5-13 Happy Mother's Day!
Since it was the weekend, there was a big street market in San Telmo, the barrio (neighborhood), where my hostel is. It's a cool old neighborhood. One of the oldest parts of the city and has colonial architecture and cobbled, narrow streets. I wasn't going to go to the market bc I am not looking to buy anything and shopping isn't really my thing, but a couple Australian girls were able to convince me that I should go. I am glad I did. It was actually quite cool. So many cool art and craftsy things and lots of cool paintings. Where were markets like these in the US right before mother's day when you needed them! The amount of gifts to give a mom here was incredible. Lots of jewelry and cool bag things made from everything imaginable including VHS tapes. There were also a lot of just other random cool things, lots of matte tea cups, unique paintings, and lots of antiques. There were some amazing maps made from leather and canvas and other things I would have loved to have, but I just don't have the room or desire to carry them around much. Along the over 2 mile long street market, there were also bands, old dudes playing guitars, magicians, impersonators, human statues, puppeteers, and a whole wide array of street performers, including Tango dancers. I have been trying to find signs that tell me I picked the right grad school. Right after I made the decision, on the ferry, we watched lots of conservation movies that I really enjoyed, which was a sign to me I had picked the correct route of biology vs physical therapy. However, I had seen a couple of street signs named Yale, and business called Yale. But here in BA, I saw an antique Florida Gator license plate. I also in Mendoza explained to Andrea the reason behind the name of Gatorade when she asked. And of course here in BA they have a very famous street called Florida. Of course along the route I got solicited for drugs and women, but instead chose a tasty choripan (brat type thing) for lunch.
After exploring the market and some side sights off of the road (like this super tiny apartment), I headed towards the center of the city. There I visited the main square, the Plaza de Mayo which is surrounded by some old and grand colonial buildings. There is a little obelisk in the center and the city cathedral to one side. Also of course, the main attraction is the Casa Rosada (pink house), the equivalent of the white house. This is where Eva Peron preached to the masses, (or maybe more famously, where Madonna sang Don't Cry for Me Argentina).
After touring some cathedrals and buildings in the center, I passed by another street with a big concert going on and lots of people. They were apparently celebrating Paraguay's 201st year of independence. This was in the barrio of Monserrat From there I moved on to what is supposedly the widest avenue in the world. In the center of one intersection is a giant white obelisk (very similar to the Washington Monument). In the park below it, there was a giant gathering of teens and tweens (mostly girls) screaming and yelling about how they loved Justin Bieber. Apparently it was some Bieber fan club get together. They all had Bieber shirts. The most popular being a purple one that said Yo Tengo Bieber Fever (I have bieber fever). They all had big posters of him and autographed pictures. It was pretty hilarious. I wonder if Bieber knows stuff like this goes on all over the world. It also let me to wonder where the fan clubs of 20 year girls are for Chris Sherman. The park for the obelisk was too small...they probably have to host it in the much larger and grander Plaza de Mayo.
After watching the Bieber Fever for a bit, I walked down a pedestrian street for a while before turning on to Avenida Florida, one of the famous pedestrian steets. Avenida Florida is crowded and also has lots of street performers and Tango dancers and lots of cool old buildings and theatres lining it. After walking all of Ave. Florida, I went to the Barrio of Retiro that has a nice park and a cool huge clocktower as well as some very large and grand old buildings. I then headed back to the center where I went to mass (not mother's day mass as the day is not celebrated here...or at least not at this time. It is celebrated in Uruguay and Chile at this time though) in the main Cathedral.
5-14
I got up early to take my stool sample to the German Hospital. I was supposed to do 6 days of sampling, but I just didn't want to stay here that long, so instead I did 3 days with 2 samples per day. Yes, the wrong way to do statistics, but... On the way I was sure to hold onto my valuable sample (in some senses it was worth a lot of money bc it meant 3 days in the city). Buenos Aires isn't a particularly dangerous city, especially in the tourist areas and the center, but it is fairly notorious for petty crime like pickpocketing. I am extra careful here. Normally when I walk around places, I carry my backpack and a wallet (with less than 20 bucks in it) as well as a money belt with more money and credit cards. Here, however, I leave the backpack, don't take a wallet, still have the moneybelt, but with a very minimum amout of cash. I of course don't take my big camera, but have my little camera and hold it in my hand in my pocket at almost all times, or have it in my zippered fleece jacket pocket when I need my hands for something, like holding on while standing in a bus. I also try and avoid physical contact with people on the street (this is a good diversion tactic for pickpockets) and step into a safe cove or by a security person when I stop to pull out a map. I am probably acting a little more paranoid than I need to be but I have just had lots of warnings about it. Of course the guide book mentions it, and Andrea and Colin mentioned it (as they also mentioned it was bad in Mendoza and they were really careful even around there..they have had their house broken in twice before they really upped their security system in their house). I also had some random people working at bus and subway stations tell me to keep a really good eye on my backpack. Of course when you are just coming into a city you need to have your big pack and little pack as you go to your hostel. I have a pretty good system. My big pack is so heavy with all my camping gear, I would be pretty impressed with someone who could run off with that (I often have to help the bus luggage guy load it up into the bus), plus it doesn't have any of my very valuable things. My little pack has all my very valuable things and I wear that in the front, and it is also locked with the zippers, so they would have to cut it open to get into it. It's a pretty rugged pack too, so slashing the straps would be pretty tough on this one and I also buckle the hip and chest straps, so they would have to slash 4 straps to get it off, which would be tough without me noticing in time to stop it. Throughout my travels in South America, I have heard of more thievery things than any of my other travels. One more girl at a bus station in Bolivia had her valuables pack (complete with iphone, laptop, cash) stolen on a simple diversion question. This guy at my hostel here had his iphone stolen while eating at a restaraunt outside yesterday and an other had an iphone stolen from his pocket on the bus. You can't take your eyes off things. And one of my roommates, a gal from Australia, had one of the classic tricks pulled on her. Though she was aware and kept walking. Someone puts some sort of sticky stubstance on you, like mustard (she thought she had some sort of vinegary mushy stuff), and then someone stops you to point it out and offers to help wipe it off. You are distracted and being touched, so you don't notice that someone else wipes you of everything else.
Well, the reason for all that talk about pickpocketing is that as I clutched my "valuable" stool sample, I had to chuckle that it would be pretty funny if someone pick pocketed me and that is what they got. Talk about Karma. For some reason pickpocketing and thievery, just really get my goat and I sometimes like to think about good ways to get the criminals back. Everything from a wallet with a severe shock to a wallet covered in nasty bacteria. But I thought a jar of stool (likely laden with giardia) was pretty good. In mongolia where taxis that put your bag in the trunk and then drive off without you was so common that all hostels picked up their guests when the train arrived. Also in mongolia, having drugs, such as weed was a life sentence in prison. I thought it would be some good karma for thieves to put some weed in a backpack, just weed, oh, and a hidden GPS, and have the cops follow that taxi.
After depositing my stool sample at the hospital, which is located in the famous and upscale barrio of Recoleta, I explored a bit of Recoleta. I of course visited the very famous Recoleta cemetary. Yea, I thought it was a bit morbid to visit a cemetary as a tourist as well; however, it is the thing to do, and they even offer tours. I actually really enjoyed the cemetary. It's not your typical cemetary you are thinking about with headstones. This is a cemetary packed with giant mouseleums to people and families. The tombs are huge with nice statues of angels or crosses or other people on top. If you have seen the movie, the Phantom of the Opera, it is similar to the place where Christine is buried that the phantom visits at the end of the movie or the tomb of her father that Christine visits You can see into some of the mousoleums. Most of them on the ground level have an altar type thing, some sculptures, a crucifix, and other things. You can then see stairs steep stairs leading down below the ground to the crypt where the coffins are. It's kind of an eerie and spooky place, bc most of them are very old. Some are crumbling and sprouting plants. Some have even crumbled enough that coffins are sticking out. I definitely wouldn't want to be there after dark. But it was cool to see all the architecture, turned spooky architecture. And it is interesting how there is a whole bunch of cats patrolling the cemetary. It's interesting to imagine how most of these tombs are bigger than most argentinean's homes. Of course, since this is the cemetary of the rich, famous, and powerful, there are some presidents buried there as well as Eva Peron, buried in the Duarte family mousoleum. It was one of the few tombs with flowers placed on it, and the only non recent tomb with flowers.
After visiting the cemetary, I headed back to the main huge avenue (9 de Junio) where I walked by the famous Colon theatre. From there I walked through Avenida Florida again to grab a cheap burger and headed back to the Plaza de Mayo (where the Casa Rosada is). I walked around to the front of the Casa Rosada and then walked down to the barrio of Puerto Madero which is situated along the river. There you could see an old ship that had made countless trips around the world, and a famous bridge that is meant to look like and imitate (when it swings to allow ships to pass) tango dancers.
After walking along the waterfront for a while, I walked back to the cobbled streets of barrio San Telmo to eat some empanadas. After a quick rest, I bused back to Recoleta to buy ferry tickets to Uruguay for Wednesday. On the way home the bus broke down (or something). All the people got out and were waiting. Luckily I'm a walker, so I headed back to my hostel.
5-15
Today I stayed around the hostel working mostly on job applications for the lab position in Antarctica. I did walk along the waterfront and onto the bus station to buy a bus ticket.
