Marilee’s Travels

yes! i have started the process of sorting out my (and victor’s) photos. in the next week i’ll have some of them ready. in the mean time i will be adding some of my favorites just for fun. hope you like them. and if you know me, they’ll probably all be portraits.
these first 2 are of a boy i fell in love with. constanza’s mother had taken me for a tour of goya and another town, santa louisa, near by. she wanted me to see a church that was made by the natives in the area. they had carved much of it. (photos later) we were coming out of the church and taking photos when i noticed a group of young boys running across the plaza to the empty lot next to the church to play futbal (soccer). there was one boy that stayed back from the others and came up to the church. when i saw him walking up, our eyes locked and i fell in love. (not in a perverted sort of way. damn i have sick friends.) but this boy… he was so amazing and there was something so special about him and he seemed to think the same of me. he watched me for quit awhile, when i decided to take his photo. (i had the telephoto lens) i then walked over to him to show him the picture and said, “muy guapo.” (very handsome) and he just smiled. we got ready to go and as i was walking away he followed me and that is when i took the other shot. i almost cried when i left…i wish i would have stayed all day, taken his photo or atleast heard his voice or knew his name… i guess i’ll just have to wait until i meet him again.

sorry for the delay in writing. i was swept away, to enjoy the remainder of my holiday when victor arrived. we did so many things, ate fantastic food, danced… drank and played like it would never end. and now it has. i hope to write more in the coming days/week to fill in the blanks of my blog and to add photos, so keep checking!!

‘liver’ like meats = bull testicles

well… we have visited some open markets, the cemetery and tried to get lost via the subways and walking. today we had tango lesson together. that was great!! for dinner we had a traditional asado meal. this included meats of all kinds. steak, chorizo, blood sausage, brains, inner-ards and other unidentifiable parts. not too bad when washed down with beer and followed by large amounts of ice cream. (dad…you would love it). tomorrow we hope to see another tourist site and then we are going to a club that is supposed to have really good drum and bass dj’s. just another day of dancing, eating and enjoying.

i was out last night eating $5 steaks that are to die for with some of the women staying at the house. an aussie, a german and myself. we were out til 1 or 2am and i decided that it would be a good idea (earlier in the day, before the wine) to accompany the taxi drive in the morning at 7am to pick up victor. well once again my alarm failed me and marie was knocking at my door at 705 with the driver waiting. aarrgg. got to the airport and surprised victor. yea!! he is so happy, excited and tired. but what fun to have a playmate. somehow it seems more real, rather than a dream that i am telling all of you about. i have proof now! have a great weekend. i know i will.

my private lesson was at 930am and i woke up at 923am. i am happy that everything is late here including my instructor. i rolled out of bed and into the kitchen for some coffee from marie. then my lesson. it was wonderful. with neither of us speaking each others language we had quit a time talking but we managed just fine. it was really a lesson in posture, balance, attitude… and honestly after tonights drama at a milonga i am happy to pay if i can dance with someone who does not push me into other people on the dance floor. i am not a good dancer but i so happy to find that i was far from the worst. after a quick bite to eat and a shower i went with one of the other women here to the other studio downtown for another private lesson. another great lesson but it was pretty humorus. my instructor can fit under my chin and if i did any weight lifting… i could bench press him. he was a great instructor, very professional and a very good dancer and did not bat an eye as i towered over him like a giant, sweating like i had just run a maraton. then it was back to the house for some putzing around, a short walk and more food consumption. after another shower i went with almost the whole house to a practica. it was good but like i said, the men i danced with after were quite horrible. not all was lost, it was my first milonga in buenos aires, the atmosphere was great, the company good and i got to dance!! that is really all i could ask for. (and sore feet.) tomorrow is another day and another lesson.

i am in love with marie! i took a taxi with my excess baggage to the guest house about 10am and arrived at the front door to smiling faces. my room was not ready so marie served me breakfast. she is the mother of the house. making sure everyone is fed and happy. after sitting for 2 minutes i met 2 women from the states who were going for a walk. i asked if i could come and they welcomed me with such ease. we did a little shopping and just enjoyed each others company. we returned to the house and my bags were in my room and i was given the grand tour of my home. i (soon to be we when victor arrives on saturday morning) have a great room near the back of the ´house´ with a small balcony, tv, my own bathroom, beautiful bed and airconditioning. (not for today. it was raining) i then got settled and watched one of the women have her private tango lesson. then the teacher took me for a spin. i am hooked. i have my own lesson at 930. ouch. that is too early for my holiday but i really have nothing else pressing on my schedule. so. after that i followed the women to here other lesson acrosss town via subway. (.70 cents) and wondered a bit and then met another woman from the house and i stayed with her for the group lesson. there were seriously 75 people in a space smaller than the main room of my apartment. it was crazy. i didn´t mind that my dancing was horrible and the space was crowed because the people at the studio were so nice. i received atleast 5 welcome kisses! so i booked a private lesson there for tomorrow at 1pm, also!! not to mention the free group lesson here at the house at 600. it will be a full day. in the evening annette invited me to eat dinner with her and some of the other house guests. she made pasta and we had wine and talked for hours!! a swiss, a german, an aussie… and more. ahhh… and now i will head to my room knowing that i will wake up to marie singing to me in the kitchen with hot coffee and medialunas (crossants) just for me. do i have to come home?? i think all my friends should just pool their money and we all live here… FYI there are also 2 ´house´cats that i have made friends with! (i still miss bodo) many hugs, kisses and happy thoughts for all of you!!

i stayed up til 2am flipping through channels last night. (this is the reason i do not have a big tv or cable) got up around 10´ish and missed the breakfast again. i really don´t care. around 11 i took a cab to the big, old, famous cemetry where evita and a bunch of other dead people are buried. that was pretty cool. i think i´ll end up there again when victor shows up. it was pretty impressive but it was, once again… fucking hot! i found a cafe and had my now usual 3 medialunas (crossants) coffee and water with gas. (i always giggle when i order it. ´agua con gas, por favor´ anything with gas is funny.) the going rate for this meal is about 6-7 pesos or $3-3.50. not bad. i wondered around again following my nose or where ever i thought there was something to look at. finally got done with that and remembered that there was a showing of ´pequiño miss sunshine´(little miss sunshine) playing down the street at 1800. i vegged out for at bit and then found a place to grab some empañadas for a snack. i was kinda hoping the movie would be dubbed rather than subtitled since i have seen it 2 times already. (donna p and john, it is great subtitled, too! i laughted so hard at the end, again!!) when that was over i decided to treat myself to dinner again. this solo thing isn´t too bad. atleast in a big city. i took a cab across town to what i think is the only thai place in town. i thought i was getting ripped off on the cab ride until i took the cab ride home with ´nicolas´. he thought it was fun to drive to 1801 rather than 181. once he realized that i knew we were not in the right spot… he tries to ask me out. shit… ´permiso, no indiendo´(sorry, i don´t understand.) has never come in so handy. it would have been a 20 peso ride rather than 6 peso ride if he would have kept the meter on. i gave him a world of shit in english, with lots of hand gestures and told him i would only pay 8 pesos because he was crazy and driving me all over on the ´tour de nicolas´. long story short… he drove me to my hotel with no trouble or inappropriat behavior. (the flattery was nice… though) the interesting thing i am finding about the argentine men is… they are talkers!! but harmless. so now that i have made it through my day of adventures… will head to bed and be out of my grand hotel by 10am tomorrow. it has been so fun to watch the doormen that see me come and go everyday. first in the morning sporting my backpack, jeans and sneakers. and then at night on my dates with ´marilee the wonderful´, after a shower, makeup, heals and a newly purchased outfit. they look at me as if i have a twin stached away in my room. ha ha ha.

i made it!! i arrived yesterday afternoon and took a cab to my amazing hotel. checked in and dumped off my stuff and headed out for a walk. it is in a fabulous location with tons of people and STUFF. found a great restaurant to have dinner at, at the usual 10pm hour and had a hard time sleeping with all the excitement. today i found myself at the botanical gardens by way of taxi (less than $5). i didn´t go because of the plants but for the cats. yes cats. this 3-4 block park is home to tons, possibly hundereds, of stray cats. it was so fun to just sit and have then come over to say hi. they are slightly cared for (food and water provided) by a group of volunteers. crazy. next i wondered to shopping district! wow. (denise where are you? we would have so much fun together here!) i found some great buys and really enjoyed just wandering around for 3 hours knowing that all i had to do was grab a cab, anywhere, and it would bring me back to the hotel. NO REAL NAVIGATION NEEDED!! i may go for another walk tonight to find food and tomorrow i think i will go to a very famous cemetery. (i just have to say… I AM NOT AT WORK TODAY!!!)

wow! that is alot of friggin water. today we took an all day tour. the ´devils throat´ again (the biggest part) and we also walked the lower and upper trails. it is 2700 meters wide. with about 1000 indivdual falls. the drop is 80 meters. (i guess niagra is 1 falls around 2000 meter with a drop of only 60 meters) we saw some great animals… iguanas, lizards, birds, butterflies (there are over a 1000 varities around here), little guinea pigs, a giant guinea pig thing that they make alot of leather products out of. (i have no clue what the f*ck it was) we saw also a relative of the raccoon. and i found out that i am in a sub tropical location. the falls are shared with brazil but with such a short amount of time here… i only stayed on this side and waved to brazil. the best part of the day, i almost missed out on was at the end of the tour,you could pay extra for a boat and safari ride. i thought what the hell. beats walking in this heat. (over 30 degrees C) i don´t know what that is, other than HOT!!! so anyway… i pay the $30 for the hour trip. holy shit. we get in the boat (about 20 people and 500 horse power motor) and in less than 2 minutes we are doing brodys and i am soaked from head to toe and screaming for more. we go right under two of the falls. incredible!!! note to all of you… if you do this tour, don´t wear jeans. it feels like you have wet your pants for the next hour. the other highlight of the day was going back to those main falls first thing this morning. there was so much spray from the falls that everyone was wet. i was walking to another part and turned to see an man about 70 years old with the most spectacular smile on his face. he was having a moment and i got to watch it. his expression was absolute pure bliss. as if he had worked his whole life and traveled across 3 continents for that moment… he just streched out his arms and soaked it all in.