73

On our final day, we visited Caminita in La Boca, home of the Boca Juniors and some of the starkest constrasts between poverty and brightly colored culture in Buenos Aires. In the market, there was a woman selling dog clothes, and this unfortunate dog had been one of her recent victims. Caminita is famous for its open cafes, street vendors, houses painted with only primary colors, and tango that is awkwardly sexual for a street corner. Our last few hours in 85 degree heat were worth the crosstown cab. Bye Argentina! Miles left: 824

72

Missed our walking tour so we made up our own. Walked to Plaza San Martin to see the Buddy Bear exhibit, a Unicef art project on its last of 5 years of touring. Managed (unfortunately) to go back to the overly busy Calle Florida area until making it home for the afternoon siesta. To celebrate our last meal of the week, we had dinner at a man named Diego Felix's house. With locally grown meats, veggies, and herbs, he concocted some of the most unique dishes I've ever had. Purple potato starter, blended mint and melon icee-like palate cleanser, salad with nutty rice, fish in tomatoes and green pasta, and an apple pastry made with crumbly graham cracker-like native flour and served with ginger ice cream. No better way to end the trip! Ended the night at Millione: an old mansion turned night club. Speakeasy feel, stood on large marble garden steps splitting a cigarette and drinking vodka sodas. Turned in after a late night feast of our leftover meals from the week and got sad about leaving the country of cheap steak, smokey wine, and 7am bedtimes. Miles left: 824

67

We arrived in Buenos Aires! On about 3 hours of sleep, we moved into our house and realized that we were in fact living in the Real World house. Kevin G. would later ask where the confessionals were staged. After much discussion (read: I slept by the pool while Brian made all the calls), we decided to join the GBE-ers and go to a Boca vs. Independiente soccer game. Apparently this sporting event ranks with the Ititerod, Tour de France, and the Kentucky Derby as one of the top 10 sporting events in the world to witness (http://blog.sierratradingpost.com/in-outdoors-camping-gear-forest-trails/top-10-must-see-sporting-events-in-the-world/). I can actually believe it. The tens of thousands of fans did not stop singing the entire game. Every single one of them brought streamers and they were all thrown at the same time. They set off red smoke fireworks. Children were yelling terrible things at the other side. The opposing team's fan section was actually separated from ours by a 10ft gap in the bleachers, 12ft high chain fences, and barbed wire. At the end of the game, they were escorted out and our side wasn't allowed to leave for 30 minutes. Here's a recap of the game on YouTube plus the streamers and crazy fans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uE7JHIXhlM

Just nuts.

Miles left: 833.25

66

The first seven of our group started the long trip to Buenos Aires. I finally read all the business weeks that had been coming to my house for the last 4 months but that I never had time to read. Business school has made me really interesting - when presented with 12 hours of time to kill, I chose to read about the Dow and new floating fish farms that start with spawn in Panama and travel to Miami to deliver grown fish. The shot above is our first South American sunrise out of our plane window. The diagonal line is the wing of the plane. Miles left: 833.25