BA

This past weekend was a long weekend for the entire country. It just so happened that my brother and sister-in-law were visiting Argentina and were in Buenos Aires for the weekend. I took an overnight bus on Friday and meet up with them on Saturday morning to spend the weekend together.

Saturday was rainy and colder than normal. I knew Boca was playing at home and tracked down a fellow who specializes in taking novice fans to games (http://juanchofutbol.com.ar/). We took the plunge and bought our tickets.

The trip started off with pizza and beer at the bar in the neighborhood of Boca.

We enjoyed watching the fans hang their banners, most of which ended up covering the existing advertisements in the stadium.

I've never heard or seen fans like Boca's. The fans call themselves "La 12" - the Xenizes. They sang and jumped the entire game without pause. The game was marked by a lot of cards, but the only goal was beautiful and belonged to Boca. I am a convert!

We saw a lot of other stuff in BA and ate a ton of good food, but Boca was definitely the highlight. We also took some interesting photos like this one:

On one hand it was really relaxing to speak English most of the time. On the other hand, I found myself being put into different scenarios where we needed to communicate and I was the only one who knew Spanish. It was actually easier to speak to people because I knew that I probably would never see them again, whereas in my hometown I'm reluctant to make huge mistakes. I certainly learned my lesson- nothing ventured, nothing gained! I am getting a little bit tired of people recognizing me as a foreigner before I've even finished a sentence, but I guess it comes with the territory.

In all seriousness, this was a great weekend and I feel rejuvenated after catching up with these great people. The placed we stayed was called Cabrera Garden (http://www.cabreragarden.com/ ) and it was fantastic, I would highly recommend it if you find yourself hankering for the BA experience.

However, all is not over. I am off to new adventures as this week's itinerary includes San Rafael, Malargue, and Mendoza before returning home to San Luis. Stay tuned!