note: location is buenos aires, argentina
this morning was spent driving around buenos aires looking for a new hostel. buenos aires can be a bit confusing at first, so what should have been a 5 minute drive always turned into a 30 minute endeavor. the new hostel is not that great either, but oh well, it’s good enough. next, we checked out the museum of contemporary art, which had some cool exhibits, including an interesting bench from a french guy. the bench started off normal (you could sit on it), but then the wood continued like a vine, and climbed up the walls to the next floor (unfortunately pictures were not permitted). then, a quick bite to eat, some laundry (where i originally ended up with an extra pair of boxers and was missing a belt…but things were resolved) and then we headed over to the house of a german guy that my swiss travel buddy met in ushuaia.
the german dentist had scored us standing tickets for the match between argentina and peru (peru is already out of world cup qualifications, but argentina needs to win the remaining games to make it to south africa). the game was at the river plate stadium, which is huge….but for 40 pesos ($10), we got seats up at the top with quite good visibility. if you squinted and made your hand into a pinhole, you could even see maradona (or, maracoca, as an ecuadorian taught me….the argentinians, it turns out, don’t like that nickname). the game was fun and exciting, but then it started to rain. hard. so hard, that on the walk home i walked through 1 foot puddles without caring (or sometimes noticing).
luckily, the german guy had some extra clothes; then we went to a fancy parilla next door (los arribenos). for 60 pesos ($15), we got more food than i could have imagined. we started off with the cubierto (bread/dip which, in argentina, is always included and costs another 7pesos…unless you make a big deal and say you don’t want it)…but their cubierto was quite good, with almost a dozen different toppings (mashed potatoes, olives, sauteed eggplant, sauteed vegetables, roasted garlic, etc.). but then came the salad, french fries and meat — which it turns out was actually two big pieces of beef per person. imagine a big piece of meat….and then double it. insane. i might not eat anything tomorrow. i might also get a heart attack during the night and not even see tomorrow. (…and i only had one of the pieces of meat).
ushi is now in a cochera for 35pesos/day…which was worth it today, since the car leaks when it rains. and here’s something i was thinking about today: most of the time you need something fixed, you can get it done…even in the countryside. people are, for the most part, creative and can get things fixed using rudimentary tools. but, they’re also usually a bit too confident about their work. ‘yeah, of course i can fix it’. in ushuaia, the guy who fixed my windshield said he would first drill a precise hole above the crack, then fill it with a special wicking glue under high pressure. it ended up being a dremel and loctite in a syringe. but, i’ll hand it to him, it did work.
