Buenos Aires

FRIDAY & SATURDAY:
Friday night we caught the bus at around 10:30pm to go to Buenos Aires (BA). As I mentioned in a previous blog, they do this so you can sleep while traveling. Danny and I love the idea that we are accomplishing something while we sleep. We ate dinner on the bus, they showed a movie, and I fell asleep about 15 minutes into it. I had a pretty good sleep considering we were on a bus. We arrived in BA at about 7am, and were able to observe the life around the bus terminal. This is a very common area for thief's to practice their act.

I can be a little feisty at times (if you didn't know that already), and I was very determined to not have someone steal from either Danny or I. So, I was on the look out, and carried my mace in my hand. I watched different thieves, and took note of their methods. Often times they work in teams and they give signals to each other We were circled on at least two different occasions, by some guys who were interested in taking our belongings. I have a lot of nerve sometimes, and I just looked them in the eyes and told them (without telling them) I knew exactly what they were doing. From what I have heard, they tend to go after people who are not paying attention to what their surroundings.

Oh my gosh, I just realized why I was so determined to not be stolen from, besides the obvious reasons. When I was a kid, about 11 years old, I was in the mall and I had a bag full of Christmas presents for my friends and family. I naïvely set the bag down, without being aware of it, and turned around later to find it was stolen. I was so heartbroken and upset that someone would steal from a little girl, and on Christmas. On that same shopping trip I had a fanny pack full of quarters, and I was in the arcade, and I felt something touch me, and I looked down and a man had his hands around my waste trying to steal my fanny pack. I turned around and he left- I couldn't see his face. It was one of those loss of innocence times where you realize people cannot always be trusted. I felt powerless in both those situations, and now I want to do what I can to be aware and prevent it.

I am writing a lot, and the internet is going in and out, so I will post this section and put more on a little later....

Okay, here's more:
So, when we arrived we figured out how the subte (subway) worked. We checked into our hostel in Palermo. We stayed at Hostel Suites Palermo. It is in an old mansion which used to be a geriatric home. It was a very nice hostel with cute rooms, which have french windows that open up to overlook trees, buildings, and pretty pink Bougainvilleas. I left the doors open to the window, and in the morning it was a dream to wake up to the sun shining in.

We basically explored for the first day we were there. I was overwhelmed with the size of the buildings. They are huge. I felt like an ant. We strolled through San Telmo and saw the Plaza De Mayo, where the mothers of 'the disappeared' protest on Thursday (An amazingly sad story, if you want to know more you can ask me about it.) At the Plaza we saw a bunch of people filming for a movie, it was pretty fun to watch. We saw the Casa Rosada (Pink house), which is their White House. Their president is female, Cristina Kirshner, and we thought she probably liked working in an enormous pink building.

We visited 9 de Julio (The day Argentina gained it's independence), which is the widest street in the world. It's nine lanes wide. Standing in the middle is a famous icon of the city, the obelisk. It's a regular gathering spot, especially for fans gathering after a futbol game.

I have to go buy a turkey, so I will continue more later, sorry for the pauses.