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Guilty. I told Sarge no, but it was the only thing I could think about when I woke up this morning. I don't even do it in the States and there are thousands on each corner. Maybe it was the "resaca" speaking, but I put on my sweatpants and Sarge his baseball hat and we left the apartment and went to... McDonalds.
I was in no mood to mingle in Espanol. I couldn't find what Happy Meal was in Spanish (honestly, probably just 'appy mea') so I ordered a regular hamburger with "solo ketchup."
- "Que?"
- "Ketchup. Quiero una hamburguesa con ketchup"
- "Que?"
- "KETCHUP. Cat-soop? Keh-choop? Sarge how do you say it? Ok fine, una hamburguesa sin nada"
- "Sin nada. OK"
... and I got a quarter pounder with onions, ketchup (which, strangely enough, is "cah-choop"), mustard, and relish. Awesome.
So our 49 peso McDonalds meal (delicious by the way) made us realize that we can get extremely better deals in any BA restaurant. Because... EACH MEAL COMES WITH FREE PAN. It's like going to the local Mexican restaurant and getting endless chips and salsa times 100. And it never fails to surprise us each time that they set down that wicker basket with a hot, free appetizer hiding inside. It makes us all giddy and we say gracias too much. It's like we are VIP. And even though the table of sweaty 16-year-olds next to us is also indulging themselves in bread and spread, I still like to think that our waiter liked our attitude and wanted to show us his appreciation by providing a light snack. (Last night, in a cozy restaurant in Palermo Viejo, the light snack was popcorn. Gotta love it).
Honestly though, even better than the food here are the people. Argentines are so, so nice. No matter how badly you rip apart a Spanish word and create your own while trying to get directions, they will listen until they understand. They are the sweetest people I've met in a long time.
We seem to make friends with each taxi driver we have. Our driver last night was 70 and his night was going "maravillosa" because he was alive and feeling good. The Argentine phrase he used to describe his age: "Estoy mas cerca a la arpa que la guitarra" (I'm closer to the harp than the guitar). Great, right? I wanted him to come out with us and spread his wisdom.
We also met up with 2 Argentine girls that Youlia (my friend from CofC) (Shout out to Voolia) studied abroad with in Innsbruck, Austria. It's such a small world... Anyway, we made friends and Vicky, a soccer aficionada, helped us decide who our "team" will be while we're here. So... we can officially say go River Plate!
We finally discovered the actual "downtown" of Buenos Aires. We immediately felt like we were in Europe. It was cool to see a bunch of historic landmarks (like la plaza de mayo) and 16th century arcitecture. Check out the photo album- I'll try to put a bunch of historical facts in the captions. We also live right down the street from the MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. We saw art by Botero, Jorge de la Vega, Diego Rivera, and Frido Kahlo. We also saw some not so good lightshows that rubbed Sarge the wrong way.
Tomorrow we head to Tigre to get out of the city and kayak a little. Que emocion!
And...Just so anyone can say "you would," I am now the happy customer of Buenos Aire's version of Groupon. I bought a large pizza and two drinks, checked my bank account and it cost $3.15. You just can't beat a good deal...
- comments
Aunt Sue Awesome pictures Em in your Photo album.