The gang does Buenos Aires!

The view from our room

Thursday was a bit of a bust probably due to my hostel issues, Caitlin's cold, and the lack of sleep we had all had. The three of us managed to suck it up though and found a new hostel that was in a good area, was cheaper than most others that we'd seen, and most importantly, could accommodate all of us (and in the same room!) To celebrate, Caitlin, Brendan, and I went to an all-you-can-eat steak place for dinner and I passed out around 10pm.

The next day, Caitlin, Brendan, and I got taxis from our old hostels to the new hostel and when we arrived, Moya and Jack were already there! Happy day!! We moved into our new digs and checked out the room and the view of the world's widest avenue, Avenida 9 de Julio... Not bad!

After some showers and food, we decided to go to La Boca, one of the most poorest and unsafe areas of Buenos Aires but known for having houses and buildings painted in crazy colors and entertaining restaurants. We thought it would be a fun place to photograph, so we headed off. We got out of the cabs 15 minutes later, broke a $100 bill so we'd have some change, and went off to explore.

After about an hour, it was decided that a nice glass of wine would go well with the afternoon, so we walked down the main street filled with restaurants and let the guys out front ask us to come in, each one trying to outbid the other. A free glass of wine at this one? Oh, well that one will give us two! AND they have a free tango show!

Ta da!

We sat down at a table in the front and enjoyed a showing of gaucho and tango. At one point, the tango dancers brought audience members up on stage to dance, so Brendan, Caitlin, and Jack all got up and showed off their fancy footwork as Moya and I pretended to be engrossed in my camera so the dancers wouldn't pull us up on stage too.

After our wine, we thought it would be fun to go to another area of Buenos Aires and do some window shopping, so off to San Telmo we went. In the main square where artists set up shop (or in this case, set up blanket), Caitlin got the fork bracelet she had been lusting after since she had seen one in Bolivia before we all stopped at a bar to grab a coffee.

When we got our bill, we all tossed in our money and handed it to the waiter. A minute later, he returned and said, "Este dinero es falso." Translated for you all, that means "This money is fake."

Huh? Fake money? What was this guy talking about?

He proceeded to show us the differences between a real and a fake bill... the watermarks weren't the same, the feel of the paper was different, and various small things were missing from the fake bills. He then told us that these bills get distributed most commonly in taxis... Ah, the cabbie who brought us to La Boca was the culprit!

We paid our bill with real money and went off, bitching about the fake money and wondering how we would get rid of it. Try to pay someone with it? Throw it away? Find the taxi driver who gave it to us and beat the crap out of him?

Ice cream!

We walked home and decided on the way that ice cream would make us feel better. When doesn't ice cream make you feel better (other than when you're lactose intolerant)? Or maybe what made us all feel better was the fact that we were all together and didn't have to deal with this on our own...