Monkey Man out of Chile

Okay, this has little to do with Buenos Aires but it's mad contagious - and it's Chilean, not too far off. Straight out of Santiago is an artist I know from NYC. Sebastian paints on skateboards and apparantly makes sick music. His band is Los Mono and Kanye West is blogging about them. It's a small blog world.

Apartment Hunting

We found some great apartments - one was here.

We'll lock down our new home this next week and I'll let you know what happens. San Telmo is the old city with cobblestones and antique shops.

Sleeping and Meeting Babies

I may be catching up on the sleep I've missed my entire life. Is it normal to sleep so much when you are relatively happy? This month I don't have any nightlife crowd shots or smiling, beverage-in-hand pics. Besides sleep and watching the Hallmark channel in Buenos Aires, I've hung out in family settings with kids and ate large meals and relaxed a lot on couches. I'm thinking this is what well-adjusted people spend time doing.

Maxi's new neice and four-year-old nephew.

This is okay as a novelty but not sure I can hold out sitting so much. I'm hoping there's another segment to this settling down thing. We're hunting for an apartment which is more my speed. Think I need to turn up the volume - maybe if there was some kind of sunshine going on - it's overcast here in sunny South America. The city generally has a lot of Naples, Italy going on but lately it's doing its best imitation of London.


This month I made a trip to LA which included one funeral and three visits to the dentists. Despite those, I got to enjoy some quality time with friends and family - even some good times with family in there between the neurotic moments.

Mindy and Mom in Malibu

Len-dog with Maria and Hayden

Aunt Rita with granddaughter Laila (Len-dog is jealous)

Brandon and web wings. Carmen and Maxi have the same eyeball fixation.


Aww yeah, I'm the jewish godmother!
mommies and babies are beautiful




Okay, I did go out a little bit - forgot - just over to the Standard and Chinatown.
Crowds and cocktails.


Richard Ray - there is no other Hollyhood


Remember "where's waldo?" Can you find Dr. Oop and Loco in the crowd?

And Max and I went to a big show before I left - something sponsored by soda.

Mataplantas played at "Pepsi Music"

Max and Mataplantas



Argentina's star emcee - Dante. He's also the son of the most successful rock artist of the past few decades. Even the stars, and children of stars are nice here. It's an amazing culture.

Coupling

It's the strangest thing in the world to go from single to coupled. I don't mean, "Ooh, it's so novel to hold hands walking down the street." I mean, live with, clean up with, go out with, talk about money problems with, go to sleep and wake up with another person. I've never done it - not even close. I have to tell you, it's not as bad as people make it out to be. So far (which granted is not very long) it's good. It's cool to have someone to cook with and eat with. It's cool to talk about what's going on day to day. It's really cool to know someone has your back. It's nice to be off the market too - instead of expending energy primping and pimping. But it's really strange.



Maxi likes to do strange things with his eyeballs in photos.

We went to a party at Marcela's work with really good jungle juice and next level German beer.


Marcela serving me another (this one was for you, Tracy).

Pete visited from NYC and Maxi and I met him for lunch his first day in Palermo Soho.


We went to an arts and crafts fair in a park where Max's band played. I got homesick for LA for like the first time in my life. Maybe it was seeing Mother Teresa repping for the westside? I officially miss you now, Los Angeles.
The weather got warmer here all of a sudden. I'm scared of what summer will be like. Kasha is too - no AC in most of the city.

Choripan stands are the answer to LA's taco trucks, and NYC's pizza spots/hot dog carts - chorizo sandwiches. Maxi wore his special socks to the party and drove us to the good choripan after. We ate them at 5am and they were muy rico.

Today

What I'm doing mostly.


Found a teaching job and hunting for more writing work.
What Kasha's doing mostly (besides eating - la gordita!).



Redheadphone made it into the LES Crown Point Festival (music/film/theater) and is invited to play the ING NYC Marathon's Central Park stage. Those events, coupled with the fact that there's still a bunch of stuff leftover from my apt that I need to get out here, is inspiring me to try to make a visit happen in November. Peep the festival video here:
http://www.crownpointfestival.org/Page-2.html
I miss you NYCrs.

Argentina Look

This site:
http://argentinastravel.com/destinations/top-10-destinations/
has some great info on this country. This colorful street is La Boca here in Buenos Aires.


These are all spots outside BsAs that I haven't been to yet since I haven't seen much outside the city. Visit and let's go see some waterfalls and stuff.

9 pieces of luggage and 1 cat

On Monday, the 21st I said goodbye to my favorite newyorkers in a brazilian spot on Avenue C. I drank coco punch, we listened to live Bossa Nova, I looked around at all the great peeps I got to know in NYC, shed a tear, and went home to 6th St for the last time.



Next day was hectic, finishing up packing (thank you Carolina, Youna, and Erika!) and then Carolina dropped off Kasha Knish and I at JFK with nine other pieces of luggage. We checked most of what I own, then Kasha and I paid a pile of money to get her and the extra bags on to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The flight was nine hours and the cat sat next to me in her little purse/carrier. She mostly stayed in her bag but sometimes hung out halfway on my lap. A couple times she came out to look out the window. When she went back in the bag she left her tush sticking out, tail wagging - fun for the stewardesses walking by. When meals came Kasha shared some chicken or cheesecake but wouldn't eat her food or drink water. In the bathroom I set up her makeshift litterbox with a shoebox top and litter and she obediently went pee. I can't believe she's a cat - she's a good little dude.



Our Brazilian flight was late (I love South America- fits me) so we missed our connection and waited for another flight. A woman in her early 50's approached us in the terminal asking about Kasha's trip and the possible restrictions. She went on to tell me about her adoption of a Paraguayan 13yr-old from an orphanage who has a cat and how she hopes to bring the two of them home to Italy soon. She busted out photos and everything. Thankfully, Argentina has no quarantine for pets entering the country. Kasha was a great travel partner - she kept my mind off the fact that I was doing something crazy, giving up my great life in NYC - that I'd always wanted - for a gamble on a relationship in a foreign country.



Now I live in Buenos Aires and so does Kasha. After 24 hours in transit, I got to let the cat out of the bag, into her new apartment. Max was waiting for us at the airport and was happy to help us with the piles of luggage and to welcome Kasha. We got into his car and drove into a sunny, crispy day. We got to his sun-filled one bedroom in his great neighborhood here in the city. It's the first time in four years that I have a window in the bedroom - hot. It's the first time I've ever lived with a boyfriend. I was pretty worried about that part but actually, it's really good. It feels like the end of a fairy tale - Kasha's tail hanging out of her bag. It's just the beginning, though.