“I didn’t do my homework…..”, Buenos Aires, May 8th, 2011

Before I left for Patagonia I spent 2 weeks with Danny and his family in Buenos Aires and another week after my return. However, these two periods of time I spent in very different ways. After coming from Africa to Brasil, making a short 2 days stopover in Montevideo, Uruquay I arrived in Buenos Aires ready to take it easy for a while. The hospitality of Paola, Zoe and Danny were the perfect base for that. With Danny I spent a large portion of my “party” time in Erfurt, Germany in the late 90’s but our friendship went beyond just partying and we always stayed in good contact. In 2005 he left for a language course in Buenos Aires but only returned shortly to pack his bags – the reason – of course, a woman, but a real good one. Paola is just wonderful and now the 2 of  them have a even sweeter daughter, Zoe.

Anyway, for the first week my rhythm was to have a great breakfast, go to the internet café and skype around, have lunch with Danny, be more lazy and enjoy the evening with those three, wonderful.

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Because it is so close to their house I did manage to visit the famous cemetery Recoletta, where Eva Peron is layed to rest in peace. More pics of that will come in a separate cemetery post.

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Besides all the hot ladies (and I mean it. Here fried food has not led to obesity numbers like in Brasil and to have plastic surgery is like going to get a hair cut here) I also noticed the contradictions Buenos Aires has to offer……………..

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Living with Danny and his family, understanding on real examples the issues of everyday life is such a great opportunity to look deeper into a country than just being a tourist. First example is inflation. Danny gave me hundreds of examples and some I saw myself within the week I was there. My chocolate was raised by 30 percent from one day to another. A second one is the Nanny they have. She commutes 2,5 hours (one way) in full busses and hot metros each day simply because its here where she still finds work but its not here where she can afford to live. Argentina was on the rise but the world economic crisis has hit much harder than in Germany for example. Having said that, Buenos Aires nevertheless is an amazing growing town, which never sleeps and is amazing to visit. Wonderful houses, great historic markets and teenagers going crazy to see their famous star…………..

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Back from Patagonia I continued with some habits (on Saturday’s I would have a football day with Danny before making dinner for them – sweet pancakes, smile) but also changes the morning habit. Instead of sleeping in I went to a language school, improving my Spanish.

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Last time I went to school in my life was 12 years ago, also a language school for Spanish, in Venezuela. That must have been also the last time that I had to excuse myself for not having made my homework, what a strange feeling. The afternoons I used to further understand Buenos Aires and started with Palermo, the part of town Danny lives in………

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I did play chess against the old and supposedly best player on that day. After leading big time I managed to waste that advantage and only tie against him but maybe that was a good thing a thought later.

Before visiting the neighborhood of famous singer Carlos Gardel (1920’s and 30’s) I did manage to take a picture from the top of the famous “Panamericano” hotel in downtown Buenos Aires. The top deck is reserved to guests only so I walked through the lobby with the confidence of a millionaire, got into the lift and instead of top level 23 I pushed 22. It worked. A few rooms were open as being renovated and so I had my view and took my photo, James Bond is nothing……….smile.

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You can not leave Buenos Aires without visiting Boca and seeing a football match life. So Danny and I spend the last Sunday together. He showed me different parts of town, where he lived and took me to a game of his favorite team “River”. What an experience.

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Football in Argentina is religion and throughout the entire match the songs would not stop and the huge flags would be opened and closed continuously, amazing.

In total 3 weeks I spent in BA. After all I was not that lazy, saw pretty much all there is too see but most important I spend time with Danny and his family after not seeing them for more than 5 years. Fantastic if a world trip not only means to have time to travel and see / meet new things but also to have the time to see / meet people important to me and to spend time with them.