Viale Asado 2006. check this out…

http://www.asadoconcuero.com.ar/asado/

we became celebrities at the festival yesterday.
we got there around 1 maybe, thinking the festivities would be in full effect, it being saturday and all. the place was a ghost town so certainly everyone was at the fair… nope. stuff wasn´t going to really get going till 7 or so. (it´s still a mystery… where were the people in town?!) we played cards and walked around till it started to look like rain. we were headed back to the center of town to find a cafe when the sky opened up so we wandered back to the fair. found a spot with some cover and ordered a 7UP. soon we were surrounded by a camera crew who wanted us to tell everyone why we were here and what we thought about the asado! afterward we were given the royal treatment, best seats, beer, first tastes from the grill. yes. i did try the bbq. it was quite good. and the whole process was intense. you have to understand that the asado is THE soul of argentina. it was taken very seriously. they eat everything. tail. head… everything.
we were serenaded by gauchos who sang with such fervor, the essence of being a gaucho. they passed us maté while someone explained to us their attire.
we couldn´t stay late unfortunately cause the last bus home was at 11, but before we left our presence was made known to everyone by the MC on stage who insisted we stand and be applauded. we were overwhelmed by everyone´s generosity and interest in us. a totally unpredictable day that will forever crack me up.

leaving Buenos Aires

(mostly from an email i just wrote to my mom) 
hello… just letting you know we made it.  it was a close call and i´m grateful to be alive. 

just kidding.  the only close call was that we nearly missed the bus this morning because we took awhile saying goodbye to marina. 

i just had the most luxurious 5 hr. bus ride ever.  far more comfortable than any airline, and even with two movies and a tray of sandwiches.  and coffee and water.  now we´re in  paraña on the rio paraña…  near santa fe.  we passed through both santa fe and rosario getting here and have decided we want to go back and explore because they were awesome.  old colonial architecture and giant shady tree lined streets. 

i´m at the computer in our hostel (Paraña Hostel, the only one in town at the moment) which is a converted home that is most adorable.  old spanish looking tiles, barrel vault brick ceilings, whitewashed walls, a shady patio with built in bbq and a courtyard.  there is only room for 20 here so it´s secure.  there is a white curly haired dog named copo, which means snowflake.  awesome.

it´s great.  we´re having no trouble at all getting around, it cost just over a dollar to get a cab from the bus station.  the station is full of other buses coming and going to places we´re looking into.  i´m in contact with Val to see where we should meet her.  we´re here till sunday.  going to the festival probably tomorrow… 
see, no worries!   

last night was fun.  we ended up just staying at the house.  we had the fallafel thanksgiving dinner with Ivan and then i heard from Cooper that it was too late to come over with dessert so we stuck around, drank fernet and coke, and wine.  César showed up as well as our other housemates.  so it ended up a going away party.  got an hour of sleep before having to get up to pack.  also contributing to our being late to the bus station. 

andrea and mike just played foos ball and are now preparing the mate.  then we´ll probably head three blocks over to the city´s main drag, a pedestrian way and park. 

got to get in on the mate.  talk soon.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING by the way.  i toasted to you all.  xoxo

if i snuggle up to the plant…

…on the balcony i can tap into someone’s wireless internet. so yes, i’m at home but i’ll be surprised if the internet lasts long enough to post.

just wanted to share this with you: 10a convencion. translate the page in google. mike is there now for the next four days. i’ll join them tomorrow night probably. here is K8, the juggle store that mike was so elated to find.

see if i can squeeze in a quick post otherwise: tuesday night marina had a young crowd of musician friends over for dinner so we all cooked up this big awesome brazilian meal. (i find myself within brazil’s magnetic field.  soon.) marina’s daughter is daniella. the two of them are beautiful. mother/daughter. her boyfriend is a pianist in a jazz band. they play wednesday nights so last night we went out to have a listen. i had an expensive dirty vodka martini and was weirded out by the flavorlessness of it. not so good. had fun drawing on bar napkins though, which the band kept. funny story. last wednesday andrea went to the show and met a woman who had moved here several years ago from NY. friends with daniella. turns out she wrote the book andrea’s mom had bought for her before she traveled. Kiss and Tango. ha! stuff like that happens. small world. apparently it’s a tale of her sexplots in buenos aires. so andrea felt she knew a little too much about the woman. heh heh.

here’s some other stuff.
i go here on monday nights:

the KONEX cultural center is really fantastic. i could go there every day of the week for some good entertainment. the outdoor movies i haven’t been to yet but will starting next week when spanish class is earlier in the day. we went to “air condition” about a month ago. it was an aerial ballet correographed by one of the original folks from de la guarda. it was kind of an intro to the scene here. the performances are imaginative in ways i’ve not seen before.  (that and the alternative video festival someone directed us to.  i knew i’d come to the right place.)
also funny: andrea and i have decided we’ve been living the same life but in different cities all along.  today we discovered that our drivers licences photos are identical. strange since we look nothing alike in person.  i think i’ve convinced her we need to be in Brazil for new years.

this is great! my internet hasn’t failed me yet! i’ve got a bottle of wine and have already decided to spend the night in so i’m coming dangerously close to drunk blogging. i’ll cut out now and pick up my banjo.  adios y’all.  haha.  that’s wrong.  i crack myself up.

check it out

here is mike: http://neo.primate.net/blog.php

he can actually write.  enjoy.
(and take a gander at his photos, they fill in the blanks of my collection – which i just updated!)