home to all the government buildings and business centers. We then traveled down to the river that Buenos Aires sits on (extremely dirty) and walked down the boardwalk there. There were various street vendors that were selling super-sized sausages with over 20 toppings, but we had just eaten so we decided to take a rain check. By the time we were on our way home, we both really started to feel the days walking in our legs. It was very nice to come back and take a quick nap before dinner.

Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant where we shared enchiladas and guacamole. We continue to be astounded by how late the restaurants start to get busy here. We sat down to eat around 9pm, and by 10, there was a line waiting for tables. It's 8:30pm now and I am starving, I don't understand how these people do it! Tonight we will be going to dinner at a local restaurant that serves homemade stews and empanadas. We have yet to decide if we are going out tonight or not, I'm afraid we won't be able to keep up with the locals till daybreak..

We have been working very hard on using our Spanish skills while we are here. Not surprising, almost no one speaks English, but we have done extremely well (more like Chris has...his sentences are really improving). My accent seems to have a strong French influence, and I tend to start using French words by mistake...oh well... But, our goal each day is to learn and use a new phrase, or even new words. Today we had breakfast at a restaurant called "Oui Oui" and we decided the order things off the menu that we didn't know. We ended up with a turkey sandwich of sorts and live pate! Both were extremely delicious.

We explored a lot of our neighborhood today and found it to be one of the most beautiful areas of Buenos Aires. I personally am having an extremely hard time holding myself back from wanting to shop- the stores are absolutely INCREDIBLE in this area. All very chic, trendy, and different from what you would see anywhere else (Mr. Siler you would love it!!). I found a leather jacket I love, but unfortunately our budget won't accommodate..Oh well... Such is life!

OK well I'm going to get in the shower now so we can head toward dinner (even though we are trying to eat like the locals and not go till later..) Miss you all!!! and I will post some more pictures soon! xoxo

Sarah and Chris