Thepunkguy

Is Finale, Spanish? I mean I know it’s Italian but do they use it here? Anyone? ?

Anyway, it’s Christmas here in Argentina and it’ll be the last day that I write or post anything more about the trip. (besides the picts that follows this post.)
Had a great time. I was quickly reminded that I sweat a bit in 90 degree weather and that I don’t speak a drop of Spanish. Below are some astute and not so astute things I have come to realize about Buenos Aires, Argentina:

a. There are an unusual amount of Ford Falcons between the years of 61 and 73 around the city. I know there must be a story behind this, I am just too lazy to find it out.

“I’m everywhere!”

(also you can drive with your headlights off at night here. safety first!)

b. You know what is in style here in Buenos Aires? Cleavage. I mean, from Grandmas to young teens. I’m just saying!

c. I am guessing that there are more Pizzerias here in Argentina then in Rome and New York combined. I mean shit, I couldn’t find a vegetable to save my life but I could buy three different pies from three different places on this block alone.

d. They shoot off fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve. I am not sure why. Once again, I could probably find out, if I wasn’t so lazy. But I am 100 percent sure that it has to do with Santa and Jesus loving explosions so much.

e. Not that many tattooed people here in Argentina. Well a lot of people have tattoos just no sleeves or anything like that.

This is weird but in the middle of the shopping area, (imagine Union Square or 5th ave somewhere), there was this mall, a punk rock mall. I swear. Like it was three floors of graffitied walls, “hot topic” stores, vintage shops and small tattoo parlors that had one tattoo chair and all the hepatitis you can shake a stick at.

Also, another thing is, that you know how a lot of women in the states have that above the butt crack tattoo? Well here they have the same thing but it’s located on their upper arm. Like on the front of their shoulder. I don’t know why. Anyone??

f. Also if you remember, I have this obsession with other countries’ energy drinks, like when I was in Japan and they had 40 dollar energy drinks that were made by a pharmaceutical company? Anyway, here they have one called SPEED. (see corresponding picture below) Anyway I finally got around to buying one, it tasted a lil bit like apple juice meets maker’s mark. It didn’t do anything at first but then after a few seconds I had a weird numbing sensation in my throat, my head started to shake and I couldn’t see anything past three inches from face. Let’s just say, I recommend it.

(I’m not called Speed cause I like Keanu)

g. Stay away from the cats here. They might look harmless but they mean business.

(I don’t believe a thing this cat says!)

h. A quick tutorial on how to be an “Ugly American” or Why other countries think we suck… So on the last day of the trip, I ate at place called “Mark’s Cafe” that was recommended in TIME OUT Argentina (my first mistake.)

Most of the patrons inside spoke little to no Spanish and the workers seemed really sweet and helpful. However, that doesn’t mean that the service still wasn’t completely slow and weird. After I ordered my pollo sandwich with blah blah.. 15 minutes past and the waitress came back over to tell me they were out of chicken. Why did they only figure that out 15 minutes after I ordered it? I mean really, did you just put the order in and sit around? Or were you not told that your menu, where 1/3 of the choices contained chicken, was now non applicable?? Either way, I took it like a man and said, in bad awful Spanish, Ill take the jamon crusto. etc…

However, these three fucking nimrods come into the place that fucking made me want to shoot myself. They all had on hats that said, I shit you not, TEAM USA! Then after speaking louder than anyone in the whole place, the older lady went up to one of these young waitresses and just started asking for all this shit that wasn’t on the menu. Not even respecting the fact that she didn’t speak great English or that we weren’t in a fuckin’ TGIFs.

“Do you have … like string beans? How about a chicken salad? Does that come with cheese? Well I can’t read that menu it’s not in English…”

Holy fucking Christ. Please people, the only thing I ask is that when you go other countries, just be respectful. C’mon, how hard is that? Say Gracias instead of thank you. please.

Breathe…..

i. I’ll say it one more time, the food here is incredibly good and cheap. I know I’m repeating myself but if you were to come down here for one thing, besides Summer in the Wintertime, come for the food. However, let it be known they do Italian better than any other place I have ever been to (next to maybe NYC and Italy.)

Overall I had a lovely time here in Argentina and would recommend anyone to come and visit if you want to vacation somewhere pretty cheap and don’t mind non ironic mullets.

I must say I find myself pining to come home just a lil bit, but as soon as I feel that 20 degree weather, I’ll wish for a shoulder tattoo and a Ford Falcon.

See you next year!

SO PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL THE POSTS I DID FROM THIS TRIP HERE.

So some pictures to wrap up this trip. Click to make larger.

Please check back later for the BEST OF 2007 also.

(this is located in the La Boca district)

(free hugs)

(che lives in an a very real way in Argentina)

(don’t hate the …)

SO PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL THE POSTS I DID FROM THIS TRIP HERE.

So below are some larger pictures, (click to see better look) of my trip to the Recoleta Cemetary.

(!)

about lunch…

(this sandwich is sooo dry, if put near an ocean, it would then suck up every bit of water in it.)
(to my right is something called Salsa Golf, which ostensibly is ketchup and mayo aka Mcdonald’s special sauce)

SO BELOW ARE LARGER VERSIONS OF PICTURES, PLEASE CLICK TO SEE BETTER VIEWS.

(one of the hundreds of tombs in the Recoleta Cemetary)

(inside one of the tombs)

(wow spiders are really scary)
(doesn’t this look like it should be in a comic or at least one an Alkaline Trio LP cover?)

(dirty and doomy!)

(one of my fav’s from this set)

SO PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL THE POSTS I DID FROM THIS TRIP HERE.

Check out more pictures, stories and links below. Feel free to comment. Thanks. K

So let’s just say this, Buenos Aires is not the city for you to go to if you love animals. There are wild cats everywhere, people eat tons of meat and there is leather everywhere. As I write this I am sitting on one of those butterfly chairs made of COW HIDE while my feet are up on a table that sits on a rug, also made of cow hide.

With that being said, before I came here, I was under the impression that they were giving away Philly cheese steaks and leather belts at the airport as a welcome Lei. This is not a complete lie but this is not completely the truth. They are quite fond of leather and beef here. Definitely more than any other place I have ever been to. And I have spent some time in Texas.

When doing my research, I do what any person would do. I watched tons of Travel channel. Particularly, that show Passport to Latin America starring Samantha Brown, the cute but not overtly sexy host.

When she went to Buenos Aires, she went to a leather shop called Uru, where she picked out a coat, the size and the color and got one made in 6 hours. So with hopes that I was going to get a full leather outfit, including leather pants, chaps, socks and glasses, I headed to Uru to find what I needed in leather goods.

(Samantha Brown minus the leather coat)

Let me say, I support PETA and believe that no animal should be treated cruelly. However, when in Argentina, act as an Argentinian, which means eating as much meat as they can throw at you and getting a custom leather coat.

So I go in, try on a few different “styles” of leather coats and find one that I like (the “Fidel”, I wonder if I am getting a Castro inspired coat). They fit me, which more or less means they measure me and realize I have short arms, I could have told them that. Then I pick colors. I wanted to go for something like Brad Pitt wore in Fight Club (um..) or something that didn’t make me look like I was cruising the Surf Club in NJ. It came down to two colors, a regular old black leather or a really light green color. I decided to go with the green.

She then looks at me and flippantly tells me that it’s made from baby goat. What? Huh?

I had no idea that walking into a leather shop, just like the one that lil ole innocent Samantha Brown did, would I be promoting the slaughtering of a baby goats. Nor did I think that they even made anything out of dead baby goats besides vests for angels.

So let’s just say, if you see me wearing a greenish light leather coat, don’t judge me, I was just following Samantha Brown’s lead … and look how sweet she is…

(PS No animals were harmed during the writing of this post)

(PPS I saw Evita’s grave. Pretty anticlimactic. However, the rest of the cemetery was fucking so cool!)

SO PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL THE POSTS I DID FROM THIS TRIP HERE.

Check below for some other cool things, picts, stories and links. Comment if you want..

(this 1 liter of beer costs 4 dollars, it was malt liquor and I think named after the only Jew in Argentina, Eisen…something)

(sleep my abandoned mascot or El Gatto del feugo)

(saw a bit of nature today. it exists but it’s strange)

(teets for tots??)

(this might be the scariest picture ever taken of a cat.)

(I like this one a bit)

(and finally, who says I can’t photograph people?)

scroll down to see more pictures and words from my trip here in Argentina. also, feel free to comment.

God my feet hurt. Where am I, New York City? Walking, walking and more walking.. Second day of Buenos Aires and it still seems to be Summer. I have a feeling that this weather isn’t going away. Strange.

A few more things I have noticed about this city:

a. I am staying near a park that has tons of wild cats in it. They even have a sign near it that says ‘Don’t abandon your Mascots here.’ I think that’s what it says at least. What’s up with the abandoning of mascots? Anyone? Do the Argentians hate cats? Are the cats here ferocious? I’m keeping my distance from here on out.

b. a short list inside of a list. things that are cheap here in this city: food. anything related to food. taxis. not clothes. not soap. food. the subway.

So essentially everything but the clothes and cool neat soap. doesn’t it seem weird to pay the equivelant of 10 dollars for an entire meal and then turn around and charge 40 dollars for a tshirt? In the same neighborhood??

Wednesday’s meal: 1/4 roasted chicken. Side of spanish potatoes. coke. chorizo. total: 12.50. yes i’ll take it!

c. Still no one speaks English. When will this change? I ordered my b’fast today in Spanish. AQUI! Boom. Take that.

d. Fuck the coffee is good here. I would have it with every meal . Oh shit I do.

e. I saw more kids with dreadlocks in this city than I have seen with futbols. what the heck??

f. (97 degrees here today.)

(Tango for Cash)

(Don’t cry for me Argentina!)

(This is what I imagine New Orleans to look like)

(This is on the wall of the Revolution Museum that I also did not go in. I hope it is a revolutionary thought, not just something like, Hey Dina, I miss you and your lovely meatload, Johnny!)

(please note the man in the short sleeved shirt selling a Santa playing guitar!)

(This area near a street called Florida, reminded me of Market Street in SF.)

All these pictures were taken by me and were taking with my Rebel XT with a wide lens. More to follow.

*also check out TALK part ONE below.

Let’s say this; traveling to South America is not easy. I mean 21 hours door to door from New York City to Buenos Aires, Argentina is no fucking joke. You have to be prepared with at least 2 tylenol PMs and a resilience against awful haircuts.

A few things you need to know about Buenos Aires:

a. Most people don’t speak English. And this isn’t just me talking like a dumb American, expecting everyone to speak MY language, I mean not that many people speak it at all. So be prepared to point a lot. And grunt. Damn, I grunt a lot.

b. Kids have tails. Not like demons but like I had when I was a kid when I lived in New Jersey. So not like a cool tail, like a guido tail.

c. The service is not great here but the food is. So be prepared to sit around a ton.

d. Food is cheap. Like amazingly cheap. below is what I ate for dinner 2 nights ago:

Bread. A bottle of water. A Diet Coke. Three Italian appetizers: mushrooms, calamari and mozzarella cheese and vegetables. Stuff shells with ricotta.
Pasta in a white truffle sauce. A dessert plate that comprised of: Tiramisu, flan, strawberries and ice cream.

Total Price: 20 dollars. No Joke.

e. If a place is prix fixe’d, they will not talk to you at all, just bring out dish after dish. I swear the people next to me had a completely different meal than me without anyone asking me anything. I didn’t talk to the waiter once.

f. the A Team in spanish is still hysterical.

g. So is NEXT on MTV.

h. Homer’s voice in Spanish is not.

Ok that’s it for now. More soon. I’ll probably post some pictures up today or tomorrow. Took some nice ones today.

(Don’t forget to check out PICTS ONE BELOW)

So I figured I would do this. A post of pictures, then maybe a post about what I did and back in forth in no such order. Click to see a lil bigger.
(landed in Buenos Aires)

(from the Patio looking into the rental) WOW!

(some of the not so great parts of the city) (looks like LA huh?)

(the Evita Museum restaurant, didn’t go inside yet)

(some of the really cool old restaurants)

(best picture taken yet. I think) (great lighting in the city)

either more pictures or some stories up next. Krist. PS do you think I should post larger pictures? Let me know.