La Plata

The plan was to head out to La Plata this weekend. Friday night we went to Manolo's (what can I say, we are officially addicts now!) with Gina, Brett and Gina's friend Claire. We had a fab time, as usual, then got home late and Levi went out to Plaza Serrano to listen to music while I (every party needs a pooper) tried to finish my book-nerd alert!- and go to sleep. The next day I woke up around 11:00. Levi woke up around 4. We had lunch, bought the leather bag I have been eyeing and saving for (what am I, 10? Who has to save up for their purchase of a bag? Well, me, living on pesos...) and got on the road at around 7 p.m. So much for day 1 in La Plata.

Anyhow we got on the subte, then got to Retiro, found the bus station after slugging our way through the rain and the ankle high garbage that surrounds the omnibus terminal, and bought our tickets to La Plata. The bus was really crowded and we couldn't even sit next to each other, but we were excited and on our way out of town! When we arrived in La Plata it was dark so we slung our backpacks over our shoulders, ducked under awnings to avoid the giant drops that always come after a rain, as the rooftops and tree branches sit collecting water til they have giant, water-balloon sized raindrops that they let fall at random, and headed straight for the hotel. We got to the Bonaventur or whatever it was called, and it had no rooms. You see, we assumed we could just fly in and grab a room and that would be that. Well, turns out, the man behind the desk told us, that it was the anniversary of the city that night and there were quite a few people in town for the celebration. Shit. So he tried about 10 hotels before booking us in the *luxurious* 76-peso-a-night-breakfast-included Hotel Cristal. This hotel was at least a room and we were glad for that, but it was hot. No air conditioning. Hot. There was a ceiling fan, which we gladly turned on and were immediately met with a high-pitched screeching. Convinced the screeching would stop after a while, we waited. Then we thought it might be better at a faster speed. Now we had a train whistling through our room. Ok, no fan. How about opening the window. Well, not unless we want to watch our neighbors or they want to watch us! It was so close we could have shook hands if they had been home at that moment. Ok, well, we were going out anyway, the room was not that big of a deal. I just needed to freshen up and we would be on our way. Whoops! no toilet paper.

Dinner was at an Italian place the guidebook recommended and was pretty good. We were going to eat then go to the celebration, but by the time we finished dinner we were too late, it was over. Oh well, we went to a bar to watch some live music instead. It was a great bar, and the band was a 60's and 70's cover band. They were really good musicians, but it was their lyrics that we really enjoyed. Our favorite lyrics were (in the origical version) "I'm your venus, I'm your fire..." but this band was singing either "I'm your fetus" or "I'm your penis" we were never quite sure. They also covered Stevie Wonder's Superstition (I have NO idea what they were singing for this one!) And the Beatles' "Come Together"(You can just imagine...!) and a whole lot of Pink Floyd. It was great.

The next morning we were awoken at around 7 by a phone that rang and rang and rang. There was obviously no one in the room, but someone insisted on calling and let it ring for a good 50 rings. Then they hung up and tried again. It was driving us crazy. So finally we got up, had our coffee and headed out to see the town. And it was hot. H-O-T. Our first stop was the government building to see the murals that were painted around it. They were written up as a really great sight and worth seeing. The murals depict the founding of the city, then also different parts of the country and the cultures and costumes. I had my camera at the ready! I got out the map, and we hunted it down. Then Levi got out the map when I couldn't find it, and we got to the right place, and guess what? They have all been painted over. We got a really nice view of some white walls, though.

Then we headed to the big church. It was still really hot, and I mean hot! We took a few pictures, sat in on mass for a bit, then headed back out to make our way to the parks. On the way we stopped for ice cream, changed from our jeans to shorts and a skirt, and immediately felt better. We then headed to the park by way of the street fair, and decided to go to the natural history museum. Boy am I glad we did that! They have the coolest collection of fossils and dinosaur bones and stuffed animals and animals in jars etc. that I have ever seen. It was so cool! And did you know there is a dinosaur called the Argentinosaurus? And there's also an Antarctosaurus? I saw bones from both!

Next we left, got a choripan and a super pancho (finally!) and got on the bus for home. we promptly fell fast asleep until we arrived in BA. When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted with the most incredible attack of allergies I have ever had in my life (though mom and dad you can imagine if you recall the day at the dish...) and I had no kleenex and I was miserable! We got off the bus and I was on the subway and we were changing trains and Levi was trying to help me and all of a sudden I just snapped and was sobbing it was so horrible. Then I got on the next train and we went home. Walking from the train to our house Levi did a hilarious impression of me having a breakdown ("like a matchstick, out of the blue you were like snap! Waaaaa!") which made me feel better. Later we got margaritas which was awesome and we had a very nice end to our weekend.

So overall very fun, though this morning I woke up and my eyes were actually purple, I had rubbed them so much. Damn allergies! Oh well, at least I didn't need make up!