darin and i had such a fun night out wednesday. if i live in the upper east side of bs as, he lives in the greenwich village. and the neighborhoods are close to each other.

he took me to a restaurant near him that his argentine filmmaker roommate frequents. it's on the side of a big gym-type building. cheap white plastic tables and chairs, high ceilings, and a very funky crowd. the food is cheap and so good. i had steak and french fries with 2 fried eggs on top! cholesterol overload! plus most of a bottle of wine to counteract the grease. we discussed whether the argentines we go out with here only like us because we're northamericans. and much more.

after that he took me to his favorite ice cream cafe. it has brick walls, leopard striped chairs, swoopy curtains, fake roman columns and statues and a really friendly staff. he goes there a lot. we were the only people there for a time, and the waitstaff were doing kamikaze shots, ha! they shared with us. then they gave us each a plastic spoon and let us go behind the counter and open up containers and try the flavors ourselves! we were double dipping but i suppose that doesn't matter much here. darin is really into ice cream, and this was i think one of his top experiences here. he hasn't stopped talking about it since.
yesterday we went to tigre, a day trip north of town on a very smelly river. they have a good crafts market. i bought a keychain that is like a tiny license plate from argentina. it says ´hugo´ but i could buy one for any of you. send me your requests, en espanol por favor.

now everyone drop me a comment on what you're going to be for halloween!

i've added pics from our party sunday night, a trip to the recoleta cemetery where evita is buried, and my afternoon at the ecological reserve (steve! the ecological reserve!). it's not that cool though. small and scrubby. the kids steal those really tall straw grassy things and the ranger guys would yell at them. i went with gerardo, who i had picked up in the grocery store the night before. or maybe he picked me up. no se.
our party was so, so fun. it was argentinians, some who couldn't speak english, canadians, brits, americans, some who couldn't speak spanish, etc. people we met online, on the street, at shul, in the supermarket and in costa rica. and just to look around the room and see these people talking to each other was truly amazing. i love bringing people together like that.

when í'm in internet cafes downloading pics (thanks, daniel for this camera!) i am here with all these little 8, 9, 10 year olds who sit here for hours and play video games with each other. they call to each other across the room. they say 'che' a lot (che, pablo!). and they talk about killing each other, "matar." it's so smoky in these internet places though, poor kids.
a couple of mistakes that people that speak spanish make in english: they confuse he and she (in spanish those don't exist). and they say your fathers, instead of your parents (that's a direct translation). i usually correct people's english. they may think it's rude but i think i'm doing them a favor. and besides i really want them to correct my spanish. but they never do. i guess they're too polite.

today is the 29th and that's the date when everyone here eats gnocchi. so darin and i are going to go find ourselves some gnocchi now.

more pics of rio are here: http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/nprlistener

i can't write captions though. i can just write a title. i want to move all my pics somewhere where i can write captions.

this is what it looks like when we eat ice cream at mil frutas!

also, right now i am at a computer with a webcam. and people can see me! so cool! you should all chat me up on yahoo messenger then you would be able to see my webcamminess.

well, back in buenos aires, which feels as familiar as america to us now, and spanish is almost as easy as english. a little sad to leave rio, but it's nice to be back in a nice apt. with a good shower and familiar surroundings, etc.
so much about rio, i can't even write it all. we all really loved it. it's such a beautiful city. on friday, we just walked around, along the beach, soaking it all in, having our last eggcheeseburger at our favorite corner stand, our last suco, etc. we went back to the fruity ice cream place. i have lots of great photos, i'll have to figure out how to load them in.

thursday night, our last night in rio, we went to carioca da gema, a samba club i went to last time in rio, where i met jeff. we went with mark and josh, an american i met on lonely planet who wants to move to rio. it was a great night. i love that club. it's like an old, big house with an upstairs where you can eat dinner. and a stage downstairs. it's small and crowded, but so so fun. we drank pineapple and passionfruit caipirinhas. and the guy that asked me to dance said i dance like a brazilian!
after that leah and i tried to meet some guys for salsa but the club was closed that night. so we sat at a bar by the beach with some of their friends and watched the prostitutes. wow there are a lot of prostitutes there. and you know, the regular women in brazil dress like prostitutes in america, so you can imagine what the brazilian prostitutes wear. the thing is, a lot of them are men. but they look just like women. it's crazy.

we're having a dinner party on sunday to tell all our friends about our trip and have them meet inessa.

well. it rains. rio in the rain is better than perfect weather in dc...right?
sucks because today we signed up for a 2 hour boat trip to ilha grande. tropical beaches and snorkeling! i got up at 7am, not easy let me tell you, and woke everyone up, put on my bathing suit and sunglasses, packed up my sunblock and magazines, and went down to wait for the ilha grande bus. but it was pouring rain and they never picked us up. my roommates, who were still in bed, were laughing at me.
we have been having a blast. i have a friend from dc who lives here, mark. mark has been a great tour guide. we went up to pao d'azucar one night at sunset. the most stunning view i think i've ever seen. god i love it here. then we went to a rodizio, where they come around with big swords of meat. then we had caipirinhas at a hut on copacabana beach. a very rio kind of night.
one day inessa and i explored ipanema and searched out this awesome ice cream place i heard about, mil frutas. tons of ice cream with tropical fruit flavors. i had caju, the fruit of the cashew tree (bush?) and it had pieces of cashews in it too. inessa had cachaca which was really good, and alcoholic. it's what they make caipirinhas out of.
yesterday mark took us downtown and we walked all around, cathedrals and government buildings, i've been taking lots of pics with my spiffy digital camera. then he took us to a park with lots of cats, peacocks, ducks, and some groundhog looking animal.

last night jeff took us to an outdoor samba club with live music. we didn't eat dinner and i drank a lot of caipirinhas. and then i was an AWESOME samba dancer. he said i was much better than two years ago. that is the secret to successful wedding toasts and samba dancing. lots of drinks and no dinner!

hello from the cidade maravilhosa, rio de janeiro. i am so unbelievably excited to be here.
we arrived and found our hotel and inessa no prob. our hotel is so-so, but they're giving us a huge room for a good price, US$75 for three of us. it's right on the beach and the weather is gorgeous. the sun feels so good.
yesterday after having our first por kilo lunch, a pay by weight sort of thing very popular here and so delicious (josh i had moqueca de camarao, and i liked it!) leah and inessa went to sleep but i just was too excited.

the last time i was here, two years ago, i met a guy named jeff. and we have kept in touch ever since. he called last night and i went to meet him. his neighborhood, santa tereza, was having an art fair type street walk thing. so i took a cab up there to meet him at bar do mineiro. it was pretty amazing to see each other again after all this time. he kept saying, "this is a special moment". we got to reminisce about our e-mails over the past 2 yrs. i said, remember when you sent me that sweet note after 9-11 and he said, remember when you e-vited me to your birthday party.
anyway i'm really glad i got to see him again. it was fun to walk up and down the street in santa tereza (which our guide book calls the coolest neighborhood in rio) and we stopped in for caipirinhas at different bars, and met his friends on the street. they sort of understand when i speak spanish.

this morning i got up early and walked around copacabana. i found a fruit market and i bought tamarind pods, which are chewy and delicious. i bought acerola, which are small red cherry-looking fruits that taste sour but have the highest vitamin c content of any fruit, and jacabuticaba, i may have miswrote that, which looks like a big purple grape, and pops when you eat it, and you suck the fruit out and spit out the peel and seed. great fun to eat. spitting things in the street like a real carioca.
i just had cacao juice at mister sugo (mister juice)
josh i miss you like crazy! wish you were here.

right now i am chatting with my friend salvador. we are both in internet cafes. his computer has a webcam on it and i can see him! when i write something funny, i can see him laughing! it's so cool. that's one point argentina, us 0.

last night i went out with a brit and an american. a new york jewish guy who loves the giants and has goofy hair, you know the type. and a bald black british guy who's working on a novel. it was fun. they drink a lot. unlike argentinians.
we all gave up our apts. and jobs in london, new york, dc, to move down here. and we are all so proud of ourselves.
i've been at the volunteering at the HIAS office this week. yesterday i was walking home, it's pretty jewish through this neighborhood. and a chabad-type was accosting people on the street and asking if they were jewish. he told me that god wants me to shake the lulav and etrog! so he helped me do it and helped me say the prayers! i was so happy. because i've seen people walking home from shul in my neighborhood with them, and i was feeling kind of left out that i didn't get to do it this year.

i'm feeling uninspired at the mo', but just wanted to post to let everyone know i am still here. i'm really, really, enormously looking forward to my trip to rio de janeiro, which begins this saturday, october 18. though i am dismayed at how much it will cost and how fast my money is slipping away here.
more later when the juices are flowing.

i'm back in the city after a couple of days of fun in salta. finallly found harald, he was late because his bus broke down. because it was hot!
we had a lot of fun exploring salta. we went in churches. we went to central market, which has a lot of butcher stands, fruit/vegetables and cheap empanadas. we ate so many empanadas. it's a specialty of the region. the artisan market had great stuff. i bought some very soft wool stripey socks and some other presents.
i found this little bakery/sweet shop, and they gave me a tour of the factory part where the ladies make candies and stuff. it was so cool! i ate so many sweets and so much dulce de leche that i had a stomachache much of the time in salta. argentinians, they like things really sweet!
one night we went to a nice restaurant that is known for being very "familiar" and informal. it is a beautiful old farmhouse with lots of different rooms. we sat outside under the trees, with the grill sizzling nearby. we ordered a ton of food, a bottle of wine, dessert, etc. it was great and so cheap. after dinner we had coca tea, which is supposed to be good for digestion. [COCAINE!] at around midnight, a group of people started playing guitar and singing songs. oh it was great. but we had to leave shortly. because our tour left so early in the morning. apparently there's dancing too.
the town is in a valley surrounded by mountains. we took a really long gondola ride up the mountain to the top. i was a little bit jumpy! harald took a picture of me being scared. but the view was great.
we took a day trip to calafate, and got to visit two wineries and eat wine flavored ice cream. the wines of the region are cabernet, malbec, and a fruity but dry white wine called torrontes. good and so cheap. 5 or 6 pesos a bottle!
today doug, my ex-co-worker or boss sort of is coming for the weekend. i have no plans as of yet, (besides eating some facturas shortly!). but i'm sure we'll have fun.

hiding out from the heat in salta so i will blog about my breakfast. i took a bus into town and got out at the main square, plaza 9 de julio. don't know what happened on that date but every town has one.

sat at a cafe and the waiter brought me a hot sandwich of egg, thin sliced meat and tomato, fruit salad, fresh squeezed orange juice, and delicious coffee, which always comes with a glass of sparkling water and a plate of little cookies, which in this case was spongey cakes rolled up with dulce de leche. i ate it looking at the plaza, this old fountain in the middle, droopy tropical trees all around it, rays of sun coming through them, palm trees, birds swooping around, just gorgeous. all of this paradise for less than US$3. this is what i'm saying! you should all come visit.

right on the plaza is a huge, old, famous church, catedral something or other. i went inside, just as mass was starting. it's really ornate and colorful inside, beautifully preserved. i could see people giving confession. people dipping their fingertips in the holy water. kneeling in front of big statues/altars of jesus and virgin mary. these things fascinate me. the statues are bloody and gruesomely violent. my guidebook says the colonials' life was so hard, they had to emphasize jesus's suffering just to make a contrast.
this town is very religious, lots of churches and writing about milagros everywhere, etc. it's also very poor. i was sitting outside and people asked me for the rest of my sandwich and fruit salad. i gave it to them. it makes me feel so guilty. i can't help it. that's why i won't be able to bargain here. whatever it is, 10 pesos, $3.50 US. it's nothing to me. a beer. like that time on the beach in brazil, josh, when you bought your bracelet. how can americans bargain down here? it's just insulting.

hopefully i will find harald the german later today and we will spend some time poking around the area. there's a cable car you can take up a mountain for views of the area. i want to go to calafate and go to some wineries. gotta put some shorts on.

bueno i'm off to salta muy temprano in the morning, 0630. this will be quite a shock, since i don't think i've gone to sleep before 2am since i got here. i only get back very late friday night so you guys, m&d, i won't be around for your call....perhaps i will try to call you from salta.

salta is a town in the andean northwest, near bolivia (bolivia! i still can't believe i'm actually here). it´s the best preserved colonial town in argentina, with many beautiful buildings, and a famous cathedral.
there are lots of indians there. there is a mercado artesenal where i plan to drop some serious pesos. e-mail your requests. silver jewelry, ponchos, furniture, etc.
yom kippur i was at chabad, by myself, which was ok, it's yom kippur after all, a time for self-reflection.
the break-fast was at leah's family friends and was very nice. their kids love speaking english with us. i want to tell you about raton peles, the argentine tooth fairy, but i don't have a lot of time. raton is a mouse, and peles is just a very common name here, like jones or smith. their 5 year old, dylan, pronounced dee-lon, lost his first tooth and told us all about raton peles who brought him a chocolate bar and playing cards. too cute.
will try to blog more in salta. will definitely buy a camera and post some pics somewhere. it's supposed to be muy lindo, the mountains, the views. this is how excited i am to go: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

went out with el tiburon again.
still don´t like him. but you know, girl´s gotta eat.

last night we went out for a friend´s birthday, an argentine girl we met at chabad. we went to 'pizza banana', for dinner and dancing and celebrating things. there were rows of tables full of bachelor parties, birthday parties, crazy costumes, general rowdiness. after dinner there was a show, people singing, and making dirty jokes. i didn´t get most of the jokes but i could tell they were dirty, and also the guy kept grabbing his crotch. the music was fun - all the latin pop that i love.
a group of girls were dancing near us dressed like angels in white satin with one devil (i guess the bride?) in red. they were one more gorgeous than the next, i couldn't stop staring at them. where do girls like this come from? you may think i am exaggerating when i say that the women here are stunning, every single one, with fabulous hair and clothes, and so skinny you want to give them a sandwich. but then when you visit, you'll be like damn. rachel was right.

i'm considering going to salta this week with a german guy. i think i'm getting kind of bored here in the city - i've been here three weeks with no real plan, just bumming around every day. getting out of the city sounds fun right now. and he will be a good travel partner. he lives in london so i think of him as british.

today is a gorgeous sunny day and a family that leah knows took us to their club. it´s a jewish club where they do lots of sports including rowing, there´s a pool, they play mah jongg (sp?) it´s on a (very smelly) river and we took a boat to an island. it was fun.
the club is in a suburb called tigre. not le tigre, el tigre.

Tango de la Cruz del Sur is a highly stylized, dramatic show made up of loose skits, like acting out important scenes in argentine history, that all end with tango dancing. like porn, but with tango dancing instead of sex. the show was incredibly ambitious -- many costume changes, scenery, live orchestra, etc. i mean, the shoes alone were enough to keep me happy.
the orchestra was in this cool enclosed hole in the middle of the stage. there were 2 singers who participated in the skits. it got a bit 80s music video. they acted out the dirty war with dancers in skeleton suits. at one point there were janitors dancing with their brooms - think they stole that choreography from the "she works hard for the money" video.
anyway it was a lot of fun to watch. apparently the show is headed out on tour so look for it at a theater near you.

last night i went out with a guy who kept telling me that he was the tiburon of palermo. and he made me feel his abdominal muscles. ew ew ew.

today i went to san ysidro, i may have spelled that wrong, a fancy suburb where all the jews and americans live. i saw a tour advertised in the english newspaper so i signed up for it. we took a bus up there and toured a 250-year-old homestead, the puerreydon mansion. the house was interesting and the grounds were beautiful. the view was spectacular, you could see the water. there was this tree that was 250 years old. it was an aggarrobles tree or something.
the tour sponsor was the university women´s club. a whole bunch of 70 year old ladies and me! ha!

tonight i´m going to a fancy tango show at a theater downtown with the group from leah´s spanish class, should be fun.