Ah, nearing the end of my third day in BsAs and I feel like it's been about a month. Can always rely on Jeff to show me a good time in my city (well, kind of my own city).So how did I spend my City Slicker days?
On Wednesday Leo's mom was already planning on going to Mendoza for the night, so she gave me a ride, saving me from an extra 3 hour bus ride. She also surprised me with a really cute t-shirt with a faded print of the Argentina flag. Totally my style and size. First the mate mug, now the t-shirt. Less than two weeks and she already knows me!
Back in Mendoza for the first time after two weeks in the countryside, and I felt right at home. I had a few hours to spare before my bus to BsAs and spent the time at one of my favorite cafes, relishing the fast internet service and strong coffee. I was the only female in the café (besides the waitresses) as some important futbol game was on, and it was all business men in suits drinking beers,cheering on the big screen. It was the middle of the work day, mind you. The 13 hour overnight bus ride to BsAs was uneventful, as I like them. Terrible movie, though. Forced to watch Adam Sandler’s Grown-ups. Wow, has he gone downhill.
My bus arrived bright and early 8am Thursday morning. (Quick background on my trip to BsAs: Jeff and I met in 2005 on D.C.’s Gallery Place metro platform while commiserating about the wait for the yellow line, chatted the 30 minutes until I got off at Reagan airport, didn’t exchange contact info, then randomly ran into each other three weeks later while Jeff was ellipticalling at my the Washington Sports Club across from the RIAA office. The overwhelming excitement at the chance reunion was mutual and we have been good friends ever since. He is now living in Santo Domingo, DR, where he teaches at a ritzy private school and this week was his spring break. Once I bought my ticket to Argentina, we planned his visit immediately. His friend Shannon is a pilot for Frontier Airlines and thus travels pretty much for free. She also agreed to meet Jeff in BsAs, having never been here before in her much traveled career. They rented the apartment together for a week, and since I’m working the harvest, I only took a couple days off to come meet them). On my way to their kick-ass apartment in the best possible location in Palermo SoHo, I picked up a half dozen medialunas with a variety of fillings (dulce de leche, membrillo and cheese, plain) for what I was sure was a hungover Jeff and Shannon. Jeff greeted me groggily at the door, and we decided we could both go back to sleep. Our day got started around 1pm, when I took Jeff and Shannon to Helena, Amy's favorite cafe that she took me to my first week in town. Salads were a welcome treat, as they always are for tourists who have gorged on too much red meat their first few days in the city. Then we meandered around Palermo for a bit, I exchanged some earrings that had broken (as everything I buy here tends to break), we went grocery shopping at the Jumbo Easy (Argentine Wal-Mart) for our party that night, and stocked up on cheese, dulce de membrillo (this awesome quince paste stuff that is popular here and Spain), wine and olives. Oh, and 2 for 1 Skyy bottles. Let’s not forget those.
Meanwhile, I got a surprise email from Shelton, an old friend from my days at the RIAA in DC and now current NY’er, that he and his friend were coming to BsAs on a whim for the weekend (his friend Brandon’s aunt works for American Airlines, thus more free plane tickets) and was I going to be in town? Not only was I going to be in town, but with Jeff, who Shelton also knows since we all used to pal around the country’s capital when we were young’ns. I kept Jeff’s presence a secret, wanting to surprise Shelton when he got here.
(Photo of Shannon in her pilot suit. Hot!)
Back to Thursday night. By 9:30 people started arriving, including Shannon’s Frontier pilot and flight attendant friends Justin and Courtney, who were honeymooning, a group of Jeff’s newly made Argentine friends, and Maggie and Daniel, my old roommates and their friends. The apartment had two floors, with an open loft type second floor, roof deck with table and chairs and room for 20, huge living space, decorated like any mod NYC apartment. Stuck around the apartment until 1 or so, doing the usual twenty-something pre-bar rituals, and eventually made it out to the local scene. Home by 3:30.
(Here is a picture of the wines from the party we rated acceptable). The discard pile had 3 lonely bottles.
The next morning we lounged about the apartment, I Skyped my Dad a happy birthday and Happy Earth Day, Justin and Courtney came back over to join us for lunch, and then Shelton and Brandon, fresh from NYC, arrived. Jeff was hiding upstairs and I told Shelton I had a surprise for him. Jeff made his grand debut, slowly parading down the stairs wearing nothing but a tiny bathing suit and a scarf wrapped around his face, turban-style, having discarded his laboriously planned outfit in a matter of minutes. Tears were dripping down my face instantly, I was laughing so hard. “If this is my surprise, I think I know what it is, and I want it sent back,” responded Shelton in classic Shelton-style. The three of us hadn’t seen each other since last July, when Jeff visited NYC, so it was pretty bizarre and awesome to all be together in the Southern Hemisphere.
Our massive accumulation of Americans headed to a leisurely lunch in Palermo, to another café Amy had showed me (bBlue!) and then more walking around Palermo. Shelton and Brandon went sightseeing, Shannon, Courtney and Justin had flights back to the States that night, so eventually it was just Jeff and me. We went hunting for English books for Yamil (Ingles for Dummies and James in the Giant Peach), baby gifting for Schwartz, shoe shopping for Jeff. Successful on all accounts. Even picked up a NYC Deli cookbook in Spanish for Mili, which I was really excited about.
Jeff and I got to have some quality one on one time, talking expat life, our fears of what we were doing, what would come of our futures, all the meta-heavy stuff you brush off in your day to day life and don’t really talk about except with your closest friends (and of course parents) of which neither of us have near us at the moment. I invited him to come down and stay with me this summer, since he’s less than excited about spending his three month summer vacation in Denver. I think he may, if he can rent his house and figure out his financial situation. It would be amazing to have him here, as well as travel around SA together. I think he’d also appreciate my shopping expertise. We found him the most amazing pair of brown leather shoes that I would kill to have, if I wore a men’s size 9.
Jeff in Teran, the fabulous museum-like men's shoe store in Palermo.
Shelton and Brandon came back to our apartment later that evening to go to dinner with us, and we introduced them to a traditional parilla, at Trapiche, new for me, but recommended by Jeff who had been earlier in the week. Excellent and authentic and cheap with perfectly rare steak. Just what we wanted. Back to the apartment to pre-game with Jeff’s ever-growing group of friends (about 20 this time), and we finally headed to Crobar around 2am. Remember, Crobar is the massive dance club where I went with Chris and Tujina back in January. Never thought I’d be back, but alas, gotta go with the flow. Actually had a really fun time, even though Jeff had to leave by 3:30 to catch a 6am flight. Being the single lady amongst a massive group gays made me nostalgic for my days in DC and I definitely enjoyed the night. I stayed with Shelton and Brandon and crew until about 5am, at which point I went back to the apartment (which I now amazingly had to myself). Was up at 8:30, not being able to sleep anymore for god knows what reason. Waited for the apartment lady to come by and check out the place to ensure Jeff would get his security deposit back. Ran some errands, looking for peanut butter and marshmallows (two things Yamil and Mili asked me about, having seen them in American movies but never in a store), as well as a dress my mom had spotted on her visit here and was still pining for. Had to go to the Carrefour to find peanut butter, as the local Disco didn’t have any, and even then only found some bummer Argentine brand that I had tasted before and had disliked, as well as a random Planters jar. I went with the Planters.
Bags in tow, I headed to the Four Seasons in Recoleta, where Shelton and Brandon were having a lazy morning, with room service and Mean Girls playing on the flatscreen TV. Leafed through a NY Magazine, caught up on some American pop culture. It’s nice having friends who know how to treat themselves well! Was the perfect way to spend a few hours. Shelton decided he wanted some fresh air and we headed to the artisan market in Plaza Francia and the Recoleta cemetery. I wanted to get a pair of earrings for Leo’s mom for being so sweet to me, and Shelton wanted to check out the cemetery. Then it was time to meet Ayelen (my 20-year old Spanish teacher from my language school/ now true porteña friend) for a few hours. We cafed it up, and she went back to the Four Seasons with me to get my bags and accompany me to the bus station. Not sure when I’ll be back in BsAs, but I’m sure we’ll see each other again, somewhere, sometime.
Now I’m back on the bus, in my usual front-row, top level seat. Just lost out on this trip’s AndesMar Bingo, with one number left to be called, and am waiting for dinner to come out.
This is now the third time I’ve restarted writing this, and I’m at Cielo, mainly for their internet access, secondly for dinner. Got to Mendoza city earlier than planned, at 9:25 and was able to catch the 9:45 Express to La Consulta. Thankfully didn’t have to wait until the 11am “common” bus. Got to LC just before noon and walked the 25 minutes to my cabin since my bike was still at the winery. I quickly showered, did some laundry and turned around and walked back to the winery to join Mili and family for an Easter lunch. Her parents were there, as was her younger brother, his wife and their four year old daughter. Spent the day having lunch (salad, amazing roasted chicken her dad made, and her mom’s homemade bread), giving them their gifts, seeing Yamil’s collection of foreign money (Euros, Mexican pesos and Brazilian Reales) teaching him how to make s’mores with the marshmallows I brought, using pieces of his giant chocolate Kinder Easter egg and coconut cookies (still no graham crackers to be found). The kid was going to town on the burnt marshmallows; I thought he’d be sick. Mili finally had to tell him to stop with the sweets. We had mate, we talked about my trip to BsAs and the differences between the cities, again we talked how Mili and family had never been anywhere. They asked how it was to fly in a place, be in the clouds, see the water. I swore to myself once day I would buy her a ticket to the States (or at the very least, BsAs).
Yamil accompanied me on a quick bike ride back to the cabin so I could take my laundry out of the machine, hang it, and put another load in. I also dug out a crumpled U.S. $1 bill for him to add to his collection.
Later in the day, as the sun was setting and I waited for El Cielo to open so I could get my daily internet fix, I brought out the Ingles for Dummies book and started teaching Yamil and Mili together. The ABCs and days of the week took hours. I must practice my patience! But since the book is written in Spanish, it’s actually quite a good lesson for me as well. Tomorrow I think Jo is coming down with Karim, so I’ll have a roommate for a few days. Also going to make banana coconut bread with Mili. The harvest is apparently going to last a week longer than expected, so I have to see about renting the cabin an extra week.
I got a call from Carolyn yesterday, just saying hi, and I told her I was interested in hearing about the position she had mentioned a few weeks ago, if it was still open. She said of course it was, they were just waiting for me! Solid.
So, another big thanks to Jeff for visiting, as well as setting me up in his amazing rental. Also want to thank Shelton for donating his remaining pack of Orbit gum, two issues of NY Mag, and one Vanity Fair. Shannon also gave me an extra pack of unopened Orbit gum. Gold! (Argentine Beldent leaves MUCH to be desired).
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