After a year of living on the road I look forward to shedding my tourist skin. Staying with my friend in Recoleta is a welcome dose of domestic life. She lives with her 96 year old grandmother and I enjoy being a temporary addition to their family. The neighborhood has a Parisian feel to it and is one of the more affluent barrios of the city. Moto travel has taken a toll on my clothing so I hit the shopping district in search of some new attire to better fit in among the well dressed Portenos. I am reminded that the peso is inflating steadily against the dollar as I peruse the high priced shops. With some effort I find a line of off brand clothing that is on sale that fits within my budget.
It’s winter in Buenos Aires and the mornings are chilly but not too cold. Five days a week I walk to Vamos Spanish Academy where I spend 4 hours tying my brain in knots with conjugated verbs. I make good progress in the first week as I am mostly connecting dots from what I’ve learned on the road. The addition of past tense to the curriculum derails my progress and I get a bit frustrated. Damn those irregular verbs. After four weeks I feel like my brain is going to explode and I welcome the end though I am pleased that I’ve taken my learning experience to the next level. I’ve come a long way since that first night in Hermosillo, Mexico where I could barely ask for directions. The instructors at Vamos are top notch and I recommend the program to anyone interested in improving their Espanol.
The rest of my time in Buenos Aires is spent hanging out with friends, eating asado, and taking in the sights. I try to eat and sleep regularly with the hope of gaining back some of the weight I have lost. A steady consumption of Milanesa and Argentine Malbec seems to agree with me. I don’t normally eat a lot of meat but when in Rome. The days roll by and before I know it it’s time to leave. The next leg of the trip will take me through Uruguay with an extended stay in Montevideo as I await a parts shipment and acquire a visa for Brasil.
