i couple days ago, i decided to head solo out of buenos aires, and took the train to Lanus, a small province to the south. this Sunday happened to be the day of the elections, and the current city governor won again, which didnt seem like too much of a big ordeal either way, nobody seems to be in huge favor of either person. anyway, they close the bars and everything down really early the night before and the entire world was really tranquil on sunday, which was nice for a day out. Lanus was really residential for the most part, and the more urban areas were all shut down. the sun came out, took time for a cafe, read the paper, watched futbol with the locals, and headed home for dinner.

heres the good part. feeling like you know your way around BAs mass transit? right .... so i took the wrong train home, and asked the kind old man, old enough to be your abuelos padre, if this was the train to constitucion - the station in BA - oh, no, wrong way! so he pulled me off the train, or rather, gripping my arm we guided eathother off, and pointing to the stairs i felt the moment of an argentinian blessing for not taking a train to the depths of the south ... so i make it back and onto my collectivo, the autobus, and then somehow am 15 minutes later stranded in the bus terminal outside of the city! ummm, la calle libertad??? so i get my own special bus that is beginning its rounds. haha. but i miss it AGAIN and end up at the train station so i take this time to meditate afer an hour on the bus system and finally am home i know i will never screw this up again1!!!

bueno. today i head to san isidro again, more bus and train adventures, to the north, to work with a art youth company .... lets hope better luck this time around, eh?

luchadores de amor

dear friends,
i find it amusing that upon leaving new york and the states, many of you said, oh, joe, you wont ever come back, youre going to fall in love with argentina and stay there for good. well, who knows what will happen but i certainly am falling in love once more with my travels. argentina is wonderful, the people warm and open, and ive found myself indeed using this as a job hunt.

on friday i met with the assistant director for the Association of Feldenkrais Argentina, and had an FI, for those of you unawares its Functional Integration, body awareness movement goodness .... anyhoo, was a wonderful two hours, well meet again for an interview and cafe next week. hes also an artist, singer, and dancer and happens to be old friends with my feldenkrais trainer in new york. what a small world! anyway, last night was a night on the town for beers, missed out on a local milonga, tango class-performance- with the couple who run the dance-tango studio ive been using, but there will be another im sure.

this morning an interview with one of the guys in my hostel who does social activism work with youth over in Chile. asked him what sustainability meant, for anyone back in new york that knows my trials and tribulations with this term, it was a great moment. a lot of huh? what? clearly, nobody has any clue about anything whenever this word is uttered. lol.

anyway, sitting here making a hat for myself because its too cold, colder than i thought, and yarn here is soooo cheap! about 5 bucks for yarn and needles, so i have a hat in a day. sweet.

yesterday i took the train up to san isidro, a province to the north of central b.a., more tranquil, ill be up there next week to work with another group. a nice day to get out of the city. deciding now whether to stay here and take some small trips to uraguy, i think i said this before, or to move on to chile or mendoza. thoughts? i am being way to indecisive for my own good. haha.

ohhhh. hahah. everyone cooks for everyone else here in the house, so i havnt been spending much money, which is awesome, but everyoen says ohhh, cook some good american food, so i think, well, mostely i just go out and eat tostadas at the local bodega but i always love deep down south beans, kale, and sweet potatoes ... but really, what everyone is asking for is a hamburger. hamburger, hamburger, hamburger. right. so im determined to make the best hamburger EVER next week, which, honestly, i do quite well. hahah. ill give a report of the overall feedback.

ok. well, thats it fo rnow. friend is bugging me to hit up the park. its a beautiful day and i slept in a bit too long ....

ciao! besos!!

Cosas para practicar

querida amigas,

well, things are moving along here in buenos aires, and it seems i am getting a sense of how the next four weeks will pan out. today i recieved an email from Ph15, a great photography group located in a barrio north of BA who is planning a small encuentro next week and has invited me to the main conference, so it looks like ill be sticking around a little longer than planned. things change fast! yesterday i was losing all hope of my contacts here and about to jump ship to chile but now it seems im finding myself at home in BA and talking with artists and dancers all over the place ... i have several interviews set up this week, so i might very well be housed here for the duration of my stay. not so bad, i can spend weekends in uruguay some small trips up north, south, you know ... around ...

the tango dancer next door proved helpful, no tango shoes yet he recommended the most beautiful and amazing little studio down the street so i spent this mornign dancing and theatricizing and for anyone thinking about what the most ideal studio space would be, well, this was it. there was a fake fire place that felt very real and high cielings and plants and bars and a mirror and beautiful wood floors, a bathroom with sea shells and a little dog that kept barking so you could never be too serious ... and now the couple asked me to come to a tango class and performance on friday. im a little nervous and a little excited so well see how it goes!!!

ok, its bitter cold right now, im drowsy so i either need a siesta or some mate. ciao!

xx

la primera dia

Hola!!

hey guys! so ive landed safely in BA, and am finding home here in a fun little hostel in el Centro, at the heart of the city near La Plaza del Mayo. working hard on my spanish, turns out i´m the only one here that speaks any english but its all good, the conversation flows heartily nonetheless! yesterday was spent floating around to the plaza to see las madres at their weekly march but ended up at a protest for the Corriente Clasista y Combativa, many older folks without work and access to health protesting almost every day, took a bunch of photos and had some wonderful conversation. was mistaken for a journalista but let me snap some quality shots and we´ll see how they can be put to use. the first night ended with a hearty stew of carne y papas, and spent today musing around the tourist sights, San Telmo, viewing the Tango which is amazing. this one couple was dancing in teh square and a young girl, maybe 9 years old, had come out of the crowd to dance with the man, she was amazing, i cant imagine what she´ll be like when she gets older. anyway, now i´ll have to try tango, there´s a professional guy living in the room next to me!!! anyway, drinking lots of cafe, cafe con leche, cafe columbiano, i dont think i will ever drink cafe in the US again! loving it here, as usual, la vida mas lento ... i already downed a bunch of water, oh well, who knows if i will be sick but i got off the plane and was thirsty so i ran to the sink and drank a few glasses and thought oh crap but whatever now its down there, so ok. haha. so i should be here for two weeks, today is a holiday por independencia, 25 del mayo, so ill start work next week i think, and go from there. much to do, much to see! i´ll post some pix of the protest once i get this blog figured out. ....abrazos!