Buenos Aires

Hola,

Buenos Aires is great!

I arrived a little over a week ago, and have been busy wandering the streets, exploring neighborhoods, hanging out at cafes. Crucial activities.

If you appreciate big cities, then Buenos Aires is a special treat. It´s noisey and chaotic and people walk like their pants are on fire. Cars DO stop for pedestrians here. There´s the Subte (the subway), and over 400 different colectivos (buses). The blocks are long, the avenues wide. And for a moment, on certain streets, if I don´t look at the names of stores or at the billboards too closely, I feel like I´m back in New York City. Not the NYC of today, but the New York City I recall from 20 years ago (yes, there is a difference). The streets are full of business people, tourists, students, average people, wealthy people, beggars. Trash is everywhere. The Subte smells of people, but it is very clean. It´s a big, beautiful, vibrant city.

And the neighborhoods! Each one has it´s own personality. The architecture is different in each one. Old and majestic buildings, new and metalic ones. The buildings in some neighborhoods are painted bright colors -- pink, turquoise, yellow, orange, lime green. There are lots of trees and parks and green space. The blocks can be long, and the distances great. Even one or two hours of meandering doesn´t scratch the surface.

I´m staying with a family instead of in an apartment as I had originally planned. The taxi pulled up to the beautiful old house on Sunday, and I was met by this wonderful woman, and so I decided not to move. The house from the outside is not much to speak of, but that seems to be the case for most of these houses in the countries I have visited in Latin America. But once inside, it´s a palace. There are a million bedrooms, a large backyard, a spacious kitchen, a livingroom with a chimney, a familyroom, and a couple of decks upstairs.

The owner of the house is Alicia. Alicia is ten years older than I, and has four teenaged childeren. Three girls and a boy. There is no husband. I don´t know if they are separated. No speaks of him. I should ask. And there is a Canadian student who has been living with them for almost a year. He is studying spanish and taking classes at one of the universities. And despite the number of people living in this house, you don´t hear them. It´s very quiet.

Alicia is bright and has a great sense of humor, when I can understand what she says. The accent is very different, and I have difficulty understanding much of what the Argentinians say. She used to work doing something with taxes, but for some reason no longer works (not by her choice, I think), and currently brings in income by renting rooms in her house and in another building she owns. This what I think I heard. Anyway, I enjoy talking with her even if I only understand half of what she says.

As for my work....
I´m working at foundation called Fundamind. Fundamind provides services to poor children and families, most of whom are suffering from AIDS. They do alot of AIDS prevention training in high schools and in the community. They help kids and families get the medical treatment they need, and provide any needed psychological counseling. They teach women how to sew using sewing machines so they can get work. They have kindergarten during the day, and help kids with homework during the evenings. And they support a couple of soupkitchens in the community. A few nights a week I help kids with their English homework. During the day I´m writing an English presentation and strategy to be used to solicit donations and support from foreign companies and donors. They have been in operation since 1990, and receive support from several international organizations, as well as from Argentine donors. So far I´m enjoying the work.

Last weekend I went to Mendoza. Mendoza is on the other side of the country, to the north. It is famous for wine. There are many vineyards in and around Mendoza. The area is extremely arid, and this results in excellent, full-bodied red and white wines. The Malbec grape produces excellent wine here.

I stayed at the Cavas Wine Lodge, a high-end resort located about 35 minutes outside of Mendoza. It´s in the middle of a vineyard. There are only 10 or so rooms at this resort. Each room is really a small house. I had a private dipping pool on the patio, and an outside fireplace on the upstairs patio. The inside was gorgeous. The price of the room included all transportation, all activities, a massage, and all food (consumed at the resort, and at local restaurants as well). I had to pay extra for wine. The wine ranged in price from affordable to outrageous, but everything I drank was excellent. The food was amazing. You could eat in your room or in the diningroom. All food was gourmet quality.

One night I ate at a local famous restaurant called 1884. The chef is one of the top 50 chefs in the world. And I only paid for the wine I consumed. The dinner and ambiance were exquisite. It´s been a while since I have eaten such divine food.

And such as been my life these last few days.
I need to get off the internet. I´ve been here way too many hours (yes, hours).

Time to go roam the city.
cheers,
Stacey