Kristina Argentina

Guineapigging for Biking Buenos Aires’ new Tango Tour/ Argentine May Revolution Day Holiday (25 May 2012)

Biking Buenos Aires will be launching a new tour about the history of tango. We were invited to test it out. 

Willie and I met Robin and Christian (guides), Livia, Amy, and Martín in San Telmo on a gray Friday morning, which also happened to be Argentine May Revolution Day. On the 1 of February 1810 the French occupied part of Spain. On the 18th of May 1810 English ships brought news to Buenos Aires. On the 25th of May, Argentines seized their chance and set up a new government, sparking the Argentine War for Independence. Argentines had realized that their colonial rulers were weak, and that they may be able to defeat them without the British’s assistance.

Christian greeted us with small blue and white ribbons to wear. The tour took us to Parque Lezama, where we learned about a famous tango singer who recently passed away. Right in front of the entrance to the park is the Bar Britanico - which had to change its name to Bartanico during the Falklands War because people were throwing things at it. Next door was El Hipopótamo, taken from the name of a famous club years ago. Apparently the portion sizes were large, and the said tango artist would frequent the place in search of handouts.

Next we headed to La Boca stadium, where we learned that every soccer team in Argentina has their own tango song - listen to the one from La Boca Juniors!

After, we went to Caminito - where we visited the smelliest, dirtiest river and walked around the chinziest, cheesiest tourist trap of a street.

The tour finished off at El Malevaje with a three-part tango music show by Mugre Criollo (a singer and guitarist), Pata Ancha (A quintet), and Quiero24 (an innovative traditional quintet). In between, the cutest an old man recited nationalist poetry about how he would never leave Argentina because he was born there and it had steak, and beautiful women, and tango, etc.

The first band was good technically, but I didn’t like the way the singer and guitarist meshed. The second quintet appeared to be as disjointed as a high school band, all reading sheet music and not really seeming to enjoy it. They did sound very good though, and the singer with his long messy hair and wardrobe completely surprised us with his commanding presence and baritone.

The last band came out with old school tuxes and top hats, the lady wearing a spanish veil. The lead singer was the same as in the first duo. He was much better in the role of an entertaining clown, or payaso. He was wearing a farcical hat with YPF on it (the oil company Argentina recently nationalized), with an Argentine football jersey underneath. He pranced around and got intimate with the crowd.

They started off with a rousing tribute to patriotism, leading the crowd in several songs I didn’t know as a foreigner. They ended with a song that went I love to be a P - p - p - Peronist, P-E-R-O-N Peron! I felt like I was in Berlin watching Cabaret during Nazi Germany and was just waiting for the secret service to come in and whisk him away.

The definite highlight of the night was when he picked out a cute blonde foreigner, proving that looks may be deceiving. She was a foot taller than him, spoke hardly any English, and proceeded to completely upstage him with a full on ballerina dance and can can show as he tried to make her uncomfortable and woo her. It was obvious that this was the first time anything like this had ever happened to him. Sign me up for the next trip with a big bottle of wine!

Last day of GU class / Laura’s going away party (24 May 2012)

The Impossible Trinity or Trilema of International Relations: A country can have two of each of these pairs, but it is impossible for it to have all three. 

Finishing a really great class is like finishing a really great book: you are dying to know how it ends, but you are super bummed you can’t live in its world anymore. That’s how I felt when the last Georgetown class ended. It was very stimulating, and I made friends with a lot of my classmates who I had previously only smiled at before. I suppose a huge difference between the Argentine and American classes are that the American teachers encourage a lot more class discussion and they encourage you to talk to each other. 

The last day of class coincided with the sad departure of a classmate who has been in the program about a year longer than me. To send her off, an email trail went around inviting people to get together. I offered up my apartment, as it was close and seemed the perfect setting for the type of intimate gathering proposed. We ordered pizza and drinks (the supermarkets close at 10pm, so unfortunately there is no alcohol to be bought after that time). It was a great time gossiping about the program, the teachers, and the differences between Argentines and Americans. Hopefully it’s just the start of many more to come!

Los Somáticos en Concert (19 May 2012)

After the first time I saw the energetic Gypsy-like performance of Los Somáticos, I jumped at the next opportunity to see them again. Luring everyone into the backstage area by walking in line playing a dirge, like a ring leader leading a circus to a funeral, the band definitely lived up to its last show. Check out the new addition: [crazy girl dancing video]

I found out about this band through Mario, because the violin player is the older brother of a kid that goes to his school. Now that I work there it was a bit more interesting to carouse with students. But watching the admiration in the eyes of the student while he looked at his older brother was really a touching moment, and I supported by standing up front and dancing along with him. I didn’t get any pictures, but he happened to be the kid who played the role of the naughty Director who takes an overly special interest in female students in the school play a few weeks before.

International Water Safety Day (15 May 2012)

• Drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7% of all injury related deaths.
• There are an estimated 30,000 drowning deaths PER MONTH worldwide.
• There are an estimated 388 000 annual drowning deaths worldwide.
• Global estimates may significantly underestimate the actual public health problem related to drowning.
• Children, males and individuals with increased access to water are most at risk of drowning.

With such staggering statistics, the idea for International Water Safety Day was born.  Developed in part by Shaun Anderson, co-founder of Diversity in Aquatics, Inc., the mission is to spread awareness about dangers with open water and swimming as to reduce the amount of deaths and injury by drowning worldwide. It turns out that most drowning deaths could be prevented by following these 10 simple water safety rules:

1. Buddy Up – make sure you never swim alone
2. Know your limits – do not try to swim further than you are able to, or hold your breath
3. Swim in safe areas – only swim when a life guard is on duty
4. Life Jackets – wear a life jacket if you cannot swim and while on a boat
5. Cold and Ice are not nice – do not enter cold water and stay off ice
6. Reach or throw don’t go – to assist someone in trouble reach to them with a pole, broom or stick, you can also throw something such as a cooler or ball
7. Follow the rules – when swimming follow posted rules and warning flags
8. Never ever in bad weather – do not swim during storms
9. Feet first – never dive into shallow or unknown water
10. Learn to Swim!

Shaun happens to be a friend of Chris’s, and he happened to choose Buenos Aires as the place where he wanted to launch the program (it was simultaneously launched in other parts of the world as well). Mario assisted by pulling together a group of the best English students for the hour and a half lesson.

It was extremely entertaining for the kids and for me to watch. They all commented about how they enjoyed the lesson and are calling for it to be repeated with the entire school in Spanish. Chris is developing the plan.

Afterwards, we investigated the gym and the non-functioning pool in the basement. After fixing a few leaks Shaun concluded it would definitely run. Could this trigger some action for the school? Doubt it, but it is an exciting prospect!

Also, congrats to Shaun and his co-workers on a highly successful campaign in its inaugural year. The US House of Representatives has now passed a resolution (H.RES.658.IH) that water safety should be included in Primary and Secondary school education. Hopefully this triggers some international action!

TEG Sundays at Mario’s house (13 May 2012)

Have you ever heard of TEG? I hadn’t either, but basically it’s Risk. The objectives change every game: you have to take over Asia, or destroy an opponent’s army, or you could have what I got my first round: 3-4 countries on every continent (haha impossible!)

The good thing is that the games don’t last as long as in Risk. It was pretty typical, Caro won, Mario knocked something over, I just tried to mess up everyone else because I knew I wouldn’t win. 

Having gatherings at Mario’s has the dual advantage of surprise visits from his father when he asks us what our favorite pizzas are, then sends them to us from his fabulous restaurant in Recoleta - Vittos. So spoiled!

Pacha (13 May 2012)

I had such a happy relationship with Pacha in Spain. Besides living a block away from it, going there with the Niño was tons of fun, and I heard so much new dance music there - it really started my love for dance music in general.

Then the Niño took me to Pacha in NY. It reminded me why I don’t like the EDM (electric dance music) scene in the states. A lot of sweaty drugged out men running in place. 

Fast forward to Buenos Aires, 8 months in and I finally get to go to Pacha! It was also the last night with Ashley and Janelle, so we wanted to celebrate our time together. We joined the Pub Crawl, which was an overwhelming 250 people, followed it through the few bars we obligingly had to trudge through in San Telmo, and finally arrived to Pacha. 

The outside is pretty cool - looking almost like the Gugenheim Bilbao, lit up in red with the signature cherries. Unfortunately it is all the way near the airport on Costantera Sur - quite the hike, and quite the taxi fare back. But apparently it was just renovated and redone. I can attest to how pretty it is. 

The DJs were really great - I think it was the best DJ I have ever seen in BA. The crowd was cordial. I believe mostly everyone was on ecstasy or acid, which to me was just fine. It meant that everyone was really happy, and also meant that they were really into dancing. No guys grabbed us as we walked by, and were instead just really friendly and respectful. I also got to debut some of the new glasses I painted, and made friends wearing them. We danced til 6am, and I heard the party just kept going til 8. 

Overall review: go with Pubcrawl, or early enough and on a list so as not to have to wait in any line. It’s a hike, but worth it every once in awhile because the music is good, the drinks are cheap until around 3. Niño, when you come to Buenos Aires - we are going!!

Phamilia in Concert (12 May 2012)

When we met the group of guys at UMF, we were told that we were invited to a concert and that we had to wear “outfit subidores”. What does that mean? I asked. Crazy, colorful, flourescent - like what you wore to UMF.

OK…?

Friday night was the debut of Tato’s new band - Phamilia. It was also his, and three other guys’ birthdays, and the going away party of two girls. This meant chaos. 

Phamilia belongs in Brooklyn - one guy was dressed as Prince Ali from Aladdin, another a fur coat. All wore face paint. They also used interesting echo effects with the vocals. I don’t know how to describe it. I will have to find their band link and show it to you.

Anyways, these pictures all just made me laugh.

Dinner with the kids from Biking Buenos Aires (8 May 2012)

As all of you know by now, I am a total baller who gets invited to exclusive events and who knows all sorts of local celebrities. No, it is not cheating if I happen to live with someone who is an employee of one such baller company. Nor is it cheating that I came back from school and there was a room full of employees from said company with a glass of wine ready and a meal just coming out of the oven.

All joking aside, Biking Buenos Aires are some of my favorite people in Buenos Aires, and besides being very privileged to know them, I was very honored to be able to crash their team dinner by default of living in the same house as Brett. It was also extremely funny to come home to a ton of bikes lining the hallway - it’s how apartments around the city should always look!

Karri started things off with his soon to be famous vegetarian pan rellenos. Robin contributed a bomb salad (the key is in the ginger, no not the kid the root!) Brett cooked a delicious veggie lasagna. There was of course ample amounts of wine, and the happy presence of BJ, Livia and Gilad. 

Willie and I responded by cooking dessert - which was a bed of crushed chocolate graham cracker cookies, a layer of vanilla pudding, chilled and then with a topping of dulce de leche. Delectable, absolutely delectable!

Lets just say it was finger-lickin’ good!

Ultra Music Festival, Buenos Aires (5 May 2012)

Whereupon 8 friends go to an electronic music festival, two make lots and lots of friends, and none come back quite the same.

For those of you who are new to the electronic music scene (as I was before this year), the Ultra Music Festival started in Miami in 1999 in tandem with The Winter Music Conference. After the awards show ended, the artists would give concerts for artists and fans. It took off and is now the second largest electronic music festival in the world (after Electric Daisy Carnival). This inspired organizers to make it an annual event. It has since expanded to 6 places worldwide: Miami, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Ibiza, Warsaw, and Seoul. Although it was the first year for Buenos Aires, it is organized by the same people and they did a great job. If there were problems I didn’t notice them: they didn’t run out of water like Creamfields; there were plenty of bathrooms; and the stages were far enough apart that the music didn’t interfere.

So we had a little pre-party in the house with food, drinks and electric facepaint (why not?!) We were in walking distance to Puerto Madero from my house so we set out, got into the venue without any hiccups, and picked a meeting spot. Afterwards, we all went in separate directions, so here is the tale of Brett and my adventure!

The first thing we did was head to the techno tent. It was sweaty and everyone was in the zone. But the vibe in there was electric, and everyone was sharing and caring a lot! Parties attached themselves by putting small ropes around them so as not to get separated; people wore crazy outfits; and luckily enough, they gave everyone ample space to move around. This meant that we walked right up front, and met our first set of friends: Martín y Pablo. They caught my attention because they were super friendly, smiley, and had amazing t-shirts. Turns out they had made them themselves - so for about an hour we were El Equipo Fluor, or the Flourescent Team.

Afterwards we went to the trance stage, where we met our next group of really nice people. A group of guys (Tute, Tato, Pancho, Diego, Maxi, and Nico to name a few) and La Rusa, who had everything prepared and planned. I liked them so much, I decided I would be their photographer, and we spent the rest of the night together. 

Back to the mainstage, where we went to the meeting point. In order to attract the rest of the group, I got up on Chris’ shoulders. This worked like magic and we were almost all together. There we met Exequiel and friends with their glowing gloves. 

Soon after, the original group dispersed. Brett and I stayed together til the music ended, and walked home arm and arm with our new friends by the light of the supermoon. I never wanted UMF to end!

tUnE-yArDs in Buenos Aires! (3 May 2012)

Best known for her song, Bizness, Merril is tons of fun in concert. Always wearing facepaint, feathers, and armed with a ukelele and loop pedals, she puts her heart and soul into every show. She even tried to speak spanish to the crowd and had a surprisingly great accent! My favorite thing she said: “everyone told me that Buenos Aires is a place that you go to visit and end up staying. I didn’t believe them, cause they say that about a lot of places. But Buenos Aires, you really do have something special! I understand now!”

Tyler, Caro, Estefania and I def represented with face paint, feathers and dancing. We stayed and danced a little bit longer and walked out to see the artist herself standing out front. We said hi, shook her hand, and even got in a picture with her! Currently trying to locate the picture from publicists - but what a cool moment!