This past week in the land of Matte

Sorry to be so slow with posts, it's a little difficult to get photos off of the camera and up on the web here.  

I managed to buy a bike about the third day here.  It's not much but it was cheap and works so I guess that is the main thing.  I took it to the Recoletta cemetery (As seen in the picture here) it a really interesting place lots of unbelievable  crypts  the larger ones resemble small churches more than anything else, Argentina's famous dictators wife 

Eva Peron is entombed there along with most of the rest of Buenos Aires other bigwigs. 

The big collapse in the economy has left Argentina with a really high unemployment rate so you see some really creative businesses out there trying to make ends meet, for example these knife sharpeners who were riding around my neighborhood.  They would stop and set up this crazy grinder wheel thing attached to the bike then "sharpen" knives.  Not the best quality knife sharpening but hey at least it was door to door I guess.   

People are unbelievably nice and patient here with my Spanish which is very much lacking.

     

First Day in BA

I am in Buenos Aires and fine, I even managed to use my extremely broken Spanish to bargain my taxi driver to a reasonable price. I also had a lot of fun getting money this afternoon but I think I've got it figured out now. The ATMs just run out of money sometimes in which case everyone just comes back later. I tried and low and behold it was true.

When I arrived there was a huge clustered mob to get out of the baggage claim to immigration in th mess the lady next to me gave me some advice saying "in Argentina you just get what you get" she then told me that since I didn't have very much stuff I could and should wiggle my way between carts as far up in the line as possible.

I trust that people are taking me for Argentinian because almost as many people asked me for help, as I asked for it today. In both cases they got a blank noncomprehending stare for their trouble.

I am ready for bed from the all night flight and a head full of Spanish phrases that I do and do not understand.