We made it to Argentina! And I cannot get the song "Buenos Aires" from Evita out of my head!!!!
We are so lucky to be right in the downtown which happens to remind me a lot of Times Square in New York. We are within walking distance from our theatre, The Gran Rex which happens to be one of the best venues in Argentina according to my local friend Clara! She wasn't kidding either! There are three levels to this beautiful theater and my guess is that it hold 5000 or more people (don't quote me on that).
We are literally on the Broadway of Argentina! I think that's pretty darn cool!!!
We arrived at our hotel around 6pm on Monday and after walking around a little bit and deciding we didn't want to eat out, 3 of the girls in my cast and I concocted a little girls night in! We ordered room service and watched "Letters to Juliet." It was so nice to be with some of the girls I've grown closest to and it reminded me of all my PAKKAJES girls at home (MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!).
Tuesday was our day off so a couple of the girls and I let one of our prop men and his husband from Buenos Aires show us some of the sights! First we visited
Expectamus Dominum, this famous cemetery that holds the body of Eva Peron! All of the elaborate tombs were so unique and detailed with statues and carvings and decorations of all sorts. There were some very large mausoleum's and some spaces that were just small tombstones. These were family tombs built to hold many generations. You could see inside most of the tombs and see countless levels of coffins or staircases that led to a black abyss deep beneath the earth. Some were well kept with fresh (or fake) flowers on the gates or flawless polished marble walls. Others looked as if they had been broken into and robbed or had just withered away with time and weather.
Of course, like any tourist, we found the tomb that held Eva Peron. It's quite unimpressive compared to what you might expect because she is buried with her family under the name, Duerte. The only way you can find it is if there are people surrounding it, you see the many flowers posted on the gate, or you are led to it by a guide. There is a very interesting story surrounding her body as well. Apparently her body was embalmed and toured around for about a year. Then someone stole her hands. Gross and weird.
Overall, the Cemetery was like a museum. It was so full of history and beautiful art. You would have loved it, mom!
Next we took a taxi to the other side of Buenos Aires to a place called La Boca. It's a lovely street designed for tourists with colorful buildings and paintings on random walls and lots of little souvenir shops and restaurants with live tango. We got lunch and I tried my first Argentinian empanada.
Side note: You always have to ask for hot sauce because they don't eat spicy food in Argentina. I was so surprised by that statement!
So we had lunch and watched the tango dancers. Two of the couples weren't very exciting and seemed pretty over it. But the third couple was very fun to watch. They really seemed like they were having fun together and they did the Zamba (a flirtatious dance with handkerchiefs)!
The girls and I also learned for the gentlemen we were with that the "tourist price" for a 2-bedroom full furnished apartment with utilities, a pool, and a great location in downtown Buenos Aires is about $800/month. The non-tourist price is $600...Who wants to move here?
After lunch we walked around the shops and looked at all the fun souvenirs and the girls bought a few things to bring home. Everyone seems to have a little thing they collect from all the countries they visit" postcards, shot glasses, pins, patches, etc. I want to start something like that!! Any ideas? I might have to go back to s few countries, but I don't mind!
When we finally returned to our hotel on De Julio (the widest street in the world), I had about an hour and a half until I was meeting some friends to go see Clara's production of "Company." She was wonderful enough to work out a nice little discount for the 6 of us that wanted to go! The theater was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel which was perfect! The show was all in Spanish and I had no idea what anyone was saying because Argentinians speak incredibly fast, but I understood the general storyline and the songs were AMAZING. All of the leads are famous Argentinian actors and TV stars. I was so proud to see Clara up on that stage with all of that talent! I held my breath every time she came on and cried a little when she sang her songs because 1. she is INCREDIBLE and 2. I forgot how much I really missed her after being apart for nearly 2 years!!! All of my cast members that came loved the show as well and thankfully, a couple of them were pretty fluent in Spanish and explained to us all that had happened!
After the show Clara and I hugged each other for probably a solid minute with tears in our eyes! She introduced us to some of her cast and invited us to dinner with them as well. Most everyone went back home to go to bed because it was 1am, but my friend Jeremy and I joined them and had a blast catching up and toasting to each other! Many of them want to come see our show too!!!! I can't wait to have some friends in the audience!
It was quite a successful day!!!
Oh and since we are in Argentina, we now do the Spanish version of our show! And I JUST got the hang of the Portuguese...haha!
I wasn't in Brazil yet for this, but this is my lovely and hilarious cast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE6V15tpCBM&feature=youtu.be
Buenas noches!!!
(Sooooo happy to be in a Spanish-speaking country!!!)
