Rainy weekend in Buenos Aires

It was rainy and thundery over weekend, and I was not very motivated to walk under the rain. So I stayed in the barrio.

Saturday 01/02. Chacarita cemetery

There is a cemetery close to where I live, of course I could not miss it. It was a bit rainy and all grey - perfect day for a visit.
I like going to cemeteries, you can learn about history of the country reading names on the graves, culture from the context. Here it is mostly Italian, Spanish, a bit of Jewish surnames. Buenos Aires is an immigrant city, New York of South America with European spirit. Italian and Spanish had the most influence on the culture and the look of the city. 

In the centre of the cemetery there are normal graves, the old part is family tombs.
Local star Carlos Gardel's grave is here.  Cigarettes in his hand keep changing. 

In the tombs, coffins are placed on the 'shelves' one above another. Creepy! It is the first cemetery where I felt very uncomfortable being so close by someone's dead body, dozens of dead bodies.

Saturday-Sunday 01-02/02. Pub Crawl.
Pub Crawl is organized bar tour. 3 bars, 1 club, unlimited beer and pizza for 1 hour, free shots at arrival in every bar, lots of young people, including locals.
This was entertaining. On weekend they have dinner at midnight, so they do not go out until late (early?), so in the bars we were alone (we have started at 11pm). We only get to the club at 3am. In UK everything is closed by then! Clubs close at 8am here. Can get subte to go back. Club is like everywhere else: full of people, boring pop music.
Argentinian guys are loud and hug each other a lot and they are short. Few times I thought, a fight is about to start... but they just hug (well, they also kiss each other when they meet). And they are very persistent! Talk with them for 5 minutes, and they try to touch, hug and kiss you. Только успевай уворачиваться! At first it is fun, especially if you come after 5 years in England, when the biggest compliment you've heard was how beautiful your eyes are from the very drunk man (I got a feeling he was not talking about my eyes). But after second bar it became tiring. Especially when you all move as a group and have to meet same people over and over again. So they hug, they kiss and they sing loud songs. That's about it. They were also very interested in my age. And they got it right. Sorrow! Now I know exactly how old I look like.

Sunday 02/02. San Telmo.

There is a famous flee market in San Telmo on Sunday. All barrio is filled with old silver, craftsmen, street performers, tango dancers and orchestras. It was first time I heard tango performed live. It is amazing! So emotional, so involving (does it make sense?). Need to find milonga with live music.

Practiced my Spanish with people in the streets. They all ask the same questions.

Where are you from?

What are you doing in Argentina?

Who did you come with? (Sometimes easier to say with friend/boyfriend/parents...)

What do you do for living? (What???)

Well, at least nobody asked my age today.

Had long and meaningless conversation with drunk artist, he made a wire ring for me. My classmate told a story how Africans in Montmartre trick tourist putting rings to their fingers, poor victims has no options, but pay for it. I remembered the story when the guy started putting the ring on my finger. How much would he ask for this piece of metal? Just a hug. Pfff, Argentina.

I Like being a girl in Argentina. People make rings for you, give you last sheets of tourist information, let for free in Subte. A girl can stop a bus anywhere, even if there is no bus stop, drivers will patiently wait until she crosses the street when green light comes up, someone will always open the door for her and help with shopping, and hunder thousand times in a day she will hear how 'muy bonita' she is.