Tigre - River where everyone goes

We took a trip to Tigre, which is the river only half an hour by bus from the city. For some reason everyone has mentioned it (the local people, who I've been talking to). For Finnish it seems a bit weird that river can be so big deal, because all we do have is rivers in Finland. 

So one early Saturday morning we took the bus with many from UADE (Universidad Argentina De La Empresa). I think there were something like 50 persons. We went by boat to a small island where we had pool, opportunity to play volleyball, football and ping-pong. There were also place to eat and a small "bar".

 Sun was shining, people drinking mostly beer, smiling and playing. After few hours we had "asado" and we all ate together. Then we had some competitions with sports... We took part in volleyball and actually, we won one game :D! But we had so much fun, that was the main goal :)! The day was ended eating pizza in a nightclub (yeah, in a nightclub :D) and we continued to one friends house from the school. Some burned their skin very badly because of the sun. I had a hand-print in my back so I probably didn't but the sun lotion correctly :D 

Gourmet's dream come true

I've been really sick lately and it seems to start over every time I get better. I think I found the reason today; some bacteria have caused me an infection in intestines so I'm sick constantly. Well... You should be careful what you eat, but not scared. Bacteria are different in every country but I didn't saw this coming. Maybe I'll be wiser next time.. But this subject always cheers me up :)!

They say Argentina and Buenos Aires is gourmets paradise. Argentina is very well known for the meat; they say here you can eat the worlds best meat. I've tasted many kinds of beefs but nothing like here in Buenos Aires. It's just so good that there isn't words to describe it! If there would be one thing I could take with me to Finland, it would be Argentine meat! You don't even have to put a lot of spice there 'cause its natural taste is so good! And a top of it, it's ridiculously cheap! Other food I just love is fruits: fresh, juicy, tasty fruits. I doesn't matter what time of year you buy fruits, it's nothing, it's not even fruit compered what you can have here! Those small fruit shops in almost every corner (at least in Palermo Hollywood) where you can buy anything and again, it ridiculously cheap! And it's SO GOOD!

Mixed see food from Fish shop

Delicious sushi! Best ever!

Shellfishes from the supermarket

Huge Grill plate from really nice restaurant Las Cabras in Palermo Hollywood.
I really recommend this restaurant! But it's always full, 'cause everyone else likes it too.

I made some late night snack; mixed seafood breds

Chinese

Crayfish chips, colorful ones

I love these fruits in here! The problem is that it seems to be the number one reason why I have been so sick lately: because in really warm country fruits and salads has totally different bacteria than in cold countries. When I get better, I'll continue eating those, good idea or not :D!

Argentine risotto

"Family dinner" at our place

Argentine lunch time

Chinese New Year in Buenos Aires

In Finland we don't celebrate Chinese New Year. Actually, I didn't even know when it is! Lots of people was talking about it here in Buenos Aires, so I thought it must be worth of seeing. And it was! Huge stage and screen, lots of different kinds of performances going nonstop, dozens of food stands and many things for sale. I enjoyed mostly from the food and performances. 

Sushi in plastic box from the Japanese food stand.
 I've never tasted Sushi "From the street" and it was delicious! Best I've ever tasted (so far). 

Chinese deep-fried squid rings... It's hard to find anything better!
The best thing was that in this one you could taste the real squid really well, yum yum!

Last but not least smoothies! Real, fresh smoothies made from real, fresh fruits and berries.
I can still taste it in my mouth, it was that good!

Of course I had to get the fortune cookie with the prediction. Mine says "Open your heart. You can always close it again." I wonder how seriously I should take the prediction :D!

In Buenos Aires they celebrated the Chinese New Year whole two days. The atmosphere was incredible! Everyone was so happy and relaxed! I wish there will be the day when you can feel that in Finland too :D! I took some videos, so I could show what I experienced and saw, but it's impossible. On the top of it the videos quality turned out to be quite bad. If you think it's too bad, skip the first too and watch at least the last one and the small screen works the best.

Inflation in Argentina

This is the subject we learn in school at very early age. But here in Argentina.. It's totally different thing. Here we are living with it every day. So what you learn at school about this is nothing compered to living middle of it! I'm still a bit confused about this and I don't know much about it. It seems almost impossible that everything can be so messed up! In Finland we are really living so safe and stable life. Here you never know what's going to happen tomorrow! But I'm not saying it in negative way. It's extremely interesting!

When we came here, it was almost impossible to get Us Dollars from the country. If I wanted to change my money in USD, I had to pay extra 40%, so it was insane! Government tried to "change the way peoples mind works", and the main goal was (how I got it) that people wouldn't collect dollars anymore, and that Peso would become more stable. It didn't work. But now, this week everything changed again! People used to save dollars and buy everything bigger with dollars, like cars, houses and holidays. Everyone want's to have payment for renting apartment as USD. It's a bit hard 'cause there's no way we could get it in a way that isn't ridiculously expensive. But I get it. Of course they want the payment USD 'cause it doesn't change weekly or even daily like Peso does. It's the safe way to have and save money.

Put now, little over an week ago, government again changed everything. Completely out of the blue they decided that people can buy USD normally. WHAAT!? I mean in Finland this wouldn't be possible! Everything takes so much time, to decide something or put into practice. And here, they just did it! Put what does that mean. I'm not even sure :D! It seems so messy to me! But one Finnish boy said "now I know what it feels like having a bunch of money that looses it's value". So he had all his money as USD and when government released the "markets" his dollars wasn't that valuable anymore. And what about Peso? Is it really gonna be more stable because of this decision? The funny thing is that the government is telling to the rest of the world that the inflation level is much much less than the reality.

http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/analysis/inflation-when-a-picture-is-worth-1000-2210-3480-words/

For me this is so exiting and interesting! But I can only imagine how it feels for those who lives here! When the news came out last weekend, some shops were closed, because they didn't know anymore how much should they ask for the items they are selling. They didn't know how valuable those were anymore. And everything happened for the one night! What's going to happen? No one knows.


If you are interested, here's some links that tells more about facts:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548229
http://www.geocurrents.info/news-map/economics-news/argentinas-mounting-economic-troubles

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-27/argentine-prices-soar-following-peso-devaluation-which-only-benefits-20-population

http://blogs.trb.com/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog/2009/04/

It's HOT HOT HOT weather! Solution - water play :)

When I left from Finland the weather was dark, raining and maeby just -2 Celcius. Now I know that in Finland theres -25 degrees (horrible cold). But still I'm used to maximum +28 degrees, 'cause there's never warmer than that in Finland. So can you believe what happens when you put Finnish people in +30 to + 45 degrees :D!? It's so so so hot! I have burned my skin 4 times during two weeks, unbelievable! I wen to gym during hotel stay and got dehydration! I'm so happy we have the pool and air conditioner 'cause otherwise we would be in big troubles! It's a weird thing how fast human body can get used to the hot weather. First two weeks we were suffering and sweating quite hardly all the time. Now, when the weather is warm (about +28 to +33 C) it feels quite normal. One day it was raining and there was only +20C, we were actually a bit cold! So the body can get used to different circumstances. It's hard to believe that back home there's snow!