Hey All! Happy New Year!

Well, Momo and I finally arrived into Buenos Aires, the biggest city, tango capitol of south america. We are staying in San Telmo, near the city center, wich great tourist sites and night life. The bus station, to start imagining the size of this city, is bigger than some airports I have been in. It took us 10 minutes to walk from the enterance to the international ticket offices. I hear it is a theiving hot spot because of all the tourists. I have heard a couple of stories involving unknown liquid on pants, removal of packs, and disappearances of packs. Luckily we travel in 2, are both not white, and I look like I want to hit the next person who talks to me on the street (momo= the nice one that people give directions to. Teigan= bodyguard).

Highlights of the trip include hot chocolates and the oldest cafe in Argentina, techno dance party at the planitarium, the book store converted from an old theatre house, and random tango shows on streets and in front of restaurants. BA also has their version of the Washington Monument (built 50 years after ours, though we took ours from ancient egypt), an obelisk in the middle of the busiest street in the downtown area. Why they built it in such an unaccessable place, dont ask me. I kind of like the location of ours better, surrounded by grass and parks. This street was so big, we had to wait for the light in the middle of the intersection after hurrying across to 2 streets, 6 lanes in the second one. The parks were numerous and fairly nice, accept for the bums sleeping on every shady bench, every park slightly different (pictured bench). The famous cemetary in Recolecta, holding tombs bigger than some houses, contains 4500 tombs, some of which are of presidents, famous actors and athletes. Peron, once president of Argentina, and probably the most famous, is a highly visited feature. Though, personally, I think it looks the same as the rest of the "newer" tombs. The houses from the early 1800s are what really interest me. Its funny to think that people spend more on a grave in Buenos Aires than what my host family together owns collectively.

Unfortunately Uruguay was taken out of our trip just so we could spend more time in Buenos Aires. I would say that BA definitely has a unique feel to it, and I have never met a person who said they didnt like BA. When I compare BA to New York, Lima, Santiago, LA, Chicago, I would say that BA is different, and has its own "character". It seems so fast that our time ran out in BA. And its a shame that our time here was so short. But one could be here for months and still find more things to see. I definitely plan on coming back at some point to visit BA, Uruguay, and Brazil. The next trip at least.

Happy Travels,

Teigan