Tigre

This past weekend, I was talking to this Argentine dude I had met and used the word "Che."  He seemed pretty impressed and told me that I sounded like a true Argentine.  Flattering to hear, yet the good news is that you can use the word pretty much in any situation and it makes sense: Che, I'm going to take a day off from work today, or Che, I hate the government, or Che, I can't breathe because everyone smokes in this country, or just Che.  Either way, I took it as a compliment.

This past Sunday, I went to Tigre, a small city located about an hour outside of Buenos Aires.  Tigre makes for a great day trip, featuring small rivers and inlets and a giant artisan fair.  There exist many private mini islands in Tigre, with privately owned houses.  In fact, when API went to Tigre in March, they went to some private home, whose owners know my resident director, and had a giant asado.  Unfortunately, I couldn't attend because they went on Saturday.  So unless you know people who live on these islands, I'm not sure if you can take the boat to them.  So I took a boat to some public area with a mini hike/paseo, walking along an outlet of the river, passing by different homes and restaurants.  Very quiet walk, disturbed by the occasional passing of a boat or canoe. 

It's a terrible comparison but I thought of Venice as I was in Tigre.  I'd say the major similarities included the type of boats people use and that many people use boats to commute and go shopping.  But an experience nonetheless. 
After our river trip, we went to the giant artisan fair, which featured dance performances, different food stations, and tons of stores, some very trendy in fact.  These giant fairs, which offer so many different types of merchandise, can certainly be very overwhelming.  But it helps to experience it the Argentine way, strolling along, remaining outside of time, being in the moment.  It's nice to have girls present on these occasions as well to guide you in your purchases- so that you don't end up buying really dumb or ugly things.   And Yael even gave me the idea to buy photo frames.   I never would have thought about buying one of those.  In the end, I bought a couple and I'm happy with the purchase.  Plus I found Messi jerseys for cheap (granted they're copies)!

Upon leaving the fair, this group of kids, hearing English, approached us and said "hello," "welcome," and "where are you from." Just hearing English gives them the excuse to say the few words they know.  Again, it's the excitement of speaking English, the native tongue of the US that attracts them.  To so many kids, US represents the land of the rich, exotic, and famous, and the ability to communicate gives them a piece of it, in a way. 

On Sunday night, some Jewish event was held at a bar.  Mexican themed, the event featured Corona, mojitos, and fajitas, really delicious ones in fact- the first Mexican food I've had here.  I thought it was a chance for young Jewish Argentine to gather and socialize.  It soon turned into a religious propaganda event, with two men getting up to preach about becoming religious and the need to keep the entire land of Israel.  I thought the timing was borderline inappropriate.  I doubt that's what the audience was hoping for when they decided to attend Mexican bar night in Belgrano. 

En cualquier caso, tengo hambre (in any case, i'm hungry)

buen dia

ariel
Pics from tigre: