houses of culture

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once again, a day of little note, mike and i did ran to catch the train this morning, meaning we got on without paying the .80ARS consequently contributing to the city's massive debt. we did not have to run as we still got to class 20 minutes early, we just did not want to wait around for the next train to come in 6 minutes. class went by, and we were released for lunch.

today was the day of the graffiti tour, it was optional, and more expensive than i thought it would be worth, but after hearing reviews from people that went, i regret my choice in afternoon activities. the street art tour was awesome by all accounts, i thought our professors "fixer" would be running it, but it turns out it was this chick that knew a bunch of the artists and had inside stories and whatnot.

but alas, i decided to hit up the Ateneo bookstore that Claudia recommended. me and a couple of girls decided to check the place out, as she made it sound fantastic. after getting a little turned around and walking probably twice as far as necessary we came upon the place. now, we were told that this cool old bookstore was built into a rehabbed theater. and claudia went on to recount tales of being taken to this theater for operas, and ballets and all kinds of cultural activities.

so when we walked in and the foyer was about as impressive as the Barnes and Noble in the Pru, i was a little let down. after making our way further into the store, it got a little more interesting.

there was a hoe in the floor that took you to the basement for the kids books, the stage and backstage area was converted to a cafe, the main floor had shelves, the balconies had shelves, and yeah... that was about it, my spanish is good enough to read well past a highschool reading level, but that doesnt mean i enjoy it. so a bookstore in a foreign language forfeits its largest draw: books.

so yeah, after this i hopped the subway home, the wall-to-wall-people-in-contact-with-everyone subway car, and then laid around waiting for dinner and sleep.