So it's been awhile...

First off, sorry for the delay in posting. I think Amy and I have just gotten so accustomed to BsAa life that we forget to share! I finished classes the week after Ame and then my dear friend from college and former post-college roommate, Mayen Ma, came for a visit! So I got to be a tourist in the city all over again. Mayen arrived Saturday morning and had a smooth taxi ride in with Ricardo. We eased in to touring the city by starting off with an alfajor. I don't know if I have told you about the afajores down here, but they are totally delicious and are usually composed of some sort of cookie, dulce de leche and chocolate combination. In my mind, it’s hard to go wrong with those three ingredients! After the first alfajor, I promised to aid Mayen in the quest of finding the best one so we had one alfajor a day! I think my favorite was the Jorgito and Mayen liked the Conito alfajores so much that she bought them back to share with her office mates!

There were two tours that I have been wanting to do, but hadn't found the time with classes and what not. Mayen's visit was a perfect excuse to go on these tours. The first one was the BA Free City Tour. The tour lasted for about 2.5 hours, which is a little long, but you cover a lot of ground and you learn a lot of interesting facts. And yes, it is free, but you are expected to tip at the end of it. One interesting site pointed out, as you can see in the picture below, was a house on top of a building alongside the widest street in the world* Avenida 9 de Julio. The story goes that the owner of a factory who worked in the city was too tired to go home to the country at the end of the day, so he decided it would be easier to build a house on top of the building to shorten his commute.-pretty clever if you ask me.

The house atop the tall buildings.

The other tour that I had heard good things about, but was reluctant to go on because of the AR$75 fee was the graffitimundo tour. However, I am glad I paid the AR$75 (US $18.75) because we saw some amazing street art. What I found most interesting about the street art is that it is not illegal and its sole purpose is to make communities more beautiful. Many times restaurants commission street artists to paint their storefronts to make their restaurant more inviting. Another interesting point the tourguide made was that since street art isn't illegal here, negative connotations such as gangs and violence are not associated with it, which is why I think it has become such an acceptable art form in Bs As. A few of the artists have become so popular and well known that they have had art shows in Europe, which were very well received in the art world. One really positive movement associated with street artists is that because the artists use a lot of recycled material from the street it has led the government to think about mandating a recycling program here in BsAs, which would be awesome because recycling is practically non-existent down here! Also, I found it really fascinating that these artists are sort of pillars of their communities and are strong examples for young people, which is the complete opposite of how graffiti artists are viewed in the States. (FYI: I took around 200 pictures of the street art, so if you're interested in seeing the album let me know and I will email it to you.)

Mayen standing in front of one of the street artists who uses stencils as his medium.

So all and all we had a really great week, besides these tours I introduced Mayen to the 5 food groups of Argentina: Parilla (beef and more beef), empanadas, pizza, Malbec and of course alfajores! It was so great seeing BsAs through a new set of eyes! I miss Mayen already!

Amy and I are off to the Northwestern part of Argentina. We leave on Tuesday and then we'll be back in a week or so! We'll have more to share then. Chau!

*denotes a secret we learned on the tour, but you'll have to come to Argentina to learn what it is!