Sore Feet and a Big Smile

Its the strangest thing as my Spanish slowly gets better my English has deteriorated rapidly. I am picking up the basic communication skills.... talking with a buss driver or buying a sandwich. I have been spending alot of time with Magali, the daughter of a friend of my Aunt's who goes to a french school nearby. She is about to start her last year of highschool (summer is ending and schools are starting) and speeks better english than my spanish so we get along great. Magali has been showing me around Buenos Aries and I have become an expert at navigating Belgrano (the neighbrohood that we live in). Magali's mother Sophie is an artist and we visited La Boca (the birthplace of the tango) to see the bar that she is renovating. It was amazing, four stories with balconies and amazing architecture. I am falling in love with the city, there is always something to do or visit, the night life is amazing, on the weekends bars will stay open until six or seven in the morning with liveley conversations all night. Truly amazing.

I also visited my family's crypt in the famous cemetary in Recoleta (a ritzy more european part of Buenos Aries). The crypt was interesting because it consisted of a little house structure with a grate in the floor and a view of the cascets of my ancestors. Up top were urns containing ashes including that of my great grandfather, Enrique Rayces (the founder of Villa Arcadia). I was also reminded of how lucky I am to be staying with family and attemptiing to blend into Argentine culture as I saw the numerous americans with hawian shirts and zinc paste on their noses.

I am now working on the next part of my trip which is to travel 350 miles south to Villa Arcadia. This is dificult because the rural parts of argentina are suffering greatly in the economy. But my Aunt is helping me contact some family we close to Villa Arcadia. Hopefully it will follow through.

Gavin