Week #2: Beach + Mountains = Good times

Hello yall. I´m happy to report that this week has gone considerably smoother than last week with one relatively minor curveball. Without getting into the sordid details suffice to say that deciding to stay at a no-frills, 10 miles out of town, dirty & dusty hostel was a bad idea. Well that's what you get when you're forced to book last minute for the first few days in Mar Del Plata. Adding to the banner experience was that in the end we got screwed out of our last nights deposit by the dishonest owner. I'm cool now but during the time of our getting 'screwed over' by the owner I immediately began lobbing F-bombs like O'Reilly in the direction of said proprietor. What can I say?...I felt an intense obligation to represent NYC. Nonetheless Mark & myself had a strong finish in Mar Del Plata as we enjoyed our final 3 days at the local Sheraton courtesy of my Starwood points. In between all the drama we managed to find some time to horse around, chill at the pool, check out the famously crowded Mar Del Plata beaches and soak up the really nice coastal landscape. Also on the edge of town we found this ridiculous, seemingly never-ending sunflower field...kinda strange but cool. Also we enjoyed the prime seaside location to hit up some good seafood...and of course my foolproof method for choosing the best seafood came through once again. I suggest you follow and begin only eating at places that have large, plastic replicas of the main courses you wish to eat. This will work I swear.

After finishing off our Presidential stay at the Sheraton I enjoyed a not-so-fun 20 hour busride to Bariloche but was worth it since it came with a wonderful meal. I'm now writing you from one of the more awesome/postcard worthy places I have ever been in that of Bariloche, Argentina (it is nestled in south-western Argentina on border between w/Chile). This whole town, which is in the middle of a big lake region is full of stunning views. I did a lot of outdoorsy stuff while here but will fill you in more when I get to my next posting in a week. But you can expect some pretty good pictures. That's right folks I'm just living the dream.

Week #1: A Rough Start

Arrived on Jan 14th in Buenos Aires with no problemas; however I did have a problem with the in-flight movie they showed. The weather is awesome...sunny & warm; it feels great (apologies to those stuck in a frozen NYC). BA is and isn't a great city. BA is not really the type of city that blows you away aesthetically upon first impression; at least not if you're a somewhat yuppie-in-denial like I am. In my experience you really need to seek out and find the best of what Buenos Aires has...and to me the best things to check out are its classic culture and food. In terms of culture I was able to "tear it up" one night on the dance floor. By "tear it up" I mean step on my various partners´ feet while learning the tango. Happy I did it though...if you should ever find yourself in BA then by all means check out Días de Tango; seriously you will not find an experience that will expose you to such a universally beautiful & cool dance style that, in a small way, connects you to the locals while simultaneously crushing your dancing confidence. I've comes to terms with the fact that a blind guy can dance the tango better than me. Here's an actual video of the tango as performed by one of the staff at my hostel who is also a local porteño (i.e. porteño is to BA what a New Yorker is to NYC).

Intro

So here it is folks...my inaugural entry into my South American blog. At the very least I´m sure I will amuse myself writing this blog and I also thought it would be interesting to stay connected with y'all somehow while I'm on the road traveling & having difficulty speaking my 31 words of spanish. I have no expectations for what this blog is supposed to be and you shouldn't either. Let's not forget what a local wiseman named Bavaro once said, "The lower your expectations the better the experience"...and that applies to not only the NYC dating scene but also here. I'm hoping to update it once a week with one or two anecdotes, random thoughts and beautiful/silly pics from that week. Of course this is not a one-way relationship so please feel free to email, text or otherwise harass me in any way technologically feasible on your end and let me know how much you love the blog and how life is in the Big Apple and/or your local environ. Adios amigos.