quiet monday afternoons

mondays in buenos aires are almost as slow as sundays. many shops are closed and the streets are not too busy. the city feels as if it has dozed off for a nap. the air outside on monday was cold and crisp much like a sunny winter morning back home. a soft breeze blew on our faces as mark, andrew and i began searching for the hidden bike stores of buenos aires. the subway dropped us near one bike store where i tried to communicate that we were looking for used road bikes. it took a lot of hand motions and broken spanish (or castellana as the argentines say) before we saw our first used road bike. the bike was a classic, from the seventies, but out of our price range. our attempts to find the other bike stores were futile. either the internet lied or these stores no longer existed, most likely the latter. although, the internet has lied to us several times about directions.

our wanderings led us to the polo grounds, where there seemed to be an upcoming horse race. we walked beneath the overpass and beside walls of rainbow colored graffiti. as we walked up a small street, covered in shade from the trees overhead, mark spotted a black, rusted one speed bike. the bike immediately grabbed his imagination as the bike he would want to ride. we set off hoping to find such a bike. mark stopped and decided he woud leave a note in the spokes for the owner. andrew and i waited for mark to return, but after about ten minutes, we were growing impatient. as andrew and i arrived back by the old, black bike, we found mark inside the store talking to the owner. the locksmith store was small, but operated by five men, probably best friends who enjoyed arguing about futbol and politics.

mark soon had struck a deal with the store owner and while he gleefully went to search for a bank, andrew and i stayed to chat with these men, who were very interested in these young american boys. they asked us what we thought of argentina so far. we love this country. they asked what we thought of president bush. before i could answer, fredericko let me know what he thought. fredericko spoke the most with us. fredericko is a few inches shorter than i am with slicked black hair and golden teeth. he was wearing a red striped adidas jacket and nike shoes. he spoke much like italian mobsters i remember from the movies, very passionate and with large arm movements. fredericko was not too fond of president bush or the woman that will soon become president of argentina. he gave bush a thumbs down, jfk a thumbs up and clinton was asi-asi (so so). i think it was largely dependent on who had visited argentina. andrew soon struck up a conversation about futbol with fredericko. i filled in parts of mising vocabulary for andrew, but mostly the love of sports replaced our language deficiencies.

mark returned with his money and we left the shop with smiles and warm handshakes. andrew and i were extremely excited about the conversations we were able to sustain with these men in the shop. the men in the shop were extremely excited to lend us advice about the city and where we had to visit while staying in argentina. a great way for us to spend a quiet monday afternoon. andrew and i left for home on the subway, while mark rolled away on his new, old, black bike.

hope. live. roof.

after a week in buenos aires, i could see that my only hope would to be able to live with a roof over my head. the search for an apartment has been extremely difficult. without the assistance of mark ¨stars¨ arrieta and his wonderful spanish, we would be in the dark altogether and all together. i am in an internet place and in a couple minutes, we are going to walk down the street to sign on our place. finding a place for seven was an impossible task, so stars, mark, andrew and i will all be living together. aaron, brian and ben are still working on landing their place. i have to head out. i´ll storytell a little later. hasta luego!

sunday market in san telmo

there's poop on your shoes!

i hope you can appreciate the immaturity of this post. buenos aires is a unique city in many ways, but i have to say i have never seen quite a scene of dog poop as i have here. to each his own and each of us have had our own experience with this animal littering. over my expansive lifetime of twenty two years, i have stepped in dog crap, maybe one of two times. over the past two days, andrew, aaron, mark and i have all lined the treads of our shoes and beared the awful stench that would thus follow us throughout our walks of the city. i'd like to be viewing the old buildings around me, the parks the run through palermo viejo, but the war zone that invades the pavement is too dangerous to be ignored. nonetheless, i guess we are provided with a little entertainment waiting to see who treads unluckily next. i have also really enjoyed the street stencils. there is some pretty neat graffiti art on the walls, but many times there has been such a disregard for public places. the picture above is of stencil that was on a wall outside the zoo.

wednesday in buenos aires

yesterday, we arrived in buenos aires. the city was covered in clouds, darkened by the coming rain. our apartment is in abasto, a little more ¨worn¨ part of the city. we were able to walk around and see many old buildings. i am in a cafe right now so i am posting quickly. we ate a whole cow last night. everything. throat. heart. arteries. liver. intestines. the better parts also. i still have a strange aftertaste and i can´t say my stomach felt exactly normal this morning, but i am still breathing and so are my fellow companions, mark, aaron and andrew. i will put up our address and some photos when we move into a more permanent place in a week or two. i am working on a little more significant post for tomorrow. i am so excited to be here and i am walking back to the apartment for a little nap before we head out for dinner around eleven! hasta luego!

ahem! adventure! part 2

i am within a week of leaving the country. i am excited (see picture). so onto the next adventure and the new stories i hope to be able to write about. i will be living in buenos aires for the fall. if you feel inclined, come visit. if not, write me letters. i am hoping that in addition to responding to emails, to actually write letters and revive the lives of those postmen who have felt neglected since al gore created the internet and email. i look forward to writing, reading, learning spanish, buying a cheap bike and being with my friends.

"your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of god". 1 peter 1:18