Days 4-6: Buenos Aires; Days & nights in Palermo

This is the hotel that I'm staying at in Palermo:

My legs are so tired from walking so much! I've really covered a lot of geography in this city, both on foot and using public transport. 

Since I am Buenos Aires, the home of the tango, I figured I should take a tango class. A work associate of my father's from Buenos Aires recommended a school, which oddly enough is housed in the Armenian Cultural building, but is a separate operation. The class was probably about half Porteño (people from Buenos Aires) so I figured I was in a good place. Tango is fun! It turned out that with the $6 entry I also got to take salsa classes for free, although after coming right out of a tango class I did have a little bit of tango in my salsa. Here are a couple pictures of the classes:

Here's an excellent meat dinner I had, and the place that served it:

I took a walk to the sub-neighborhood of Palermo Hollywood and had this excellent pumpkin and pork casserole-type dish, they call it a cake, no matter what you call it, it was amazing:

Since one word means both "squash" and "pumpkin" in Spanish, I assumed the sandwich I had on day 2 was squash, but this time I asked the waiter to clarify and he said it was pumpkin in this dish, so I'm thinking the sandwich I had on day 2 was actually a pumpkin sandwich and not a squash sandwich. It was pumpkin-colored.

There is some great nightlife in Palermo, it is very safe to walk around in and I never felt threatened in any way, no matter how late it is there are always other people around. It is a little tough to meet people because Buenos Aires is one of those cities where people don't usually stand at bars, they sit at tables. I have no shame though, so it was easy for me to approach people. Plaza Serrano is a popular place, filled with "yanquis" (Americans) as well as Porteños, so I looked for people who didn't look American. Plaza Serrano kind of is horrible, but there are a lot of people there so its a good place to start the night. There are people who go around the tables performing magic tricks asking for money. At one point a mute magician who had finished his shift sat down at our table, and had fallen in love with one of the girls. He intimated that he wanted to buy a liter of beer for the table (primarily for the girl), and after she coldly agreed to only let him buy her a beer if it was the most expensive possible option (a little complicated to explain), the manager saw what was going on and came out and wouldn't let him buy it because of a "previous incident", but he refused to elaborate any further.

When I was packing for my trip I found my old "wrist-compass" (like a watch, but a compass). I thought I wouldn't use it but packed it anyway, and within the first day I realized it would be very helpful and put it on. It also acts as a metaphor for my state of mind while backpacking, the location is more important than the time. Since I don't carry my iPhone on me at night (I did buy a clock today), I have no idea of what time it is when I'm out, and end up carrying on until 5 in the morning or so, and there are still bars open then.

These are some pictures from around the neighborhood of Palermo:

The following three pictures are from the "Japanese Garden":

Its been a lot of fun hanging out in this town, but tomorrow morning I am getting on a boat to go to Uruguay!

Day 3: Buenos Aires; The racist barber, downpour in Palermo

To start my day, I went for a haircut, and met an incredibly racist barber. He  was very friendly to me, but as we talked he casually told me about how black people are not to be trusted and are degenerates. He said Barack Obama was part of the 10% of black people who "might be worth dealing with." I waited until his razor was off my neck until I told him my thoughts on the matter. He also didn't have too high an opinion of white people, so I hope that didn't effect the quality of my cut. I think it looks pretty good. The funny thing about it was the friendly, casual manner in which he discussed it with me, and again, the knife he had on my neck.
After my haircut, I went to see the neighborhood called Palermo,which is regarded in the same way as Polanco in Mexico City. In other words, Palermo is where the money is. Seeing this incredible neighborhood convinced me to stay at least one more day in Buenos Aires, it reminds of of the West Village in New York City. (Okay, apparently in this blog I will compare every place to an American city or NYC neighborhood.) Unfortunately, shortly after I arrived an incredible downpour of South American proportions ensued. I found shelter in a restaurant and ordered a delicious coffee (the coffee in Buenos Aires is quite good.) I thought this type of storm was the norm for this city, but apparently not because it was all over the news like it was a big deal. Here's a video of the people at the restaurant dealing with the storm:

Once the rain stopped I got to take a look around, and the neighborhood was so cool! I found a nice hotel for the next day, and am looking forward to seeing more of the area.
Here are some pictures from Palermo:

These are some pictures from the day in San Telmo and El Centro: