To anyone seeing this page for the first time- the following paragraphs represent the last five months of my life travelling through South America, primarily Brazil. I wrote posts as I went, and the layout of this site is such that posts stack top to bottom, most recent first. Therefore, If you want follow my journey chronologically, and actually make sense of what I am talking about, you are best to start at the bottom and work your way up. Enjoy, and if you have questions, comments, or travel plans of your own, please let me know. Yours, Mike.
Also, photos can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65236019@N00/
Friday, July 6, 2007
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires. I never intended to come here- but like I said before, every other traveler I met had just come from Buenos Aires and was raving about it, so I figured what the heck, it was on the way right? A week or so before I was to travel I decided to look up the weather in Buenos Aires, since people had mentioned it would be cooler. Cooler?! It was frikkin cold over there. In Rio I was complaining about lows of 70 degrees. In Buenos Aires they were showing 50 degrees in the middle of the day. Oops. I guess I better buy a long sleeve shirt or two? I did buy one long sleeve shirt, but I figured I'd buy a jacket there if I needed, the exchange rate was great (3 to 1): after the economic meltdown everything was supposed to be quite cheap over there.
As soon as the plane landed I could tell by the way the lights were shining that it was cold outside. There was something about their chrystalline sparkle. I hadn't seen air like that since I left the States in January. Those that know me know one my favorite things to do is invent scientific theories and pass them off as fact, a habit I acquired from my Dad. He was extremely convincing. In fact when I was younger I was pretty sure he knew Everything with a capital E. So I am going to say that cold air holds less water vapor and therefore is clearer, thus objects in the distance and particularly shining lights have a crispness and clarity that you won't see in warmer climes, or in a country like Brazil for example. That's my theory and I'm stickin to it.
Anyways, I would soon learn the Buenos Aires differed in many ways from Rio. For one thing, cars yield for pedestrians (kind of), even taxis. For another thing, everyone was wearing a lot of clothes. I know that shouldn't seem so weird, after all it was cold like I said, but I just have been hanging out in beach clothes for five months in a country that just doesn't get cold, so it was weird, thats all. Then there were the mullets. If you don't know, the mullet is a hairstyle openly ridiculed throughout the US and many other nations, involving short hair on the front, top, and sides, and long hair in the back. Mexicans tend to sport mullets here and there, but Argentina has got to be the mullet capital of the world, they even have girl mullets. Actually most of the mullets are on girls, some kind of spiky Pat Benetar retro 80s kind of thing.
Another thing, Buenos Aires is just huge. I got an idea when I looked up a satellite image on google, but as we drove towards downtown and especially in the downtown area (which goes on forever in all directions), the scale was simply enormous. The buildings were huge, the streets were huge, and everything went on forever. The main thoroughfare is sixteen lanes wide, with a huge swath of grass, trees, sidewalks, and monuments in the middle. It is the biggest in SA, if not the world. Oh and monuments. OMG. I have seen more monuments and giant, White-House scale, colonial marble buildings in the last week than I have in my whole life, and I have visited at least fifteen world capitals.
I'm not sure how the population figures break down for Buenos AIres vs other areas I have visited, such as Rio or LA, but BA takes the prize for imparting the sense of being part of a vast sea of seething humanity. I think part of it is the geography. Rio is so full of mountains and hills and lakes and beaches connected by tunnels and bridges that it gets all chopped up, and you always sense more that you are in a neighborhood (like Ipanema or Copa) instead of in the city as a whole. BA is built on completely featureless terrain. It does back up to water on one side, an oceanic bay of sorts, but other than that is just flat and vast. For an architecture fan (like me) BA is heaven. In terms of sheer quantity, it must have more grandiose marble buildings from the classical period than any other city in the Americas. I spent a week walking around town, covering a lot of ground and trying to never hit a street twice if there was something new to see. Through most of these areas every other building is a marble and granite behemoth with detailed columns, balconies, dormers, cupolas, statuary, buttresses, etc. It was fantastic. In addition there were endless parks splitting up the crush of the highrises, always with fantastic (and large) monuments to this or that battle, or dictator, or war, or poet or whatever. In the middle of things rose a giant spire called the Obelisko, something like the Washington monument but probably bigger. This was the most modern and boring monument I could find, but probably the biggest as well.
So I had a great time walking the streets and admiring architecture and sculpture, but the other great thing about Argentina is the food. First let's talk beef. Everyone knows Argentina is the beef capital of the world. Every time I talk to someone who has visited they give me this"mmmmmmmm" as they talk about it. I've always kind of thought "yeah whatever, beef is beef". OK I was wrong. Picture if you can a steak that melts in your mouth, a steak you hardly have to chew, lean and flavorful, tender- mmmmmmmmmmmm. It's true. I even had this experience with a regular hamburger if you can believe it. Next up they make great bread. Everywhere I went as soon as I ordered my meal a basket of fresh baked bread would appear on my table, full of the several varieties of delicious and fresh baked rolls. I'm not a big wine guy but it seemed to go with things and Argentinian wineries are on the map. So you've got all this, and the exchange rate is three to one, and things are just cheap anyways, and my days often seemed spent in biding time between meals. Plus there are restaurants everywhere, all with great service, great food, great coffee, and super cheap prices. I read somewhere in a travel article that before you go to BA you should diet or try to lose a few pounds so that you can eat your way through town when you come. Good advice and I certainly took it to heart.
Buenos Aires seemed very peaceful and safe, and somehow felt more familiar in 2 hours than Brazil has gotten after 3 visits over the last five years. I could have been in Chicago, except everyone was speaking spanish. Despite this, I did have to remind myself that it was little over twenty years ago, in the eighties, when I was living in Peru and Colombia, that Argentina was ruled by a vicious and brutal dictator. Freedom of press, assembly, even thought, was utterly revoked, and anyone dissenting or even assumed to be dissenting would silently "disappear" presumably captured, tortured, and executed with no public record or due process. And everyone I was seeing on the streets had been living during this period, and touched be these horrible memories. Nowadays there is a bit more freedom and the attending anarchy.
Walking downtown one evening I noticed the military police had closed some of the major streets, which were littered with propaganda fliers, some burning in small piles, and student types hanging about in small groups. I guess I was catching the end of a "protesta", students exercising their economic rights. Then later my cab rounded a corner to find a burning car in the middle of the street. Some cops were milling about, and as we moved on a fire engine rounded the corner and its hose and wheel blocks flew out of a side compartment. It pulled to a stop and the Bombeiros scrambled out to get their equipment, like the keystone cops. Then a bus drove by filled with screaming people, hanging out the window and pounding the steel shell of the bus, one guy completely outside the bus standing on the window sill as the bus careened down the street. I guess Argentina had just beat Brasil in soccer. So, peaceful, but not entirely tame. On my final taxi ride to the airport we spent the whole ride listening to a radio commentator reporting on a riot that had developed after a soccer game that night, leading to widespread violence and vandalism, with at least one fatality. I asked the cab driver if people always got killed at soccer matches in Argentina. He said yes matter-of-factly. "Whether we win or lose, someone has to die. " Yikes. One morning in my hostel I awoke to gunshots nearby. I freaked out a little bit, in my mind, "so here's the Argentine violence, under cover of night, gunshots with unknown victims?" My mental dramatizing ended up being overblown as it turned out to be someone doing some tile work in my hostels entry (construction seems to follow me wherever I have gone).
Another great, great reason to visit Argentina is for the antiques. For all the classic and ornate building and monuments in the city, for the same period of time, glassworkers, silversmiths, jewelers, millworkers, and furniture builders have been crafting exquisite ornaments and furniture for their interiors, and now that the peso is devalued relative to other currencies, it is a paradise for antique hunters. Some neighborhoods (quaint San Telmo for example) contain block after block of antique stores, where you can spend days checking out lost treasures. On the weekends, roads are closed and vendors spread their wares on the sidewalks and squares in the antique district. Everyone comes out and its a great Sunday stroll.
Well jeez, so there's lots of great stuff in Buenos Aires, but you're not going to believe this next one. One of my favorite afternoons in BA I spent in the Recoleta Cemetary! As old as the city itself, and right in the middle of downtown in the Recoleta District, is a huge and ancient cemetary housing block after block of ornate mausoleums and crypts. Each one is a miniatre version of some of the beautiful mansions and public buildings in town, with columns, towers, statuary and intricate stone carved embellishment. The angel of death is a common theme, cowled maidens, skeletons, military figures, bugling angels, cherubs, unicorns. When I visited it was a cool, overcast, gray day, perfect for strolling the labyrinth of crypts; the dark statues casting gloomy shadows over the lane. Very gothic and trippy, alsmost too perfectly haunting to be real, as if you were on a movie set or walking through a painting. Outside of the cemetary are the usual high rises and city parks. The draw of the cemetary as a tourist attraction has vitalized the area and now there are many great restaurants and drinking spots, shopping and even movie theaters; it's a nice area to walk.
Last but not least we'll mention the night life. Buenos Aires is internationally acclaimed for the diversity and quality of dancing, drinking and entertainment options. With only six days to take it all in, and knowing the early parts of the weeks are often slow, I did my best to see it all, some nights hitting three spots in a row. At first blush the atmosphere of Buenos Aires was not screaming- "party town." The people on the street and the general vibe of the city is more of the serious and hardworking, and not frivolous or fun loving. This was in contrast to Rio and Brasil in general where you definitely felt that "people here have fun". However, once you walk through the doors of the prescribed spot, the masks come off and people let their guard down. I found the music to be of consistently high quality, DJs spinning original, current and quality selections, and the clubs to be spacious, clean, nicely put together, and packed (after 2am of course, when parties start). One of my first nights out I hit three spots over the course of the night, sampling the options. First spot was an upscale sushi restaurant called Asia De Cuba, which turned to dance club at night. The interior was dark/modern, with coiling dragons in the middle of the dance floor and nicely dressed clubbers and restaurant patrons milling about. As soon as I got inside a capoeira demonstration/perfomance ensued. Six guys whirled and flipped to music in a choreographed acrobatic demonstration. Part of me scoffed at the choreographed aspect, since in Brasil you don't see that, (it would be considered fake), however it was entertaining and the performers' athleticism was excellent. After that I decided soon enough that the clientelle weren't exactly my kind of people. Figuring I'd caught the best of the night there anyway, I moved on.
Next spot was called club 69, a famous and old theater and nightlife destination. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The architecture was your basic 100 yr old theater- balcony section, multi levelled floor area with no seating, bars along the sides, and a large elevated stage with mandatory red velvet curtain and gold trim. The place was packed with young people dancing, drinking, and enjoying the quality dj selections. The vibe was casual and more my scene. What set this place apart however was the constant dance and performance art going on the stage and floor. Wen I first walked in there were two go go platforms in the middle of the floor with girls dancing on them. Each was on wheels and would be pushed about the dance floor. Each of the dancing girls had a male partner in a bizarre costume accompaning them. The outfits were an interesting cross of wigs and victoriana with a more burning man fishnet and boot type of thing. The vibe was not sleazy at all, it was more like elizabethan theater or opera, with the performers strking poses and behaving silly. Soon enough the stage was filled with more performers alternating between dancing, posing, and goofing off in tights. Interestingly, to a large extent the performers were being ignored. Most people were just dancing or interacting with their friends, but if anyone had a bored or alone moment all they had to do was look up to find something engaging.
In my casual hobby of photography, I have decided that a great photograph has three elements. A great sunset will make a good picture, but for greatness you need more. Take your great sunset, then silhouette something of interest, a building, statue, or person. Then to really set it apart, incorporate something else, maybe a flying bird or something else spontaneous or interesting. Hard to do, but worth striving for with every shot. The reason for this tangent is that this club was kind of using the same technique. Great building, great club, great music, great vibe, packed house, and on top of everything constant all night performances that don't overwhelm the atmosphere but contribute to it. After an hour or so of the vaudeville/burlesque thing, there was a 1/2 hour top notch breakdance performance. I have seen break dancing all over the world yet these young argentinians were the best I have ever seen, and truly icing on the cake after everything else. I enjoyed this spot very much but eventually decided I had done it and decided to check out one more spot. Getting towards five am I landed at a club I've forgotten the name of. The scene there was a bit more standard; hip hop and dance tracks in a club that was nice but moving ever so slightly towards the seedy. It was packed, hot and sweaty and the floor was jumping. Much more of a hookup spot than the others I had seen that night, though by 5 am everyone was pretty much hooked up already. It was cool but not nearly as interesting as the other spots I'd seen, so I called it a night pretty soon.
Anyhow, there's a slice of what goes on in BA at night. There plenty to do and it's usually pretty above average in terms of quality and scale. I found the contrast with Brasil interesting. BA definitely has nicer clubs, better djs, classier bars, and more diversty of options. On the other side of things, brasilians are just more fun. They do a lot with a little. They may not have the wealth, the smoked glass bartops, the international DJs, the $80 VIP areas, but they can have twice as much fun drinking cheap beer and dancing to live samba at the corner supermarket. I appreciated both, but it was interesting to see how much the spirit of a people can affect the quality of a party.
After several days of walking the chilly streets by day and prowling the clubs by night, I had to give my body a break and took a night off. After watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 in spanish at a local theater, I retired early (midnight) to my hostel, to pack and prepare for my 24 hr journey back to America. It was hard to believe that after all this time I would be back to speaking english in just one day. I was ready. I was ready to be warm. I was ready for the warm dry california summer. Ready for the Pacific Ocean and cold water surfing. Ready for old friends and familiar faces. Ready for routines and the comfort of the known. Ready to not be such a blue eyed curly haired oddity. Ready to not be a tourist. And so it was with my surfboard, backpack, and brazilian drum in tow, I watched the South American soil pull away from the plane. Homeward bound.
As soon as the plane landed I could tell by the way the lights were shining that it was cold outside. There was something about their chrystalline sparkle. I hadn't seen air like that since I left the States in January. Those that know me know one my favorite things to do is invent scientific theories and pass them off as fact, a habit I acquired from my Dad. He was extremely convincing. In fact when I was younger I was pretty sure he knew Everything with a capital E. So I am going to say that cold air holds less water vapor and therefore is clearer, thus objects in the distance and particularly shining lights have a crispness and clarity that you won't see in warmer climes, or in a country like Brazil for example. That's my theory and I'm stickin to it.
Anyways, I would soon learn the Buenos Aires differed in many ways from Rio. For one thing, cars yield for pedestrians (kind of), even taxis. For another thing, everyone was wearing a lot of clothes. I know that shouldn't seem so weird, after all it was cold like I said, but I just have been hanging out in beach clothes for five months in a country that just doesn't get cold, so it was weird, thats all. Then there were the mullets. If you don't know, the mullet is a hairstyle openly ridiculed throughout the US and many other nations, involving short hair on the front, top, and sides, and long hair in the back. Mexicans tend to sport mullets here and there, but Argentina has got to be the mullet capital of the world, they even have girl mullets. Actually most of the mullets are on girls, some kind of spiky Pat Benetar retro 80s kind of thing.
Another thing, Buenos Aires is just huge. I got an idea when I looked up a satellite image on google, but as we drove towards downtown and especially in the downtown area (which goes on forever in all directions), the scale was simply enormous. The buildings were huge, the streets were huge, and everything went on forever. The main thoroughfare is sixteen lanes wide, with a huge swath of grass, trees, sidewalks, and monuments in the middle. It is the biggest in SA, if not the world. Oh and monuments. OMG. I have seen more monuments and giant, White-House scale, colonial marble buildings in the last week than I have in my whole life, and I have visited at least fifteen world capitals.
I'm not sure how the population figures break down for Buenos AIres vs other areas I have visited, such as Rio or LA, but BA takes the prize for imparting the sense of being part of a vast sea of seething humanity. I think part of it is the geography. Rio is so full of mountains and hills and lakes and beaches connected by tunnels and bridges that it gets all chopped up, and you always sense more that you are in a neighborhood (like Ipanema or Copa) instead of in the city as a whole. BA is built on completely featureless terrain. It does back up to water on one side, an oceanic bay of sorts, but other than that is just flat and vast. For an architecture fan (like me) BA is heaven. In terms of sheer quantity, it must have more grandiose marble buildings from the classical period than any other city in the Americas. I spent a week walking around town, covering a lot of ground and trying to never hit a street twice if there was something new to see. Through most of these areas every other building is a marble and granite behemoth with detailed columns, balconies, dormers, cupolas, statuary, buttresses, etc. It was fantastic. In addition there were endless parks splitting up the crush of the highrises, always with fantastic (and large) monuments to this or that battle, or dictator, or war, or poet or whatever. In the middle of things rose a giant spire called the Obelisko, something like the Washington monument but probably bigger. This was the most modern and boring monument I could find, but probably the biggest as well.
So I had a great time walking the streets and admiring architecture and sculpture, but the other great thing about Argentina is the food. First let's talk beef. Everyone knows Argentina is the beef capital of the world. Every time I talk to someone who has visited they give me this"mmmmmmmm" as they talk about it. I've always kind of thought "yeah whatever, beef is beef". OK I was wrong. Picture if you can a steak that melts in your mouth, a steak you hardly have to chew, lean and flavorful, tender- mmmmmmmmmmmm. It's true. I even had this experience with a regular hamburger if you can believe it. Next up they make great bread. Everywhere I went as soon as I ordered my meal a basket of fresh baked bread would appear on my table, full of the several varieties of delicious and fresh baked rolls. I'm not a big wine guy but it seemed to go with things and Argentinian wineries are on the map. So you've got all this, and the exchange rate is three to one, and things are just cheap anyways, and my days often seemed spent in biding time between meals. Plus there are restaurants everywhere, all with great service, great food, great coffee, and super cheap prices. I read somewhere in a travel article that before you go to BA you should diet or try to lose a few pounds so that you can eat your way through town when you come. Good advice and I certainly took it to heart.
Buenos Aires seemed very peaceful and safe, and somehow felt more familiar in 2 hours than Brazil has gotten after 3 visits over the last five years. I could have been in Chicago, except everyone was speaking spanish. Despite this, I did have to remind myself that it was little over twenty years ago, in the eighties, when I was living in Peru and Colombia, that Argentina was ruled by a vicious and brutal dictator. Freedom of press, assembly, even thought, was utterly revoked, and anyone dissenting or even assumed to be dissenting would silently "disappear" presumably captured, tortured, and executed with no public record or due process. And everyone I was seeing on the streets had been living during this period, and touched be these horrible memories. Nowadays there is a bit more freedom and the attending anarchy.
Walking downtown one evening I noticed the military police had closed some of the major streets, which were littered with propaganda fliers, some burning in small piles, and student types hanging about in small groups. I guess I was catching the end of a "protesta", students exercising their economic rights. Then later my cab rounded a corner to find a burning car in the middle of the street. Some cops were milling about, and as we moved on a fire engine rounded the corner and its hose and wheel blocks flew out of a side compartment. It pulled to a stop and the Bombeiros scrambled out to get their equipment, like the keystone cops. Then a bus drove by filled with screaming people, hanging out the window and pounding the steel shell of the bus, one guy completely outside the bus standing on the window sill as the bus careened down the street. I guess Argentina had just beat Brasil in soccer. So, peaceful, but not entirely tame. On my final taxi ride to the airport we spent the whole ride listening to a radio commentator reporting on a riot that had developed after a soccer game that night, leading to widespread violence and vandalism, with at least one fatality. I asked the cab driver if people always got killed at soccer matches in Argentina. He said yes matter-of-factly. "Whether we win or lose, someone has to die. " Yikes. One morning in my hostel I awoke to gunshots nearby. I freaked out a little bit, in my mind, "so here's the Argentine violence, under cover of night, gunshots with unknown victims?" My mental dramatizing ended up being overblown as it turned out to be someone doing some tile work in my hostels entry (construction seems to follow me wherever I have gone).
Another great, great reason to visit Argentina is for the antiques. For all the classic and ornate building and monuments in the city, for the same period of time, glassworkers, silversmiths, jewelers, millworkers, and furniture builders have been crafting exquisite ornaments and furniture for their interiors, and now that the peso is devalued relative to other currencies, it is a paradise for antique hunters. Some neighborhoods (quaint San Telmo for example) contain block after block of antique stores, where you can spend days checking out lost treasures. On the weekends, roads are closed and vendors spread their wares on the sidewalks and squares in the antique district. Everyone comes out and its a great Sunday stroll.
Well jeez, so there's lots of great stuff in Buenos Aires, but you're not going to believe this next one. One of my favorite afternoons in BA I spent in the Recoleta Cemetary! As old as the city itself, and right in the middle of downtown in the Recoleta District, is a huge and ancient cemetary housing block after block of ornate mausoleums and crypts. Each one is a miniatre version of some of the beautiful mansions and public buildings in town, with columns, towers, statuary and intricate stone carved embellishment. The angel of death is a common theme, cowled maidens, skeletons, military figures, bugling angels, cherubs, unicorns. When I visited it was a cool, overcast, gray day, perfect for strolling the labyrinth of crypts; the dark statues casting gloomy shadows over the lane. Very gothic and trippy, alsmost too perfectly haunting to be real, as if you were on a movie set or walking through a painting. Outside of the cemetary are the usual high rises and city parks. The draw of the cemetary as a tourist attraction has vitalized the area and now there are many great restaurants and drinking spots, shopping and even movie theaters; it's a nice area to walk.
Last but not least we'll mention the night life. Buenos Aires is internationally acclaimed for the diversity and quality of dancing, drinking and entertainment options. With only six days to take it all in, and knowing the early parts of the weeks are often slow, I did my best to see it all, some nights hitting three spots in a row. At first blush the atmosphere of Buenos Aires was not screaming- "party town." The people on the street and the general vibe of the city is more of the serious and hardworking, and not frivolous or fun loving. This was in contrast to Rio and Brasil in general where you definitely felt that "people here have fun". However, once you walk through the doors of the prescribed spot, the masks come off and people let their guard down. I found the music to be of consistently high quality, DJs spinning original, current and quality selections, and the clubs to be spacious, clean, nicely put together, and packed (after 2am of course, when parties start). One of my first nights out I hit three spots over the course of the night, sampling the options. First spot was an upscale sushi restaurant called Asia De Cuba, which turned to dance club at night. The interior was dark/modern, with coiling dragons in the middle of the dance floor and nicely dressed clubbers and restaurant patrons milling about. As soon as I got inside a capoeira demonstration/perfomance ensued. Six guys whirled and flipped to music in a choreographed acrobatic demonstration. Part of me scoffed at the choreographed aspect, since in Brasil you don't see that, (it would be considered fake), however it was entertaining and the performers' athleticism was excellent. After that I decided soon enough that the clientelle weren't exactly my kind of people. Figuring I'd caught the best of the night there anyway, I moved on.
Next spot was called club 69, a famous and old theater and nightlife destination. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The architecture was your basic 100 yr old theater- balcony section, multi levelled floor area with no seating, bars along the sides, and a large elevated stage with mandatory red velvet curtain and gold trim. The place was packed with young people dancing, drinking, and enjoying the quality dj selections. The vibe was casual and more my scene. What set this place apart however was the constant dance and performance art going on the stage and floor. Wen I first walked in there were two go go platforms in the middle of the floor with girls dancing on them. Each was on wheels and would be pushed about the dance floor. Each of the dancing girls had a male partner in a bizarre costume accompaning them. The outfits were an interesting cross of wigs and victoriana with a more burning man fishnet and boot type of thing. The vibe was not sleazy at all, it was more like elizabethan theater or opera, with the performers strking poses and behaving silly. Soon enough the stage was filled with more performers alternating between dancing, posing, and goofing off in tights. Interestingly, to a large extent the performers were being ignored. Most people were just dancing or interacting with their friends, but if anyone had a bored or alone moment all they had to do was look up to find something engaging.
In my casual hobby of photography, I have decided that a great photograph has three elements. A great sunset will make a good picture, but for greatness you need more. Take your great sunset, then silhouette something of interest, a building, statue, or person. Then to really set it apart, incorporate something else, maybe a flying bird or something else spontaneous or interesting. Hard to do, but worth striving for with every shot. The reason for this tangent is that this club was kind of using the same technique. Great building, great club, great music, great vibe, packed house, and on top of everything constant all night performances that don't overwhelm the atmosphere but contribute to it. After an hour or so of the vaudeville/burlesque thing, there was a 1/2 hour top notch breakdance performance. I have seen break dancing all over the world yet these young argentinians were the best I have ever seen, and truly icing on the cake after everything else. I enjoyed this spot very much but eventually decided I had done it and decided to check out one more spot. Getting towards five am I landed at a club I've forgotten the name of. The scene there was a bit more standard; hip hop and dance tracks in a club that was nice but moving ever so slightly towards the seedy. It was packed, hot and sweaty and the floor was jumping. Much more of a hookup spot than the others I had seen that night, though by 5 am everyone was pretty much hooked up already. It was cool but not nearly as interesting as the other spots I'd seen, so I called it a night pretty soon.
Anyhow, there's a slice of what goes on in BA at night. There plenty to do and it's usually pretty above average in terms of quality and scale. I found the contrast with Brasil interesting. BA definitely has nicer clubs, better djs, classier bars, and more diversty of options. On the other side of things, brasilians are just more fun. They do a lot with a little. They may not have the wealth, the smoked glass bartops, the international DJs, the $80 VIP areas, but they can have twice as much fun drinking cheap beer and dancing to live samba at the corner supermarket. I appreciated both, but it was interesting to see how much the spirit of a people can affect the quality of a party.
After several days of walking the chilly streets by day and prowling the clubs by night, I had to give my body a break and took a night off. After watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 in spanish at a local theater, I retired early (midnight) to my hostel, to pack and prepare for my 24 hr journey back to America. It was hard to believe that after all this time I would be back to speaking english in just one day. I was ready. I was ready to be warm. I was ready for the warm dry california summer. Ready for the Pacific Ocean and cold water surfing. Ready for old friends and familiar faces. Ready for routines and the comfort of the known. Ready to not be such a blue eyed curly haired oddity. Ready to not be a tourist. And so it was with my surfboard, backpack, and brazilian drum in tow, I watched the South American soil pull away from the plane. Homeward bound.
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