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Calle Florida - Buenos Aires, Argentina

I did a blog on the barrio El Centro in Buenos Aires last April.  I briefly mentioned a street that is a huge tourist attraction right off of the Plaza de Mayo.  Calle Florida is about 15 blocks long, and has a lot of shops, restaurants, and vendors selling things they have made. Since this is a very popular destination for tourist, most things are more expensive than in other parts of the city.  I had not been back to Buenos Aires for almost two years, but this street has not changed at all.

I would have to say the craziest/coolest thing that I saw walking down Calle Florida was a man that was deformed, but he was an amazing artist.  He did not let his deformity stop him from trying to make money.  This man had basically no arms to paint with so he used the only other thing he had to hold a paint brush...his toes!  It was absolutely amazing to see this guys actually painting pictures in the middle of the street.  I pray that he makes enough money each day to eat!

Calle Florida is a pretty cool street to walk down during the day, because there are so many people walking around in every direction.  If you love to people watch then this is the place to be!  I would have to say as a precaution to make sure that everything you carry is in your front pockets or zipped up in your bag.  There are a lot of people are walking around that are trying to take advantage of tourists.  It is very easy to get pick pocketed in Buenos Aires, and especially on Calle Florida.  If you are a smart traveler there will be no problems though!  Check out this street when you travel through Buenos Aires!

Graffiti from Buenos Aires

I have mentioned in previous blogs that I love graffiti.  I was walking down Avenido de Mayo, and I saw this on the wall of one of the builings about two blocks from the Plaza de Mayo.  Pretty cool.

I was interviewed on Bikini Beach, Punta Del Este, Uruguay - Video of the Week

One of the best beaches I have ever been to in my life is Bikini Beach in Punta Del Este, Uruguay.  I went to this beach four days in a row with different crews of people that were staying in our hostel, Backpacker La Barra.  It is definitely a must see when visiting Punta Del Este for New Years or while vacationing in January or February.  On our second day at the beach, we saw this camera crew walking around the beach whole day.  It was a guy and a girl who had a camera crew following them.  We think that they were with Channel 24 in Uruguay?  Towards the end of the day they were about 10 feet from our towels just standing there.  I have to admit that one of the crew members  was one of the hottest girls I have ever seen in my life.  I couldn't let this opportunity pass...

So I grabbed my camera, and told my friend Jared to follow me.  I walked over to this girl, and in my "spanglish" (half english/half spanish) asked her "puedo sacar uno foto contigo?"  Or for all the gringos out there, can I take a picture with you.  She said of course.  So I took a picture with her, and the next thing I know I had a microphone in my face.

   

The guy that was walking around with her had come over with the camera crew, and starting talking straight spainsh to me.  They started asking me all these questions: "how did you hear about Punta Del Este, where are you from, what are your favorite types of girls down here?, the Brazilians, Argentines,or the girls from Uruguay?  In the end it turns out the girl who was doing the interview had a boyfriend.  Que mal suerte!  Its ok.  What a fun day.  Enjoy the video!  Peace

Romario's - Pizza in Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Two friends and I recently rented an apartment for 7 days in the barrio (neighborhood) of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We didn't know it when we booked our apartment, but located half a block from where we stayed is one of the most famous pizza restaurants in Palermo.  It is called Romario's.  This place has really good pizza and empanada's.  It is also so cheap (for tourists)!  We ended up eating at Romario's for dinner two times during our stay in Buenos Aires.  This place was always full of people!  You are able to eat inside at a table, at the bar, or even outside at one of the three tables on the sidewalk.  The first night we arrived in Buenos Aires we had dinner at Romario's.  We landed in Buenos Aires at 10pm, and by the time we had gotten ready to go out for the night it was 12pm.  If we were in any other country than Argentina, I would have told my friends that we were going to skip dinner.  But in Argentina, 12pm is about perfect time to grab something to eat before going out. Romario's still had a lot of people eating and drinking when we showed up (12:15 am).  We took a seat in the middle of the restaurant, and noticed that we were the only "gringo's" in the whole place. 

Inside Romario's, it almost felt like a club.  The first thing I noticed was the techno music they were playing throughout the restaurant.  They also had these reddish lights that were turned down making a little darker inside then normal lights.  The atmosphere gave Romario's a cool vibe!  The staff there was also very friendly.  The waitresses talked "spanglish" (half english/half spanish) with us, and always had a smile on their faces when they showed up to our table. 

We ended up ordering a large pizza with two toppings, and had a liter of beer to start.  For those of you that don't know the customs of Argentina, you order a beer and have to share the liter.  So you pour the beer into these little 8 oz. glasses for you and your friends.  It makes it a lot more social to share a drink instead of each having your own individual drink!  I like it a lot!  The pizza's are made in this giant open oven that you can see from anywhere in the restaurant.  In about 10 minutes the pizza came out to the table.  The pizza was still bubbling from the heat of the oven when it was put on our table!  We were starving at this point in time, but we had to wait a minute or two so that we didn't burn our mouths!  The pizza was great!  We had a jamon y queso pizza (ham and cheese).  There are about 20 different kinds of pizza to choose from if you want something else!

The best guitarist in San Telmo, Buenos Aires - Feria every Sunday

Every Sunday, in the barrio (neighborhood) San Telmo in Buenos Aires, Argentina they have a huge Feria (street festival).  It is located on calle Defensa, and this Feria is about 15 blocks long.  They shut down the streets to all cars so that people can walk up and down the streets.  There are all kinds of people selling jewelry, art, glasses, and anything ele you can imagine.  My favorite part of the feria is the street performers.  While approaching Plaza Dorrengo we saw this older man jamming on the guitar and singing love songs to all the chicas!  This guy didn't realize we were taping him, and asked if we wanted a foto foto, but when we told him it was a video he said, "eschuca" (listen), and gave us a his go to song!  Enjoy the video!  Peace

I can't believe 2008 is over!

Time has flown by this year.  I don't know where the year went.  I started out the year living in Washington, D.C., but by the end of February I knew that it was time for me to move on to another city.  I some how got this feeling inside of me that kind of reminded me what it was like to travel from city to city.  So I decided to move from the East Coast to the West Coast!  I am so happy in my new spot in California.

It is crazy for me to think that I have been back from my world trip for a year and half.  When I got back from my trip it was so hard for me to relate to life in the States.  Everything felt so foreign to me when I returned.  I had to get used to driving again, the huge amounts of food when I went out to eat, and the daily grind of working!  After talking to so many people throughout my year long trip, nobody ever mentioned to me what it would feel like to be back home, and adjust to life in the "real world."  It was hard for me to talk with friends and family about everyday life, because I had nothing to say about the "normal" life.  It also seemed to me that a lot of my friends would ask me how the trip was, and would be interested in it for about 3 minutes but then we'd change the subject.  But then there were a hand full of friends that truly wanted to know the about the trip...destinations, people, sites and THE NEXT TRIP!

It is so hard to explain the traveling lifestyle to somebody who has not traveled for an extended period of time, but for those of us who have traveled, I can sum it up in one word...Travelingbug! 

I have a lot more advantages planned for 2009 so please keep checking out my blog.  I just got back from my favorite city in the world, Buenos Aires, Argentina for Christmas.  I also went to Punta Del Este, Uruguay for New Years!  The trip was so much fun! I will definitely have a lot of new blogs coming in January!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!  T.O.M.

(Picture above is from back stage area of Cirque de Solei in Cincinnati in the costume room!)