That´s about the extent of my Spanish so far, Paul is much better, but we´re both looking forward to the start of our classes tomorrow. Starting tomorrow we are enrolled in 5 days of Spanish Classes, for 4 hours every morning. The language barrier here is the strongest I´ve ever experienced travelling. In most places I´ve been, the merchants and anyone in customer service speaks at least a little bit of English, but here we´re definitely challenged to use the little Spanish we know. Yesterday Paul meant to order a steak, but he ended up with 2 empanadas (basically little pastry appitizers)! That was a quickly learned lesson!
This picture is of Av. 9 de Julio, the widest boulevard in the world. There are 18 lanes of traffic, 9 in each direction. It´s almost impossible to cross the whole road on foot without having to stop at a red light. We did it, barely, and we were running! The city is huge, it´s made up of 48 neighborhoods called Barrios. We´ve spent the past 4 days exploring the different barrios. La Boca is the neighborhood that´ is home to the Boca Juniors Football team, one of the most famous soccer teams in Argentina. We´re hoping to catch a football game, but it probably won´t be at that stadium. Paul looked pretty happy to be inside that stadium...
La Boca is also famous for the street Tango dancers. The dance is amazing, and even more amazing is the way the ladies can move around on the cobblestone street in high heels. However, I think they spent less time dancing and more time trying to get tourists to pose for photos with them. We came across a pretty neat street basketball court in La Boca, but it likely gets used more for football than basketball. There were a couple boys playing 1-on-1 when we were there.
Last night we did what every guide books says you have to do in Buenos Aires, and went to a nice restaurant and drank wine and ate steak. I had the risotto, Paul had a steak and empanadas, and we both drank champagne, all for $50 including the tip (which is not required in Argentina). In general it´s not that much cheaper than Canada to eat at a restaurant, but this meal probably would have been 3 or 4 times as much at G&Ps.
We had a couple sunny days, resulting in a sunburn for me, and today it´s cloudy and cool. The locals are wearing jackets, yet I´m still walking around in shorts and a T-shirt!
Buenos Dias, or as the Argentinians say, buedia.
