Since I have been to Iguazu I have done quite a bit of exploring in Buenos Aires. The area that I live in is called Palermo, which is more of the hipster part of the city. The area of Palermo also hosts my favorite restaurant, which is called Kentucky Pizza. Now when I think of the state of Kentucky, I will only think of pizza and not fried chicken. The restaurant is a chain that on the inside of each has hilarious pictures of the state of Kentucky combined with Buenos Aires Tango posters...quite the combination but I find it hilarious. You can get a slice of pizza for under a dollar with the currency advantage! Aside from my find of the Kentucky Pizza restaurant, Palermo has several beautiful parks that Jeremy and I have walked to. The botanical gardens have several replicas of famous statues that I remember seeing in my Art History textbook along with a variety of unique types of plants. The rose gardens on the edge of Palermo are beautiful and have statues of famous Argentines. Two of my favorite Spanish authors are from Buenos Aires: Borges y Cortazar, whose statues can be found in the rose garden. The rose garden has several different paths of shrubbery that reminds me of Alice and Wonderland and boasts two beautiful lakes with an option for paddle boating. Aside from the beautiful parks, Palermo has several unique restaurants and bars that are very wonderful to go to as well. The next neighborhood over is Recoleta, which is a very beautiful ritzy area. Before going to Recoleta I walked to Jeremy's school and we met his friend Jeremy for lunch at a steak place near the Retiro bus station which is near the entrance to the Villa which is where the poorest part of the city where a lot of the poor immigrants from Paraguay live. We at a steak place near the entrance of the Villa, which only cost 10 pesos for an enormous steak, fries, and a drink. 10 pesos is equivalent to about $2.50. After we visited the border of extreme poverty, we walked home through Recoleta and happened to stumble upon the Recoleta Cemetery, which is where Eva Peron is buried. The cemetery was beautiful with elegant above ground graves. There were stray cats all over the cemetery that were roaming around the graves. The cemetery is also where Borges is buried. The cemetery was illuminated by the beautiful sunset that evening which made you feel like even more that you were standing on hollow ground. After we ate dinner we went out to Plaza Serrano to meet up with more of the people from Jeremy's program. Jeremy and I often go to Plaza Serrano to go to the many awesome bars which each have a different theme. First off, I love how strong the bartenders pour in this country! The bartenders fill 3/4 of my drink with run when I order a Cuba Libre, so not only is drinking far more economical, but much more time effective. On the nights where we do not go to Plaza Serrano we go to the next neighborhood over which Las Canitas. On Saturday we went to a Parilla for dinner called Las Cholas (which I found hilarious because that means Mexican gangster in Spanish) and I ate an enormous amount of meat. The level we ate on had gravel floors and candlelight lighting, which was beautiful. There were a ton of portenos in line so we knew it was a good authentic Parilla. After dinner we went to Soul Cafe, which is a bar that I found in my book. It plays live Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Motown music, which Jeremy loved. The bar had the most wonderful decor. There were enormous hanging dice from the top of the bar and tons of pictures of famous artists from the 60's and 70's. Saturday night was a wonderful night!

On Sunday, a girl from Jeremy's program named Sarah invited us to the beautiful apartment that her family was renting in San Telmo. The apartment was fantastic!!! I had beautiful crystal light fixtures and gorgeous artwork and it probably only cost $400 a month! That evening I experienced southern hospitality for the first time in my life. Her family prepared a pasta dinner for 30 people and we finished 25 bottles of wine that night. I met her whole family and this was a girl I had only met two times before so it was very nice that she included me since I am not in Jeremy's program. Her family was very nice and her sister lives in San Diego, which made me even more blown away about how small the world is! After Sarah's dinner we went to Plaza Serrano again and continued to party.  

On Monday night we took it easy because we knew that Tuesday was Jeremy's 21st birthday! On Tuesday we had quite the line up to celebrate Jeremy's birthday. I met him after class to meet his language partner Nati who is from Lanus, which is a suburb outside of Buenos Aires. We met up with her in the enormous McDonalds that is across from the Obelisk on 9 de Julio, which is one of the largest streets in the world. She was very nice and invited me to eat with her family while I am here which I am very excited about! After we met Nati, Jeremy and I went home and his host mom made him a special dinner. Then at 12 we headed over to Jobs, which is a bar, that has 2 for 1 drink specials on Tuesdays. Jeremy was getting free drinks right and left! After Jobs we went to Kika, which is a club in Palermo and then got home at 5:30 in the morning. Jeremy partied like a rock star for his 21st birthday, which is a very important experience. Tonight we may go check out a new bar in the area, but that is my first week in Buenos Aires in a nutshell! Until next time!

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