The World of Nickolândia: Finally Leaving!

Well, I've spent almost 3 weeks in Buenos Aires, and am heading out tomorrow finally. It's a great city and you can't run out of things to do and people to meet. My fav city along with Rio, but both totally different. I probably could spend 3 more weeks here.

This is Buenos Aires:

I felt like I got to know the city pretty well, to the point where I knew the names of many neighborhoods and could talk about where things were located with respect to streets. Mainly that is because it is a very easy city to get to know; like Chicago, it is fairly grid like (although Chicago must be the world's most ultimate grid), and once you know the main streets, and can read numbers, your set. Also, it was great to stay for awhile because I got to see people multiple times...Most of the time I meet someone or some people and I'm leaving in a day or two, so it was great to be able to tell people I was here for a few weeks to try to meet up again.

View from hostel balcony:

This building was too cool and ridiculously ornate not to take a picture. I have no clue what it is:

Random Observations:

-PRINT MORE COINS. It is a struggle when buying almost anything at a supermarket. The cashiers always ask you for coins, and occasionally refuse service if you don't have specific enough change. They really put up a fuss. And forget paying with 100 peso bills ($25), which of course the ATM machines dispense. Because of this, lots of times you'll pay 20 or 30 cents more or less cause they wanna horde whatever coins they have

-PRINT NEW BILLS. The smallest bill, the 2 peso, is ridiculous. Half of them are ripped or taped together.

-When taking a cab, make sure you know how to get where your going. If the taxi driver recognizes your accent, he'll probably take a longer route or a slower road. Tell him which roads you want to take to get to your destination.

-Even though there are no coins, always make sure you have coins on you, if you plan on taking the buses (colectivos here). There are no cards for the busses.

-One thing I never mentioned in any blogs is that now I'm very accustomed to the kiss hello/kiss goodbye. (I have some feeling that may be a topic for a Seinfeld episode). Actually, its more of a cheek touch and you make the sound. Some countries, both sides, some countries, one side. I forgot what it was like in Brazil, though. In Argentina more than other countries, the greeting is between men-women, women-women, and men-men. Plus in large groups you need to say hello and good bye to everyone individually, making it a long ridiculous process to go around the group and do the kiss goodbye to 20 people (it has happened more than several times). In my hostel with the Argentinians here, it is also part of the normal good morning process, haha. So, hello's and goodbye's are really a big thing. Also, introductions are big as well, always be very forward and introduce yourself because it's a little rude otherwise. Introductions can be slightly odd, though, because most times, people don't even say their name! They just go around the group and do the kiss hello like a formality. I end up having to ask them their name later. Sheesh.

Voy para Rosario, Argentina, manana de la noche (es 4 horas por bus noroeste), hasta Jueves, y entonces norte a Santa Fe para un par de dias. Despues Corrientes, cerca de la frontera con Paraguay. Hay un parque nacional Argentino cercana de Corrientes que quiero ir a, similar a el Pantanal en Brazil. Hay un gran variedad de fauna aca. Quizas voy a a la ciudad Resistencia tambien por un dia. Y finalmente, creo que voy para Asuncion por menos que una semana, no se el duracion, y despues voy para el medio de la nada en el sur de Paraguay por algun tiempo para visitar una amiga en el Peace Corps. Entonces Brazil otro vez en Junio, quizas Bolivia en Julio, Peru en Augosto, y Ecuador y Colombia en Augosto y Septiembre.

Probably one of the Argentinian Generals or General-Presidents known for killing of indigenous people. A repeating story I've heard, but I have no clue with this statue.

One of the numerous peatonals (Pedestrian walkways) in the center:

The obelisk. I hear this is the widest street in the world. There are about 8 lanes in each direction, with about 2 or 3 more on each side divided by a small patch of grass. Thats probably close to 20 lanes: