The Kehew family does Buenos Aires

On Saturday, I woke up early to take a really elaborate route via public transportation to the airport- it involved walking eight blocks to the subte, taking two subte lines, another ten blocks of walking, and a bus. I went to the bus stop that the airport transportation website had listed, and after a long wait I finally hailed the number 86 bus. I asked the driver how much the fare was to the airport, and he told me that I was in the completely wrong section of town, on the wrong bus route, if that was where I’m trying to go. I guess he must have felt bad for me, because he told me to get on the bus (free of charge!) because his route overlapped with a bus route to the airport.

Once on the bus, I realized that I was the only passenger, and went back and forth between flattered and creeped out when the bus driver, Angel, kept commenting on how pretty I was. After about an hour an a half on the bus (during which time only one other person got on the bus and off again), Angel pulled the bus over in the middle of traffic and told me to wait for a second. He then proceeded to get off the bus, BUY ME A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS, and drive me to the overlapping bus route, where he gave me step-by-step instructions on how to get to the airport, including time estimates and estimated fares. He gave me a hug and sent me on my way, and I ended up getting to the airport only a few minutes late. Overall a very good experience, especially in a city where public transportation is sketchy more often than not.

There was a brief period of sketchiness while I was waiting for the bus to the airport, involving a 50something year old man named Pedro, who wanted my phone number and address. I declined, but had a very interesting conversation trying to explain where I was from- I told him it was near Boston and New York, but the only places he knew in the states were Los Angeles and Montana. (Side note: Montana?!) He was also very disappointed to hear that it did not snow year round, and I was not within walking distance to Canada. I finally escaped and had an uneventful bus ride to the airport to pick my family up.

We stopped at the hotel to drop their stuff off, and then I got to show off my beautiful city. We went to the Italian restaurant across from my old apartment so they could see where I had lived and meet my favorite waiters, and then we wandered through the parks and saw the exhibit in the main plaza (hundreds of giant bears painted to represent different countries in an international peace movement. Why bears? I have no idea.) We spent some time walking up and down Calle Florida, aka the most touristy street in the city, and then walked to UCA so they could see my school, stopping at a bunch of different parks along the way. By the time we got there, it was pouring rain, so we jumped in a cab and went to Sigue la vaca, a restaurant that I had heard of and wanted to go to but hadn’t visited yet. They got to try the Argentine asado and we got an all-you can eat meat and salad bar, which was pretty cool. Desserts were awesome, which was a definite plus. Dad was shocked that the restaurant was empty when we got there at 8:30 but had a line out the door at 11:00 when we left- I figure he’s got a week to get used to the later schedule here. After dinner, I went back to the hotel and stayed there that night. (Place to live number 5 for my two-week period of homelessness.)


On Sunday, my family and I had breakfast at the hotel, and then we all headed out to the boys’ apartment to pick up my luggage (which has been living there for two weeks). Joe and I officially moved in to our new place, and I gave my family the grand tour. They were pretty impressed, I think, especially with the balcony/pool/security. Every time they came by after that, security grilled them for quite a while before deciding they actually were related to me and were allowed in the building. After unpacking a bit, the four of us went to the feria in Recoleta and did some shopping, and then stopped for lunch at a café there. I refused to let them get dessert (unusual for me, I know) and then took them to Confiteria Norte (the most amazing pastry shop you’ve ever seen in your life and my new favorite place in the world) and bought a kilo of pastries. They stopped complaining about the lack of desserts after that- I think their eyes bugged out of their heads as soon as we walked in the door of the pastry shop. After spending far too much time and money there, we walked to the cemetery in Recoleta, listened to some street performers and wandered through the tombs. By this point, my dad’s feet were killing him (I forgot how bad the blisters are the first few days if you aren’t used to walking as much as they do here) so we went back to the hotel, where mom and dad took a nap. Beanie and I wandered up and down Calle Florida for a while ( I introduced her to alfojores- she’s a fan) and bought two more of my school books. In the three blocks between the bookstore and the hotel, I somehow either lost my debit card or was pickpocketed. This was especially problematic because my parents had deposited their money into my account for me to withdraw for them as needed. Oops. Fortunately, I still had my credit card and some cash, as did they, so we might be able to get by. We went out to dinner at Filo, a local Italian restaurant with excellent pizza, and went back to the hotel afterwards to go to bed.


Monday started off with breakfast at the hotel with my family, and then I walked to UBA (University of Buenos Aires) for 10am to take my Spanish placement test. They told me and Steve (who was also taking the test) that we would have to come back at four because so many people had signed up that there wasn’t room for us all. Silvana brought us to a café, got us snacks, gave us the money for the course and wished us luck since she wouldn’t be able to come back at four with us. We decided to kill some time and went back to Steve’s apartment to use his internet to cancel my debit card, and then I met back up with my family for lunch before returning to UBA to take the test. I ended up doing really well, and got a near-perfect score on the speaking portion (thank god I redeemed myself after the failed speaking test at UCA) and tested into level five. None of the level five courses fit, but one of the level fours did, so I signed up on the spot. The woman I was talking to told me that I would basically have an easy, slightly boring semester, but it will get UCA off my back about taking a language course and it will help me practice. After about three hours of paperwork and waiting in lines, I went back to the hotel. Lauren came over and came to dinner at the hotel with my family (which, ironically, was the most expensive and most disappointing meal we’ve had in Buenos Aires) and then the two of us took a cab and brought the rest of my stuff over to the apartment to officially move in.


Tuesday morning, I woke up ridiculously early to shower and get ready to head over to my class at 10. I made it to class after a 40 minute subte ride only to sit in a classroom for thirty minutes before my class finally determined that our professor (the same professor who told us that each time we were absent or late to class would take five points off our final grade) wasn’t going to show up. Slightly annoying but also nice to get an extra hour of free time in my day- after that, I didn’t have class until six in the evening. Headed over to the hotel and had lunch there with my family (the first American-style cheeseburger I’ve had in Argentina, I miss them) and then decided to walk around the nature preserve near my school. After walking around there for a few hours, we headed back, stopping at Puente de la mujer (Bridge of the Woman) for pictures and ice cream on the way. I went to a new class that I had just switched into, which seemed slightly boring but will hopefully fulfill one of the lit requirements for my Spanish major.

After class, Mom, Dad, and Beanie met me at UCA and we walked to a nearby restaurant called Bahia Madero for dinner. We were there for a few hours, and then went back to the hotel to hang out until I went home. The streets were full of drunken tourists pretending they were Irish for St. Patrick’s Day, which apparently was not celebrated here until fairly recently. My friends went to an Irish pub for the evening, but exhaustion won out and everyone went home fairly early.


On Wednesday morning, Lauren and I woke up with a checklist of errands a mile long. In the space of about three hours, including walking time from place to place, we made copies of the apartment key, dropped off our laundry at the laundromat (here, they wash, dry, and fold it for you and have it ready for pickup in a few hours, for less than $5- sweet), bought a loft bed frame for our apartment and scheduled a delivery time, went grocery shopping, hassled our realtor about giving us the internet access code, and did our history reading. Not too bad in a country where inefficiency is the rule.

My family came over to the apartment and we went to lunch at a restaurant a few blocks away called T-Bone, which was probably one of the best meals I’ve had in this country. We made friends with one of the waiters, got free ice cream shots for dessert, and then I sent them off to wander through the botanical gardens while I went to my history class. I was supposed to see Stephen there to get back the $1400 I had lent him for his rent, but he didn’t show up to class and texted me afterwards to say he would give me the money that night. Since my debit card was still missing/canceled and my family was depending on that for access to money, we had been living on VISA and the cash we had on us. We went out to dinner at Kentucky Rural Pizza (again, determined by whether or not they accepted VISA) with Lauren, and I introduced my family to empanadas. Fortunately, they all determined that they are a staple of the Argentine diet for a good reason.

After dinner, we got ice cream at an heladeria (aka ice cream shop) nearby and we headed back to the apartment to be there when the furniture store crew came to install the loft bed. Lauren and I worked on our readings for class, and were getting ready for bed when Steve finally texted me at 1:30am. After a few texts back and forth, the conclusion was that Steve was leaving for Patagonia at 5:15 the next morning, and was not going to give me my money before then unless I got dressed, hiked the 15 blocks to his apartment by myself in the middle of the night (see what lack of cab money will do to you?) and hiked back. The only other option he offered was to leave it under the doormat and hope it didn’t get stolen in the meantime. Mind you, this is to get the money that he had to return to me. Those of you who know me well will understand my normal reaction and will also respect the fact that there was no profanity whatsoever in my texts back to him. The fact that Lauren had to censor them before I sent them is irrelevant.


Thursday started off with my short story class. The professor actually showed up this time, and proceeded to change the entire syllabus to accommodate the class that she missed, meaning that none of us had the notes for the topic she wanted to discuss that day. Got through it somehow, and then met up with my family for lunch at Desiderio, another one of the cafes I frequent. We killed the time until my next class by going to the Plaza de Mayo, where we got to see the march of the women around the plaza, the Casa Rosada, the Catedral, and various other government buildings whose significance I do not know.

My 6pm class was interesting, and oddly enough, more difficult to understand because it was in English. I had originally been in the class that was taught in Spanish by the same professor, but switched because it conflicted with another class. The professor speaks English only slightly better than I speak Spanish, and it was definitely a challenge to try to decipher what he was trying to say. I give the Argentines here a lot of credit for putting up with my broken Spanish- it’s exhausting trying to translate it into something resembling a grammatically correct sentence.

Went to dinner with Beanie and the parents at Dada, which looks deceptively like a fairly cheap bar/restaurant but is hands down the best restaurant that I’ve ever eaten at. If you ever come to Buenos Aires, go there. It was fantastic. Beanie and I dropped Mom and Dad off at the hotel, and we went back to my apartment to get ready to go to Caix, one of the best boliches in the city, to which we somehow managed to obtain wristbands for free admission. We got to the club with Lauren, Lis, and Anne, only to find that it was pretty dead. (Given, it was only 2:00, which is ridiculously early to be going out here). The girls left after only an hour, but Beanie and I stayed and were basically attacked by lots of Argentine boys for the next few hours. We’ve determined that their English vocab consists of a few key phrases:

1. “Where are you from?”
2. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
3. “You are very beautiful”
and 4. “Will you kiss me?”.

These are usually uttered in rapid succession, within the first few minutes of meeting you. Many of them will just skip the introductions, grab your face, and attempt to make out with you. After a few hours, their aggressiveness was increasing with their alcohol intake, so Beanie and I left around five because we were getting tired of fighting them off.


On Friday, Beanie and I dragged ourselves out of bed after far too little sleep and went to the hotel to meet up with Mom and Dad. The four of us went to lunch at el Cabildo (the restaurant Steve took Lauren and I to for Valentine’s Day), and then took a taxi to la Boca. We got to see the trademark painted buildings, watch some street performers and musicians, and see the Boca Juniors’ stadium. On the way back to the hotel we stopped and got Freddo (which is an awesome local ice cream place), and ate our ice cream in the park. By that point, we had to head back to the hotel to shower and get dressed. We were picked up by the hotel shuttle and taken to the Carlos Gardel dinner and tango show, which was really cool and a lot of fun. Beanie has a bunch of videos from the show that I’m sure will be on facebook sooner or later. The show went pretty late, and I went home to crash.


My family came over to the apartment to spend their last day here with me, and we had lunch at a restaurant nearby and then went to the zoo. Favorite exhibits were the elephants (of course) and the chimpanzees, who are frighteningly intelligent but cool and really cute. The saddest one by far was the polar bear, who looked underfed, hot, and miserable in the 90 degree weather. Most of the habitats for the animals seemed really small to me, and in a lot of cases you could go right up to the bars and pet or feed them. We spent a few hours there, and then I put my family in a cab so they could head back to the hotel and catch their shuttle to the airport. I spent the rest of the day catching up on my homework and such, made some pasta for dinner that turned out really well (yay for me and my limited cooking skills!) and went to a nearby café with Joe to steal their internet. Finally got to talk to Joshua for the first time in weeks, which made my day. I left when the café workers started giving me dirty looks and went to bed.

Unfortunately, I was woken up at some point in the middle of the night when a strange man walked into my room- since I’m essentially blind without my contacts it was a little creepy because I couldn’t tell who it was. It ended up being Frankie and another guy, two of Joe’s friends, who had headed home with Joe to crash here because it was too late to go home. Still slightly creepy, but it was reassuring to know that at least they weren’t complete strangers breaking into my apartment in the middle of the night. After that interruption, I went back to sleep, and thankfully they were gone by the time I woke up.