Hot and Sticky in BA....

Well it took a bit of work but the eagle has landed. Love it already!

Where to begin...

I spent the first night of my trip in a Toronto hotel..... My flight out of Van was delayed by 4 hours which meant that I missed my connection out of Toronto. Shiza! So, I rolled into TO at 4 am, hit the complimentary hotel, slept most of the day and then spent the entire afternoon and evening chilling in the Maple Leaf Lounge. For those that don´t know, this is Air Canada´s sweet ass pampering, all you can drink open bar, all you can eat, free internet... Pretty rad. Oh, the joy of travelling! Love it.


So I am getting nicely settled into Buenos Aires (BA). Been walking non stop. I have mastered the metro and the tan is starting to take its magical form. The architecture is beautiful, there are tons of parks and the people here are super friendly. And it is stinking hot! Mid 30´s and sticky sticky humid. Feels great to sweat!

I have been here for two nights and they have both been late ones. Shocking news I know. This city is amazing. At 4 am the patios of the pubs are still packed out onto the sidewalks and the clubs are "just starting" to fill up. Crazy. The city is actually fairly quiet for BA standards aparently as most locals head out of town during the summer weekends.

My second night was pretty incredible. Rob and Breanne (friends from Vancouver) had a connection that incredibly landed all of us at an amazing mansion in a suberb of BA for a party. It was a launch party for a travel website that is starting up and the party was at the most beautiful place. Gardens, gazebos, swimming pool, and of course a big grill barbequing up the most amazing argentinean beef. mmm mmmm. It was a very cool group of locals as well as Americans and Canadians as they have writers that are from all over.

sidenote: this was definitely a party where you didn´t need to bring ANYTHING. but of course we did (good canadian kids after all). "I feel pretty weird carrying these plastic bags full of booze.." - Rob

They definitely earned a plug for their website. Pass it on!
www.argentinastravel.com (sorry, still sorting out how to do links in this sucker)


After the party Chris (Montreal guy on his last night) hit up this wild nightclub. Cash-only bar so I made do with a single crazy energy drink they sell here that is apparently 5 times the strength of Red Bull. This stuff is pretty nuts. Wouldn´t be legal in Canada that is for sure! So I danced my face off till the sun came up and dragged my ass home. Great night. Glad the weekend is over though!


A pic from our apartment. Thanks Rob and Breanne!


A BA wander...








Here are some pix of La Boca, the neighborhood where the Boca Juniors soccer team play. They are the most famous team in Argentina and one of the most famous clubs in the world.






The Spanish is coming along pretty good. I am really enjoying working through conversations with people that speak no english and actually making it work. great feeling. will be amazing when I can actually have a real conversation.


Well, this seems to be pretty damn long..... Oops!

I will end it here. I am heading off to a Couchsurfing party pretty quick so I will sign off.

Love to you all,

Joel