bomba del tiempo

Good Evening!
Thought I would give you all a quick little idea of some of the activities of the last week. I apologize if there are a bunch of weird symbols and stuff in this post... this spanish based keyboard is a bit funky. Also, I forwarn you that there are no quotation marks on my keyboard, so quotes will be in these <> and translations of any spanish words I include will be in brackets. Read on:

Last Monday I attended one of my favorite things ever in Buenos Aires (and perhaps in any city EVER), called the Bomba del Tiempo [Time Bomb]. The basic format of Bomba del Tiempo is a group of 8 drummers (as in hand drums like congas, djembes, etc) in a half circle on a stage in this large, partially open-air cultural center. Some nights it is just the core group of drummers, some nights there are other percussion instruments in the back like shakers or gourds, and some nights they have guest musicians. We hit the jackpot and got a combination of all three! Basically the musicians sit there and do crazy awesome drum jams, banging out beats, working off each other, and creating totally improvised and unique <> that are controlled by a sort of director who increases/decreases the tempo, creates pauses, and brings each song to end end. They play for about 2 hours, maybe a little more maybe a little less, and they play maybe 5 <> total! On Monday we had the good fortunte to witness the combination of the percussionists with a very talented Venezuelan guitarist. The combination was supurb. Towards the end of the night, who should come on the stage but one of the lead rappers for an uber famous latino rap group called Calle 13 (click on the calle 13 to see a youtube video of them if you want... you might recognize their music!). Turns out the guy was there just wathcing the Bomba del Tiempo and decided to get up and rap to one of their beats! SO COOL! Overall a highly entertaining and impressive performance.

Tuesday night included a visit to my favorite restaurant of all time, Dadá. It is a hole in the wall place that has a super funky artsy vibe to it, and relatively upscale dinner fare. They also happen to put a really unique twist on several typically Argentine dishes. In case you were unaware, Argentines pretty much only eat three main dinner food groups: pizza, beef, or pasta. Seriously. That's it. You can certainly find other food, but at any old place you go into in this enormous city, 95% of the menu will consist of pizza, pasta, or beef. Well, Dadá provides an excelent variation on the pasta/beef themes, as well as making some of the most unique and delicious mixed drinks ever. I was incredibly content sitting there with Antonela and John, sipping an Argentine Malbec wine, observing the obviously international crowd...

John leaves on Monday evening to return home and I leave on Tuesday for a week long visit to Chile!! It has been more than 2 years since I have been back to Valparaíso where I spent my first semester abroad, and I am filled with excitement that I will soon get to see my wonderful host family and friends there. It will also be fun to return to some of the old haunts in Viña del Mar (Valpo's sister city) and take a stroll on the beach there. It just so happens that I will be visiting during the Chilean independence day, which I remember well from my semester abroad there. It's funny to think that exactly 3 years ago I was just finishing up my 2nd full month in my first semester abroad. Unfortunately, I no longer have my journal to look back on what was going on for me during that time, but that is partially why I am looking forward to my return. Going back to somewhere you lived always brings back so many memories.... perhaps my week there will help me to fill gaps in my memory about my 6 months in Valparaiso/Viña...

Aside from that, I am drinking tons of mate, walking all over the city every day, thuroughly enjoying speaking spanish, and loving my <> here in South America. More to come! Much love- C