African Safari -and- my new favorite city

We had a week of vacation last week, which was badly needed after a few furiously busy weeks of program (including, as a group, designing, conducting, compiling, analyzing and presenting a social research project on residents’ perceptions of gentrification in their neighborhoods, all in two-and-a-half days, followed by three papers due the next week).  Somewhat as a result of my busyness, however, I hadn’t really made plans for the break.  I had a fantastic time winging it, though.  I spent the first part of the week staying with IHP friends in an incredible vacation house they rented just beyond the dunes on Cape Point, staring out across the Atlantic Ocean and at the back of Table Mountain. 



I headed back into town midweek, and, still somewhat at a loss, wandered in to a travel agency.  I took the advice the guy gave me: “You’re in Africa.  You should see animals.”  So the next day, early in the morning, I got on a bus for a twelve hour ride to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, and spent the whole next day on a safari—first a trip around Addo Elephant National Park, then a ride around in a Land Rover on a private game reserve abutting the park.  It was an incredible day.  I saw elephants hanging out around a watering hole, zebras, buffalo, antelope, and giraffes grazing, a couple of rhinos that came within a few inches of our jeep, and a family of lions battle a warthog hiding in its hole.  Yes, the safari is sort of hokey, and ye, a game reserve in Eastern Cape is not the same as the wilds of east Africa, but it was still an incredible sight to see so many wild animals usually only seen in zoos and National Geographics.

Then it was time to leave South Africa, which wasn’t really so bad because it means coming to pretty much my new favorite city in the world (a decision I made after about three house here): Buenos Aires.  Compared to everywhere else I’ve been on this trip, Buenos Aires really feels like what I expect a (really great) city to feel like.  The central city is apartment buildings along tree-lined avenues, there’s a lovely downtown which strikes a nice balance between the commercial-ness of midtown Manhattan and the architectural and social character of Paris or Madrid.



 And the city is so active.  We moved into our homestay this evening (I’m living with a really awesome guy, an older advertising consultant and tango instructor), and got a tour around the neighborhood, which was full of activity at 10pm on a Monday night.  It’s a nice contrast to Cape Town, where the locals were sequestered in their homes by sundown.  The past few days have had me almost doubting not coming to Buenos Aires for the whole semester, and trying to think of ways to live here in the future.  Don’t worry, when I do, you’re all invited to visit.