Faux-ner Doner

Hola chic ahola! I could not sleep and went ahead and got up to get ready to go to the embassy to vote and hear them ambassador speak and eat “American food” and just found out we’re not going for another hour. Lucky for you that means a blog post. And I can listen to some Jonas Brothers. We all win.

So far, so great this week. Monday was spent exploring Puerto Madero and Recoleta. I also went to this wannabe Doner Kebab place. If Argentina had Doner, I would be in heaven. Doner was our Spain obsession. Basically all the “fast food” there was Turkish/Arabian Kebap. And they would wrap it all up in a tortilla with magical Doner sauce and you get fries covered in the sauce too – Oh my favorite. Well, there’s not a Doner place here on every corner. In fact I’ve only seen one. So I went to it Monday and needless to say – it’s no Doner con carne de the happy Doner place by the Abuelos house. It was ok, good even, but when compared to the Doner of Spain it’s tough to live up. Faux-ner kebap. That's what I'll call it. I also got this amazing fruit salad for 6 pesos from another little restaurant. It was a huge, like a large American cup, full of fresh cut oranges, apples, kiwis, and strawberries. So good. I took it down to the port and sat on a bench and ate it while watching the yachts. It was a lovely time.

I walked around Puerto Madero for a while. Not really sure what all the hype is about. It’s the new “it” neighborhood but as far as I could see it was just dirty water and construction. Maybe I missed the good part. They do have a cool pedestrian bridge that looks just like the bridges in Valencia. It’s called the Puente de Mujer and is supposed to represent people dancing the tango.

After that I walked to Recoleta to explore. I met up with Brie at a restaurant on Santa Fe. Danielle came too. Then Danielle and I went hunting for this cool shoe store. We shopped around a bit. Then she went home and I went to finish reading my book.

I went out to dinner with Jo and Carly to this awesome place what is so my new fave resto in Buenos Aires. It’s called Cumana. It’s dark and cool inside and they give you crayons and the food is amazing. I got this pumpkin casserole thing. I loved it. I love pumpkin. I’ve eaten it 4 times in the last 2 days. It’s a bit weird because you expect it to be all sweet like pumpkin pie but it’s eaten more just like a normal squash.

Tuesday was lovely as well. I slept in and then went off to Palermo with Carly to eat at this veggie resto that rocked. I got an avocado sandwich that was even better than the avocado delight in Monroe. I then went to the Evita museum, which I really enjoyed. I saw some of her fab clothes (so rainbow high) and read a lot about her and watched some videos and looked all smart and stuff. Then I wandered to this cool café and read the paper and ate medialunas and drank café con leche. Finally I hiked it all the way back, which took over an hour, but it, was nice out and I eat lots of medialunas and needed a little cardio.

Last night I forewent the Democrat debate party and lounged for a while. Brie didn’t go either so we went to this bar we’ve been intrigued by that’s just about 4 blocks from the residencia. It turned out to be quite a night. We drank a beer and bonded for a while. There were 3 boys at the table next to us clearly intrigued by our loud English and blonde hair. I got up to go get us more beer and when I came back, they had basically joined our table. We chatted with them for quite a while. 2 lawyers (one a partial actor as well) and a chemist. One of them is learning English so he asked us some questions. I helped him clarify the diff between fun and funny. A very important thing. Unfortunately, Brie was stuck on the other side of the table talking to one of the guys. He was quite a piece of work. Number 1 – His Spanish was impossible to understand. Something about his raspy voice. Number 2 – All he wanted to talk about was how a Socialist government combined with a super liberal society is the ideal and something about Cuba being the best (after Argentina, duh). We played a fun little game where they would say something about South America and we would say what we thought of like – Colombia – Cocaine! Brazil – Carnaval! Argentina – Evita! And so on. They loved it.

They also love love California. I told them I was from Louisiana and it’s like – blank stare. Once you talk about Nueva Orleans , you sometimes get a response. Or Britney Spears. Lawyer/actor however goes “Louisiana! Con todos los negros!” Then he wanted to know all about integration, etc. Oh Louisiana. Your reputation precedes you.

About 1:45 we peaced out but they’re supposed to call this weekend to hang out. We have to bring a third girl though because the scientist was left out. Lawyer 1/Cuba boy we can totally live without and in retrospect, lawyer/actor that I was totally wooing is probably gay. He was way into how things go in San Francisco. He was just so friendly and enthusiastic… As always.

Today entails embassy party, hanging in Palermo, maybe going to the MALBA (art museum) and - tonight. I have a theater ticket to go see Flores de Acero. Oh yes. Steel Magnolias. In Spanish. As a play. I am going to see Louisiana acted out. I cannot wait! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Mucho amor.
Charlotte









Hola Puerto Madero













My mom has been encouraging me to get a job or do something here that will enhance my future. Done and done.


















Mas puerto




Street in Recoleta. Trees! BMW's! It's just like Ole Miss. How I miss it.