BUENOS AIRES (day one)

Nicole and I just got back from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I wish we hadn't; I wish I was still there. It's my new favorite city on earth!

We left for the airport at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday, August 27th. The taxi driver picked us up, and drove us - along with several other students - down the nauseatingly winding, jungle-lined, hour long road to the airport (a road not to be braved without the use serious antiemetics). Our flight left around 7am, taking us to Antigua, where we went through security again, before hopping on another plane to San Juan, Puerto Rico. From here, we flew with Copa Airlines, now a subsidiary of Continental Airlines, and, because of how well they feed and entertain their customers, my new favorite airline. We sat around San Juan for a while, and I had my first, blessed, cafe Americano from Starbucks since I left the states (little did I know that I was soon going to enjoy cafe con leche every single day). I read through Brian Sanderson's Elantris, while Nicole read through The Other Boleyn Girl. Then we flew to Panama.

We landed and acquainted ourselves with the curious Panamanian airport - composed of seemingly endless designer leather and tech stores - and exactly 1 little restaurant, and 2 hot dog carts. Duty free was the way to go, so we bought armfulls of Toblerone chocolates. By the time we left, it was something around 8 at night, and we made ourselves comfortable for th longest fligth I've had since returning to America from Germany - a daunting 6.5 hours.

We arrived in Buenos Aires at 5:50 Thursday morning - talk about a red-eye! After changing some cash into pesos with a blissful 1:3 (respectfully) exchange rate (the US dollar is stronger in BA than it is even in Dominica), we took an airport cab to our hotel. This was all done in Spanish, mind you - I hadn't studied the language in years, but I figured I'd do alright. I had a hard time understanding folks in San Juan - but I soon learned that it's just because San Juan's Spanish isn't as pure as the Spanish of the Portenos - the historical name for the residents of Buenos Aires, who lived along the port. Since we couldn't actually check in until 11am, Nicole and I went and had breakfast in a little corner cafe. It started out with a cafe con leche - essentially, an espresso with milk, which was absolutely delicious! I've had them in the states, but it was such a shocking contrast to the stuff I drink here on the island. I've come to the realization that this entire country has no clue how to make coffee.

We finally checked into our rooms at the Grand King Hotel around 11:30 in the morning. Situated on the pedestrian walk Lavalle, close to its intersection with the world-famous shopping Florida Street, the Grand King is right in the middle of the action.

After getting settled in and squared away, Nicole and I headed out to eperience what I now consider the best shopping I've ever experienced. Before that, however, we decided to take a little walk down the pedestrian walks. We found ourselves crossing out of the shopping district and into the general downtown area. There was a small park in the middle of the city, which we walked around, circumventing the young lovers (which seemed to be sprawled amorously and haphazardly across any open, public space in the city). We walked along the historic Puerto Madero, roughtly translated as something along the lines of "Wodden Port". We took pictures of the cranes they used to build things, the port itself - with some historical ships, and the Woman's Bridge.

After that, we returned to more familiar parts of town - the shopping district. This particular area, we came to learn, was an entrepreneurial paradise. The streets were lined by little "mom 'n' pop" storefronts. To call them street vendors would be incredibly unfair - this wasn't some third-world, open air market, with struggling sellers peddling their wares from cramped little stalls. The streets were swept clean every night, and the stores could all have easily been replaced by the biggest and trendiest of brand names. These vendors, instead, were crafstmen - cutting and sewing their leather jackets or purses upstairs, and displaying the goods in their shops downstairs. There were, of course, a fair number of touristy shops full of souvenirs, athletic shops full of T-shirts (Argentinians love their soccer), and delightfully quaint little cafes and restaurants.

It was so cold walking around that first day, that Nicole and I were easy prey to the sellers of fine leather goods - cueros, they call them. Nicole first stopped in to look for purses (and activity which would take much of our time in Buenos Aires), and fell in love with an elegant, light-tan jacket. As we were walking down some other shopping alley, a woman in a store called out to her. Nicole was wearing her new coat, but I came to learn that that's not really enough to deter folks from trying to sell you another one.

So we stopped into this little shop and met our first friends in Buenos Aires - Natie and Martin. We looked around, and I figured since she'd just bought one - and I really was cold - it couldn't hurt to try one on. I picked out a trendy coat with some ornamentation on the sleeves, but Nicole and Natey together pulled something more classical off the rack - and that's the one I bought. Over the next few days, as Nicole and I were walking around, we often stopped and chatted with Natey and Martin - they're good people. This shopping area of Buenos Aires truly was an entrepreneurial paradise - Martin worked upstairs in the shop, cutting and sewing leather coats in his factory, and Natey sold them in their shop downstairs. (If you ever stop in Buenos Aires, their shop is called "Che - Cuero Argentino. They're located at Lavalle 752, and can be reached at checueroargentino@hotmail.com. Seriously. Best leather in the entire country). Here's a picture of their shop - they were such good salespeople, I ended up with that coat, and Nicole ended up with a sweater.

I had to have the sleeves shortened, but it was definitely a bargain. That night, Nicole and I had the first of many amazing dinners in Buenos Aires. We'd been strolling down along the streets, and just decided to poke our heads into La Estancia! The first thing we noticed - immediately upon standing outside the restaurant - was that entire dead animals were split open, spread out on iron stands, and set to cook before an open flame - my kind of place! One thing about dinners in Buenos Aires - they eat around 10:00 at night, so that's about when we arrived. I must have been really tired (or perhaps we'd started on the wine already) - because I ended up somehow ordering my steak rare. Being the med student that I am, I rationalized away my choice: you see, undercooked hamburger is really a danger, because you're grinding up parts of the cow's digestive tract - which contains the infamous Escherichia Coli - affectionately known as E. Coli. However, a nice, juicy cut of steak is just muscle tissue, and unless something's really wrong, there won't be any sneaky, hidden infections. I'd completely forgotten about mad cow disease and hoof and mouth disease, which is perhaps why the dinner was so delicious and the company so pleasurable. There were still folks chilling in the restaurant when we left around 11:30 that night. I will say that Argentinian food spoiled me - when we got back to Dominica, I had about a half-bottle of wine in my fridge. I almost had to pour it out.

And there was evening and there was morning the first day. You'll have to forgive me - with the passing of the 2 weeks or so since I left, events have become a little muddled in my memory. That being the case, instead of organizing things chronologically, from here on out I'll just explain them as fun little Argentinian events.