I'll rewind to my Córdoba weekend later, but life is back in full swing as I spend my last 19 days in Buenos Aires.
Every minute is valued, sleep is becoming less necessary and a recent doubling in the amount of homework we receive is the only excuse we have to not be exploring as much as we want to be.
Sunday morning, the red-eye bus Stacey and I took from Córdoba to Buenos Aires got back around 8:30 a.m. Instead of going home, unpacking and resting, we put on some workout clothes and headed to our favorite botanic garden, Rosedal, near Plaza Italia in Palermo. A circular path that is about a mile long lines the park, and Sunday's 70 degree weather made it the perfect day to be outside. Joggers, bikers, families and rollerbladers fill the space...so I decided to face one of my fears.
I hadn't rollerbladed since I broke my arm last May. So in retrospect, nothing about this was really a good idea. More than a year since I had tried this, out of the country, health insurance....but it worked! I rented rollerblades for about $3 USD and rollerbladed around the beautiful park for 45 minutes! No injuries! This shouldn't be that surprising because last summer was the only time in my life that I had ever broken a bone, and it took years of rollerblading for that day to finally come. But it was great to workout on such a nice day in Buenos Aires and enjoy the company of so much of the city, despite it being election day!
Rollerblading at Rosedal- Botanic gardens, palm trees, and city buildings all in one place!
My idea of beauty
Jordin, Stacey & I headed to La Boca to pick up some souvenirs, only to be disappointed when the one vendor I went to see was working election booths. Lesson I have learned the hard way: If you like something, just buy it. It won't still be there when you go back. To complete the night, Elizabeth & I went back to La Viruta for tango and rock dance lessons! The place was almost more packed than last time and the tango dance was easier to pick up on for us than the advanced rock dance. Rock played songs like "Sweet Home Chicago" and "All Shook Up" by Elvis, but it felt great to enjoy a Sunday in three different barios of the city!
Upon arrival at work today, I learned that just like in 2007 with these same candidates, there will be a reelection between Mauricio Macri and Filmus for the mayor of Buenos Aires position. Macri got 47 percent of the vote, and Filmus got 27 percent, but since neither received 50 percent a decision cannot be made. Run-off elections are July 31, unfortunately when we leave, but I look forward to seeing the results!
HA moment of the day:
Macri was quoted in a Buenos Aires Herald article saying- “El apoyo es superior a la cantidad de votos que hemos sacado." Literally, that means "support is higher than the number of votes we got." While this is a completely acceptable answer in the US, this is clearly a political lie because VOTING IS OBLIGATORY. If EVERYONE is voting, then to some extent, you can't really believe that you have more support shown at the polls. You're pretty intelligent Mauricio.
I met Jordin at Congreso by where she works, since I hadn't gotten to walk this part of town yet. The Subte lets off at the beautiful Congress building with a fountain in front.
Congreso
We bought our bus tickets to go out of town this weekend, and had to walk pretty far back from where we got let off to get to the "Terminal de Omnibus," what every bus station is called in Argentina. We drive past this clock tower everyday on the way to school, but it's nice to pause for a second and check it out. This plaza is one of the coolest parts of Retiro, with the old clock tower, palm trees (typical) and a skyline welcoming anyone that gets off of a train or bus into Buenos Aires. We automatically felt excited upon seeing this when arriving back from Córdoba, and can't imagine what it would be like to come to Buenos Aires for the first time and arrive at this location.
Clock tower at Retiro
Estación Retiro, the big train station pictured in Evita when
Evita takes a train from Junin into Buenos Aires
I finished off Monday by cooking pasta for my roommates and trying to conquer the load of homework I have this week! Maybe I'll have some Skype time next week!
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