Wandering in BA

I've arrived in Buenos Aires!!

With the whole subletting fiasco (subletter ditched 5 days before I left then I replaced him with a much more awesome one), and since those other students were happy that they had waited to find places until they got here, I decided to let the housing decision wait until now. So, I got in this morning, and I'm in a hostel in Palermo Viejo. The majority of travelers here seem to be from the US, but there's a French couple, a Greek woman, and some young Brits. It's fascinating to me that Americans come here and sit in their hostel watching American movies (like the one that is in the background now).

I went to check out one place this morning. Lucia, the woman who is renting it lives there herself (uncommon), and she has books and CDs that i presume she will leave there--makes it feel more like home. She's going to Paris for 3 months and is subletting. It's right between an area with lots of restaurants and the area with lots of parks (and one block from the subway), but I can't tell if it's close enough to either the parks or restaurants to make it totally convenient. Then this afternoon I saw the cheapest place I had found ($500) and the people were nice, but the place was pretty shabby. Location was pretty good, but very little light. even though everyone has recommended Palermo, I might check out some places outside the neighborhood tomorrow. I haven't been to the center of town yet, so I'll have to see what that has to offer.

I ate a huge lunch (chicken club with freshly cooked chicken and bacon with a huge salad) at this French cafe called "Oui, Oui" for $10 (including bottled water and tip), and that seems to be the high end for food here. I walked past a number of amazing restaurants, a lot of them on a street called Humbolt. I'm excited to hit those with Laura when she comes! While it's cheap here, I have found myself dividing prices by 7 (the bolivian exchange rate) when I should be dividing by 3 (the argentine rate). I need to watch that.