The air in Buenos Aires is sweet

Hola from Argentina! First post - welcome, happy Valentine's Day and miss ya. It's been 3 weeks exactly since I arrived in Buenos Aires - 3 weeks today, Saturday. Feels so much longer. I'm a changed man, for sure, for the better. I wonder who will comment, "That's not possible!" Whoever does gets a bottle of Malbec wine when I get back. And things are just getting better. In fact, today is honestly the best day of the trip, I'm now in Ushuaia, the southernmost town in South America, where people leave to sail to Antarctica. My first week in Buenos Aires was sweet - full of great food, beer, wine, and music. Here's a quick video of a Japanese Garden in Buenos Aires where I met a friend and fed some fish:



Feel free to make comments at bottom and you can sign up to follow this blog - which I think means get email when I post - by clicking "Follow this blog." I've been hearing this song a lot down here and loving it – a Cuban version of Coldplay’s “Clocks.” Feel free to use it as the soundtrack while you read this post. Pictures really tell a better story - I’ve posted tons of pix – everywhere is a photo op here - on my smugmug and Facebook page. Check ‘em out!

I arrived in BA on Saturday, Jan 24 in the hot morning. The flight was really long, and I just felt like sleeping when I got to the hostel. Been feeling pretty reflective – thinking about family, friends, the Bay Area, Stanford, Google, and how lucky I am to have this time off. Disoriented, nostalgic and heavy hearted too at times in the beginning for some reason, which is fading. There’s going to be a lot of alone time I think during the trip and it takes a few days or even weeks to get into it and really start having fun, get off of schedule. It’s been good to keep moving. And what an incredible country. It's like Europe but cheaper, with a touch of California in the food and geography. The people have been really friendly. Buenos Aires is nice, with wide, cobblestone streets lined with lush trees. I rented a bike one day and it was the best.

It's hot, and my hair looks like a cue tip because I haven't cut it in a while. I was disoriented for a while, but finally got the hang of BA. The food has been succulent - the chorizo is the best I've ever had. Not spicy, a little sweet. The good food will turn out to be a pattern. I had heard the food was good, but it was so bad in Cuba, that my expectations not high. Every meal here has been excellent - every one! Big portions, healthy, straightforward tastes, and of course, great red wine called Malbec for like $5 a bottle. Dinner starts at 10pm and a tame night ends at 3am. 5 has been the norm. I never did get a chance to eat the free breakfast at the hostel because it ended before 11am.

Spanishism: “Hungover.” In Ecuador I was told me the word for “hungover” is “crudo.” Here it's different and “Estoy crudo” just means “I’m crude.” One morning I said it to some Argentinians working at the hostel and they just kind of looked at each other. A few moments of silence went by and I was going to drop it. But then I asked, and they told me the word is ‘resaca’.”

Un abrazo!