A whole week has gone by and we’ve written nothing! We are such bad girls… We know…

The time has been going so fast! This last week we continued Spanish class, and this time, Sonia moved up into my level. We learned a bunch about the past tense, the difference between “por” and “para” and various other things… I’ll have to continue to study when I get back to LA – and I’ve actually decided that I’m gonna keep on taking lessons in California. There’s no reason to stop learning just because I’m back home!

(the subway on the way to school. It was PACKED every morning)

So, yes… time to describe the past week…

One night, we went to this Argentinian percussion show, “Las Bombas Del Tiempo” (something like that) with a few people from our Spanish school.

It was very percussion-y! There was a conductor and probably about 20 people up on stage playing various instruments. I kinda loved it… Except it was filled with twenty-one year old Americans smoking weed and chugging beer… had a definite frat vibe. Other than that, it was great.

Sonia and I, old ladies that we are, left early and had dinner in San Telmo. Oh! One story from that night – it was super random, cuz we were in the big crowd and this girl was staring at Sonia, and she got our attention, and it turned out they were friends from back home in Echo Park! Her name is Tess, and we ended up having dinner with her later that week (some Chinese food that was the weirdest Chinese food I’ve ever had…) Also random is that a few days after that, I was at this weird mall that’s like a huge version of Hot Topic – every store is a tattoo parlor, piercing shop, punk rock store, etc – and I ran into Tess again! We are destined to be friends.

(view out sonia's window)

Sonia and I met up with my friend Andy who’s living here – he took us to this yuppie restaurant for lunch. We didn’t know they had those types of places here. Lots of people on their Apple computers, and they even served arugula! He told us a lot about Bs.As – but we’re not so sure everything he said is true! We’re finding out that we have a much different experience/outlook on the city. But it was good to have some info…

(this is a cute restaurant we ate at one night)

(another really good meal.)

(desert!)

I hung out with my Latin lover Juan Antonio again – and realized he wasn’t so much my cup of tea. But it was fun while it lasted.

What else? Oh yeah, we went to check out the Galerias Pacifico – this really crazy fancy mall that’s here in Bs.As. Murals on the celings and everything! It was very grand.

(here's an example of the painted ceiling)

(this is for Dan. It's a gaucho store. We think of you everytime we see one. It's SO dan!! very urban cowboy.)

I had some wonderful days wandering around by myself, meeting handsome waiters, exploring random cultural venues, shopping around and feeling alive. And of course, reading my self-help books.

(Sonia) I walked around a lot by myself doing some window shopping. There's a huge street here called Santa Fe which had tons of overwhelming stores. I started there one day and made my way to Palmero, which is sorta like Silverlake, tons of boutiques, cute little stores and cafes.

(this is for Shannon. you would have SO much fun shopping here. these fugly pants in the middle are the biggest thing here! People actually wear them here, like, a lot...)

Yesterday, we went to a barrio that’s on the outskirts of the city called Chacarita – Andy had told us there was a cheaper Antiques fair that was held there every weekend. It was so great! We were the only foreigners there, and the prices were amazing. We got the best finds! I am in looooooovvvveeee with the antiques here.

(mullet! girls and boys have strange mullets here, consisting some, but not all, of the time, of dreadlocks. here we have, over erica's shoulder, is an example of a girl with a dreadlock mullet.)

Today we were back in Recoleta at another street fair – we wanted to get some more gifts and a mate set for myself. It was such a beautiful day out – tons of people around, and everyone was just chilling on the grass hanging out.

(our manta in action!)

(just one example of all the many temptations we had today... beautiful purses!)

(around five, people started gathering for mate time. and performers started performing.)

We spent hours there, Sonia shopping around, while I lazed around on the grass watching everyone prepare their yerba mate. I had heard about a free chamber music concert that happens every Sunday night at 7 at a museum in Retiro, so we walked over there, but we were too late and it was full! Too bad. Now we’re back home, chilling for a bit, and then gonna head out for dinner later.

(we had coffee and medialunas before the performance, which we missed)

(erica's bife de chorizo, apparently THE best thing to get here.)

(sonia's vegetarian bowl of goodness.)

(danica! a combination of Dana and Erica!)

Tomorrow we are off to Uruguay! Taking a mini-vacation within our vacation for some much-needed beach time. We’ll be there two days.

I’m already feeling sad about coming home. I’m gonna miss it so much here.