B.A.CK in Buenos Aires, B.A.BY!

Can't believe that I've been here for a whole week already! I hope I got to everyone with my blast e-mail with all my contact information. That being said, PLEASE keep in touch, leave comments and don't forget about Bella and I!

So, where to start? Well, the trip down here went as smoothly as possible. All the prep work in getting the dog here safely paid off and when I arrived at the baggage claim at Ezeiza airport, her cage was the first thing I saw drifting around the carousel, being followed by no less than 5 children all trying to get a peak at Buenos Aires' newest celebrity. After the initial couple minutes of whimpering, she was back to normal (other than the lovely urine odor) like she'd never left my side. So, grabbed all my luggage, cleared customs with no problem, and jumped in a cab too the apartment. I even sweet talked the driver in really bad Spanish to pull over so she could get in a quick whizz.

The apartment is all that was promised. My landlord, an American named Robert Shive, gave a quick walkthrough and I was set to finally try and sleep for the first time in 48 hours....or was I? As soon as I laid down, my mind started racing with all the things I wanted to do....as if I were only going to be in Buenos Aires for 3 hours instead of 3 months. So after 15 minutes of insomnia, I jumped up, grabbed the dog, the camera, and got to taking some pictures of the hood.

The part of town I live in is right on the border between Palermo Viejo and Palermo Soho. It's a very pedestrian area, with tons of cafes, bars, restaurants, parillas (grill places), and shops. For all of it's popularity, it's very quiet and quaint with lots of trees and cobblestone streets, very reminiscent of New Orleans (especially with the humidity). Yes, the name does come from the Sicilian capitol, pronounced Pal-er-mo, and NOT Pal-me-ro. There is still a decent size population here that still speaks italian, and they absolutely love Bella.

I'm just putting up some general pictures for now just so you can get an idea...more details to come later. Oh, and the sun hasn't really come out yet, so apologies for the greynessnessness.

After grabbing some long awaited empanadas and a coffee, I went back to the apartment to get connected to the internet and make some calls. The power strip that Robert provided me with had this big giant transformer thing that the wireless hub adapter was plugged into. Well, when I was juggling all the plugs on the powerstrip to make room for my laptop, I inadvertently plugged the adapter directly into the powerstrip. I immediately heard a boing sound like from a cartoon and a cloud of smoke coming from the adapter. Off in the distance, I also hear what sounded like shit hitting a fan. Through the magic of modern high-tech photo-editing, I was able to recreate that lovely moment as Exhibit I (for Idiot):

Exhibit I - AKA My first fuckup of the trip

Robert was kind enough to provide me with a replacement router and told me not to worry about it, but I felt it was my duty to replace it anyway. So today, Bella and I loaded the backpack with dog treats, camera, towel, book, destroyed adapter, and my umbrella (which has seen more use in the last week than it would a lifetime in San Diego) and went for a 4 hour walk across town. Objective: seek out a place called "Casa de las Transformadores" or House of Transformers (and all this time, I thought they were from Cybertron). Long story short, with my absolute crap Spanish I was able to procure a new adapter.

Along the way, Bella and I were able to get some sight-seeing in around the fancy Recoleta area. We even tried to get into the world famous cemetery, but they wouldn't let me in with Bella...even though the place is loaded with cats. Something a little racist about that...or I guess it would be spec-ist? Anyhow, last pic for now...this is Bella standing outside the gates of the Recoleta cemetery, looking very pissed off at the apparent double standard.

"Just a bunch of dead people anyway. Woof."

So enough for now! Missing EVERYONE!