Baires

This weekend was a relatively calm one for me here in Buenos Aires. We went to Shoeless Joe's Alamo a couple of nights to watch basketball games. It is this very touristy pub that serves free beer to girls until 11, and it is one of very few places in town that shows American sports. Great burgers and cheap drinks! My sources tell me that the Bulls just went into second overtime. Let's go Bulls!

Friday J and I went walking around town and we went to Galería Bond Street. It is this small shopping gallery (mall-like thing) where all of the young punk kids go. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. You can hear tattoo needles going the entire time you are there, and every other shop is a tattoo parlor. Really interesting sight!

Then today I went to lunch with cousin Patricia. We met at her father's hotel, the Meliá, and had an excellent and long lunch. Then we strolled for a bit, just chatting and wandering around town. On our stroll I got to see the memorial of the Israeli Embassy that was bombed. It was really sad, as one would expect, but interesting to see.

Now I am just delaying homework time! Booo homework!

I hope all is well!

I'll keep ya posted!

Floggers

I just put 2 and 2 together and found out what this craze is. Floggers. Youtube them. They are these kids (most kids, actually) that dress nuts and dance all over the place. It's amazing and ridiculous.

The Weekend

After getting back from Brazil and having a veeery stressful week in school, we decided it was important for me to have a fun weekend. Friday night we went to a bar called Theloneous Club, where we got to groove to live jazz all night. Then we went to this arcade place called Job, where they have archery! Drinking and archery, what a combo! 

Saturday night we went to my friend Sam's drum teacher's house for a little show. There were 25 or so of us at his house. We were all sitting in this little room when suddenly the "openers" started jamming. They were fantastic! Then this guy started reading us a poem, telling us to enter into this other room. The show was literally a concert and a comedy show in one. They had these crazy Xmas lights that they synched up with the music. They had props and crazy guests. It was just ridiculous.

Sunday morning we woke up and went to the bar around the corner to watch the Boca-River game. They are the city rivals, and I root for Boca. The bar filled up quickly, and there was a huge crowd standing outside and even in the street! The game was a tie though, which kinda left the city in shambles.

Sunday night Sam, J and I went to see Fidel Nadal. He is a reggae artist that I believe is from Buenos Aires. I LOVED that show. I don't even have other words. It was love.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BABY!

Finally I can write about spring break. So on the bus from Iguazu Falls they showed the film Taken, the movie about the girl that gets kidnapped abroad. As we were 7 girls traveling to a foreign country, this was quite scary. When we got to Rio we had the other girls we were traveling with come to the apartment with us, so that we were 7 of us, not 2, in case anything went wrong. As it turned out, everything went right! The apartment was right on Copacabana beach (we sang the ENTIRE trip). We had a kitchen, a bathroom, a big ol' bed, and a GREAT view of the beach. It wasn't as sunny as I would have liked it to be, so we spent a lot of days checking things off from the great list of activities I got out of a guide book in the hostel in Iguazu.

The beaches of Rio are amazing though. The city is surrounded by mountains and beaches, and when it is sunny the beaches are PACKED. You can shop from your towel with all of the people walking around, and the beaches just have an awesome vibe. Lots of naked tooshy! I even got a Brazilian bikini and rocked it for a week.

But, there were a lot of cloudy days, so I can tell you about all of the activities we did. We went to the top of the Sugar Loaf, this really high thing that they have cable cars to. You get to see the entire city from up high, and it's just really cool. I have tons of pictures. We went to Museu H Stern and Museu Amsterdam Sauer, where they got us drunk, showed us all about gems, and let us try on EVERYTHING. A great way to make the most of a rainy day!

I wanted to go on a Favela tour through the rougher areas of town, but the drug cartels are at war, so that seemed like a bad idea. We went to a music store called Modern Sound where they have a live music place called Allegro Bistro Musical and we saw a Brazilian Jazz group and had a few caiprinias. 

Nights were VERY interesting. The two main places to be at night are called Lapa and Barra (pronounced ba-ha). In Lapa we went to a street called Av. Mem de Sá that is lined with great bars. On that street we went to a Samba club called Carioca da Gema, where we danced our pretty little asses off. Around the corner from Mem de Sá is a street lined with liquor stores. The stores put a table out in front and sell booze over the tables while they blast music out of huge speakers. The street just fills up with young people dancing. SUCH awesome vibes.

We also went to this bar called Calndestino in Copacabana that I really enjoyed. And, we went to a place called Bip Bip where locals jammed with instruments. At Bip Bip we got to hear live samba and bossa nova, which I clearly loved.

Other fun facts:

The meat in Brazil is just as fabulous as Argentina, except in Brazil they have all you can eat meat places!

Everyone in Brazil thought I was Amy Winehouse. At the beach they once surrounded me and took pictures.

Rio was pretty dull on Monday and Tuesday. Thursday through Saturday it was NUTS!

If I think of anything else I will let you know!!

Will Write Soon

I'm back from Spring Break and I'm safe!

I am sad I missed Pesach with the family. 

I have so much work to catch up on and annoying emails I have to send, but I can't wait to tell you all about the amazing trip I just went on.

Will write soon,

I LOVE YOU!!

Iguazu Falls

Thursday evening after a sadly gloomy day in Buenos Aires, J and I hopped on a bus to Iguazu Falls, which are on the border of Argentina and Brazil. After an 18 hour bus ride in the front row (what a great view!) we finally arrived in Iguazu. We walked to our hostel, Hostel Iguazu Falls, only to find out that since we were staying in a private room, we were staying in the home of the hostel owners kinda. It was actually nicer than our room in Buenos Aires! There are so many Israelis here that the woman running the hostel actually just said to a guy ¨Hamesh pesos por maim gadol.¨ I thought it was pretty funny.

Friday we got in kinda late so we spent the day sitting by the hostel pool. So relaxing! We all know I love those days. Then Saturday we got up early to head to the National Park. We arrived at the park, did a short hike, and then hopped onto a truck to do a jungle safari. After the safari they took us to the boats, and on the boats we actually went into the waterfalls! For sure one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. We hiked all around and saw the falls from different heights and different areas. Then we took a short tram ride to the Devils Throat. It is the massive waterfall at the end, where most of the water from the area meets. I took a tooooon of pictures and videos to show you all when I get back, but I really do not think you can capture how awesome that was on film.

We head off to Brazil in a short while. What a long bus ride I have ahead of me!
I will try to post as often as possible!

I love and miss you all,
but I sure am havin a blast!!

xoxo

"Symbol" of Democracy Dies

Last night Raul Alfonsin passed away. He was the first democratically elected president after the military dictatorship in the 80's. People are kinda freaking out. There is a three day national mourning going on in all of Argentina.