PROA, La Boca, and Puerto Modero

Corina! That was art-lady's name: Corina. She picked me up around 11am at this cafe near the MALBA, but before leaving the hostel I got an email from Clara (friend of my stepmother). In Clara's email she told me that Corina felt uncomfortable talking to me about money yesterday, but that she is a guide for a living and wants to charge me $50 US for yesterday and today. Huh? Really? I thought this was a friend showing me around the city - an art enthusiast who was just excited to show a newcomer the ropes of Buenos Aires modern art. I mean, it now makes more sense why she knew so much and why she was so excited to take me around again today, but I felt a little tricked into this situation. No one likes to feel trapped in a situation, especially when it's dealing with money and charging someone for services which they thought were just kind gestures. Anyway, I didn't let this get me down, but rather met up with Corina and we had another fantastic day (I waited till the end to talk about money).

We went from Palermo to the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires, which is on the outskirts of the city. This is one of the oldest and poorest barrios, and was the entry point for almost all of the early Italians who came over in the 1800's. La Boca is home to one of the most popular, and best, soccer teams in all of Argentina - Boca Juniors. We got out of the car into temperatures around 94 degrees, and although all my friends in Chicago love the sound of this, it's not as amazing with a ton of humidity as well. A quick walk across some amazingly old wood and stone roads got us into the air conditioning of the PROA - a small but very beautiful (and small) gallery right on the water. They are exhibiting a few works from the artist Ron Mueck, who I had never heard of but WOW this guy is amazing at creating human-like sculptures. The scenarios that he shows are so full of emotions and lifelike that it's hard to walk away without really feeling strong emotions for each piece. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but please check out the links I included above because it was really beautiful. We grabbed some grub at the lunch spot in the PROA, which was great (pesto chicken sandwich - healthy!), and Corina actually paid for this. Maybe she felt bad that I didn't know she was going to charge me money? Who knows, but it was a very nice gesture. After lunch we watched a short video on the process that Ron Mueck employs for his sculpting, which was amazing to watch. Apparently he takes about a year to work on each piece, with so much detail put into everything in every piece (and it shows).

After the museum we walked around the little tourist area of La Boca, which was only about a block - full of cheesy dancing shows and a bunch of things I don't need to buy, and then we jumped back in the car to check out a music auditorium called Verano en la Ciudad. Although it was closed this building looked amazing, and they have free music on Saturday and Sunday, so I'll be going back then for sure! We jumped back in the car and drove a short way to Puerto Modero, which is the new and very rich neighborhood. Whenever anyone talks about this neighborhood they talk about rich people who made their money from corrupt ways. When driving through it became obvious that it was very modern - kinda reminded me of the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. Within Puerto Modero there is another modern museum called Colleccion de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortbat. The architecture of the building was absolutely stunning, but the art was just so-so. Corina was ecstatic about this artist, who is from the Argentinian countryside, and who sculpts and paints a lot of farm-themed scenes (cows, branding, etc), and it was fun to see her get this excited. So we left this last museum and took some pictures out front along the river (pics below), and then she dropped me back off near my hotel. As we pulled up to the drop-off, I explained to her that Clara never told me that she was a professional guide, and I had no clue that she was hoping to get paid, so I hope she understood that this was kind of awkward. Corina is an incredibly kind woman though, so I paid her $400 Pesos, which is about $50 US (this is the number that Clara mentioned, so I ended up paying accordingly). Corina wished me a great trip and told me to email her anytime that I want to get information about more art and museums. She was indeed a great guide, but in the future she should let her clients know they have to pay in the beginning :)

So I left Corina and stopped into a little pizza spot and paid about $5 for two slices and a Pepsi and enjoyed some air conditioning and good people watching before walking back to the hostel. I got back and took a nice nap and then came upstairs for happy hour, which is from 6-9pm - two drinks for $5 :) I'm heading to dinner with a guy from Malta and the frenchman who's gonna be a dad, so that should be pretty interesting. I've walked by this amazing smelling steakhouse since I got here so I figured we give it a shot tonight. I'll probably head out with them afterwards - again should be interesting.

OH - and a HUGE SHOUTOUT to Tom Britton, who lives in my old apartment and is using most of my furniture while I'm traveling this year. Tom sent me my Polish passport, so I don't have to pay to get into Uruguay or Brazil, which amounts to about $250 total. It just came today and I couldn't be more excited!!! Pic below. THANKS TOM!!!

Malba - Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires

So this isn't going to be a very long post, but I had to write and just say today was one of those perfectly relaxing and great days. I got up early and had breakfast upstairs while reading out on the deck, when up comes the french guy (who's sleeping in the bunk below me) came up to say hello. He went out hard last night but said he's a very light sleeper, so he didn't sleep much and is now chain smoking and talking with me. He didn't eat any of the breakfast, so after a while of talking he asks if I want to go grab a cappuccino. Of course, if you're dead tired and don't eat breakfast (and you're chain smoking), the next best thing is a strong shot of cappuccino, right? Classic. I don't remember his name but he's from Paris and traveling by himself for a few weeks before heading back to Paris. Apparently he was traveling with his fiancé at first, but then she went to her home in Asuncion, which is in Paraguay. When I asked him how they met he tells me that they met online and talked for about 5 months before meeting. They meet the first time - have sex - and she gets pregnant. HEY-YO! Better yet, this frenchman is catholic and doesn't believe in abortion, so he's now engaged to this girl and they're having a baby. She's only five weeks pregnant and french-guy hasn't even told his mom, and the whole time I'm hearing this I'm just laughing inside. It was one of those conversations where I do a lot of listening, but this time I was more than happy to keep listening. It just kept getting better and better. Anyway, we get back to the hostel from coffee and I give my mom a call on Skype to wish her a happy birthday. I sent her flowers as well, and I was happy to hear that they arrived and she loved them. There's nothing better in this life than making my mom feel beautiful and loved. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be with her today but I'm glad I got to speak with her.

After speaking with my mom I grabbed my things and walked over to the Malba (Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires) to meet a friend of my stepmother. Her name is Clara and she is married to a man who worked for my stepmother's ranch. Unfortunately Clara's husband suffers from Parkinson's disease, and is not doing so well anymore. So we meet at the restaurant to the Malba and Clara is there with her stepdaughter, Adeline. Clara is in her early 60's and I think Adeline is in her mid 40's. Both Clara and Adeline are very classic-looking Argentinian women: dark hair and dark eyes - could almost pass for Italian or Greece, and both very stylish and beautiful. They greet me warmly and I grab a lemonade because I was near-running to make it to them on time. Just as we are about to start drinking, in walks a friend of Clara's who is completely animated and hilarious - full of energy and very artsy. I forget her name, which I feel horrible about, but she is very warm and excited to show me around the Malba (which she knows incredibly well). We get to know one another at the lunch table and then Clara leaves us and me, Adeline, and art-woman (? - feel bad but that's her name for now) head into the museum. There is a ton of modern art in this museum, which I love, and art-woman's details on each painting and each artist are unreal, so I'm loving every minute. We walk and talk and walk for at least a few hours, and at the end art-woman agrees to pick me up and bring me to another museum across town tomorrow at 11am - YES. I love this woman, which makes it more embarrassing that I don't know her name. Once I find out tomorrow I will let you know, because she is great. I leave the museum full of happiness and culture, and I took a TON of pictures but somehow they are not on my camera right now, which bums me out but I'll take more tomorrow.

After leaving the museum I walk back to Recoleta, which is my favorite neighborhood. I'm meeting two of Clara's nieces, Riti and Vero. They have instructed me to go to the only bar in Recoleta that doesn't have a sign out front, so I ask a few people in the neighborhood about the bar and one has to look it up on the internet but I get there a few minutes before they arrive. I order a pina collada and within a few minutes the girls arrive. They both work in the neighborhood and are coming from work - Riti at a private equity firm and Vero is in project management at a drug company (clinical trials, etc). I have to say it was fantastic to speak with locals about Buenos Aires and about Argentina and just hang out. The hostel environment is fun but I really like getting involved in the culture and the local life, so this was great for me. Both girls are very smart and engaging, and we talked about family, travel, Argentinian politics, and many other things. After a few drinks they both had to be on their way, but they showed me a new iPhone app that will direct me to any bus, train, or subway to get from one spot to another - all I have to do is type in my start and end locations. Sounds simple but it's a great thing to have here, so I'm excited to have it in my phone. Riti walks me to my actual bus stop and I take my first bus in Buenos Aires. No, I don't have an exciting bus-story, but I felt more like a local and it was nice to get home super quick.

So that's it - I really wish I had pictures from today because the art was fantastic - modern and interesting and weird and great. Regardless I will have more pics tomorrow! Gonna go to bed in a few minutes here because I'm meeting art-woman at 11am, but I'm passing out full of happiness and excited about seeing more art tomorrow. This is what it's all about for me.

Sleep well, loved ones.

I See Dead People

Today I got up and grabbed some free breakfast here at the hostel around 9:45am - same as yesterday. Jumped a quick shower and then walked out the door and jumped on the subway towards San Telmo, which is the tourist area where I went around yesterday as well. I was hoping to hit up the Museum of Modern art, which was around that neighborhood. Unfortunately I read the map wrong and aimed at the wrong neighborhood, so I walked around for a bunch and took some great pictures before I figured it out. I stopped by the main orchestra hall in town, which is closed right now (but doing tours). From there I walked into a neighborhood called Recoleta, which I compare to old town in Chicago. It had a lot of classic architecture and nice mid size buildings. I was getting a bit hungry around this time, so I found this small cafe and stopped in there for a bite. It was a great find and I had ravioli and some bruschetta, and the waitress was very nice and we spoke about the city and about Chicago. After eating I walked to the Recoleta Cemetery, which is a major tourist attraction here in Buenos Aires. The graveyard is mostly for the rich and famous, and is full of mausoleums - each more elaborate than the next. The most famous grave is for Evita (Eva Peron), who was the first lady of Argentina in the 1950's, before she died of cancer at the age of 33. She is a very popular figure in Argentina, and she represents women's strength and the strength of the working-class people in the country. Her family lays flowers on her mausoleum every day, and I took some pics which you can see below. I walked around the cemetery for about an hour because there were just so many cool mausoleums, and after that I walked back to the subway and headed to the hostel. It was an amazingly beautiful night tonight, so I sat on the rooftop in the hammock and watched the sun go down (some pics below). Been chilling up here for a few hours now and the guys here told me about a rock show that's going on tonight, so I might check that out. Also there is this amazing steakhouse a block away which I'm gonna try, just not sure if it's gonna be tonight or not. Either way, I will report back with what goes down tonight. Knowing me, I could end up chilling too.

Evita's Grave

Evita Grave - they put fresh flowers every day