Traveling with the Kroegers, part duex

The Kroeger's first day in Buenos Aires proved to be more strenuous than anticipated. The hot sun and miles of walking quickly tired all of us out and after a large steak dinner, Steve and Julie were ready to call it a night. But, in true Argentinian style, the night was just beginning for the rest of us. Pablo and Clara came to our apartment and we shared a few Fernet and Cokes to start the night. This was Mike's and my last time to go out with all the people we have met in Buenos Aires, and we were a sad about saying goodbye. We grew to love the city and all the people we met. Our trip to Argentina wouldn't have been so memorable or special if it weren't for them.

Out with the group one last time :(

Our adventure continued with a bike tour around the city. Julie was a bit apprehensive about the trip and worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with the group. But, I was totally confident that Julie would keep up and really enjoy the trip. Our tour took us to the parts of Buenos Aires that Mike and I didn't really know very well and gave us a great history lesson on Argentina and Buenos Aires. We learned why the pink house is pink, why there are palm trees in the city and about the mother's of plaza de mayo. I know that this bike tour is a total tourist trap and way overpriced, but I loved it. The weather was almost perfect, partly sunny with a cool breeze. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"

la bicicleta naranja


Obviously Julie isn't the last person in the group...

Day 2 ended with a great dinner at Pablo and Clara's favorite restaurant. We enjoyed the food and the conversation, and sat around the table for hours, like the Argentina people do. We went out on the town with Pablo and Clara, danced to Reggeton and didn't return back to the apartment till 5 am, we wanted to make sure Kelli learned the ways partying like an Argentine. It was a good thing that our next day was going to be a relaxing day at the cemetery, no pun intended...

Traveling with the Kroegers

Mike and I were really looking forward to showing his mom, dad and sister our new part-time home of Buenos Aires. Not only were we excited to see them, but their arrival meant the beginning of Mike and I traveling around the country and seeing some more things in South America. Everyday for at least a week, we would talk about the trip, breaking down the days and even hours of what we would do. After living in Buenos Aires for almost 2 months, we were really ready for something different and looking to change things up from the usual lazy days and casual strolls around the city looking for the cheapest coffee.


When the day finally came, we eagerly waited for his family's arrival and even took shifts waiting outside looking for their taxi cab. We were both a little worried about the trip from the airport to our apartment, and hoped that they wouldn't be stranded with their luggage miles away from us. Mike and I know how difficult it can be to communicate with those who don't speak English and could only imagine what his family was going to experience at the airport. His family did eventually make it to our apartment, but only after an adventurous and potentially deadly taxi ride. Of course they were exhausted but were definitely ready to start the trip. Our tedious itinerary had scheduled nap time for them and after taking his mom and dad to their hotel and creating a special bed for Kelli in our living room, everyone relaxed and recharged.

We wanted the first day to be slow with a casual walk around the city and lots of time for catching up. So our first stop was at the local zoo, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. I think the main attraction for our group was the many ROUS (rodents of unusual size) wandering around the zoo in search of popcorn. Of course there was the usual lions and tigers, but the buildings of the zoo were also part of the viewing pleasure. The buildings in the zoo seemed very old, as if they were built in colonial America, but modified to host the "birds of flight" or "animals of the night". We also saw a few monkey's fighting, I guess sibling rivalry runs deep for Mike and Kelli.

ROUS..they exist.

It wasn't a very large zoo but it passed the time until lunch at our favorite place, "Chorizo de Loco". We couldn't wait to introduce his family to the famous Argentine chorizo, churisquitos and hamberguesas, all for only a few dollars.

Eating Chorizo de Loco

The grand finale to our day was a trip to Puerto Madero and dinner at an all you can eat steak house, Siga la Vaca. Of course we had to make sure we started off with some Argentine steak for his family and what better than standing in front of a grill pointing at the piece of meat you want. I really enjoy Puerto Madero and love walking along the river, looking at the extremely expensive sail boats and condos. The area has been recently renovated and is a great area during the day for businessmen´s lunches and a very busy spot at night for dinner and drinks. Our dinner left us satisfied and was a great way to end our day. We ended our night together with a few drinks at our apartment with Pablo and Clara and introduced Mike's dad to our new favorite drink, Fernet and Coke.

Victoria´s Travel Tips....

#1: Before going on a 36 hour bus ride, make sure to fully charge your ipod. Unless you enjoy watching the full Modern Talking and Roxette collections.

Its always sunny in Rosario

Mike and I have enjoyed spending lots of time with our new friends Pablo and Clara. We first met them at an asado at the Borges hostel when we first moved to Argentina. We shared a few drinks and got to know each other and quickly became good friends. Clara is such a sweet and fun girl, and reminded me of my friends at home, fun loving and fashionable. Clara told us to make Pablo speak English because he never wants to, or at least never wants to in front of her. I never had thought of Pablo as a shy person, or someone who couldn't speak English well, I think he just didn't like to speak English in front of Clara, mostly because it frustrated her. Pablo is from Chile and met Clara while attending university. Pablo is studying to become a lawyer and Clara is studying public relations and German. Both like to practice their English and pick our brains when it comes to funny phrases or words. A few of Pablo’s favorite phrases include, “raccoon”, “So!”, and “Mike is the man”. We often talked with Pablo on Skpye chat and also learned a few new Spanish phrases from him, most importantly how to laugh online in Spanish, "jajajajajajaja".

Pablo and Clara showed us many parts of Buenos Aires and took us to a their favorite restaurant and favorite party, which is held in an old convent. The “After Office” party is on Thursdays and is the earliest party we've been to in Buenos Aires. It started at about 9pm and went only till 2am. I couldn't believe a party started that early, when was everyone going to get dinner, at 7pm? Luckily for us, Pablo and Clara had some friends who let us in for free and gave us VIP status in the convents courtyard. It was an unusual place for a party and Mike and I both found drinking beer while looking at pictures of the Virgin Mary odd but at the same time, had lots of fun. There were just "too" many free drinks.

Clara invited us to her family’s home in Rosario. Rosario is the third largest city in Argentina and is right on the Paraná River. We took our first long distance bus trip with them, which was only about 4 hours from Buenos Aires, but it was nice to finally see what the Omnibuses were all about. Clara’s parents speak hardly any English, but I couldn’t have felt more welcome in their home. It was now our turn to practice Spanish and Pablo used this opportunity to give us our final examination. Her parents were so kind, and invited us to dinner every night we were there. We had traditional river fish barbeque and of course, steak. Clara’s dad was especially fun to hang out with and even though we couldn’t communicate perfectly with him, he was still able to make us laugh. I couldn’t believe it one afternoon while making lunch with Pablo, Clara’s dad entered the kitchen, pretending to be zombie, because he had just woken up at 1 in the afternoon, very unlike my father, who is wakes up at the latest 5 am. I guess its not just the youth of Argentina who stay up late.


We also had our first chance to use our swimsuits. Pablo took us to the beach on the river Paraná. We took a quick ferry over and hung out for the afternoon. I wasn’t expecting much from a river beach, but this was a pretty happening place. The weather was beautiful and the water was refreshingly cool. There were a lot of boats, jet skis, and people hanging out in the sun sipping Mate. It was quite the party. Rosario is such a beautiful city and wouldn't have been the same without our tour guides.

Another bonus to our visit to Rosario was that we got to meet Clara's two dogs, Blody and Isa, a terrier and Doberman. These were some of the funniest dogs I’ve ever met, who wanted constant love and competed with each other for our attention. It wasn’t like these dogs were ignored, but according to Pablo they needed “too much love”. It was fun to have a pet for the weekend and we enjoyed hanging out with them. Unfortunately, the day after we left, Blody passed away. He was an old dog, with heart failure, but I know that his last weekend was the best and he received lots of love, care and attention from all of us. Clara thanked Mike and I, because we were the reason she went home that weekend, and was able to spend some precious time with her only “brother” before he left us.

Isa, the dog that needs the most love.

Mike and I both hope that Clara and Pablo will visit us in the States someday, and we look forward to meeting Pablo's family for Christmas in Chile.

Doggy Days.

If you ever thought about being a dog walker, I would recommend moving to Buenos Aires. Its a pretty lucrative career choice over here.

That is if you can handle 20+ dogs a day!

Its been a while..

Sorry, I've have been a bad blogger, I know. I was having a hard time putting together an interesting post about sleeping in till 2 pm after a long night out. But, I promise I'll make it up to all of my faithful readers or reader (my sister).

Here's a quick recap of the last month's highlights....

After our Boca experience, Mike and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Argentina National Team game vs. Uruguay. Similar to Boca, the fans were great, but the weather wasn't. We sat shivering for 90 minutes, but Mike couldn't have been more excited to see his favorite player, Lionel Messi, play for Argentina. I'm not sure if I've ever seen him more excited except maybe on his way to a used science fiction book sale. It was cool seeing some of the best players in the world and maybe even the next World Cup Champion play. I still miss American football, but soccer will be an ok replacement for now.

Mike in the River Stadium waiting for Messi.

Mike and I finally thought we got used to the late night schedule of the Porteños. Our friend Sol had a birthday party at a dance club she rented out for her friends. We were told get go to the club at 1 am. Mike and I didn't want to be the first ones there so we came fashionabley late at 1:45 am and to our surprise absolutely no one was there. I was shocked, when was this party going to start? Since we didn't want to be the stupid foreingers hanging out by ourself on the dance floor Mike, Pablo and I went for some beers. Convience stores stop selling alcohol after 11pm, but a little loophole in the system is that they will still deliver. So, we had them deliver a few beers to the street corner, and we sat till about 3 am before returning to the party. Thankfully, when we came back the place was packed and we had a fun time dancing to reggaeton and celebrating a birthday Argentina style. The life of an ex-pat with no job and no school basically consists of going out at midnight, staying out till the sun rises, and trying to sleep during the light of day. I've enjoy a few sunrises and listening to the birds singing on the walk home. But, I much rather use the day time for exploring the city, but when in Rome....
Pablo, Sol and Mike at Sol's birthday party.

My favorite part of traveling is trying new food and going to new places to eat. Mike and I found a great website to help us narrow down the choices of places to eat in Buenos Aires. Guiaoleo.com is great for helping us find the most economical choice for dinner. I've definitely had my fill of steaks and empanadas while I've been here and look forward to a stop at Noodles & Co when I get home, with a nice side salad. Mike has been loving the massive amounts of meat we've been eating and has really become a steak connseiour, evaluating the cuts of meat and crispyness level. Asados are a weekly occurence and we enjoy hanging out with friends while savoring a few churizos and steak filets.

Mike with our Couchsurfing friends at an Asado that lasted till 7am.

En La Boca.....

It would be a crime to not see a soccer game while in Argentina. Boca Juniors is one of the more popular local teams in Buenos Aires, if not the most popular, and we knew we had to get to at least one game. The only problem is that the Boca stadium, isn't in the nicest or friendliest areas of the city. Mike and I were a bit nervous about traveling to the stadium by ourselves and didn't want to spend extra money going with a "tour".

Mike in La Boca

Mike and I have been using Couchsurfing.com to keep updated on all of the events and activities here in Buenos Aires. And we were very lucky to meet some other fans and our Boca "tour guide", Guillermo, who is also a CS member. Guillermo is a huge fan of Boca soccer and enjoys going to the games, I might guess that he hasn't missed a game in years. He often helps tourists get tickets to the game and goes to the games with them. We went with 9 other foriengers, and and got tickets for 12 pesos (woman) and 24 pesos (man). I guess the difference in price is due to supply and demand. After standing in a long line to get the ticets, we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling the weekend market and getting prepared for the game. Guillermo looked after our group and made sure we were safe. I felt totally comfortable and was happy to get this personal guide for the game. We had a great time meeting the other travelers whose backgrounds ranged from Canada to Italy and Columbia (another chance for us to practice our Spanish).

1st time Boca fans, plus Guillermo (a lifelong fan!)

Soccer may not be my favorite sports to watch, but the fans at Boca made this game one of the best sporting events I've been to. The stadium was absolutely packed. Our seats were in the general section, and just like the student section at the Wisconsin Badger games, we only sat down during half-time. The fans constantly cheered and sang. I tried to sing along, but couldn't quite learn the lyrics. Boca fans are known as the 12th player, you could tell that they were just as important for the game as the players on the field. The excitement was contagious and I can't help but saying I'm a Boca fan. Maybe I'll even buy a jersey. Boca ended up losing this game, but the fans were still supportive and continued to cheer right until leaving the stadium.

Boca fans!

I really enjoyed my first official live soccer game and look forward to seeing the national team play next week.

Sing-a-longs