somewhere in week 3

To our loyal readers, we apologize for the absence of blogging over the past few days. I will attempt to re-cap all the juicy details of our recent adventures...

So Friday morning we all woke up bright an early ready to be the ultimate tourists on a bus tour around the city... however to our annoyance when we went to reception to pick up our voucher, we were told that we were bumped to the afternoon bus. grrrr. so we decided to go see what our tango options were. we ended up at a tango hall just around the corner from our hostel. We opted to take a 3hr tango lesson for 20 pesos (bargoons!). Clearly we were all beginners and were ushered to the very back of the tango hall where we were greeted by Roxanna, our instructor. The step-by-step instructions started off slow, but definitely picked up in complexitity by the end of the 3 hour session. Roxanna was great, giving each of us personal tips on how to improve. It was easy to get distracted by the more advanced dancers who were practicing in the middle of the hall... there was an adorable old couple who were probably in their 70s who were brilliant dancers - so fluid in their movement and clearly still in love (muy cuuttteee!!).

After the tango lesson we gave ourselves ´free time´(yes, the HK itinerary is that detailed) and split up to do our own thing. Heather, Arti and I hit up Florida street (shopping galore!)... where Heather ended up finally getting her much desired haircut. despite the hairdressers´lack of english, the cut turned out great and was el cheapo as well ($20!). Arti and I ended up shopping in one shoe store for about 40 minutes.. there were sooo many cute shoes, we couldn´t decide what to buy. I of course bought a pair (yes mom, i know there´s no more room in my closet!) and although Arti didn´t make a purchase, she´s inspired and is eyeing a pair of boots! Bossmat and Cheryl went exploring near the port... this is where I believe they discovered that they were both Sagitarius.

On a side note - the five of us have adopted a HUGE addiction to McDonald´s soft-serve ice cream. We just can´t help ourselves... it´s awful, but ooooh-sooo-delicious!!! We´re all loving the option of the dulce de leche flavour (caramalized condensed milk.. YUM!).

Thus far, we´d experienced planes, trains, vans, taxis and boats, so it´s only natural that we add the subway to our list of transportation methods. When asked to re-count her experience on the Buenos Aires subway, Arti flinches and says 'Oh God!' -- that just about sums it up. It was absolutely ridiculous. Three subways cars went by before we were able to shove ourselves on. We almost had to give it a running start to be able to cram ourselves in. Once inside we were so tightly packed in that you didn´t even have to hold on to anything. We were all hoping that we were hit a subway stop like Yonge&Bloor where half the people would exit and the subway car would free up... no such luck.

We took the subway to an artsy neighbourhood called La Palermo. We walked quite a bit before we a) got to the actual restaurant district and b) found a restaurant that was appealing/in a reasonable price range. Cheryl, Heather and I finally indulged in some good hearty Argentinean meat. Mak and I opted for steaks and Cheryl, a pork/roasted apple option. Arti enjoyed quesadillas and mozza sticks and Bossmat had a tuna salad. And although all our dinners were scrumptious, nothing could prepare us for what came next. We ordered 3 different desserts - tiramisu, apple crumble and the crunchy banana. The third dish was absolutely heaven on a plate (even for me, the non-dessert lover) -- deep fried banana wrapped in filo pastry with a coconut topping and vanilla ice cream on the side. Cheryl, Heather and Arti went at it like a pack of coutis.. it was hilarious and I sooo wish I had videotaped them devouring the plate. It was a wonder that Bossmat and I even got to taste it!! This dinner for me was a highlight of the trip so far -- a great 3 hours of eating, drinking, reminicing, devouring and laughing.

Saturday...
We finally got to take the bus tour. It took us all over the city.. to some neighbourhoods we had already been and others that we had been curious about. The one tidbit that we learned was that 'porteno', the word that described people from Buenos Aires, is derived from the fact that Buenos Aires is a port city. The bus stopped in La Boca -- the neighbourhood that is home to the fan-favourite ´La Boca´football team and to Caminito, an iconic street with very brightly coloured houses. After the bus tour we hopped off the bus early and wandered around the port, where we grabbed lunch. After that on our way back to the hostel we swung by a recommended tango hall to grab tickets for a Sunday night performance.

We were all pretty exhausted after a long day, and had big plans to go out on the town that night, so we decided to all take time to relax/nap before gussying-it-up for our night out. We initially wanted to hit up China town, but after a lengthy discussion with the guys at the reception about dinner options/club options, we decided to stay close to home. We walked a few blocks up the street and consulted about 15 menus along the way before we decided upon Oro d'Dragon - a Chinese restaurant that smelled divine when Heather and I first walked in. The restaurant also had Chinese staff, so the legitimacy meter rank high. We got quite a few strange stares as we made our way to our table. I didnt really think much of it as Heather and I have become accustomed to random stares. With our luck we were sitted behind a table of guys who were smoking non-stop. There were several empty tables near the front of the restaurant, so we attempted to make a move. Heather politely asked in Spanish if we could move to the front. That didn't work out so well. Then we figured perhaps she should try in Cantonese. We were of course assigned to the ONE Spanish waiter in the restaurant, so I asked him in Spanish if Heather could speak to a Chinese waiter. That didn´t work so well as we were then handed an all-Chinese menu (the ones we had previously were in spanish and chinese). So I asked again. woot.. it worked -- a Chinese waiter came over. However, the waiter interpretted Heather´s request as us wanting the guys at the next table to STOP smoking. So she went over to their table and told them to stop. we got the WORST death stares ever. UGH. I swear the guys started smoking even more. we could barely breathe at this point, let alone consider eating. So out of total frustration we high-tailed it outta there. We ended up at a Cuban restaurant... nice atmosphere - even had entertainment (Cheryl and I are convinced the MC was AB's Argentinean counterpart, appropriately decked out in white pants, white shoes and a red blazer). By the time we ate it was 1130pm... well that was when Heather, Cheryl and I ate... Arti and Bossmat, who ordered what we thought was a fairly basic meal choice of beans and rice had to wait and extra 45 minutes.. ridiculousness. All-in-all a very bizarre night.

On a personal note, Heather and I are suuuppppeeeeerrrr excited that both our siblings got engaged!!!!! (no, not to each other). Out of total coincidence Heather´s sister and my brother both got engaged last Thursday -- WOOT!!!!!!!