25. Settling in (B.A, Argentina)

The routine of work is beginning to settle on me. I worked ten hours last week, and have four new classes next week. To save money I stopped taking Spanish lessons, and now my former Spanish teacher is taking a few English lessons with me, so I have a private student too, for now. My Mondays to Fridays are usually work-related but I usually have busy weekends, well Friday and Saturday nights anyway. Most of the clubs have finally been allowed to re-open following the December nightclub fire, but most are only allowed half their previous capacity. The upshot is I can finally experience the BA nightlife which is one of the things I came here for, but the downside is that now that I'm working and trying to live on a budget, I don't really feel like partying at all.

The view from my balcony Good Friday morning. Deserted

Feliz Pascua (Happy Easter) for last weekend. Here only Thursday and Friday are a public holiday, which is surprising given this is a Catholic country. Easter here is a lot less commercialised, I saw a few chocolate eggs for sale here and there, but no Easter bunnies.
On Good Friday we went and checked out Recoleta Cementary, one of the final items on my tourist checklist. Its the final resting place for Argentina's rich and famous only, ex-Presidents, Generals, and most famously Evita Peron. What's most interesting is that the coffins are kept in grandiose crypts above ground rather than buried, something I hadn't seen before.

Recoleta Cementary

Good Friday was also the last night in BA for a Scottish friend Duncan so we went out partying, we checked out Roxy, one of the recently re-opened nightclubs, but it wasn't that great a party.
On Saturday I went to a birthday dinner for Paula, an Argentine friend, and then to a housewarming of two American girls I know.

Paula (blonde) and some of her friends in Barduck, an Israeli bar/restaurant

Autumn has descended on Buenos Aires. The days are now around 20 degrees, and this morning it felt cool enough to wear my tie and jacket with my suit at last. For the first time in my life I'd been looking forward to the end of summer as I was getting sick of breaking a sweat before I'd even arrive at work. Granted the temperatures are about the same as in Sydney, but Sydney is slightly better equiped to deal with summer, with air-conditioning in buses and trains, something BA lacks.

People always ask me if I like Buenos Aires, and I honestly don't know. I'm here because everyone says it's the best city in South America and that may well be true, but I don't know as I haven't really been anywhere else. I'm sure I'd appreciate it here a lot more if I'd lived or travelled to other parts of South America first, but having come here from Sydney, which at the moment I think is the best city in the world to live in, BA can hardly compete now can it.
Regardless, I'm not going to pack up and follow the breeze as a traveller should. I made a decision to try and live somewhere in South America for a few months and I'll stick to it.