New Beginnings in a New Country: Mom and Dad Survive Argentina: Part 2

Tuesday: I had class once again. Mom and dad sat in a café while I went to teach one of my classes. Then we went and walked all the way down Scalabrini Ortiz, one of the big avenues. We walked down there because we heard there were a bunch of leather shops and we wanted to try and find something good. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. We did a good bit of walking so mom and dad went and hung out at the apartment while I went and taught my 2^nd class for the day. After my class we went to Gringo Stand-Up Comedy. It was a stand-up comedy show that was in English and is the only one in the city. It was actually really good. A little inappropriate to go with my parents, but nevertheless it was funny. I’m definitely going to go again before I leave. On the way to the comedy show I kept thinking about cancelling class. Mom and dad wanted to go to Tigre on Wednesday and I had never been. I was also nervous about them going outside the city alone, especially since I had never been there before. So I ended up cancelling my afternoon and night classes for Wednesday.

Wednesday: On Wednesday the three of us went to Tigre to celebrate 4^th of July. While everyone back home was tanning, drinking, and on a boat… we were on a boat, but bundled up because it was cold and rainy. Tigre is where all the people from the city go for the day to escape the city for a bit. So I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to get there. We could go from Retiro then switch to Tren de la Costa about halfway through. Or we could take the train from Retiro all the way to Tigre. I talked to the taxi driver on the way home from class and he said it was simple and quicker to just take the train from Retiro straight to Tigre. That’s what all the locals do, so that’s what we decided we should do. So the train is supposed to arrive and leave and we are waiting for the train and waiting on the train for a little over 20 minutes AFTER we were supposed to leave. Then all of a sudden an announcement comes on, the doors open, and everyone runs. Well we decide to join in. I heard something about “Tigre Tren 1” but wasn’t really paying attention. Mom, dad, and I run to the train and when we get on the train, I realize for all we know they could have said something about a bomb, who knows. Luckily we made it to Tigre. We took a boat ride around the delta and had some lunch. There was also this cute little stray puppy out there. He was black, long tail, a little chunky and precious. He had to be Arthur’s long lost brother. I mean this dog had white feet like Arthur, black toenails like him, gray around his nose from distress, the way he walked with one foot not really touching the ground. It reminded me of Arthur 100%, not to mention when I tried to give him some food he wouldn’t eat it. Once again… he acted the exact same as Arthur, well as Arthur did. It was sad because that was Arthur at one point and now Arthur has a great home. But, this little puppy doesn’t. I definitely want to go back and visit him before I leave… and pray he is there. I would spend all day playing with him. Then like always on Wednesday nights, we went to Poke. It’s really a restaurant called Magdalena’s Party where all the expats hang out. But on Wednesday nights there is a chef from California that cooks. It’s absolutely delicious. I get the same thing every time: Costa Rican Casado. It has black beans, rice, meat, lettuce, pico de gallo, and some kind of spicy sauce. I absolutely love it and continue to go every Wednesday.

Thursday we made the trek over to Colonia, Uruguay. It was awesome. It was such a beautiful day and plenty of time. The first time that I went, I went for 6 hours and that was about 4 hours too many. This time we went for about 2 hours. It was just enough time to walk around and relax. Of course dad had to drink a beer in Uruguay. There’s not much to Colonia, but when can you go to another country for $100? Not too often, so why not? There was another cute little dog there. He actually ate my crackers though, so I was happy about that. We went to have drinks with Mike, the manager of where we stayed, when we got back to the city. Then we went to Gourmet so that dad could try the empanadas. Now I think he understands why I used to eat them every day. They are delicious and cheap.

Thursday night we went home and packed up to head to Iguazu, which deserves its own blog post so,

To be continued…. (pictures below)