One week. Only seven days more in Argentina. Only seven days more of my grand adventure. It is an exceedingly strange feeling to be waiting to leave. I have been unemployed for nearly two months now, waiting out the summer vacation while I tried to decide if I wanted to stay (and find work again) or go back to the States (and find work again). It has been a strange, restless, shiftless time in my life. But finally, playing tourist is only fun for so long. For me, I think that time limit is about one month. Which makes me wonder about all the “round the world” tourists I’ve met down here, and how the hell a person can play tourist for a whole year? There is a sense of purposelessness, of waiting around for something that I find very unsettling. What exactly do you do with so much time in a foreign country without getting involved in the industry and society of the place?
About a month ago, when we first moved into our temporary apartment in Buenos Aires, I made a list of places that I really wanted to see in the city. It was a long list and covered everything from major tourist attractions to the once monthly all-you-can eat sushi and beer special at a local brewery. Some of those things didn’t happen for one reason or another, the most popular being that January is the crown of summer holidays and some local places simply shut down for the month (also some museums). January is also, coincidentally, the height of tourist season, with all the accompanying tourist traps and street vendors. So Buenos Aires is left with a somewhat strange vibe: many local, cheap places are closed while many very expensive, touristy places are packed. But despite some exceptions, I have done most of what remained on my list after some necessary pruning. Here is a sampling of my recent escapades in and around Buenos Aires:
- Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (I took two full days to see all the fantastic art packed into this gem)
- Recoleta Cemetary, Church, and Street Fair (great place for some very tasty pan relleno from local vendors- cheap!)
- Japanese Gardens (if you have the money, try the sushi restaurant inside the garden… I didn’t have the money)
- Walrus Books, San Telmo (absolutely the best selection of English books in Argentina, and with a great, bohemian vibe too!)
- Nature Conservancy and Bird Refuge (runs along the waterfront and features the only true beach and wildlife in BA. I rented a bike right out front and zipped around the trails in a couple of hours.)
- Museo Evita (I really wanted to learn more about this national icon/goddess. This museum was both highly educational and aesthetically very interesting. Lots of layers of Evita-ness, including selections of her wardrobe, video footage, music, furniture and more. It’s all housed in one of the breakthrough “transition homes” she established throughout the country.)
- San Telmo Street Fair and Antiques Market (huge!!!)
- “Exploring” (i.e. wondering around aimlessly, but looking purposeful so as to avoid mugging) San Telmo, Palermo, La Boca, Puerto Madero, Boedo and upper Almargo.
- Weekend Trip to Tigre (the river delta of the Plata and Parana. I took a boat ride down some of the smaller inlets.)
- “Weekend” Trip to Rosario (further up the River Parana, which somehow turned into a 4-day trip because it was just too cool to leave… I would live here if I ever return to Argentina!)
- Museo de Ciencias Naturales (with dinosaurs!)
- As many restaurants as I can possibly justify: Peruvian, Japanese, Mexican, Turkish, Thai and the prerequisite empanada and pizza dives (better here than in Mendoza).
- As many Heladerias (ice cream shops) as I can justify.
- A seemingly never-ending search for a present for my sister. Today is her birthday! But I am having a hell of time finding something for her.
- Eating an inhuman amount of watermelon. I would call it a watermelon fast, except that I am also eating all that world food…
- Becoming intimate with the Bs. As. Subway system… very intimate (I am in love with the ease of transportation in the city after the nightmare of public buses in Mendoza)
- And some stupid stuff, like watching “Gulliver’s Travels” in 3-D, in Spanish, in the middle of the afternoon, or sleeping until noon, or hunting mosquitoes in my apartment before I go to bed.
It’s a list of my life for the last month. Perhaps it could be longer, or more interesting, or maybe include “earning money” somewhere among all the expenses and time spent penny-pinching, but in the end it’s all I have to show for myself lately and I’m sharing it with you. I can’t help but feel like I’m wasting my time, my precious last week, by not “doing” enough, or not doing the right things. But in the end, I think it’s just about doing things that are memorable to you, the traveler. Considering I just recalled that whole list from the top of my head, I think I’m probably doing ok. See (many) of you in a week!
January 31, 2011
January 16, 2011
A Little Optimism
Today is my 77th day officially smoke-free. Of all my accomplishments here in Argentina, I have to say I think I am most proud of my ongoing quit. Of course, I am starting to experience some of the benefits of better health, including more stamina and stronger lungs. I have even begun to experience a truly out of character inclination to go for a run. What is happening to me? I have ALWAYS hated running. Yet most of my family, particularly my father and sister, incorporate running as a central part of their lives. Does my hatred of the activity really originate in some personality trait, or is it simply a result of my conflicting love affair with cigarettes?
It is amazing to observe the many changes in your life when you remove a negative element. Our bad habits, fears, prejudices, and self-confidence issues are really no different from my smoking. They are all just negative elements in our lives that we desperately need to remove, whether we realize it or not. Like a cancer, these negative elements spread unknowingly, until they infect so many different aspects of our lives that it seems impossible to ever extricate them. But it's not impossible! It is difficult and it requires a lot of love for yourself, but with time and patience it is entirely possible.
As I near my 3 month mark of smoking cessation, I feel that this underlying lesson is perhaps an even greater gift than higher lung function or a new-found interest in running. It is also very complementary to other important lessons I have learned here, on this crazy adventure. They all culminate in this one shocking realization: In the end, almost anything (and maybe everything) is possible if you can learn to love yourself.
Last night, after a long day cruising the Parana/Plata River Delta in Tigre, I watched a screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. This fantastic, funny, and often disturbing film features a song entitled "The Origin of Love." It narrates an old creation myth which states that in the beginning, the two sexes were united in one single body, creating a perfect balance within each of us and eliminating the need to go searching the world for love. It's a good song in a good film, and I recommend it highly. But it is also a great illustration of what I think most of us have lost: self-love and the balance it provides.
I am hopeful that along with balance and a sense of peace, a greater focus on self-love might also help me realize a stronger purpose in my life, find healthier ways to care for my body and make better decisions, and allow me to love others more fully and less selfishly.
I have just 23 days remaining in Argentina. As this crazy adventure comes to a close, I realize that I feel more open and free, even more than when I came. Despite the unexpected heartbreaks, tiny tragedies, and terrible stress of this trip, I do think I got what I originally wanted out of my experience here. I came to Argentina wanting to fall more deeply in love, to live more passionately, and to participate in the world more fully. In the end, I think I have done all of these things, but certainly not in the way I envisioned when I was planning this adventure.
Like my path to smoke-free living, I know that learning to love myself will be a rocky path, full of old temptations and insecurities that "trigger" self-loathing and self-destruction. But like my increased lung function, there are so many little (and great) benefits along the way that I feel optimistic about my odds.
It is amazing to observe the many changes in your life when you remove a negative element. Our bad habits, fears, prejudices, and self-confidence issues are really no different from my smoking. They are all just negative elements in our lives that we desperately need to remove, whether we realize it or not. Like a cancer, these negative elements spread unknowingly, until they infect so many different aspects of our lives that it seems impossible to ever extricate them. But it's not impossible! It is difficult and it requires a lot of love for yourself, but with time and patience it is entirely possible.
As I near my 3 month mark of smoking cessation, I feel that this underlying lesson is perhaps an even greater gift than higher lung function or a new-found interest in running. It is also very complementary to other important lessons I have learned here, on this crazy adventure. They all culminate in this one shocking realization: In the end, almost anything (and maybe everything) is possible if you can learn to love yourself.
Last night, after a long day cruising the Parana/Plata River Delta in Tigre, I watched a screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. This fantastic, funny, and often disturbing film features a song entitled "The Origin of Love." It narrates an old creation myth which states that in the beginning, the two sexes were united in one single body, creating a perfect balance within each of us and eliminating the need to go searching the world for love. It's a good song in a good film, and I recommend it highly. But it is also a great illustration of what I think most of us have lost: self-love and the balance it provides.
I am hopeful that along with balance and a sense of peace, a greater focus on self-love might also help me realize a stronger purpose in my life, find healthier ways to care for my body and make better decisions, and allow me to love others more fully and less selfishly.
I have just 23 days remaining in Argentina. As this crazy adventure comes to a close, I realize that I feel more open and free, even more than when I came. Despite the unexpected heartbreaks, tiny tragedies, and terrible stress of this trip, I do think I got what I originally wanted out of my experience here. I came to Argentina wanting to fall more deeply in love, to live more passionately, and to participate in the world more fully. In the end, I think I have done all of these things, but certainly not in the way I envisioned when I was planning this adventure.
Like my path to smoke-free living, I know that learning to love myself will be a rocky path, full of old temptations and insecurities that "trigger" self-loathing and self-destruction. But like my increased lung function, there are so many little (and great) benefits along the way that I feel optimistic about my odds.
January 9, 2011
Nesting in BA
For the past several whirlwind weeks, I’ve been having a wonderful time exploring Argentina. I also hopped the border into Uruguay, which was a week of beachside paradise even though I never left the big cities of Montevideo and Colonia. I have thoroughly enjoyed being on the move again and I have felt more free and light-hearted since leaving the Eco Farm than I have in months. At certain moments: hanging out the open door of a moving train or gazing out across the Rio de la Plata from a white-sand beach, I think that I harbor something nomadic in my deepest soul. Yet in a little over three weeks, I found myself rapidly growing tired of life in a new hostel every night, of packing and repacking my backpack, which seemed to grow heavier every day (no, I haven’t been shopping…). So I suppose like most of my sedentary ancestors, I too have a strong nesting instinct and crave some order in my life.
In the service of this instinctual reaction to an unsettled life, I returned to Buenos Aires just after the New Year and set about renting an apartment. With almost exactly one month remaining before my return ticket comes calling, I was eager to find some small place to call my own so that I could settle down to the business of exploring the big city properly. To complicate matters, I am fantastically, overwhelmingly broke. As much as I would love to continue gallivanting around this enormous country, I think finding a semi-permanent home is probably the only way I can make my ever-dwindling loan from my parents stretch until the end of the month. And so, I returned to my old friend Craigslist, where with a little luck, I found a very cozy (i.e. small) apartment in a fantastic location (Barrio Norte, on Santa Fe) for slightly less money than my significantly larger apartment in Mendoza. Oh well, I am still saving about 50% by finally getting myself out of the hostel circuit.
I have now been in my new nest for almost a week. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much. I finally visited the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, a huge store of national and international artwork, including some pre-Columbian stone and textile pieces from the area. I made it through roughly half of the huge space, but it’s a free trip so I plan on returning to finish it up another day. I found some yummy, and surprisingly spicy Thai curry at a nearby restaurant. I located my local heladeria (always a necessity) and have become a faithful patron. But although my little nest is at the axis of all the major subway lines throughout the city, I haven’t managed to stray much beyond my new front door. Why do I feel so uninspired, after months of wishing I could experience BA while twiddling my thumbs in Mendoza?
The truth is: I’m pretty tired. I think I’ve reached that wall which looms in front of all budget travelers, when you spend so much time trying to find free things to do and save a buck that you feel just plain pooped by the time you reach your destination. I’m tired of the constant tourist traps. The poverty of the big city wears me down, and I feel an unreasonable sense of guilt when I am approached several times a day by dirty-faced children asking for money. I very badly want to volunteer, which would kill two birds with one stone by giving me something to every day and being free, but unfortunately even the non-profits, government aid agencies, and volunteer networks like South American Explorers require a “contribution” before they will graciously allow you to help out. This is one of my biggest frustrations: I feel like nothing more than a walking cash cow in Buenos Aires, more than I have any where else in Argentina (make that all of South America). I am tired of the assumption that being foreign equals being rich, and the myriad ways this wrongful assumption makes my life much, much more difficult.
If anyone has suggestions about free and fun ways to spend my last few weeks in Buenos Aires, I welcome suggestions. If anyone wants to share their own experiences of feeling worn out at the end of a long trip, I would like to commiserate. In the meantime, I am going to attempt to make some sort of schedule for myself, limiting my research time to one day a week, so that I can hopefully see beyond my front door.
In the service of this instinctual reaction to an unsettled life, I returned to Buenos Aires just after the New Year and set about renting an apartment. With almost exactly one month remaining before my return ticket comes calling, I was eager to find some small place to call my own so that I could settle down to the business of exploring the big city properly. To complicate matters, I am fantastically, overwhelmingly broke. As much as I would love to continue gallivanting around this enormous country, I think finding a semi-permanent home is probably the only way I can make my ever-dwindling loan from my parents stretch until the end of the month. And so, I returned to my old friend Craigslist, where with a little luck, I found a very cozy (i.e. small) apartment in a fantastic location (Barrio Norte, on Santa Fe) for slightly less money than my significantly larger apartment in Mendoza. Oh well, I am still saving about 50% by finally getting myself out of the hostel circuit.
I have now been in my new nest for almost a week. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much. I finally visited the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, a huge store of national and international artwork, including some pre-Columbian stone and textile pieces from the area. I made it through roughly half of the huge space, but it’s a free trip so I plan on returning to finish it up another day. I found some yummy, and surprisingly spicy Thai curry at a nearby restaurant. I located my local heladeria (always a necessity) and have become a faithful patron. But although my little nest is at the axis of all the major subway lines throughout the city, I haven’t managed to stray much beyond my new front door. Why do I feel so uninspired, after months of wishing I could experience BA while twiddling my thumbs in Mendoza?
The truth is: I’m pretty tired. I think I’ve reached that wall which looms in front of all budget travelers, when you spend so much time trying to find free things to do and save a buck that you feel just plain pooped by the time you reach your destination. I’m tired of the constant tourist traps. The poverty of the big city wears me down, and I feel an unreasonable sense of guilt when I am approached several times a day by dirty-faced children asking for money. I very badly want to volunteer, which would kill two birds with one stone by giving me something to every day and being free, but unfortunately even the non-profits, government aid agencies, and volunteer networks like South American Explorers require a “contribution” before they will graciously allow you to help out. This is one of my biggest frustrations: I feel like nothing more than a walking cash cow in Buenos Aires, more than I have any where else in Argentina (make that all of South America). I am tired of the assumption that being foreign equals being rich, and the myriad ways this wrongful assumption makes my life much, much more difficult.
If anyone has suggestions about free and fun ways to spend my last few weeks in Buenos Aires, I welcome suggestions. If anyone wants to share their own experiences of feeling worn out at the end of a long trip, I would like to commiserate. In the meantime, I am going to attempt to make some sort of schedule for myself, limiting my research time to one day a week, so that I can hopefully see beyond my front door.
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