Bien robbed

And as traveling can teach you, ultimately all you have is yourself. So, vale la pena to invest in that.

On friday I was having a beer with some buddies when two girls came up to the table and started asking about the resturant, they were nicely dressed but one of them seemed out of it. Attempting to help them, I leaned forward in my chair trying to understand their slurred spanish. When they finally walked away, I looked down at my feet and saw that my backpack had been taken.... with my computer, my wallet, my cellphone, headphones, 3 spanish books, and a scarf from a dear friend...

With no way of getting money, having lost all my photos from Argentina thus far, and no way of getting in touch with anyone, I cried. Cancelled my credit cards within 24hours, but still incurred $500 of fake charges to a perfume store and sports store. Awesome.

I'm getting over the loss of the stuff, still lamenting the loss of my photos and scarf... live and learn I guess.

Funny add-on is that a friend from the states sent me down a package 2 weeks ago, and it actually contained a wallet from Hanover. Would have been great, except that it got taken from the mail. Robbed twice, in 4 days.

Bariloche with the fam...

We headed down to Bariloche for 4 days... we went horseback riding (cabalgatos), trekking, sailing, and even got some shopping in. We ate at the 1 vegetarian restaurant and walked the streets of the San Francisco like town.

It's a cross between a developed Colorado ski town and a Swiss mountain town... but the population is 150,000 people. It has 3 ski resorts within 30min and more cabanas/hotels then could possibly be tourists. Many people speak English. There is an aggressive 15yr old boy skateboarder scene and a number of St. Bernard's that wander around with their owners who try to get you to take a photo with them.

The chocolate was truly incredible, as was the beer from the cities 1 brewery (Blest). A little touristy for my taste but a nice small city nonetheless. Fue divertido.

On Argentine men....

It is a refreshing change from America. Argentine men are direct. I have had conversations that go like, "Hi. Where are you from? You are cute. Want to have sex?" I answer no and usually the men stay and dance with me anyway.

They love to dance. They love to tell you that you are attractive. They love making out in public. Everyone does. There is almost no game-playing here and therefore no weird pressure to do something you don't want to do.

The men here seem, somehow, to be less slimy, less interested in just sex (or at least they are very upfront about it), and seem to exert less I-hung-out-with-you-all-night/bought-you-drinks-so-you-need-to-come-home-with-me pressure. Though it is still masochistic (men do most of the initiating), women seem to have considerable control. All in all the heterosexual club/bar scene here has been liberating to me.

Blunt. No pressure. No sense of indebtedness.

There also is a lively gay bar scene. I have yet to check it out myself, I have heard it is similar in tone and viarety. More dancing, less pressure. Let's hang out and if I want to hook up, I'll be sure to let you know, directly.

The old never die...

It's 3am, a bald, 70 year old man is asking me to dance tango at a Milonga. I'm thinking to myself that 70yr old man in the US would be asleep by 11pm at the latest. But here, in Argentina, everyone has the freedom to live. Old is elegant, active and respected.

You don't stop and wait for death - you dance until 3am on a friday night.

The tango...

Argentina is famous for tango but, like most things, Hollywood takes the tango and makes it flashy, a true bastardization of what it was.

Tango is subtle. It started with prostitution rings where men would enter a dance hall and dance with multiple women and then choose one to take home. It reeks of sex and closeness - the very opposite of Americanism. It is all about subtlety, about always moving and about following the lead of the man. If you see people dance tango it looks rather boring. Their body doesn't move up or down and if is just the complicated gliding of the feet that is impressive.

At Milongas (tango night clubs), couples dance 5 songs in a row together on a small dance floor. They glide effortlessly, not bumping or touching. After 5 songs, everyone goes back to take a quick sip of their red wine, find a new partner (men ask women) and then dance 5 more songs. And this starts at 10pm, at 4am the crowd switches from the old to the young. Punk hipsters, prepsters and others in their mid-twenties crowd the floor dancing until 7am.

It's beautiful and amazing and communal. I love it. But I tried it and was awful. totally awful.

Some things I've noticed...

- - there is dog poop all over the sidewalks, but the dogs don't bark and are the happiest in the world. seriously so excited.
- they don't speak spanish here, they speak castillano
- there are a plethera of fraternity looking boys who speak in spanish
- they kiss on the cheek to depart and greet
- people come in on public transport (they are called the cartejeros) and dig through the garbage at night. They wheel around big canvas tubs and take anything that could be redeemed. It's the cities recycling system.
- There are bottles of wine for under $1
- There are no variations of tampons. It's OB or nada. people here prefer the diaper technique (but at least they don't have bleach in their feminine products)
- the grocery store will deliver your groceries for a tip of 2 pesos, or less than a $1
- On friday night I went to a 9pm African-drumming show, that started at 9:50pm and went until 1am. I then went to dinner, got drinks at 3am and went out at 4:30am.
- School starts at 10am, and people complain that it is early.
- boys are boys everywhere
- an ice cream costs the same as it does in the US, a cellphone costs more. And you can get an excellent steak dinner for around $5.
- a beer is listed as 9 pesos ($3) on the menu, but then it arrives and it is a full liter (about 3 glasses)
- There are many dog walkers (hence all the poop). I see about 15 to 150 dogs a day
- There is a club called "The museum of the officeworkers"
- There is fake money everywhere - a friend changed money at the airport and got $100 of fake pesos.
- You can find salad, people go running, and there is quinoa.
- There is not tofu, nor peanut butter, nor brown sugar
- They are into drinking 1 cup of coffee, 1 beer or 1 glass of wine for 3 to 4 hours.
- they chain smoke cigarettes
- if you have big bags under your eyes it is a sign of toughness, coolness and general sweetness... you party really hard.
- there is pick-up soccer on monday nights, games start at 11pm.
- I still haven't figured out my cellphone voicemail
- The people are generally welcoming, beautiful, and happy to help
- They are also generally pretentious, the whole city is. One of their favorite jokes is: Why do Argentines smile at the sky when there is a thunderstorm? They are sure god is taking a picture of them.
- Fresh flowers are $3 to $6
- There is vietnmese, thai food and a gay bar scene
- people are not religious, but there is no (well, limited) birthcontrol or abortion clinics
- there are markets in the city every saturday and sunday
- there are ninos and foreigners everywhere
- I saw my first female cabdriver. ever. in any city.
- there are 20 fatalities a week on Buenos Aires roads - the 2nd most dangerous city in the world (behind Beijing)
- All Buenos Aires seniors (in high school) go on a senior week in January to Bariloche where they "ski" and drink, mostly drink.
- They sell underwear and socks on the street
- They have their fair share of hippies
- They use the VOS form - Como sos? yeah, I don't know either
- shoes and handbags are really popular
- as is chocolate, ice cream and those terrible/cheap italian pastries... gross.
- They know, and talk, about the fires in California. Yet, no one has mentioned Bush or Iraq to me yet
- they love blonde hair
- they do not buy each other drinks or rounds - mostly because 1 beer will last the whole night
- just because they don't really drink like americans doesn't make either gender less aggressive
- they like to sunbathe, listen to music in the park and play futbol. they also like rugby and paddle sports
- the government heavily subsidies the public transportation and they have a subway rail from 1912 that still runs (original cars and all)
- it is not truly democratic
- buying an apartment here would be a really good idea

Why Pura Vida?

It's the name of one of the only vegetarian lunch places in BA. It has wheatgrass shots and fresh fruit smoothies. My mom and I have eaten there everyday since we've been here. That's almost 3 weeks of solo pura vida.

It also means the good life. And this is exactly that, a very good life.