What was the World Cup like in Argentina you ask? Well it was basically one big party. People were actually happy and nice and excited. You could really feel a change in the city. I think people were really excited for each game to start, well each game that Argentina played in. All the other games were basically time fillers in between the real games which were the Argentinas games.

 The argentine flag was everywhere and world cups banners and posters celebrated Messi and the rest of the team were everywhere. I've never seen a whole country rally around one sporting event like the  Argentines did during the World Cup.

We were able to go downtown to watch a game in the park where the city had installed giant screens to watch the game. It really was an experience. I've never heard so many old men cuss and yell in Spanish. La puta que te pariooooo, la concha de tu madre, la puta que le pario fue falta... Even my wife let out a couple,, every time Argentina scored we cheered and jumped and everybody kissed, I guess in Argentina it's really important to kiss the person you are with when Argentina scores, luckily I had Monica. It was fun, smokey, (lots of people smoked) crowded and exciting.

The rest of the World Cup was entertaining and luckily for the country Argentina made it to the final, I think people were more nervous than excited and were really disappointed not to have beaten Germany. It felt like the whole country had died and forgotten the joy and good spirit they had had for the whole tournament. People went back to their daily lives and people started talking about crime and inflation and the good times were forgotten. It was amazing to see what soccer could do to a whole country and something that the United States and Americans in the usa really will never understand about the soccer.

Buenos Aires has some really nice parks. Considering it is such a large and crowded city it is pretty impressive the amount of park space the city has. The Palermo parks are a great place to walk and somewhat "escape" from the city.

 

Tourist advice

During the weekends the parks can get crowded, so it is best to go during the week, unless you like to share the park with thousands of other argentine families trying to escape the crowded city.

 

 

 

I don't know what to say on these blog post, we went to puerto madero, walked around looked at the water and buildings and walked and walked, I'm becoming a good walker, I guess that's healthy, although walking around buenos aires there are so many people smoking I kind of feel like I've smoked a couple of cigarets. Anyways I'm thinking about starting an anti-tobacco movement in buenos aires, that and an anti-littering campaign. The trash here is crazy, I've seen lots of people just through papers, trash on the ground or out the train window or behind the train platform. I'm not sure how much success I would have but I want to take some pictures of the trash. Anyways this is puerto madero, a nice area with nice restaurants and now they have build several tall apartment buildings and is where supposedly a lot of wealthy argentines live.

 

We toured a boat for 5 pesos.

Monica liked the cow, but was sad it was dead

 

 

Most of my classes are downtown, and the main offices of my employer is a couple of blocks away from Plaza de Mayo, so I walk by the Casa Rosada everyday along with all the other million of busy porteños, in business suites.

 

We were able to spend the afternoon in between classes walking around and enjoying the nice argentine sun. I enjoyed seeing the riot police and riot vans and police just hanging about waiting for the next protest.

 

I wish I could be the water cannon shooter. They have a camera attached to the camera and I think they control it from inside, sounds like fun shooting people with water.

 

Giant mechanical flower statue, with a nice green park, it was nice during the week but we walked back during the weekend and it was very crowded.