So it is technically day 3 here in Buenos Aires and boy is it starting to hit me as to where I really am! First off…neither of us know Spanish, on top of that the Argentinian money exchange is so confusing because there is an official exchange and a blue dollar rate (which is technically illegal but you get a better deal) so we have not had the local currency and have felt a little stuck. Our Spanish lessons were also supposed to start today but unfortunately she lost power and had to cancel until tomorrow.
This is both of our first time going to a country, for a month, and creating our own experience. Lets say right now…we lack structure. It is a bit stressful but this is part of the journey, we are learning! We are definitely feeling outside of our comfort-zones. This morning it was torrential down pouring so we waited until the rain let up to explore the outdoors. I do not have rain boots so I threw on a pair of rubber flip-flops, grabbed my rain jacket and we headed out the door to do some more exploring within Palermo. (By the way, rubber flip-flops=blistered feet)
We decide to adventure and find a local CrossFit gym, since we both want to stay in shape while we are down here, and on the way search for a bank so we can at least have some money on us (although the rate is not good through the banks). As we start our journey, we stop at one bank, which kept asking for pin codes that we didn’t have…so we continued to walk down the street towards the gym. We stopped at a McDonalds to see if they would give us change in pesos from US dollars and get some WIFI…UNFORTUNATELY the largest bill they would take is a $20 AND they do not have WIFI. Finally we find success at Banco de la Nacion Argentina, although, I would NOT recommend getting money from a bank, if you do not have to. (I will explain why this is later on)
So now we feel a little having some local currency on us and continue our journey to the CrossFit gym…or we thought!
Below is a picture of our walking directions to the CrossFit gym. We immediately think the walk won't be bad because Google maps always over estimates times but it was taking much longer than 25 minutes. So we reached Av Santa Fe 4000 and decide to call it quits. We are never going to go to a gym that takes so long to get to!
Walking path from our apartment to the CrossFit gym
So at the end of the day we both realized…we need to start to have some structure on this trip. We did some more exploring around Palermo, had lunch, stopped for an espresso and have been in our apartment doing extensive research to put some structure into this trip.
We have yet to go out to a restaurant for dinner but instead have been making our own meals! Tonight we made a rice and meat dish, is it Argentinean? I don't know...but it was delicious, cheaper than eating out, and healthy!
Meat, Veggies, Carbs and don't forget the Wine!
Now this post may seem a like we are little hopeless…but do not worry because we do have some great things coming up this week!
Wednesday – Start Spanish lessons
Thursday – Meeting up with a local couple, Francisco and Cecilia, for a BBQ
Saturday – Enjoy “The Argentine Experience” http://theargentineexperience.com/index/
In the meantime we are planning multiple tours throughout the city and hopefully a trip to Bariloche!