Buenos Aires, Argentina

It took all of 2 seconds for me to fall in love with Buenos Aires.

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend Josh in BsAs. Josh is also a deferred associate working, travelling and learning during his deferral year. We became friends when we interned together and he might be one of my favorite people to talk to in the world! Plus, he is really fun.

This is Josh, or JGB (his initials). He looks like (in the minimum): Mr. Schuester from Glee, Timothy Geithner, somebody on RHONY, and Tio Miguel (Javier's brother). No joke, everyone who has seen a picture of him has said, "Oh wow, he looks lilke____." Feel free to comment with your own thoughts on the matter.

When I arrived, Josh collected me from the airport, we cracked open a bottle of red wine, and we started catching up. Before I knew it we were out the door for some Mexican food!

Josh is a great friend and all, but we should be honest about something: I came to Argentina for the wine!

We ate at a closed door Mexican restaurant. Just 6 of us at a guy's house. It was OK. I wanted it to be better (as did Gina), but some of the food was pretty tasty and the company was fantastic. I met several of Josh's friends in BsAs including a couple from Australia (Ed and Gina) and Jessica from Chicago!

The whole gang posing with our food and Quilmes, which is possibly one of the worst beers ever and will give you a raging hangover if you so much as look at it.

The next day we grabbed some lunch at a cafe and walked around Recoleta. We visited the Recoleta Cemetery -- Given my fear of anything remotely creepy, I was surprised at how cool I found it. It was like a little city of tombs. Among other famous and incredibly rich people, Eva Peron (Go read about her. I will wait. Even if you end up in a wiki wormhole. She has a pretty amazing story.) is entombed there. Josh also told me a cool story about a grounds keeper there that worked his whole life to get a spot there and when they finally let him get a plot, he offed himself cause his life's work was complete. Creepy, but interesting!

Evita's grave is really easy to find because pretty much everyone in the cemetery is going to see her. We just saw a guard giving someone directions somewhere and followed them.

That evening and the next we met up with friends and went to steakhouses. Now when I say steakhouse, I am not talking Outback. I am talking massive steaks, amazing wine, out of this world chorizo. It was really fantastic!

Beautiful.

We ended up spending a lot of time walking around the neighborhoods, hanging out talking, and watching the world cup. Josh's friend even made us a Russian dinner one night(no photos, oops)! But amidst all of the relaxing, we did find a little time to get some sightseeing done as well.

Josh and me in front of the Puente de la Mujer (I just learned it got the name because many of the streets in the area are named for women).

La Casa Rosada - I guess there are quite a few stories of why it is pink in color...If anyone knows, please share!

Every week mothers of those who disappeared or were abducted under the military dictatorship gather here in the Plaza de Mayo to protest for information. I suggest you go learn about it (here is always a good place to start. then maybe try here or here).

On my last night in BsAs, Josh took me to see a band/drum corps/I don't know how to explain it? It wasn't La Bomba, but it was by the same producers I think, and I am pretty sure the idea was the same. Either way, it was really cool! My camera was out of batteries at this point, though, so no photos of that night :(

I really had an absolutely fantastic time. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, I felt safe, it was easy and nice to walk around, and I would really love to return (mostly for the alfajores, wine, and coffee!) sometime very soon!

That is a thumbs up for BsAs!