Una Semana con mi Familia :)

So it may have seemed like I had taken a long hiatus from blogging, but I've had good reason.
My schedule as of late has been jammed packed with one of my favorite things: my family. A mere 3 weeks into my Argentine Adventure, my Aunt Karen, cousin Drew, hermanita Michaela and dad flew down to experience my Buenos Aires.
Michaela, Karen and Drew made it here early saturday morning, sans dad. Unfortunately, he hadn't made the flight because he purchased stand-by tickets and the flight ended up be completely sold out (although his bags somehow managed to make it here. airlines never cease to amaze/confuse me.)
They booked the best hotel in Palermo Soho for the week, the Palermitano. Situated smack dab in the center of Plaza Serrano, we were a short walk from cafes, restaurants and unlimited shopping all week. Not to mention that the desk clerks Pablo and Mateas were super cute and very attentive :)
Sunday, I took Karen, Drew and Michaela to la Feria at San Telmo, the huge street fair held on sundays. I showed them the Casa Rosada at Plaza de Mayo and we spent a couple hours just wondering around the fair. We met Kevin and Mark, 2 guys from Virginia who studied here and then came back to live here after they graduated. They now sell their home-made hot sauce at the feria. cuties :)
We also saw part of a movie shoot; we actually didn't know what it was til we were walking through it.
Dad finally made it down Tuesday night on a UPS jumpseat and after a long siesta, everyone was ready to see the city I'm already falling in love with.

We took the tren to Tigre, where we took a boat tour around the small town and we walked around the downtown area until Drew and Micheala complained too much about all the walking. The tren ride back was interrupted by a group of musicians in our car who brought out their drums and guitars and serenaded the tren. Michaela claimed the one with blonde dreads. If only he had smelled better...

We also took a taxi to La Boca. It's much to dangerous to walk around La Boca, so the only way to get there is by taxi. El Caminito is one street in La Boca that is tourist friendly and filled with street venders, cafes, free tango shows and the brightly colored building La Baca is famous for. The street venders were hilarious; we found the argentine version of Alan from the Hangover, complete with hand-on-hip pose.









Another vender was totally digging on Aunt Karen and took a picture of her, but then Drew got protective and put a stop to that like any good son would. We got to see 2 tango shows and Karen and Dad got extra close with the dancers.

And, even though it was only a week, we've already become regulars at a couple cafes and restaurants in
Palermo Soho.
Meridiano was probably our fave; every dish we ordered was amazing and our waiter, Federico, loved me. We even took a picture together (what was supposed to be a group photo turned into just a photo of me and Federico, and it definitely wasn't my fault.)

Now that the week's over, I'm actually a little sad they're gone. I loved girl time and shopping with Karen and Michaela and it gave me amazing opportunities to practice my spanish since none of them speak spanish. I feel like I saw more in one week than I have the whole 3 weeks I've been here just because I wanted them to see so much in the short time they had. Sure it was stressful, just trying to coordinate my schedule with all of theirs and be everywhere at once, but I loved having my family here. It gave me a taste of home in the place I'll be calling home for the next 5 months.