So what have I been upto till now?
Well, first of all, I've been working all week long, so there's still lots to see and discover.
Last week I met Timon, a Belgian fella who's begun his travel through South America. He's a friend of a friend, which is already a good beginning. We strolled around Palermo Viejo, along Avenida de Borges and enjoyed the lively bars and cosy shops. There must be a Plaza Cortázar close, where the most of Cortázar's novel Hopscoth or Rayuela is set, but I haven't found it yet. Then we got almost lost in the gigantic city Buenos Aires is, but bumped into a cinema and decided to watch a movie. Rudo y Cursi it would be, a very cliché story about two poor brothers who's talent gets discovered and move to Mexico City to play soccer. Life compared to soccer, with one of the stars known to be a quite vulgar Argentinian humorist/actor (said Analía), but Gael García Bernal made the whole thing quite enjoyable.
Another night I came home to find very loveable people right there. Analía offered me mate and she told me a lot of interesting things about Argentina, while Agustín and Analía's cousin were placing the airconditioning in my room. Here's a picture of the two jolly men:
Little María joined us and begged to invite me for dinner, so that evening we had empanadas (the ones with cholo -squashed mais- are the best!) and beer on the terrace. For those who care, Stella Artois is very present here and the premium choice of beer, said to be now partly Brazilian since Inbev bought it.
Analía told me about a Belgian man who is already living here for 15 years and works in a centre closeby that tries to sustain the human rights of the many people living on the streets here, especially children. I don't know what they do exactly, but I am told that they work in a very practical way. She said I could meet him and take a look there, even volunteer. It's called SERPAJ (Servicio Paz y Justicia), which exists in various countries in Latin America and was founded by Nobel Prize Winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel. Analía told me that it was firstly a very Christian organization (like the missionary-system) but it lost it religous hidden agenda along the way. More to find on the little outdated website http://www.serpaj-ar.com.ar/spip/
Friday I was invited to a birthdayparty in Puerto Madero. Sofie from work was so nice to invite us all and it would be a night with delicious food, drinks and painfully wrong music :) The Argentinian fellas downstairs looked quite strange when hearing the so-called 'Vlaamse schlagers en Nederlandse skihutmuziek'.
This weekend I enjoyed getting to know my new flatmate. Now that I share some space with Jeanne La Flamme, I'll have to be careful not to loose my beginning Argentinian accent. (Mais, Gisèle, spéciallement pour toi je vais apprendre plus de français. Quand je reviens, on verra qui parle mieux la langue de l'autre côtée de la Belgique :). ) We dove into San Telmo and gladly evoided the tourist traps, having dinner in a small cantina full of Argentinos.
So far for the update, felling rather sleepy now. We just had a great evening out, tell u all about it later. In Dutch haha.
Greets!
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten