More Buenos Aires antics

There is a T-Shirt I saw once in a store here in Buenos Aires that reads: "Buenos F*&%ing Aires" (albeit with the symbols replaced with actual letters, and I'm certain that all of you who aren't 3 will see through my clever subterfuge to the actual word beneath in minutes). This slogan somehow captures the feeling one gets when reflecting upon this amazing city perfectly, and if there were a competition for the most appropriately awesome tourist t-shirt slogan of all time, the person who came up with this one would not be allowed to enter, in that it is unfair to rank tourist-t-shirt-slogan geniuses with mere mortals. In fact, the other contestants may well cause him undue bodily harm in sheer, green-eyed jealousy at his prose. So anyway. . .

Our first week in BsAs stretched into two, and then into three, before we were able to tear ourselves away from this place and head out to travel again. The reasons for this are varied and many, but all boil down to the fact that we were simply having too much damn fun. The city offers a variety of delights by day, that we may actually have seen if we weren't in the clubs all night till dawn, and sleeping during daylight hours. (Actually, we did manage to see some sights during some of the days). A typical party night in BsAs commences perhaps with dinner at something like 11:00 (the only hour in the PM half of the clock for the night). After, its time to head for drinks somewhere, till perhaps 2 or 2:30 in the morning (it wouldn't do to show up too early for the clubs). Arriving at 2:30 to the clubs (which is still a little early, but forgivable), the night can actually begin in earnest, and one dances the night away until perhaps 7 or 8 in the morning. For the truly hardcore (as Ty and I experimented with on one occastion), there are the After-Parties, which begin at 8:30 or so in the morning and go until 2 at one of the other large clubs in the city. (We have heard rumors of fabled After-After-Parties, but have yet to have the solid fortitude to make it to one). Needless to say, we saw more sunrises than sunsets, and the picture on the previous post somehow captures exactly stumbling bleary-eyed out of a club at 8 in the morning to cover one's eyes and hiss at the sun along with all the other weary party-goers and wait in a taxi queue for the ride home.

The other major items of interest in BsAs are the people we've met here. Through a happy chance, I met an American guy named David on ThornTree discussion forum on Lonely Planet's website who offered to take us out clubbing. Through him, we met his Argentinian friends, all either young lawyers or studying to be them, who party incredibly hard (come on dad, the lawyers here go clubbing till 8!). Gonzalo, Julio, and Matthias are all excellent guys, and we're really lucky to have known and partied with them.

Also somewhat randomly, through a girl I studied with in Costa Rica we connected with an Argentinian girl here named Matilde, who turned out to be one of the nicest and coolest I've met. She graciously opened her arms to us and took us out on the town with her and her friends, and also acted as a great tour guide to the city. Through her, we met her friends Delphi, Ines, and Geraldine, all of whom are great fun and good people. Mati is studying art, and going to the Latin American art museum here with someone who knew copious amounts of information about all of it was a lot of fun and far more interesting than going alone with Tyler, who simply can't stop snickering at the naked sculptures.

And that, in a very small nutshell crammed to the brim with enjoyable experiences, is more or less our second time in BsAs.

- posted by Micah @ 1:07 PM