Day 7:
After an unplanned 24 hour layover in the Houston airport - home of hip-hop phenomenon Mike Jones - I finally arrived in Buenos Aires at around 9am. The flight's only English language film had been "The Proposal", starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock, and despite having been marketed as a romantic comedy, it was an enthralling political drama that attempted to tackle the complicated issues of civic identity in the United States and finding yourself in the fast-paced world of the modern economy. See it as soon as you can.
Since I have a really hard time sleeping on planes and had consumed approximately 14 cups of Mountain Dew in the last 3 hours of the flight, I was eager to discuss the movie with soon-to-be roommates, however, the groggy and perhaps not entirely sober Joe Moore who let me into the apartment building clearly had other plans in mind. Matt, through a series of grunting noises that can only be truly understood after a year of cohabitation, made it clear that the day was unlikely to actually begin before the mid-afternoon, and so I settled into the established routine and got some sleep.
Much later that day, we finally headed out into Buenos Aires, with the plan to round out the city's historic cemeteries by visiting El Cemeterio Recoleta. Having spent most of the last two days sitting down waiting for things, I was eager to get some exercise, so of course we took a cab. Once there (and after a quick sandwich), we headed into the cemetery, which was really a miniature version of the city around it. Mammel, whose tour guide had the famous tombs highlighted, was quick to rush us around to various shrines, including San Martin; Argentina's first president; and that one lady Madonna played in that one movie (Oscar snub?). We also got really emo with the photography.
Once Matt had satiated his thirst for celebrity mausoleums, we decided to head back towards the apartment and make a stop at the Museo de las Buenas Artes (not the be confused with the less popular Museo de las Mediocre Artes). Only a short walk away, this nonetheless entailed having to cross a busy street, which in Argentina requires a mix of speed and agility usually reserved for video game characters. After the adrenaline rush of making it to the Museum, the exhibits themselves were somewhat dull, but the blurbs allowed for the much needed opportunity to brush up on our Spanish.
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After rehydrating with a few Quilmes (the Argentine gentleman's Natural Ice), we headed out to dinner. Matt had found a delicious all-you-can-eat steak restaurant a few blocks away, and so Joe and I were a little surprised (but not really) when the restaurant in question advertised only Sushi. Once inside though, Mammel turned out to be correct, and as bonus the meat chef looked like a Disney character. We got our protein fix and headed back to the apartamiento.
After watching the NBA finals back the apartment (SLAMALAMADINGDONG), we headed out to the Plaza Serada a popular area of town with a bunch of bars and clubs that surround a small central plaza. We opted first to go play some pool, where my superior athleticism and the lack of catching involved allowed me to easily dominate the game. Its around this time that we began to instigate our socializing strategy of talking English very loudly. This worked surprisingly well, and we were soon talking to Icelandic exchange students; being the mature college grads that we are, we refrained from making volcano jokes and even pretended that Bjork was a good singer. Soon enough, it was 3:30 am, and the barkeeps subtly hinted that we had to leave by refusing to sell us any more pitchers. Fortunately, the other 80 bars in the plaza were still open, and so we settled in at El Cronico, where the beer flows like cerveza. There, we finally made some Argentine friends, and a drunk guy in a bleached Canadian tux offered to introduce us to his entire family. Soon enough, it was 6am, and in order to keep our 2pm wakeup on schedule, we called it a night.
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