This photo was taken the third day after the accident, regretting I didn't take one sooner.
On Monday I attempted to ride on the handlebars of my friend's Sebastian's bike (mala idea) in front of Miranda- a nice parilla where some of our friends work. It resulted in a bad fall right in front of the restaurant window. Nay likes to call me "Mach 10" sometimes when we're walking around the city together, so i guess it was time for "Mach 10" to take it easy. I've been trying to have an optimistic perspective and see it as a time of "forced reflection" but not being able to go to my ballet classes the last week I'm here, is really a bummer for me. However; this misfortune has given me a whole new appreciation for being healthy and active. The good news is I can walk again so I guess "Mach 10" is "back in the game!"
Mateo and Julie are from Paris- they're wonderful. Of course the French guy would buy his girlfriend not one, but all the roses. We know Mateo through Julieta- our Spanish profe! Our new Peruvian friends who "made" the night. They know how to celebrate! The Peruvian ladies were right in on the photos! That's the cook with the red hat and our waitress in the pink- probably the biggest night the place has had in awhile. That's the torta (cake.) It was made of many unknown things, but definitely topped with a layer of red, jiggly jello. Julie cutting her torta!
I'm not sure quite how to describe this night, but it was one of my favorite nights that I've had in BA. After going to La Bomba del Tiempo -a percussion show, we went to this small Peruvian restaurant to celebrate our friend Julie's birthday. The restaurant had a lot of strikes: bad photos of food on the wall (never a good sign,) a cat roaming around inside the restaurant, a TV blaring some Latin telenovela and a kitchen that was far out of sight. All the fun started with Mateo (Julie's boyfriend) who bought her not one, but all the roses off the guy who came in selling individual stems. The guy practically skipped out of the place. There were two other tables of Peruvian ladies, but otherwise the place was pretty much empty. They joined right in when we sang "Feliz Cumpleanos" and from that point on, the fun only escalated. Everyone, including the waitstaff, got involved. The Peruvians enthusiastic and dedicated participation made for a real, unforgettable night.
Brittany rides all sorts of surfboards, but since her move to the island she's become quite fond of longboarding. I made this painting, as part of her birthday present, in honor of her new classic style. The photo doesn't accurately represent the colors, but you can get an idea.
I didn't take note of who painted this illustrious oil, but I remember being struck that it was done in 1900. The photo doesn't do it much justice, but in person the red was startling and the paint looked fresh. There was a wide variety of mixed-media. This is just a small section of a huge piece that used clay and thread. A three story wall of the museum is a massive window. This piece, which was outside on the deck, seemed like the centerpiece of the collection since you could see it from every floor. It was one of my favorites- the scale and the juxtaposition of such a close- up interior space in an outdoor setting. Girl entering exhibit titled "Somewhere / Nowhere. Algún lugar/ Ningún lugar "by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) Cuban born contemporary artist. That is a pile of silver wrapped candies on the floor- up for grabs. I was curious how they keep the border so neat. Everyone who I observed picking from the pile didn't take any from the edge. And if you were wondering, because I was, they are all the same flavor. Happy guy - free candy! It was obvious that people really enjoyed interacting, being more than just a spectator. Especially the kids who seemed to have that "take as much as you can and run" mentality. This room also had 4 piles of free "posters/ paper" for people to take. Nearly everyone walking around the museum was carrying a large roll of paper. Note to self: if you give away free candy and posters at your exhibit people are bound to like it!
MALBA is exclusively dedicated to Latin American Art, dating from the early 20th century to the present day. It's free on Wednesdays, so I took advantage of a chilly, gray afternoon to go check it out.
waiting for the bus... ready to ski! Erasmo "stoked" on powder.
We made a last minute decision, post discussion with some fellow travelers at our hostel in Mendoza, to ditch our plans to attempt skiing at the nearby Los Penitentes and take an overnight bus to supposedly the biggest ski resort in the western hemisphere, Las Leñas. Nay nor I had packed for cold since the forecast had been pure summer weather. We arrived to Las Leñas early in the morning with nowhere to stay and only to find out the bus to where we had hoped to stay didn't leave till that evening. Nothing was going to open until 9am. I was wearing a summer dress, sweatshirt, leggings and these awful Christmas socks I was so thankful that I brought. We ended up riding the shuttle around, getting lots of stares and asking too many questions at expensive hotel lobbies just hoping not to get kicked out into the cold. There was a blizzard howling outside. We didn't get to ski that first day and the following day Brittany was feeling ill and Nay not entirely dying to hit the slopes. There was at least two feet of fresh powder and it was still snowing. Due to more complications with vouchers I had received from the hostel we didn't get on the hill to midday and our bus left at 4pm. It was some of the best ski conditions I have ever seen. Dry powder up to my knees. Erasmo and I were on the lift when we checked the time and realized we were cutting it too close. Seeing how our luck had been, I wouldn't have been surprised if we had missed the 20 hour bus we had to catch. The chair lift dipped a little lower a ways ahead, so we decided to jump off the lift into a huge mound of uncharted powder. It was well worth the adrenaline rush and we made it back in the knick of time!
Nay caught in some pretty light. Note the progression of these photos, things started off quite nice. You can't see the Andes here, but they made quite a spectacular backdrop. vines, sun and sky.... First stop... olive oil tasting. Tough guys on bikes. "Tough guys"- take two. Brittany's still feeling tough. Into the dust storm...
Erasmo- battling the winds. The majority of the landscape looked like this. Picture this plus "twister." Survived the storm, waiting for the bus in style. Waiting for the bus, taking cover.
This past week Nay and I headed up to Mendoza to meet up with Brittany and Erasmo who were on the top end of their loop returning from Patagonia. To say the least, the trip was a quasi disaster, but incredibly entertaining and memorable. Mendoza is known for its wines and so we decided to take a bike tour of Maipu which is littered with bodegas over a 20 mile stretch or so. It was pushing 80 degrees and the first 10 minutes or so was quite nice- however; the tour on the whole wasn't quite as "Napa-esque" as I had envisioned. The majority of the route was through a run down town, bodegas were hidden behind gas stations and we were getting blasted by truck exhaust. We were all pretty cynical, really ripping the place apart and things only took a turn for the worst. After our olive oil tasting- we had planned to bike to the end and stop on the return stretch- we headed back, into an ugly storm that apparently strikes this region two times or so every year. We lost Linnea, Brittany got hit by a palm frond, sirens were ringing, doors and windows slamming, we were dodging flying trash and riding blind-eyed through twister style dust bowls. We had yet to taste a drop of wine. Once Nay was rescued, we braved the storm to walk one block down to the closest bodega to enjoy a very good glass of tinto- it was well deserved.
