Saturday - I got there on time in the morning!

I woke up on time and snoozed until I was running late. I took a really quick shower, and downed a few glasses of water to help wake myself up. I left and booked it to the IES Center. I made it to the IES Center walking from my house in 12 minutes, record time.

I got there exactly at 10:20am, and we actually started loading the bus at that point. I was very surprised, since nothing so far has started exactly on time until this point.

We got on the bus and found out we would be doing a bus tour of the city, and be getting off at three different locations. This sounded perfect, since the bus was comfortable and no one wanted to move in the morning. We drove first to the Plaza de Mayo. This Plaza is the center of the city, having the Pink House on one side, and a few other important places surrounding the square. This was the location of the famous Evita speeches from her balcony at the Pink House, and other events like the Women and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the women who would protest the kidnappings of their sons in the square during the military leadership. From the square, there are two main streets leaving the area, and down each one respectively you can see in the distance the obelisk and the congressional building. It was a really cool place I definitely want to come back and explore for a much longer amount of time.

From there we drove down through different neighborhoods and saw Puerto Madero, the new up and coming rich trendy area, as well as some other sights. We passed the Plaza de San Martin that we had been to a few days before, and passed the Retiro Train Station. We drove along the parks in Recoleta, and all the way down to Palermo. We drove back to Recoleta, and got off in the Cemetery, a famous attraction that is only 4 blocks from my house. We walked around and saw some of the famous people’s graves, including Mercelo T. Alevear and Eva Peron.

From there we got back onto the buss and drove down into La Boca, and passed the stadium that I will hopefully be going to tomorrow, La Bombonera. We got off at the Caminita, the downtown waterside area that is the home of dancing tango in the streets. Although this is not the real Boca, it was a nice tourist attraction.

From there we went to the restaurant Carlitos, right next to the Boca Stadium and enjoyed a feast of food for lunch. They just kept coming with lots of different plates of all different foods and even dessert.

From there we took small vans to the IES Center, and then I decided it was a good time for a nap. I met up with Pete, another kid who lives only 2 blocks from me, and we decided to take the bus back instead of walking. We found a bakery that would give us change with coins, since you need coins to pay for the bus. We figured out the bus system, and for the 80 pesos flat fee, we got home quickly. Pete and I went home to both sleep, and decided we would meet up later for a drink before dinner.

I got home and went right to bed since I was still really tired from the night before. I slept from 4-7pm. It is a really weird feeling waking up from a nap when it is dark outside and dark in your apartment. Usually if I nap at all at home or school, it’s during the day and it is still light outside when you awake. Here, in the winter, it gets dark sooner, and I felt really confused when the alarm went off at 7pm and it was pitch black outside and in my apartment. I took a nice, long, hot shower to wake up. My internet is not working at the moment, and Santiago had warned me about this spotty service. I am writing about the last two days now, since I have not had a chance to with all of my activities. I just spoke to Lauren for a little, which was really good, and I really hope that she will be able to come and visit. I think she calling card expired, and since I can’t call the US, and my internet is down, I have no way of talking to her and letting her know that I am still waiting for her to call back.

I am going out to dinner with a few friends around 10pm, and we will see where the night takes us. Check back soon for the update about tonight’s adventures, as I am sure they will be fun and exciting, at least for me.

UPDATE: Kate, Alex, and I canceled our fancy steak house reservation, since it was really early for dinner and none of us were that hungry. By the time we figured out dinner plans, everyone else had as well, so the three of us met up for dinner around 10pm at this little modern nice looking restaurant a few blocks away, inbetween where Kate and I live and Alex lives.

After two bottles of wine for the table and a very slow but luxurious dinner, we checked our watch and it was 1:30am. In my entire life, I do not think I have ever eaten dinner until 1,30 in the morning. After dinner, Alex departed back home and went to bed. Kate and I started walking back to our neighborhood, and I thought we would head over to that cool trendy bar that I had gone a few nights ago with Jenny. I had found out the name of it was Deep Blue. As we are walking in that direction, all the sudden I hear my name being called on the street and we see Emily and Jenny walking towards us. We say hello and find out they were thinking of going to that bar as well. We walk together and finally get to Deep Blue. When we walk in and ask for a table for 4, we notice that there are three guys from our program already at the bar. Emily and Jenny had hung with them before, so we all went and sat together. We ordered a round of drinks and Jenny and I ordered a halfhour of a pool table. Jenny ended up winning cause I skratched on the 8 ball....she got lucky. Once our game was over we ordered the check and the three guys that were there before left. We paid walked out and found them trying to hail a cab. The screamed a name of a club they were going, so we got into the next cab and went there. The name they told us was more of a area than a club we found out, since it was a few different buildings within a compound. We walked to the biggest one with a ton of people waiting outside. There were two lines, and we chose the shorter one, and asked the girl in front of us where we were and what the difference in lines were. We talked to her for the entire wait on line, and even saw her inside after. For 20 pesos charge for me and 10 for the girls, we got in and all headed to the bathroom. The place was packed. It had a balcony that was empty and was most likely VIP. The dance floor was really busy and there were two stages on either end of the dance floor. Emily and Jenny waited on the line for the coat check and Kate and I didn't see them the rest of the night.

Kate and I headed to the bar, got a drink with our cover charge ticket, and then walked to the dance floor. I saw the stage had an opening, so I got on and pulled Kate up. We owned that stage for a good amount of time. The music was a mix of Reagatonn and Techno, and it was fun to dance to. A few songs later the stage was getting crowded, and Kate and I were dancing too close to the edge to be comfortable. We got off the stage and made our way to the middle of the floor in front of the DJ booth. We danced for a while longer there, and then saw there was an outside area and headed there for some fresh air. Once we got outside we realized that the club was right on the water. The outdoor tiki tent structure was right along the River and was beautiful. I think in the summer this club is going to be amazing outside. We danced for a while outside under the tent, and the music here was more salsa. By 4.45am Kate and I were both tired and ready to leave. We made our way outside and I texted Emily and Jenny to let them know. Once we got outside we found that the line to get in was enormous and really long. I don't know how they fit all those people in that club, but the line to get in was still large at 5am.

We got a cab back to Kate's place and I walked home. At this point I still did not know what the deal was for the Boca Juniors game on Sunday. I had spoken to Santiago about it earlier in the week, but since then I had made no definite plans. I had texted him earlier in the night and set my alarm for 10.30am to see what the deal was. My internet was still down and I was really frustrated. Since I have come to expect internet access in my room, when it doesn't work it really bothers me, since it is the only way to communicate with the US at this point.

My night was fun, and it was the most expensive night I have had so far. My night including a really nice dinner, two bottles of wine, three beers, half hour of pool, cabs, cover charges, etc. cost me around 110 pesos (only 30 dollars). If this is my most expensive night going out, I am definitely cool with that. It was a really fun night, and a good experience.

If you haven't noticed by now, this city knows how the party.....and party really hard.