As usual, I’ve been quite busy. Here’s the summary…

First I’ll start with the big announcement. Starting February 1st, I’ll be traveling from here in Buenos Aires, Argentina to New York City by only land transportation. Yes, it’s a long long way up there. With nearly spending 4 months in Buenos Aires, I’m getting the itchy travel feeling to go somewhere and keep moving. Busing it to Salta, Argentina and from there into Bolivia, Peru, etc all the way north. Of course staying in each destination for a few days doing the exploring thing. I’m having a mini rush just thinking about this new trip. To add, Teresa will be coming to Buenos Aires on the 24th and is coming along on the trip. Should be a good time! Back to what backpacking is all about. I’m extremely limited on cash so this will require a bit more on the “roughing it” end.

Thank you!! I’ve recently received a donation though someone I don’t know at all from djskylab.com. It came from making a thread over at NCC Message Board about my trip plans and then I suddenly received a Private Message from a member. He was in Buenos Aires a few years ago and my blog had reminded him of his time in Buenos Aires. The message said to buy a drink on him. Thanks again!!! That was extremely kind and very unexpected.

My brother and sister visited me in Buenos Aires. I’d love to write about what we did everyday but it’d be far too much writing and I’m way behind already. It’s a shame but believe me when I tell you that we had an amazing time. Nothing like Grandma’s home cooked food! Then the relaxed garden she has puts you in another world. Cristian has grown so much since I last saw him 8 months earlier. Joanna is looking great as well! Ah it was so good to see them again. Many randomness. A quick thing on what we did.

• Joanna, Marina, and I went to Bomba Del Tiempo. Crazy!
• Went to the Buenos Aires Zoo with Cristian, Joanna, Grandma and I.
• Ate at Siga la vaca with Cristian, Joanna, Grandma and I.
• Days of random shopping.
• Street of Serrano with Joanna and tagging along with random people. Met up with Lisa and Emiko as well at their hostel.
• iPhone got lots of attention with Cristian.
• Drinking night out with our uncle and aunt with Joanna.
• Asado!

And tons of more random things that made for a good 2 weeks of fun. I miss them already. *Sigh* See you guys again soon!

Continuing my tango. Still taking Tango classes and in between taking Rock and Salsa. Getting the hang out of it and love it a lot.

I have two CouchSurfers staying over. Thought I’d let my place open up for CouchSurfers so right now I have two people staying with me. Israeli and Aussie guy. Both just backpacking along South America. Very interesting stories and learning a few recipes from the Israeli guy. Nice people. Last few days we been just hanging out. Watched Sherlock Holmes drunk. Went to Bomba of course. Tango. Tons of Mate. And lots and lots of cooking. It’s nice because we have a full house here and everyone just chips in to whatever with cleaning, cooking, etc. CouchSurfers make a good team.

Well not much else. Just excited to get to traveling again. Still volunteering at LIFE. I’ve been coordinating at Laferrere and meeting some wonderful people there that I hope to stay in touch with after I leave. I’ll likely update again sometime next week I hope. Perhaps with more details next time.

Tags: Argentina

From Buenos Aires, to you…

It’s been a crazy year and couldn’t be more grateful for what I have. Thank you to everyone I’ve met during my travels. I’ve made some new friends that I will keep with me for the rest of my life. I may have been to some of the worlds best beaches and climbed the most ridiculous mountains but the people I did these with and everything else in between are my best memories. All of you have made a big impact on my life and my future. Thank you to the world for being so welcoming…

To everyone at home as well, I truly miss all of you.

I have a long road ahead of me still…

Have a wonder and safe 2010!

Tags: Argentina

I had posted this full review on Nightlife Vibe but figured I’d post it here as well.

Date changed and so was the location over the last 2 months. With all that mess, it was well worth the wait after being pushed forward. It started heavy raining at 2pm in BA. Heavy rain as in instant floods on the streets and trees falling. The location was at Roca Park and its suppose to start at 5pm. I get there at 5pm and the rain slowed down to just pouring. I’m at the very front of the line. Doors didn’t open till 7pm because of security measures due to the rain.

By now the rain stopped but the park is extremely muddy and wet. It wasn’t so bad though as long as you didn’t care about your shoes. The rain had cooled down the humid air which made for a nice breeze the entire event. To me, the weather was perfect.

Drinks were 15 Pesos for Speed+Vodka or 10 Pesos for water or coke. Didn’t seem to make sense. I did like the idea of having to buy drink tickets first then go to the bar with the ticket. Hotdogs and burgers were 10 Pesos.

There were 5 different stages. First DJ I saw was in the White Area called Carlos Alfonsin. Closed in tent with some decent lighting and video going on. The area was large and had enough room to dance there all night. He played mostly house that got everyone grooving as they entered the park. Energy picked up quick and already people were jumping. I was very impressed with his set for opening such a huge festival and was obvious that his tent was drawing the most up beat crowd. I stuck around to hear Spitfire for a bit. I stayed for about a half hour during his set with tech-house bombs being played. By now White Area got packed to the point of pushing and shoving and it’s only around 8pm. Loved Spitfire’s set though.

Walked over to the Main Stage and I can’t recall the name but a Jazzy Tangoish live band was playing. Different from what I was just hearing at White Area but still somehow fit all the whole vibe. Talented group and wish I could remember the name of them. Main stage was obviously huge and the open field was covering tons of room. Next stage I checked out was Speed Bar. The name seemed fitting for what was playing played. I’m told it’s a DJ from their radio station here in BA called Metro. Much smaller area and extremely crowded. The tent was packed to the max. Once you’re in, that’s it. Somehow moved my way into the middle where the madness was. Fast paced Eletro-ish style played. In a moment of knowing a drop in the track was going to come, the crowd would scream and when the drop came – everyone jumped. The jumping forced you to jump with the crowd. Madness and very hot in that tent. Crowd loved it and the energy was just wild.

Went back to the Main Stage to hear a bit of Guy Gerber. Guy seemed to be doing well but I wasn’t really feeling it. Too trancy for me sometimes. Stuck around to hear M.A.N.D.Y. next. The introduction track was wild and the amount of people is now covering the entire creamfields area. Incredible flawless set by M.A.N.D.Y.. Loved the video displays they had going for M.A.N.D.Y.. Another reason why they are on my top favorite. Bomb after bomb after bomb.

Walked on over to a another stage called Cream Arena. It’s a closed in arena type stage. Imagine a miniature stadium. There wasn’t a whole lot of room but for the DJ’s that played there, it seemed to bring in just enough people to fit in there. The video display was impressive but not as impressed as I was with White Arena. One of my favorite DJ’s that night was playing, Desyn Masiello. This was one of my favorite sets during the entire Creamfields. High energy house that got me moving throughout the whole time listening. His mixing was flawless and had teased us with incoming tracks that wouldn’t play till way later. He had drawn the crowd mad and knew exactly what everyone wanted. Stayed there for a good while.

Next was Timo Maas in the White Arena. Again this area is large but it had seemed pretty dead around this part and I was surprised for such a high quality DJ. Regardless Timo was dropping serious music and still seemed to be having a good time. White Arena is my favorite stage at the festival for it’s setup and sound. Next back to Cream Arena for Hernan Cattaneo and now it makes sense why Timo wasn’t getting enough credit. Hernan Cattaneo is a very popular Buenos Aires DJ. Packed the Arena up. Again too trancy for me though but the guy has skill.

Back at the Main Stage is Richie Hawtin. Unbelievable. Wish I could have heard more of his set. I haven’t been very good at ID’ing tracks since I started traveling but believe me, he played some amazing tracks. I wish I could have heard him all night really. Too bad his set was only 3 hours long.

So now it’s 3am and Tiesto is about to come on. The introduction to Tiesto is much like any of his events. 10 minute video display with synthy music. An emo thing to put on. The graphics were pretty sick though on video. Hundreds of video camera’s were recording this. Tiesto comes on stage and the crowd just went into another level. Endless amount of people in every direction jumping. I’m right up front, had to push myself in there. The tracks played I’d imagine are much like any of his sets which include at least an hour or more of his own music in a 3 hour set. Lethal, traffic, strings, etc were played. My friends love him so I stuck around for the whole thing. Something new for me I guess. Unfortunately missed James Zabiela and Jeff Mills because of this but it’s alright. Heard someone new I’d likely not want to hear again but it was a hell of a lot of fun regardless. What made the set enjoyable was the energy of the crowd. Since I was up front, the pushing, shoving, jumping, dancing, screaming, all of it made it a huge difference and way better. At one point my ears bled when I heard the Zombie Nation track (remixed) played at around 5:45am but then he closed out with Adiago for strings which made up for it. 6am and the night is done. He comes out from stage and does his celebrity status run by the side of the crowd with his hands out and all the fan girls/boys screaming and crying for him.

Overall fantastic night. Wish I could have heard more of Richie Hawtin. I loved how many choices we had with selection in music. The setup of the festival was near perfect. I do think Speed Bar needed more room. The sound in all stages came out better then I had expected. More garbage bins could have been useful since there were none at all and the garbage was just the floor. The rain did cause for a muddy event
but with the music, no one cared anyway.

Good times!

Tags: Argentina

Fixed my glasses finally.

Bought myself a Spanish book to help my reading. Funny thing is it’s actually a travel book and it’s called in English Geography of Bliss. Bought it at the popular book store here in Buenos Aires called El Ateneo, I live close by it. I’ve been having heavy interest in learning Spanish to it’s full extent. I noticed there are many people who know way more Spanish then I do and they didn’t grow up with a family that spoke it all the time. They just studied a few months and that’s it. I want to learn how to read and write perfectly. I was recommended to check out Uni of BA that has classes for 1550 Pesos and its 1 month, 5 days a week, 3 hours a day which starts February. This all depends what happens in January. Been having mixed feeling what I should do if I should be going home to work and save more money to travel before I totally run out of money or if I should stay in BA till I run out then go home? Also depends if Teresa is still coming down in January. We’ll see where this goes.

I’m apply for an Italian Citizenship. Because I have direct blood line from Italy, I can apply for a Italian Citizenship. Italy is one of the very few countries that have this. My grandma was born in Italy and so were many of my grandparents. Why am I doing this? American passports suck. Too many visa fees in most countries I go to and there’s always different rules for Americans. Another reason is because I want to go to Europe. This gives me a pass to stay within Europe and UK for however long I want AND work there which is very rare for an American. I’d like to learn another language or two (Italian? German? French? Whatever?) while in Europe and work around Europe while I’m at it. I’m also looking into schools either in Europe or USA. The process will take about a year to get but I HOPE less. I’ll update my progress on this. Getting all papers together.

So to everyone I’ve met in my travels – I’m comin ova!

Hmm. I really need to buy new clothes. Sick of these travel clothes that have been on me for months.

Tags: Argentina

I love volunteering at Laferrere. Though the ride there sucks. We need to take a public bus to some illegal bus van system that takes us there. Some of the vans are such shit. The foam will be coming out of all the seats, door will have no handle and just takes a push to get out, windows cracked, and outside looks like its been driven off a bridge and yet still runs. Some vans are good though. We got a flat tire halfway there and ended up on the highway until another van picked us up. The journey is worth it though. There’s something about the kids there that stand out from all the other villa’s I’ve been to. Because of this, I go as often as I can volunteering there. The kids are wonderful and have gotten to know me by now. Because of Saturday’s Christmas party, they immediately point out my dancing on stage skills stunt with Hanna. I looked like a fool and they love that. The kids love my silliness.  School support work is done so for the next few months during the summer we’ll be just doing fun activities like building blocks, coloring, and whatever else we can think of. It was Hanna’s last day at Laferrere and they’ve grown attached to her. Because of this they’ve made a poster with all their names and took a group shot photo. Very cute! Kids are learning respect, authority, giving thanks, and manners. They always call us professors or teachers.

We get back at about 15:30 and Hanna invited me to a live band tango show with her friends for tonight. The place was called La Galeria. I forget their names but one of Hanna’s friends friend is 100% Argentine and knew hardly any English which made me really excited to talk to him. I need to keep practicing Spanish and know more Argentineans (Even though I do have a whole family here). The more I speak it, the better I get and I can feel a difference every conversation. So though Hanna and I usually speak mostly English with random words in Spanish, we got to only talking Spanish that night since it was the common language we all knew. I get pretty excited speaking Spanish now especially with other Argentine’s. One thing he said that I thought was pretty funny since he wasn’t the only person that has said this to me was that I have a little of an accent of an Argentinean from the way I talk and pronounce my words. I told him my whole story and he said of course. I realized this could be why I pronounce English words like shit. I use to get made fun as a kid for pronouncing or not able to pronounce certain English words. Who knows. Apparently I don’t have a strong Jersey/Metro NYC accent.

La Galeria had two fantastic bands. The first tango band I had already heard last week in another milonga. Very good group and extremely talented. The second just took it to another level. It had the Tango flavor mixed with a bit more upbeat style to it. I’m not very good at describing sounds but I’ll just say if you ever get a chance to get to BA, make sure you attend the smaller lesser known milonga‘s or tango band places. It cost me 10 pesos. The locals have talent, it’s cheap, and a great atmosphere. Screw paying $50 dollars or more for a tourists tango show. See the real thing. The real band. The real dancers. Where the locals are.

Seeing lots of live music lately. Buenos Aires has plenty of it and a great mix.

Tags: Argentina