Last day in BA

Today is my last day in Argentina. We fly out of Buenos Aires in a few hours, so I took time today to appreciate all the things I will miss most about this city.

1. The bookstores. Buenos Aires has more bookstores per capita than any other city. I love this for two reasons. Firstly, because I think that is directly correlated to the intelligence of a city. And secondly, because I love going to bookstores. I can sit for hours and browse the titles. Of course, at the book stores here, I have no idea what they mean. But it can be fun to match the Spanish to popular English titles I’m familiar with. One bookstore in particular, El Ateneo, is the most beautiful bookstore I’ve ever seen.

2. Helado. Second to Italy and Birite Creamery, Buenos Aires has some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had.

As you can see, they're big fans of their Dulce de Leche.

3. 25 cent subway rides. You really just can’t beat that.

So chau for now Buenos Aires. Hopefully I’ll return someday.

The horses of Patagonia

Today we had a bit of a scare.

We spent the morning on a nice mellow horse back ride through the forests of Patagonia.

Five minutes from the end of the ride, I decide I'm sick of holding the backpack (very uncomfortable when bouncing up and down in a saddle). So I catch my horse up to Wes's, not an easy feat. I'm passing the backpack over to Wes, who leans out just enough to grab it. When his horse, Caramello, who turns out to be a complete asshole, sees his chance.

Carmello starts bolting up through the trees as fast as he can with Wes, halfway out of the saddle hanging on for dear life. Rather then getting his head bonked into some tree, Wes decides it's best to just let go and fall into a pricker bush.

He emerged, pretty scraped up, but in one piece. Unfortunately, he was in a bit of shock and proceeded to go completely white and just about passed out, which scared me almost more than seeing the horse take off.

His back still really hurts, but the doctor says he should be back to normal by the end of the week. There isn't really any bright side to this story, accept that I got to work on my Spanish today, learning new words such as "X-ray" and "muscle spasm."

Also, there was a very pretty sunset.

Aside from the asshole horses, Patagonia is quite lovely.

Guess who has a boyfriend...

Okay, so they came as a pair, it's not like I introduced them. But Penelope Cruiser and Tom Cruiser have been taking in all the sights of Buenos Aires together.

They've been having a grand time (except that Tom Cruiser continuously complains that it's too hot and threatens to go back to the apartment and do nothing in the air conditioning all day).

Tango and Spanish

Last night I bumped into my Spanish teacher at the Tango club (as one does when one is in Buenos Aires).

He asked me if I wanted to dance.

I told him "Puedo bailar tango como puedo hablar Espanol." (I can dance tango about as well as I speak Spanish."

He smiled and said, "So then very well!"

Proving once again that Argentine men are true caballeros.

Puente de la Mujer

In the flashy marina area of Buenos Aires, Puerto Modero, lies the majestic Puente de la Mujer, "Woman's Bridge."

This bridge, created to look like a couple dancing Tango (yeah, I don't see it either), is named for the streets around it, which are all named after powerful women in Argentina's history. A country that, in fact, has a female president.

I can't help but wonder, however, whether this bridge was built before or after the Hooters that sits directly next to it (this picture was taken from the bridge).

Ah, America. We bring such great things to the world.

Iguazu Falls

We returned from a three-day trip to Iguazu falls on Tuesday, and since then, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how to put the experience into words. It was really beyond description. Waterfalls, butterflies and rainbows. It was like Carebear land. If Carebear land was full of Argentine tourists.

It was Disneyland meets California Academy of Sciences meets Niagra Falls. Despite it being in the mid-90’s and thickly humid, we had an amazing time.

I couldn’t narrow my 300 photos down to just a couple, so here i a totally manageable 48:

Weekend in Igazu.

Now I've seen it all

It's Alf. In Spanish!