I finally made it back to BsAs at about 8AM to find that my friend Jeff had just arrived before me. His South American adventures had already begun. He lost his passport within an hour of being in Argentina. So, we began the day with some breakfast and then spent the rest trying to get his passport. After breakfast, I tried using my ATM card that he brought down for me. To make a long story short, the day I left, my ATM card was eaten by the machine at the bank and I wasn´t able to get it back. My mom picked it up a week later and sent it to Jeff to bring down so I could actually get some money. No sooner did I have it back in my possession, did it get eaten... AGAIN! This time, in Buenos Aires... So, I went in to talk to the people at the bank that do not speak any english and they told me to come back at 3pm when the bank closes.
Then off to the US Embassy we went. I wasn´t allowed in because I didn´t bring my passport with me, so I sat in the park across the street reading my book for a few hours. Then Jeff finally came out and said he was able to get a new passport, but he had to get a picture taken. So we got his picture taken and went back and waited for a few more hours. I started to get a little nervous because it was quickly approaching 3... the time the bank closed. Finally Jeff came out with a brand spankin´new passport, which the lady at the embassy threatened him not to lose again... I guess this was the second one in two years that he lost and now he has lost his passport priveledges. He has to renew his passport every year indefinitely from now on.
We hop back on the Subte to go back to the bank which by then had just closed. We both sat there pounding on the doors until someone came to talk to us. (There were still lots of people inside, even though they were closed.) They told me I would have to come back that Monday to get my card back. Unfortunately, this was Friday and banks are not open on weekends here at all. Also, we had a flight booked to Mendoza Monday morning, so it would have been impossible to get my card on Monday. I tried explaining the whole situation to them and about an hour later, after arguing that I needed my card because I still have four more months in South America and I need to get money somehow, they finally gave me my card back. Customer service in Argentina is NOT like it is in the States.
So, after we spent the whole day trying to get things back to how they were at about 7AM before we even got to BsAs, we took a much needed siesta.
Jeff´s first weekend in BsAs was fun. The next day, we met up with his best friend´s little brother, Boo, who is studying there. We had some lunch at a really nice little cafe in Recoleta and then walked around the cemetary for a little while. We checked out the giant mechanical flower that opens and closes with the rising and setting of the sun and wandered around the hippie fair. This was also the "official" St. Patty´s day, so we stopped at an Irish pub and had some green beer and then we made our way back to Palermo to meet up with some of Boo´s friends. We had some dinner and went out to a bar... needless to say, this was not the same kind of St. Patty´s day that we have in Buffalo. We sat around and had some drinks for a few hours and then went back to the hotel.
The next day, we wandered down to Plaza de Mayo where the Casa Rosada is (their pink version of the white house) and continued down to San Telmo where there was another festival. We wandered through the cobblestone streets of San Telmo, checking out the tango shows that people were putting on in the hot afternoon sun and all the antique stuff that people were trying to sell. Eventually, we made our way down to La Boca where we went to the Boca Juniors stadium and museum. The Boca Juniors are the most popular team in Argentina. EVERYONE loves them. They are kind of like the Yankees equivalent to soccer. After that went wandered down to the Camineta to check out the colorful houses where tango originated and then made our way all the way back to the Centro. That night we had dinner and saw a tango show at the legendary Cafe Tortoni. It was a day packed with touristy Buenos Aires stuff that I didn´t really get to do last time I was there... fun times!
