Puerto Madero

I want to make a weekly post of some sort of touristy attraction. So this week's will be Puerto Madero because we walked through there today on our way to the ecological reserve which closed just was we arrived.

These aren't the best pictures, but Puerto Madero doesn't deserve better. It use to be the actual port area and still has a lot of the remnants around, which they're restoring. Now days though, it's just a bunch of multinational corporations and some of the most expensive apartments in town. There's still a few cool old buildings but most of them look like they could be in any other rich city in the world.

Puerto Madero is surrounded by some nice areas though. On one side is the Microcentro and on the other is a large ecological reserve (or maybe just land that's too swampy to develop?), and at the end of the port is San Telmo, our neighborhood. And, to it's credit, many of the streets in Puerto Madero are named after famous Argentine women.

This is one show a lot of the new contruction that's going on. ¡Superlujo!


This is a picture of the old building that they've resorted and turned into restaurants, cafe and botiques. There's also a Catholic university, the TGIFridays and Hooters too. Behind them is downtown.


Here's a bridge the Porteños are very proud of, the Women's Bridge.

More housemate photos

Left to right: David (a friend of English Adam's who just got here last night), Rubia (the Brazilian girlfriend of English Adam), English Adam (the Adam from England) and a French guy who's name I don't remember (he's not English or related in any way to an English person).


French Party Boy Cesar again


Rubia about to spit up her beer after I asked her to smile.


Rubia begging for a kiss from English Adam:

Velas Raras

Our landlady puts these funny candles in random places on the floor around the house. They're suppose to burn for seven days and bring money. I think the only way that's going to happen is if they catch the house on fire and they pick up a nice insurance check. Maybe they should just stick with squeezing as many foreigners in a house together as they can and save money by not buying candles?

Feliz Cumpleaños Antonia

Last night was Antonia's birthday. We had a lot of fun, but I was penalized for it this morning by having to get up for work. Any ways, we sort of had a surprise birthday party for her. I took her out to eat and while were we out all the people we lived with got beer and baked her a delicious cake. Our friends Pablo, from the hostel, and Cecilia, the girl who took us on a tour of San Telmo and showed us apartments, came too. That was awesome. After a while we went out to this ridiculous bar called Gibraltar. It was little English pub (and it looked the part very nicely) in San Telmo filled with people who might as well have been at the Video Saloon. I didn't take many pictures but here are a couple before we left for the bar.

From left to right: Ceci (aspiring actress, belly dance instructor, apartment realtor), Cesar (French party boy, works at a travel agency), Jorgina AKA Cookie (Argentinian Flash developer), Antonia (you should already know her), Juliana (Brazilian student), Pablo (all around awesome, hostel manager)


Antoina looking satisfied after blowing out her candles.

Saying good-bye

I've been doing this blog in reverse it seems like. But here are some pictures of Antonia and I saying goodbye to our mothers.

Our hostel - Alkimista Hostel

We stayed in Alkimista Hostel in Congreso which is located just a few blocks away from the Argentinian legislature. Surprise, surprise. We didn't have much time for fun when we stayed there this time because we were so busy trying to find a place to stay, but it really is a nice place. Also, our friend Pablo, who we met when we first stayed there, is the manager now so we were glad he was there to answer all of our stupid questions.

Here's a picture of the building the Alkimistra is in.


Here the building from street level. The pizza and pasta place below is delicious.


And here's a picture of me and Pablo.

Finally getting settled

It's been about five days now and we're finally getting settled. We decided on an apartment yesterday and just moved in a couple hours ago. Even though the street it's on isn't the prettiest in Buenos Aires it's in a good location along the border of two cool neighborhoods - the Microcentro (downtown) and San Telmo (an old neighborhood that's currently being renovated). I'll post more about these neighborhoods later.

We chose this apartment of the dozen we looked at, because castellano is definitely the language of the house. We still haven’t met everyone, but there are two Brazilian girls, a French girl, a French guy, a British guy, and a Argentinian girl. So pretty much to common language will have to be Spanish since that’s what everyone is here to learn.


This is the street we live on and our apartment from the outside. We're on the second floor. Click on it for a bigger version.


This is the view from the roof in front.


This is the view from the back.


This is our living room.


This is the apartment from the front.