The Inter-American Rock Paper Scissors Championship

Jonathan is a self-proclaimed rock paper scissors master.  His love affair with the game began 3 years ago when he went to Italy with our friend Chris, though undoubtedly he has always had some natural talent.  It just wasn't fully refined until then.  The two of them played an intense best of 100 rock paper scissors match in the streets of Venice.  The stakes?  Wearing an adult diaper for a day.  Jonathan won, though I believe Chris is yet to put on that diaper :).  But regardless, since then Jon has proclaimed himself as an ultimate champion and obviously, what better way to show off your skill than to represent your country in the first ever Inter-American Rock Paper Scissors Championship.

During our stay in Buenos Aires, we spent a lot of time with our cousin Sebastian (how we love him and miss him so :).  During this time we told a few untruths by Sebastian:

1. That South America and North America are not two separate continents, but rather one continent, called America (insert joke about them wanting to be us here :)
2. That Sebastian is good at rock and paper scissors
3. That women from Argentina are more attractive than women from Spain

Sebastian and Jonathan played rock paper scissors everywhere we went - in the bus, in the train, in the streets, etc and one night, after a few drinks, we decided to have the first ever Inter-American Rock Paper Scissors Championship.  Best of 100 (each point is best of 3 throws).  The stakes?  The Panama Canal.  Also, if Sebastian lost he had to hit on every person we told him to the next time we went out to a bar in the city.  If Jonathan lost, he had to listen to Jefferson Airplane's "We Built This City" 50 times on loop. 

Here are a few action shots:

Generally, Sebastian did pretty poorly throughout the entire competition, though he did have a few shining moments.  Sebastian refused to participate in an interview, but here is Jonathan's:  Jonathan's Interview

Here is a video of the last few throws:Championship

Congratulations Jonathan on your victory!!  

PS.  It should be noted that Sebastian is amazing at ping pong and killed the both of us.  

Lanus

Our very last stop in Argentina before we left to go back to Spain was to visit family in Lanus, where Jonathan's mother used to live.  Like Rafael Calzada, where we stayed the majority of our time in Argentina, Lanus is a suburb of Buenos Aires.  We stayed with Jon's mother's first cousin, Josefina.  Our first night there, we went to Josefina's restaurant, Nuestra Pampa, which was absolutely awesome.  We got a tour and merchandise and everything!  We had a big dinner and met most of the family there from Lanus, Jonathan's grandpa's brother's children and their families. 

The next morning we headed out to see Jon's mother's old house, only a few blocks from where Josefina lives.  The house appears abandoned now, but we took a few shots.  Josefina also showed us the corner store where she and Jonathan's mom would go and buy alfajores (dulce de leche filled cakes).

From there we went to La Boca, neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires.  Historically, it is the part of the city where the shipyard people lived.  They used the paint from the boats to paint the outside of their homes, resulting in all of these multicolored homes.  We had already been to La Boca, but we went in the middle of summer and it was completely full of tourists, so we wanted to go again to take some photos.  There are some parts of La Boca that are really annoying and full of tourists and tourist merch, but there are other parts that are really beautiful and fun to wander around. 

Later that night we headed back to their restaurant to grab a quick bite and a few drinks.

Our last night we went to have dinner at Angelica's home, which is also located in Lanus.  We had a really nice time spending time together, looking at old photos, telling stories, and learning family secrets :).  They served us some good Galego food - fish empanadas, shrimp, and calamari (a welcomed reprieve from the all meat, all the time diet we were on in Argentina).  The first picture is of Angelica, who wanted me to show Jon's grandmother that we were using the tea cups Jon's grandparents gave them for their wedding.

I do also have to include this photo Jon took of an old photo, where Jon's grandpa is quite obviously telling one of the greatest stories ever told :).

Butter Lamb!

A Butter Lamb is literally, a lamb made out of butter.  It is a Polish Catholic tradition to have one every year for Easter.  According to Wikipedia, Butter Lambs are somewhat of a tradition in Buffalo, which I never knew, but I guess it makes sense, we've got a lot of Polish people.  But anyways, I like to buy one for Easter every year, but am obviously unable this year, so I decided to make one myself.  After much internet research, I used butter sticks as a base and then used a garlic press to make my lambswool.  It turned out awesome, and I have now decided to give up buying butter lambs (I will only go to the Broadway Market for sausage :) and to make them every year!!  Too bad that I will probably be the only person tomorrow who eats it.  Unfortunately, Spaniards don't eat butter and I can't make an olive oil lamb :)

My Birthday!!

My favorite annual holiday is my birthday.  As Jonathan will tell you, I begin thinking about it and reminding everyone that it's coming a few months in advance :).  So I decided that this year, as I was spending my birthday in Argentina, I wanted to do it up, Argentina style.  I gave Jonathan the reins and told him that I wanted him to plan it all for me. 

So that day I slept in and hung out all day with Jonathan.  I also spent time calling my family (it's weird to have to call people so that they can wish you a happy birthday) and talking to them.  It was nice to talk to them because on my birthday, as with all important days, I miss them more.  At some point during the afternoon Nora and Jorge came back to wish me a happy birthday and give me a little gift (some earings and a bracelet with this pretty, Indian themed pattern...to which Sebastian stated, "you know that we killed all of those people, right" haha).  But in that moment, with Nora and Jorge, I felt very emotional and started to cry.  It was this wonderful mix of missing my family and thinking about how incredible all of the family here in Argentina, but them specifically, have been to us.  Nora gave me a big hug and in a half sobbing kind of way (in the same gracious style that I said my wedding vows) I say in Spanish "you guys are so nice to me". haha.  We've started saying goodbye to all of the family here, as we go back to Spain tomorrow, and I can't even imagine what it's going to be like to say goodbye to Nora and Jorge.  Words can't express the generosity and love they have shown us. 

But anyways, Jonathan and I went out that afternoon to pick out a cake.  We also stopped at a party store to pick out some candles (I picked some gorgeous, glittery pink candles :).  Later that night we had, as I'm sure you could guess, beef and wine (Jonathan and I picked out some nice bottles of wine the day prior to try two wineries that we didn't have the time to visit on our trip to Mendoza, Monteviejo and Catena Zapata - Awesome wine).  Jonathan also cooked me broccoli :).  They decorated the kitchen with balloons and streamers as a surprise.  I saw Sebastian spraying perfume in the kitchen and as I started making a joke about how he was smelly or dirty or something like that (I know, very elegant, eh?) I entered the kitchen and saw how awesome it was all decorated.  What a great surprise!!!  They even bought me a crown :)  The night was really awesome, we ate, drank, and enjoyed each others company.  Jonathan even let me watch movies in bed (he likes to enforce a strict no TV in bed policy, which I agree with in theory...but there's something so cozy about watching movies in bed). 

Cockroach

So generally Jon goes to bed an hour or two after me (I need my beauty rest :).  The other morning I woke up and Jon says to me "oh man, after you went to bed last night, I killed this huge cockroach.  I left it on the bathroom floor".  Annoyed, I went in to the bathroom to clean up the dead cockroach that Jon had left the night before.  Instead of finding the cockroach, I find a single, solitary cockroach leg.  Jonathan!  You idiot!  You didn't kill it!!  So I spent the entire day freaked out, feeling like there were cockroaches crawling all over me.  Later that evening, I spot a cockroach.  It's big.  It's gross.   I get up onto a chair and call Jonathan to come out of the shower and kill it.  He tells me to kill it.  I tell him no, and tell him that I am going to stay up on this chair to watch it to make sure that it doesn't escape while he dries off and puts clothes on (I did have to yell at Jonathan for taking the time to apply deodorant).  Jonathan finally emerges from the bedroom with Off bug spray in hand.  "What the hell are you going to do with that!?"  After explaining that Off will not kill a cockroach and that he needs to stomp the shit out of it, Jonathan killed the cockroach.  And boy did he kill it.  I then got off my chair and took a picture to remember this glorious moment.  But the best part is, upon reviewing my picture, I notice that it's missing a leg!!  Yes!!  There is not a cockroach on the run (at least as far as I know)!!

Tango Show

Tango originated here in Buenos Aires.  The city remains very proud of their tango tradition, though unfortunately, it has become very comodified.  Going to watch tango has become something that tourists do, most locals no longer go to enjoy them.  So unfortunately, instead of going to see people dance tango, you need to go see a "Tango Espactaculo".  So it's not really what tango was like, it's more like what "the idea of tango" is like...it's like going to a tango themed adult theme park.  Our cousins here, Tino and Susana and their family, very generously bought Jonathan and I a night in a hotel, dinner, and a Tango show.  We were excited to spend a nice little romantic night alone and take in the Tango show.

So earlier that afternoon, we headed off in the train to the city to check into our hotel.  I've written about what it's like to be in the train here in an earlier blog, but just to reiterate...it's horrible.  But more specifically, when people ask you for money on the train, they don't just ask for money, they walk around passing something out (astrology books, stickers, temporary tattoos, prayer cards, etc).  Generally, they will hand you whatever they are passing out or if you don't specifically say no to them, they will put it in your lap.  Once they finish handing out their stack of whatever, they do another lap and collect all of the items.  At this point, a person could choose to keep what they've just been given and in exchange give them money, or they could just give the person money.  Whenever I see people coming around, handing stuff out, I can't help but think about all the people that had already touched this stuff.  It freaks me out. So I have quickly learned the universal signal for no, a combination of a hand wave and indirect eye contact.  I usually avoid being handed stuff.  Every once and a while I wont be paying attention and I'll get something placed in my lap, but usually I'm pretty good at avoiding it.  Anyways, on our way to the city to check into the hotel, I saw a girl coming around out of the corner of my eye.  When she came around to give me a slip of paper with a prayer on it, I quickly did the "no thank you signal", but she ignored me.  Not only did she put her paper in my lap, but she also leaned in and gave me a big, wet, kiss on the cheek.  EEEKKK!!  Jonathan, standing in front of me, looked down at me laughing, knowing exactly what I was thinking.  Trying not to be an ugly American and freak out and wipe my kiss off my cheek, I sat there in the train, trying to pretend I had an itch on my face, strategically wiping my cheek against my shoulder, all the while Jonathan laughed at me.  EW!

Note:  Please don't think I'm a bad person for not giving people money on the train.  I am actually very thoughtful with how I give my money to others and choose not to support people begging on the train for money.  

So after I finished emotionally coping with that crisis of hygiene, we arrived in the city and checked into our hotel.  It was a really nice hotel - I got to watch Dawson's Creek in bed while Jonathan finished looking at fantasy baseball stuff (note: this is what happens when you get old and married).  :)  We went for a nice walk in the city and then headed back to the hotel to catch the tourist shuttle to the restaurant/tango show.  We had a really nice dinner and then headed into the tango show.  All of the tourists were super pumped to be there...taking their pictures in front of inanimate objects inside the building.  So before the tango show starts, this projector screen comes down onto the stage and gives a history of tango, the neighborhood we were in, and the tango club (people took pictures of the screen, no joke).  The short movie finished.  The excitement in the room was tangible.  You could smell it.  As the projector screen was finishing being pulled up into the ceiling, Jonathan says to me...these people would clap at anything right now; they're dying to clap.  He then instructs me to begin clapping to see if everyone would follow in suit.  I laughed and said no.  He continued to try to convince me to start clapping, but I said no.  About 30 seconds after the film ended and before anything else happened (well after the time where if you were going to clap, it would have happened), Jonathan starts clapping. I don't think I've ever seen him clap with such vigor and excitement for anything in his life ever before.  And within a millisecond the entire room breaks out in applause!!  We laughed hysterically.  The show was really nice and the dancers were really talented.  I liked to watch the accordion players (at one point, there were three of them on stage!).  We had a really great time that night and will certainly never forget our first tango show together (although, Jonathan maintains that Spanish flamenco is way better :).

Opening Day!

Jonathan was very excited to be in Buenos Aires for Opening Day, as unlike Galicia, people here actually know what baseball is. haha.  Baseball is not popular here; people have no idea how it is played, but the games are televised in certain locations throughout the city.  During some of our first few days here, Sebastian and Santiago, our cousins, asked Jonathan how baseball is played.  If you think about it, there really aren't any other world sports to compare it to.  Here's a picture of Jonathan teaching the boys the rules of baseball, which of course, he made way more complicated than it had to be.

 But after about a month of some heavy culture exchange, Sebastian was ready to watch his very first baseball game too.  Because Buenos Aires  has such a large immigrant population, there are several expat bars where you can go and watch baseball.  Sebastian found two bars where they show US sports.  The night before, we called them both and were told that the Yankees game would be on in both bars.  So we set out the next day, ready to take in some baseball and eat a hamburger.  Jonathan and I found a blingin' Yankees necklace in the train station,which we presented to Sebastian when we met up with him at the bar to commemorate his very first baseball game.  So we went to The Alamo, which according to internet forums is a US sports bar that also has a large middleaged, gay male following, so we were excited to take in this strange culture clash atmosphere.  Upon arriving at the Alamo, we were told that they did not open until 4pm (the game started at 2pm).  The conversation went like this:
Jonathan: Explained that the baseball game started at 2pm and that we had called the night before and were told that they would be open.
Waitress: Sometimes the owner opens early for special sporting events.  Is this a special game?
Jonathan:  It's opening day.  Could you call the owner to see if you will be open for this game?
Waitress:  Oh.  We'll were closed now...what sport do the Yankees play?

Jonathan: baseball.
Waitress:  Oh.  We're closed. 

We decided to move on, because luckily we had called another place ahead of time.  So then we headed over to Sugar, a cool expat bar that we had gone to a few weeks prior for a few drinks.  They were closed too.  Sebastian, who by the way, is amazing at confronting businesspeople when they suck (I will never forget the day he called the telephone company to complain after having the wifi installation guy stiff us 4 times in a row) explained that we had called the night before to be sure that they'd be open.  The conversation basically went like this:
Man: We're closed.  We don't open until 6pm.
Sebastian:  I called last night and was told that the 2pm Yankees baseball game would be playing today.  I even repeated myself on the phone to verify that they understood me.
Man: Yes, that could be....but we're closed.
Sebastian: But why would you tell someone that you would be open when you are not.  I called last night and was told that the Yankees game would be on. 
Man:  Sorry.  We're closed.

So we then regrouped and put our thinking caps on and decided to head over to TGI Fridays  (let the public shaming begin.  I went to TGI Fridays while in Argentina).  But first we decided to call.  I don't know why we put any faith in whatever they were going to tell us, but we called.  We were told that the Yankees game would be on when we arrived.  Upon arriving we immediately asked that they change the channel from the basketball game to the Yankees game.  The waiter seemed confused and explained that they are playing the basketball game now.  We explained that we had called 15 minutes prior and were told that that the Yankees game could be played.  He went go to find out if he could change the channel.  We also asked him to bring us some beer when he came back.  When he came back he explained that they don't have the channel that the Yankees game plays on.  I then spotted the manager at the bar putting a new roll of receipt paper in the cash register.  The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi.  I called about a half hour ago, it may have been you I spoke to (I paused here, but she didn't respond).  But I called and asked if the Yankees game was going to be on and someone told me yes.  So we came here, but now they are saying that they can't play it.
Lady:  looks at me.  continues fiddling with the receipt paper.  asks a waiter if the Yankees game is going to be on, to which they replied "I don't know".  She continues fiddling with the paper and then just kind of walked away. 

So by the time we had finished our beers it was around 3pm, so we decided to try calling the first bar again.  Sebastian then called the Alamo and spoke to an American waitress.  He asked if the Yankees game is going to be on.  He was told that they were open and she was watching it as she spoke to him.  Sebastian started to explain what had happened before, but then just stopped, and told her we'd be there in 15 minutes.  We arrived at the Alamo (sadly, we were the only other people in the bar).  We ate bad wings and sandwiches and got good and drunk.  I am wearing Sebastian's hipster glasses in these photos.  It's also important to note that Sebastian thinks baseball is boring. 

Valparaiso, Chile

 When I initially began researching destinations in Chile for our road trip, I became really interested in Valparaiso, so Jonathan and I decided to take a bus from Santiago to Valparaiso.  Valparaiso is a small, bohemian city situated right on the Pacific Ocean.  It is built up on a steep hill, so there are these old lifts placed throughout the city for people to get around town.  What I loved about this city is how the entire city is one big art space.  All of the houses are these cool different colors; when you look at the cityscape, the houses look like candies scattered across the hill.  When you walk around town every building facade, mailbox, and light post are painted or decorated brilliantly.  So we woke up, had a cup of coffee, read the news, and moseyed our way to the bus station to catch one of the regular buses (they run every 15 minutes or so) to Valparaiso (the trip is about an hour and a half or so).  We arrived and headed to this pasta restaurant for lunch, had some amazing pasta and a bottle of wine and then headed out to wander around the city.  We had a really great time just kind of walking around, looking at stuff, and taking photos.  We caught a late bus back to Santiago to pack, as we had an early flight back to Buenos Aires the next morning.