Buenos Aires was wonderful. The city is always buzzing, except maybe Sunday morning, and filled with colorful, beautiful architecture. BsAs(Buenos Aires) is one of the most popular places to visit for a reason. It's not coincidence that you can literally be entertained 24 hours a day. Whether it's staying out until 6:30 dancing, or finishing dinner at 2:00am, or walking the streets in the morning and sipping on a wonderful cup of coffee(café)
(Taking some time to record my thoughts and sip on some delectable cafe)
my time was pleasantly filled. I really feel blessed to have such a good friend, Rachel play tour guide this last weekend. We were able to share experiences about traveling, teaching, and living in a south American city. I'll try to recount what we did, and hopefully it doesn't get boring reading about this communidad, or that plaza, or this monument.
Friday afternoon I arrived and after realizing that I had fallen for the taxi driver's ploy of getting tourists in their cabs and then over charging them, Rachel met up with me at the hostel. The taxi driver saw me looking for the bus/shuttle booth and told me he was the driver. He seemed nice,and I was able to understand him, and the next thing I know, I'm talking about Manu Ginobili(who plays for the Spurs and is from Argentina), this and that, and then I realize I'd been scammed. After a quick mental math session, I realized that I ended up paying about $33 for a cab ride. All in all I ended up paying more than I planned, but for a 40 minute taxi ride in a big city, it wasn't that bad.
We took off for La Boca which is where all the "pictures" of Buenos Aires are taken. Ironically, this part of town is sort of dangerous after dark, so we took off once the sun went down.
(Rachel and I in La Boca, the old shipping port, or "mouth" of the river. Here is where everyone takes a picture) That night Rachel, two girls we met at the hostel and one of Rachel's co-workers went out for pizza at an early 9:00pm. It is true what they say about eating late. When we got to the restaurants, there were plenty of tables, but by 10:30-11:00 it was packed. Then we went up to Chris' apartment for some socializing, and beer sampling. I got a chance to talk with other instructors that are friends with Rachel. They all teach private classes, so we had different experiences to share with each other.
(The gringo English teachers) This would be a good time to mention Rachel loves to take pictures, so literally everything from the weekend is documented. It's great. From Chris' apartment we took off to some well known club where we danced, and goofed around until 6ish in the morning. 
(I don't think the picture does it justice, but it was incredibly hot, smokey, and loud. But...when in Rome, right?)
The next day(note day, because we didn't really do anything until noon time) we walked past the Plaza Congreso
, and headed to Recoleta Cemetery where extremely rich people are buried, including Evita. So of course Rachel coaxed me into taking a picture in front of it. I was kind of uncomfortable to begin with, and then a tour group rounds the corner right by me as I'm standing by the memorial.
After that we wandered around some markets, had lunch and some gelato. That night we ate at a Peruvian restaurant near the hostel and then walked to Café Tortoni which is the oldest café in Buenos Aires, opening in 1858 and still riding the caffeine buzz. This is where we saw an incredible Tango Show. (Here is the kind of dancing I like to do now. After watching it a couple times I think I have the hang of it:)) They had a live band, skilled dancers and Rachel, and a friend from the hostel and I had some more Dulce de Leche ice cream and some wine to accompany the show. After the show we went to an Earth Day celebration where there was live music. At the festival I met another friend from the USA who happened to be studying in BsAs this semester. I met up with Kate Lipinski, a friend from camp, and watched a little of the live music with her. Then we all went went out for a drink and called it a night at a modest 4am.
Sunday led us to San Telmo for the the markets and sights. We had a great Italian lunch, watched some live music, and tango dancers on the streets and then had some coffee with a friend of Rachel's roommate who happened on the Plaza.
(China? Nope, just the busy markets on Sundays in San Telmo) That means he has live music all day on Sunday. Then we rented some bicycles and rode around town until it was time for more food. We went out to eat at fondue restaurant in Palermo. To give an idea about prices, four of us had the meat sampler which consisted of steak, chicken, ham, chorizo, mushrooms, potatoes, bread, tomatoes with a cheese fondue, dessert of dulce de leche fondue, and a bottle of wine for about $12. All my friends had to work on Monday, so we headed to our respected homes around 12-1 where I encountered a bunch of travelers like myself who did not have to work, so we hung out in our hostel bar till the wee hours of the morning. 
(Here's the view of the bar/terrace from the highest terrace on the roof of the hostel. It was really cool) Monday I walked around by myself on Lavalle and Florida street making my way to Plaza San Martin. Lavalle and Florida streets are filled with book stores, music stores, t-shirt shops, cafes, restaurants, and some museums. It is very touristy so a lot of of the salesmen knew English, so when they would talk to me, I was respond in Spanish. This would confuse them a little bit because they wouldn't know if I knew Spanish or was just bluffing. Usually they would then ask, in Spanish, if I spoke English/Spanish. I would then tell them I didn't speak English, only Spanish and was from Germany, which explained my limited knowledge. I had fun playing that game.
Last night we went to La Bomba de Tiempo en Konex. It was mix of a Rusted Root drum jam/rave/tribal dance/hippy fest kind of place that was really fun. The show started at 8:00pm, so naturally after it we went out to eat...dinner. I once again I treated myself to a steak dish with a creamy mushroom sauce. I'm not a huge steak lover, but from what I ate in Buenos Aires, I'd imagine a steak connoisseur would live and die in Buenos Aires(Probably from eating too much steak ironically) I got back to the hostel around 1:00 and called it a night because I had to wake at a normal time of 7:45 to make sure I got to the airport on time, without paying more than I should. My flights to and from Santiago were smooth besides some drops over the Andes, and I'd label this weekend as a huge success.
My pictures can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/bjcreagh
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