18:50 1-02-09 (Feb 1st)
The balcony of mi casa
Another exciting 24 hours! After dinner (fried chicken leg, sweet potato, more shredded carrot salad, and a crunchy, cooked tortilla-like pastry with zucchini and tomato on it - I have to say, I’ve been really good at eating foods I don’t care for [ahem, sweet potato] or am usually picky about [ahem, very brown, mushy banana]), I met up with some girls from ISA (my program provider in case I didn’t already mention that) at 23:00 (11 pm) to walk around. We ended up sitting outside at a cute little bistro (I got a media luna, which is like a croissant, with ham and cheese- very popular here).
ARGENTINE DAILY ROUTINE
In short, EXTREMELY different than in the United States.
Morning: Breakfast is generally non-existent, usually coffee and maybe a cookie or two and cafes open a lot later here than in the US. I’m pretty lucky to get cereal and such. I would also like to note that Argentineans love sweets. I often get cookies with chocolate or other delectables for breakfast and there is an abundance of sweets everywhere.
Mid-afternoon: Some shops close, but it’s not that common in the city anymore to go home for a siesta (in the “Interior” – basically everywhere but Buenos Aires – they still do). Lunch is around 12 or 1, can be medium-sized or big. I’ve read that there is often afternoon tea to hold people over until dinner.
Night: Late dinner, as mentioned before. When we were at the bistro at 1:30 am, there were still families with young children, old couples – many were still eating dinner.
After hours: If you want to take part in the night life, music in the clubs doesn’t start until 2 or 3 am (and that’s considered arriving early) and will go until 6 or 7 am. No, I did not mistype and your eyes are not failing you. Those are really the hours of the club scene. Many porteños head straight to work after that. I can just imagine an Argentinean’s reaction if they came to Gainesville where the clubs close before 2 am.
Sleep: Actually…I don’t know when they do that.
TIP OF THE DAY: Show up to organized excursions on time. Do not follow the Argentine custom of arriving unfashionably late. You will a much more peaceful day if you show up when you’re told.
Sunday consisted of a city tour on a bus ISA rented out with all the other ISA students studying in BA this semester. Since I plan to visit all these places in depth, I will go more into detail about the different barrios in the future. But, for a sampler, we stopped at Recoleta (which I definitely plan to visit again to check out the feria, or arts and crafts stalls, and the world-famous cemetery), the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (the Argentine White House). We also went through the old streets of San Telmo, where they have an antiques fair every Sunday and many street performers. Our last stop was the famous barrio of La Boca with its distinctive brightly colored buildings and tango performances.
Más pronto! (More soon!)
Coli
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