the colors of the sound

it's official – i love buenos aires: colorful, vibrant, so alive; what a wonderful city.

it's hard to describe, but somehow i feel more comfortable, more at home here (latin america) than i did in the philippines. i don't even speak the language, but it just feels right here. i love the whole vibe of life, the culture, the people.

(true, the philippines and argentina (latin america) are hardly comparable, but still. i feel different here than i did there.)

the weather has not been cooperating (rain rain) since i arrived and neither have most of the museums in buenos aires that i wanted to visit (all closed for renovations or on the day i planned on going there), but i'm still following my usual travel plan: have a general plan of what i'd like to see that day and then go wander the streets until i find whatever it is i'm looking for.

that method worked especially well for me in buenos aires because each barrio has such a unique personality. of course, the city is massive and so i barely saw any of it.

la boca and san telmo were probably my favorite barrios and when i come back here with brad right before i fly back to the states, i think i'll try to stay here (and i still have to see a tango show!). both have an artistic history and a huge cafe culture, more so than governmental sorts of things. tango, futbol, and color reign supreme in la boca - all the buildings and walls are covered in art (or graffiti, depending on your opinion).





san telmo has wonderful cafes and heaps of antique shops – if anyone's looking for a gramaphone or old phone or toy soldiers or chandeliers or ... antiques, let me know! on sunday, there is a huge open market with wonderful stalls full of all sorts of trinkets you never knew you needed.





in general, the city is very european, and has wonderful architecture, tons of plazas, and parks. perfect for a nice sunny day (which sadly never came). one of the main plazas is plaza de mayo - beautiful buildings and a great cathedral (plus a few closed museums, sigh).





and, as per usual, i had to go visit the famous cemetery (cemeterio de recoleta). one, i really enjoy wandering through cemeteries, and two, this one is full of famous dead people (the only one i knew was evita). it's all mausoleums – which i find eerily fascinating.





and nearby is this very odd sculpture – a massive flower whose petals actually close at night!





all in all, i could have spent a month in this city and still not seen half of it. this is the problem with traveling – there is just not nearly enough time to see everything and fully appreciate or learn about a place. so i suppose that all those museums i didn't visit and barrios i didn't see are just an excuse to come back again :)

i am now in montevideo and starting my spanish class. when they say no english is spoken in the classrooms, they really mean it. this makes it a bit difficult when i have no clue what a word means – lots of gesturing wildly and fumbling with my oh-so-limited vocabulary. already though, after just my one day, i feel a bit more comfortable. the main problem is that the "ll" is pronounced with a "ch"/"j" sound here, so the transition to mexican-spanish could be a bit hard. oh well.

even though montevideo is small, i'm glad i'll be spending two weeks here. i did absolutely nothing today (i'm staying at the academia dorm and am the only one, so it's wonderfully quiet), but plan on actually doing some exploring tomorrow. here's hoping the weather clears!