Graffiti

Walking around the city you'll notice a lot of graffiti everywhere, on monuments, restaurants, museums, you name it. The typical graffiti in Buenos Aires, like every good nationalist, anti-imperialist country, is political. There's also a great collection of anti-sexual abuse graffiti around the city. This one particular video captivates some of the more artistic graffiti that Buenos Aires has to offer.

jujuy

I just got back from a northern province in Argentina called Jujuy- which, apart from being fun to say, is absolutely beautiful. Situated in the Andes, Jujuy (specifically Tilcara, where we stayed) is covered in red rock, a cactus here or there, and llamas(!). A big fan of Emperor's New Groove, I thoroughly enjoyed the llamas by taking pictures of them, buying sweaters of their fur, and eating steaks of their meat. Jujuy was wonderful because it was such a nice change of pace from the city. The stars at night were unbelievable (sooo many and incredibly bright). Venturing parts of Jujuy, I visited the salt flats which were very impressive. Salt for miles...

Now, back in BA, the smoke that has surrounded the city has finally cleared up and it's back to classes for me! sort of. i have some classes this week and then thursday is a holiday. I might explore southern Argentina on my days off this week and the week after i'll be going to Mendoza!

For now, classes and tango.

un beso.

sin ton ni son

bueno (this word is GOLD in castellano). i have been in buenos aires now for two months and have successfully formulated a mechanical routine- yay for pragmatic lifestyles. since this is blogspot and not a high school live-journal, i will be provide an analytical view of my day to day activities instead of merely ranting (this, as you'll soon find out, is a lie).

i wake up "early" -- 9am is decently early for porteños, and rightfully so: they go to bed around 1am on the norm

i eat "well" -- for porteños this means: coffee, mate, carne, empanadas, medialunas, pizza, cigarettes, and alfajores.. only the healthiest of diets. for me this means a lot of fruit and treasured veggies whenever possible.

i workout -- my routine scares people here. most people here consider walking nonchalantly a sport. surprisingly enough, they're skinny/muscular despite their lack of effort. the majority of women at the gym have had enough plastic surgery to satisfy anna nicole smith's fancy. too soon?

i study -- really? classes happen, they don't. teachers show up (late) or don't. students protest, class gets cancelled, sometimes i study.

i tango -- painfully, but all the same: dancing machine.

i go out-- yes, that i do.

i travel and explore -- hence, poor.

That's all for now since my homestay needs the internet cable (old school cable connect, which the cat has successfully chewed through). Perhaps there will be more meat (yes, more carne) in my next entry. chau, un beso.