And then some.

These guys were pretty chill for sword-wielding enforcers.

So I have a few photos and some explanations as to what I have been doing with myself this past week:

To start, the weather has been the absolute best--I really don't feel like coming back to sub-zero Detroit. But as they say here: Que vas a hacer? Anyway, I have been mostly just walking through the city and enjoying not being in school ("enjoying" is an understatement haha). One of the cooler places I went to was the Museo de Armas (Arms Museum). In the museum, there was a gigantic collection of swords, various large arms, and guns--it was any card-carrying NRA man's paradise. The building that the museum is part of is actually quite amazing; being that it is almost identical in style and obscene luxuriousness as the Palace of Versailles in France (this is another large story in itself) but there was an interesting array of weapons from virtually every century from virtually every country that ever made a weapon. I just kept thinking of Bradley Whitford saying "Big guns is all I carry" The following are some pictures my friend took...

Central display 

 

 

This is the same building where the museum is. It is in terms of style and obscene luxuriousness almost equivalent to the Palace of Versailles, France. It was constructed during the late 1910's when Argentina was the 8th richest nation in the world. It is truly a feat of construction given the time. It's is not possible to take a complete picture from the street.

 This came from the box of a set of dueling pistols. Conflict resolution was so much easier in the past, no?

Here is a clock-tower donated by the British after the Malvinas War as a token of good faith. This was taken while were sitting in a nice park in a place called Retiro.

 This is a massive statue of General San Martin--he is a figure that is basically the equivalent to George Washington to us. He was mostly responsible for the liberation of much of South America from the Spanish.

They are throwing paper and confetti--it gets so messy. Nothing really compares in the USA.

 Ok. As some of you may know, futbol (soccer) is a HUGE deal here--it is the only thing that people truly care about. The fans and atmosphere of these games make the Superbowl look like a geriatric home on bingo night. Seriously. I had the opportunity to go to a game between River Plate (one of the most popular teams here and part of one of the biggest rivalries in the world--Boca/River) and San Lorenzo--also a very popular team. The game I went to was in the stadium of San Lorenzo (one of the shadiest and more dangerous parts of the city...I went with a group, no worries).
You have to understand, the fans here are nuts; they shoot flares, light M80's, play music, chant, shout, throw almost anything, and have banners that literally cover entire sections of people. Also, people here cuss like sailors that just got into port. Unfortunately these pics are not from THAT particular game, but they basically show what I saw at that stadium--SL is red and blue. Mind you, this was not a special game--people are nuts for every game. Also, I was fortunately in the kids/old people section so I was not caught up in one particular side. Futbol here is also very political and plays a major role in the culture. Moreover, I counted atleast 60 cops in uniform and like 20 riot cops there--just as peace keepers.

I think the craziest part of the experience was not the game, but the bus ride home: I took the bus to the end of the line to get there and I needed to take it again to get home. Unfortunately, EVERYBODY else had the same idea. So I was waiting in a crowd of hundreds of people just to get on and they would only let women and children on first. When I finally did get in, I got stuck in the middle. There were people everywhere; hanging out windows, out the door, standing on seats, and just generally packed in. Everybody during the whole ride was chanting, singing, and banging on whatever they could just to make noise. Some people filled their coke bottles with beer while others were just chucking stuff out the windows as we drove. It was absolutely out of control. But keep in mind, nobody was violent, just pumped up for their team. Los Argentinos are serious about their futbol--it was one hell of an experience.