Me, Damian and his father in the wind next to Piedra Movideza, the large stone that actually fell, and was later replaced by the government

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Tuesday night I went to Palermo for my long awaited dinner plans with Juan Manuel and Roberto. I may have guilted Roberto into coming with, but I know he didn't regret it. :-) Juan picked out a place called Taco Box for me to try. It was nice, though our waitress really sucked. We ended up giving her exact payment for the bill with no tip, something I couldn't imagine doing in the States. I walked out quickly without looking back. :-(

Dani and me, during our last moments together! Oh, no! :-(

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Tuesday, Dani asked what I wanted to do, and when I mentioned reading about a famous cemetery online, we decided to go there. La Recoleta Cemetery is in one of the ritzier neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. It is where tourists from around Argentina and the world go to see the tombs of such prominent Argentines as Eva Perón. Somehow I missed that tomb, though. The place is huge, and you could walk around all day and still not see all the graves.

Near the entrance

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Last weekend was the second "long weekend" of my trip, as Thursday and Friday were days off for many people. I wasn't clear on what the occasion was, but it became clear something was going on Thursday when I tried to make my way to La Plata for the weekend to stay with Damian.

Going out to the gay club of La Plata

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Tuesday I decided 'twas as good of a day as any to venture out to meet a new friend, Daniel, living in Balvanera, a tad west of Capital Federal and south of Recolata and Palermo. I also was going to finally try meeting up with a guy from my home town, Brandon, who happens to be in Buenos Aires this week. The problem, though, is Brandon doesn't have a phone here and barely has Internet access, so arranging a meet when neither of us knows our schedule is problematic. But he said he was going to hang out in the Japanese Gardens in Palermo, so I figured it'd be worth combining looking for him with meeting Dani.

Dani cooked me some lunch, spaghetti with meat and some sauce that was different than I was used to, but it was delicious!

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Saturday was my first South American clubbing experience, and it was fabulous. Despite losing contact with a new friend who had wanted to go out with me, I still found somewhere to hang before the club. My "longtime" Facebook friend Damian was going to his friend Victor's to have some drinks and hang out, so Damian asked if I could come along. I took the bus up to the Obelisco and met Damian outside the McDonald's there.

Boys will be boys...

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The last few days have been great! I met a bunch of new people and am getting a bit better at the buses. I also was told I'm the first American ever to have stayed in Lanús, which is apparently not a tourist destination. But it's been fine!

They had small people, I mean, leprechauns!

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So far I've gotten cash by bringing paper dollars from the United States and converting them to Argentine pesos at the airport, getting pesos from an ATM and using my Chase Amazon Visa and my American Express Clear cards. All the methods, except perhaps the ATMs, produce basically the same results, but clearly not all are of equal convenience.

Monedas!

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My first asado. Basically a barbeque but with large chunks of beef and sausage things called chorizos, made of pork.

Saturday Fernando and I got cards for the buses so we could avoid the moneda shortage problems, Sunday I went to an Argentine barbeque called an asado, and Monday Fer and I went to La Plata to fill out some papers for his apartment and check out the city.

What a beautiful building, even with unfinished brick

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Estación Constitución

Friday was pretty interesting. Fernando took me on a little tour of parts of the central Capital Federal district where lots of historic buildings stand. We left the house and walked over a bridge to the nearest train station, Estación Gerli. Fer said we probably wouldn't need to pay, but when he told me it was less than a peso (less than 25 U.S. cents), I said we should, especially since they take paper money and not only the scarce coins. But then when we got to the paying booth, the person there just told us to go through, as they weren't currently open to take payments. So much for trying to pay!

Looking down Diagonal Norte toward el Obelisco de Buenos Aires from the Plaza de Mayo

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It's been a few weeks since I've written; I hope that last, depressing entry and the subsequent silence hasn't led either of my two stalkers to fear for my life. Things have been pretty good, but I've admittedly been slacking on the photo taking and entry writing. I'm not really sure why.

A ridiculous number of lanes near el Obelisco de Buenos Aires

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