Settling In

Hola Amigos!

OK, it's about time to start sharing a few adventures with y'all, pero primero, Felices Pascuas a todos (Happy Easter to everyone)! :)

I just got back from a very late easter brunch (it's 4:45PM right now), and am sitting here with Dan in our THIRD place in BA... don't worry, I will explain.  I guess I left off with arriving here in BA last Sunday.  We decided to rent a room in a modest hotel for a few days, then look around for a short-term apartment rental on AirBnB.com for the rest of our time in BA.  Apparently that would have worked out quite easily for us, had the city not been packed for Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week)!  Bueno, todo fue bien.  We were able to extend our Recoleta hotel stay for an extra night, found an apartment studio in Recoleta from the 3rd to the 7th, and are now renting a room in a 2br apartment in Palermo from the 7th to the 16th.   Recoleta and Palermo are two of our favorite Barrios in BA.  Recoleta is a little more posh and ritzy, and Palermo is a bit more trendy with fun shops, restaurants, and boliches (night clubs).  

So far my favorite place between the three is our shared apartment.  Our roommates, Carla and Martin, are so welcoming and a lot of fun to get to know! They both speak english pretty well, but we insisted that we all speak spanish... which is going way better than I could have imagined!  I'm surprised in the range of conversations that we can understand and participate in!  Sometimes I don't understand every single word they say (both accent and vocabulary issues), but I understand the message well enough to give input and respond.  So exciting for us!!!

Aside from our quest for lodging, we have spent most of our time walking around and around and around the city... well, the nice parts, anways!  The abundance of cafes, restaurants and shops that we have around us puts San Francisco to shame.  Good for me because I need to go shopping, big time!  It has been so much warmer than I thought it would be... and with having to fit clothes for all climates in one backpack, only decided to bring 3 short sleeve shirts.  Moreover, Porteños, people of Buenos Aires, are ridiculously well dressed and very trendy... When in BA, dress as the Porteños do, right??  Well I think I've got a valid excuse ;)

For size, BA is HUGE!  Just the northern nicer neighborhoods are about 2-3x bigger than SF!  Comfy walking shoes for me are a must - it's amazing how many well dressed chicas you'll see in cute little heels or platforms!  Most aceras (sidewalks) are in disrepair, adding variable terrain to the long distances we've been covering.

La cultura...

I was also surprised to see how much Italian influence this city has.  The culture is a mix of Spanish and Italian, with a lot of French Architecture from the early 20th century.  The most popular types of cuisine are pizza, empanadas, and parrillas (barbeque meat houses).  Argetines are big on meat, cheese, bread, and potatoes... a vegan has about a 2% chance of survival here... no joke!  We eat out for most meals, but now that we have a slightly more permanant place to with a real kitchen, I think we are going to try to ahorrar nuestro dinero y cocinar en casa con mas frequencia (save some money and cook at home more often).  We've had to change our eating habbits quite a bit, too, and now eat dinner with the rest of the Porteños closer to about 11-12PM.  That way you have a few hours to digest before you head out for los boliches (dance clubs).  More on that later :)

More to come!

Besos,

Kristen