Today was departure day for my best bud in Argentina, BJ. It was just like any other normal day though, just as we would normally have it. Woke up and let the sun shine into the room. Had our morning mate with our friend Lucho. Walked around the neighborhood and had some ice cream, and even stopped by to say hello to our old landlord and roommate, Pamela. I really have gotten used to seeing people make the big change in their life and head back home. This one was especially hard as it finally hit me as I gave my best bud one last hug as he headed out to the airport. BJ has been my sidekick through the thick and the thin here in the madness of the city, much like Robin was before. As time progressed and he learned the ways of the city, it became a big amusing game that we played, constantly learning the ways of the Argentine people, and him always knowing what I was thinking or going to do before I did it was always a welcomed reminder that I have someone here who has my back and knows who I am and where I really come from. I know he will be fine, just like Robin is now, where he ends up. We would always catch ourselves in the moment and always remind each other how lucky we are to be where we are living the amazing life we were living. The last thing that I told him before he left was, Bj, it doesn't really matter where you are or who you are with, but to make it a good life regardless of the circumstances. He can bring the happiness and the sense of satisfaction with life wherever he goes. Bring the buena onda and buenas vibras with him.

After we parted ways, Simone and I checked out the apartment where we were thinking of living. WOW! That is all I have to say about this place. It's a huge, beautiful apartment located on Independencia and Defensa, so close to everything in San Telmo. The apartment is simply incredible. There is a huge kitchen, huge living and dining room with a tv, balcony, leather italian sofas, art work, a bike storage for my bike, and in our room we have a HUGE bathroom with a bathtub, a closet 4x the size of our current one, queen size bed, and the corner master bedroom is surrounded with windows looking onto the avenue. It's one of those amazing ones with the balcony that people see from the street and think, wow, I would love to live there. And the great thing is that it is cheaper than all the other places we looked at. The owner is in Italy, and recently his wife came and redecorated everything! Downside is that we are going to be paying dollars which continues to skyrocket amidst the peso, but $450 between 2 is definitely not bad at all. I'm looking forward to the new experience of living with my girlfriend, although it will only be about 3 months, it will be a big learning experience regardless.

So now I find myself in a new stage in my Buenos Aires life. With most of my English-speaking friends gone for the motherland, I am surrounded more by foreigners and Argentines, where our common grounds for communication is Castellano Spanish. It will be a great way for me to practice more of my Castellano and hopefully get better soon

The passing of time and my intent in really trying to live in the moment and take advantage of the beauty around me has found me here, a few months short from my last documentation of my life in Buenos Aires. Actually, if I'm being honest with myself, the other reason could be that I have just been downright lazy and haven't found the passion to write in a while.

I will say that what's going on in my life right now is noteworthy, so I find myself back here. Just a few days ago my good friend and mentor, Barry "Bazza" Barrayarza said his final goodbye to Buenos Aires as after 14 years in this "theatre" or "laboratory" of a city as he would call it, he has finally decided to make a change and head to beautiful California. I guess the common thing in my life right now has been change and departures. I've had to say goodbye to a lot of good friends recently as they start new adventures in their lives. My good friend, John Rodriguez, finally decided to head back home to California a few weeks ago too as just like most of the expats here, found difficulties trying to make a decent wage. My old french roommate, Pauline, just left about a week ago to return to the little town life in France with her boyfriend and start a new beginning as she intends to change her course of studies for something more meaningful to her, teaching. Coming up real soon, in about a week, one of my best friends and side kick here in Buenos Aires the last 8 months, BJ, will be making the trip across the atlantic back to California as well to start up his own business with his family, Colorfornia Homestyles.

It's beginning a new chapter in my life here in Buenos Aires. As summer and fall fade to the incoming chills of winter, it brings a new perspective yet again to my everchanging surroundings here in the city of good airs. I find myself back again in my old stomping grounds of the Salta house, yet with new people and a new onda. I see the city and people here with new eyes again as I recollect what I was experiencing and feeling here just a year ago, never with the thought that I would still be here one year later!

Yet as time quickly passes without much notice, as the seasons change and faces change, as the scope of my understanding of the chemistry of different people and cultures continues to grow, I can't help but be thankful again for where I am in my life and with the people I have surrounding me. Although time passes and people come and go, the friendships and memories will always remain and I still think I am the luckiest guy alive....although not in the best health, or with much money.... I have so many wonderful people to call my friends and family, great lessons that I've learned along the way, and memories that I will alway look back on with much fondness.

Happy Easter!

Time flies when you're having fun. That's what they say, right? I like to think that time flies when you are living your life, through the good, the bad, the bitter and sweet. The year 2008 has come and past and it's time for new beginnings. The last day of 2008 in Buenos Aires was a wet one, and as my roommate Pam said, it's the cleansing and preparation for a new start in the new year. As I look back at the last 365 days of my life, I reflect on so much that has passed and again am thankful for where life has taken me.

2008 started off on the beaches of Praia Mole on the island side of Barra da Lagoa in Florianopolis, Brazil. I remember sitting there on the beach staring off into the horizon, and watching the time slowly pass as the sun came down thinking about how fortunate I was to be in that place. I still had a year left in South America and was so excited for all the new experiences and challenges that awaited me on my South American Adventure!

This past year found me immersing in a new language and culture, crossing borders while exploring foreign lands, and being in some of the world's most beautiful wonders of the world. Getting myself into crazy jobs selling futbol tickets for the boca jrs. mafia, telemarketing to accountants back in the states, tutoring/ teaching english to chinese-argentine kids in the rich buenos aires, throwing house parties to pay rent, and student advising at a Spanish School!Discovering my passion for futbol,making lifelong friends from far off countries, and finding myself in a relationship with my beautiful girlfriend, Simone.

I've gotten myself into some trouble along the way, but always found my way back onto the right track. Through the long nights and happy endings, a few pieces of advice that I can extract that have helped me: Always seek growth as a person by putting yourself in situations that are new and sometimes uncomfortable. Push the boundaries of what you know and understand by striving to full take advantage of opportunities that are right in front of you. Always think positive, because no matter how bad it gets, it can always be worse....and what good does it do to be see the worst in things, anyway? Be kind to everyone you meet along the way, you never know when that kindness will come back to you, sometimes when you need it the most!

I still can't believe it's been over a year away. Although I truly miss my family and best friends back at home (you know who you are), I realize that what I'm doing now is what I'm supposed to be doing. And where I am is where I'm supposed to be. It seems like forever since I've seen you all, but know that I love and miss you all very much, and would love to be there in an instant to see and be with you guys. It maybe be soon, or it may be a while til I see you again, back in San Diego or a rendezvous somewhere out in the world.

I've gotten used to constant change and readapting. Buenos Aires is such a transient place as people are always coming and going and nothing is ever certain here. I think it's not such a bad thing because if things keep on changing, then you are always growing. I have no idea where this next year will take me or where I will be when 2010 comes around, but i'm excited for what it will bring. This new year I am looking to continue growing, maturing, and seeing the world as it happens around me through a 360 point of view and fully take in the experience with all my senses.

I hope this new year brings you good health and success in all your endeavors.

So here I am it's in my hands, and I'll savor every moment of this.

The time is around 5:16 as I begin this entry. I am just about to start my Sunday if you can believe that. The last 24 hours has been somewhat a psychedelic blur as I am reminiscing the bright lights and beating rhythmic sounds that from last night and early this morning. I am referring to Creamfields Buenos Aires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creamfields#Buenos_Aires) It is a huge dance electronic music festival which has featured big names in the past such as Paul Oakenfold, DJ Tiesto, Chemical Brothers, and Gorillaz Soundsystem. This year the highlights for me included Bajofondo, DeadMau5, Gorillaz Soundsystem, UNKLE live, David Guetta (who I will get back to in a sec), Steve Lawler, Erick Morillo (badass), Satoshi Tomiie, y finalmente, Bad Boy Orange (representing Bahrein, WHAT!?!). It was incredible! So many people everywhere...lying passed out on the ground amidst thousands of empty bottles and cups, music worshippers in a trance like stand with their eyes closed and bodies swaying with hard beat and every chilled out chorus.

At one point a few of us tried to get into the David Guetta (French DJ)  tent, which even from a distance looked like it was going to be a challenge. We pushed our way through the enormous sea of people, trying to get in close enough to feel the soundwaves. We got as far as the border of the tent until we realized that maybe it wasn't such a great idea. The tent was clearly filled to overcapacity as people we flooding out of the tent, some in a hurry as in their drugged up state, they couldn't take sweltering heat from underneath the tent as well as the moshpit swaying of the crowd. There were some that were drugged up to the point that they couldn't control themselves and were swaying their arms about, hitting people. Decided it wasn't a fun atmosphere for us, so myself, Hannah, and our Argie friend headed out, but it seemed like forever as we literally swam and pushed our way out of the sea of sweaty people! Felt so good to feel fresh air again!

Some highlights included meeting a random Canadian girl with the crew and selling her something tiny that had slipped out a it's little paper container, which after scouring the grassy terrain, I managed to miraculously find, paying 52 pesos for 2 hamburgers, 2 fries, and 2 waters, first time water trip with Jenny and Baptiste, mountain of porros, DJ tents with room to dance and strut your stuff, waiting for an hour and a half at 6am trying to find a taxi to take us home.

All in all it was an incredible time. Thanks to all my friends who were there with me!

I find myself here, at nearly 6:30 in the morning, unable to sleep. Elections are over and the votes have been cast. The United States of America, nay, the World has a new leader. His name is Barrack Obama. Over the last few weeks and months even, we've been mildly privy to the  whiplash which had been propandized all over the media. Luckily to a much lesser extent than what our friends back home on the mainland have been exposed to. Yet we've been keeping a watchful eye on what's been going on in American politics, especially in the race for the whitehouse.

It's seemed like over the last year that I have been living in Argentina, there have been many deficits in the American way of life such as in gas prices, international relations, and the economy for example. Such deficits have had me questioning a return back to the United States and from an outside perspective of the United States as a country while living in a foreign country, I feel I have a better sense of where the U.S. actually stands in terms of its' international presence as a declining world superpower.

Yet the hype of new leadership and promise for CHANGE somehow seemed to spark my interest, as it seemed for the first time in a long time, there was a chance to make the United States stand out once again as the "shining beacon of hope" that it used to respresent in the world. In Obama I see our country as a unifying force, and hope to see it mend its differences within, as well as in the international scene. I derive my pride in these elections from a particular quote I like citing an article form CNN.com:

"Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz called the U.S. election an "example of democracy at its best," citing Americans' "plethora of opportunities" to learn about the candidates' policies and stance on key issues. It also paid tribute to Obama's unifying influence, saying, "Whites and blacks, Jews and Muslims, all decided to give their votes to a candidate who is young, black and lacking in governmental experience," and expressed its hope that the President-elect would "rehabilitate the status of a superpower that remains unrivaled in its influence over the peace and welfare of all humanity."

We, the United States have so much potential to make the world a better place. Obama has filled what was once an empty cup in the world, with hope. Hope that wars will begin to find their end, stabilized economies will provide food on the table, the environment will have a resurgence in prosperity, and that people the world over can fully realize and enjoy true freedoms.

I'm so proud of my country right now. So happy that they made the right choice. And so hopeful that the promise of CHANGE brings a renewed faith the world over. Obama 08'

Patagonia bound in just a few hours....

Headed down to Calafate in Patagonia, followed by Puerto Natales in Chile and then Torres del Paine National Glaciar Park to do the W Circuit Trek, which is on the top 50 things to do before you die list! 

Super excited and will update as soon I get back! CHEERS! LA PURA VIDA!!

So it's hump day. Wednesday. I feel like I've accomplished a lot more  or less. I finished work and got some overtime hours in. Cooked some good food. Met some new people at our house. Responded to a bunch of facebook messages and emails that I've been lagging on responding to. Now it's still pretty early, about 9pm. I am kind of bored and there's not too many people around that are free. It's kind of nice to finally have some free time to just relax....

I think tonight is going to be a tranquil night...cook up some good food, watch the Sigur Ros movie, some wine and maybe some ice cream! yum, it's nice to take care of myself for once.

It's about 9:15pm and I am awoken after a nap by the sound of sweet Beatles music playing below my room in the courtyard and the wonderful aroma of fresh French crepes being cooked downstairs in the kitchen. What a way to be greeted back into the conscious world!

Jenny and Pauline are preparing a Thai dinner and French crepe  desert for the house as Robin is leaving later on tonight at 3am for Ezeiza Int'l to fly to Peru and begin his travels with family. I am excited for this ethnic mouthwatering feast that awaits us, but probably not as much as I am for Robin for the adventure that he is about to embark on. The plan is to rendezvous with him, Dana, and their mom in Cordoba in about 2 weeks for Oktoberfest, but if not we will be meeting up in south Chile, in the Patagonia countryside of Calafate and Puerto Natales to do some hiking and trekking in the glaciar, lake, and mountain districts.

"Let the world change you and you can change the world."

The triple threat birthday SUPER FIESTA was in my opinion the best party we've had at the Salta house. There was an enormous and wonderful turn out of good friends, it was surprising that we knew almost all of the 150 or so people who came out to help us celebrate our birthdays. After the delicious steak dinner we headed over to Robin's house to throw back some beers and wine before heading to the party where they were going to charge for booze. We had a fun group gather to our place and it quickly transformed into a drunken photo shoot, good times!

We were rolling pretty deep to the party, our entourage and all...but what can you expect, you have 2 out of 3 of the celebrants in our crew. The party was bumping, people were dancing, laughing, and having a good time. At one point during the night Robin appeared on the roof above the terrace, overlooking the entire party. He had his top hat on, sunglasses on, and was leading the dancing via the rooftop! People were cheering for the birthday boy...it was a really funny sight to see. BJ and myself joined him on  the roof and we all sat there overlooking the party and the city of Buenos Aires in the backdrop at night. What a great party and how surreal is it that we're all here together celebrating on such a beautiful night! Quickly the crowd followed us onto this small rooftop and a little dance party started on top of the dance party. At one point during the night it started to sprinkle-rain a little bit and rather than run for cover, we encouged the party to keep raging through...let's dance in the rain!

Downstairs people were hanging out near the bar, throwing down handles of whiskey and chillin out. At some point, Barry, Bj and I decided to call it an early night, around 6am. Sunday was a great day, Robin's actual birthday. I'm quite sure that anyone that went to our party on Saturday night didn't get out of their bed or homes until sometime after 3 or 4pm. It was raining pretty consistent and hard. We decided to make it a chill day and headed over to Robin's and watched the film, "Motorcycle Diaries" over some delicious pizza and mate. Later that evening we met up and had an ethic dinner a few blocks away at "Monolo's" which had a huge Paella meal, which Robin, BJ, Alyssum and I split and even then couldn't finish! Afterwards we took all of our leftovers and found some homeless people and gave them a great meal.

So what else left to do......well, we wanted to stay up until 3am to stay awake with Taelor until she was to catch her taxi for her 620am flight. So we did what anyone else would do....walk around on the streets of Buenos Aires kicking around empty plant pots and having some remedies on the side of the freeway, alongside the widest street in the world. NO BIG DEAL!!! jeje. We found ourselves singing songs and contemplating things in life. We eventually made our way back to Alyssum and Taelor's hostel where we just chilled out until we had to part ways for the time being until we run into each other again somewhere in the world!

It's been a great week, week and a half celebrating the birthdays and having wonderful friends in town. Thanks to all, much love.

What a birthday week it's been! Turning 24 has been a much different birthday experience than previous ones I've had. I know it's only one year older, yet I feel that it's much more than that. My 23rd year of life has been a wonderful one. I've learned more and experienced more than I think I have than any other year of life before. I was never really self-conscious about my age before, and I guess I am feeling a it little bit now...nothing too serious though, I feel young and healthy and there's a lot to look forward to this year and many years to come.

I spent my birthday this year surrounded by some of my closest friends here in Buenos Aires. Two of my friends from back in college in San Diego, Taelor and Allysum have been in town for about a week so far, to visit and also help celebrate my birthday as well as Robin's which is tonight at midnight. I gathered about 20 of our futbol players and rented out the entire Soler Cancha (soccer field) and we played two games of 5v5. While we were playing, Cacho (the guy that runs the place) cooked up a delicious asado (bbq) with ribs, steaks, chicken, peppers, bread, and drinks. It was great to be surrounded by all my fun futbol buddies from our futbol group, F.C. Bafa (REPRESENT!!!) and share a good meal after som fun games.

Later that night we had a previa (pre-drink) at my place which then was moved over to my buddy Camara's place since he was also having his going away party. At one point in the night I just stopped and reminisced with Robin. Looking at the great group of people present, enjoying and having a great time with mucho buena onda (good vibes) I was just feeling so appreciative that we are fortunate enough to have such great and inspirational friends around us to celebrate the good times here in Buenos Aires. So where to go next....no other place to ring in the birthday than our regular bar, La Puerta Roja. It was an increible and memorable night filled with drinks, laughs, and good friends.

The next day Taelor, Allysum, Robin, Barry, BJ and I met up at our place and we decided to indulge in some remedies. It was Sunday which is my favorite day to be in San Telmo. We walked around and enjoyed the San Telmo fair, listening to some of the street musicians, picking up some food, and finally ending up at the bike rental store. Got ourselves equipped with some bright orange bikes with little bells on them, clearly indicating we were foreigners! :) , and headed out for a two hour bike ride around Puerto Madero. It was just a really beautiful and relaxing day...we ended up enjoying some time at an open park until it started to rain a little bit and we headed back. At one point crossing the docks, there were dark clouds on the horizon and a beautiful rainbow burst through. Twas really lovely. Decided to head back for a tranquilo noche, so we got some delcious ice cream at a local helado place and headed back to the house. I smelled something burning back at the house and thought it was the neighbors upstairs burning something so I yelled up towards the roof to let them know something was burning. Everyone started laughing, and little did I know that it was because in fact my friends cooking some brownies as my birthday cake! hahahaha. It was a beautiful night....we bought some gourmet pizza, a few bottles of wine, and all snuggled up on two beds full of pillows and watched "Sprout," my favorite surfing dvd. It was a great, relaxing birthday, thanks guys!

On Monday we spent the day at the park as well in Puerto Madero just enjoying the warm spring time weather back in Buenos Aires. When night fell, we headed over to Konex Center for La Bomba De Tiempo, which was actually outside on the stairs for the first time in many months since it was the start of spring. We danced the night away and had a blast in the dance pit. Of course we had to follow it up with La Rica Vicky peruvian food! That pretty much ended the night!

We just finished playing a hard and fun game of futbol. My futbol buddies ended up surprising me with a authentic Argentina futbol jersey, it's so awesome!!!! So stoked. Earlier in the game, Robin and I both went up for a header and collided, him receiving a huge blow to the forehead and me to the temple. It was scary cause I guess I blacked out for a few seconds not responding, but all is good now. We are going to have a nice steak, salad, and wine dinner, and then start the party for tonight. I've gotten clearance to once again throw a huge SUPER FIESTA back at the old Salta house we lived in. Fittingly to celebrate Robin's, our friend German's, as well as my extended birthday we have a dj, bar, and rooftop dance party which is sure to bring over 100 people. Our notorious well-known and requested SUPER FIESTAS is back for a special ocassion! Can't wait!!!!

Til next time... (surely filled with fun pics from tonight) CHAUUU!