The walk from my house to Alvarez, the closest main street in downtown Viña, requires a swift fifteen-minute walk downhill through a slightly grungy part of town. I make this walk usually twice or three times a day because there is nothing fun or exciting to do up where I live.

During my third week in Chile I noticed a group of four local teens (three boys and one girl) vigorously washing a graffiti-covered wall with coat after coat of white paint. I didn´t really pay attention to it, I just felt kind of bad that they were doing it in the cold and assumed it was some sort of community service thing.

When I passed by eight hours later they were still there, only the scene had changed. The sidewalk was cluttered with upwards of 30 cans of spray paint and a hot mess of tools and nozzles and paper towels and face masks and plastic bags. It was close to 10pm now, and the same students were sketching out the drawing by the light of a battery-operated lamp.

I saw them the next morning. I saw them for three days after that until they finally finished the mural.

Graffiti and public art is such an interesting way to learn the culture of a city. In Viña there is hardly anything incredible, with the exception of the the work these adolescents did and a few other murals. In Buenos Aires, loaded phrases with reference to politics, religion and homosexuality were on every street corner in red and black paint. And in Valparaíso it ranges. There´s a lot of romantic "te amo ____"´s and religiously-influenced "dios es mi vida"´s around downtown and near churches. In the kitschy bohemian district of Cerros Alegre and Concepción, tags and stenciled art clutter the staircases. I´ve made it a hobby to roam around town with my digital camera snapping photos of intriguing art.

As for my personal favorites? One is a stencil of Amelie wearing a bandana around her mouth that said "Amelie es terorista." The other is a phrase on Paseo Yugoslavo that says "TURISTA TERORISTA" in thick black letters.

During my freshman year at Annie Wright School in Ms. Hajduk´s second period geography class, our final project was to complete an extensive presentation about three countries in the world. The only country I remember choosing is Argentina (I think another was Indonesia because I liked saying "Jakarta", but don´t quote me on it).

Well almost six years ago now in that ancient secondary school overlooking the waterfront, I never actually expected to end up visitng Buenos Aires. But when there´s a $135 round-trip ticket offer on LAN Chile airlines, how could I possible refuse?

So my first week in Chile I booked a trip, and two weeks later I arrived in what very well be my favorite city in the world.

Landing at Ezeiza and driving into the city, particularly on a day with bad weather, can be really deceptive. Choosing a legitimate taxi, which is then driven by a sketchy (a better Chilean term would be "flaite") cab driver with the rat tail who reeks of cigarettes can really put off tourists. As can driving through what an Argentinian at our hostel told us was the "shantytown" of Buenos Aires before reaching the center of the city (all the while passing graffiti spelling out phrases in deep red paint like "bush=terrorista" and "liberación comunista").

It was not love at first sight.

My two gringa friends looked at me wide-eyed but speechless, all of us refraining to say anything in English lest the cab driver would attempt to rob us (theft is more common for tourists in cabs than on the streets in B.A.) or charge us more than $20.

But after arriving in our cozy hostel near the trendy Palermo district, my infatuation began.

A Brief List of Everything Amazing About Buenos Aires:

1. Gorgeous population:
So, prior to arriving in Argentina thought Sao Paolo was the reigning Most Attractive City in the World. Au contraire. I´m fairly certain Argentina is the hottest country in the world. During our two weeks in Chile prior to the trip my friends and I had been keeping a mental tally of the number of heart-stoppingly attractive Chilean men we had seen, and we were up to 8 (I know this sounds terribly shallow, but bear with me and keep reading). Well, after about five minutes of walking down the street in Palermo, Argentina had kicked Chile´s butt. I can´t even describe it... just an incredibly unfair gene pool I guess. And it helped that they were flawlessly dressed to the nines with their trendy Burberry scarves and skinny jeans and trench coats, trés Londres. I convinced myself that people-watching is an incredibly gratifying cultural experience.

2. Havanna Alfajores
Buenos Aires has Havanna coffee shops like Seattle has Starbucks: they´re everywhere. But what officially makes Havanna superior is the to-die-for chocolate and extensive selection of specialty coffee drinks. Namely alfajores. For those uninformed of this life-changing confection, it´s basically manjar (refer to entry "la comida chilena" for a description) sandwiched by light cookies and covered in meringue or chocolate. After trying them (and falling in love with them, obviously) they are available for purchase in Havanna stores AND duty free at the airport in boxes of 6, 12 and 24.

3. Parrillas:

Grills. I don´t even like steak that much, but unless you are vegan or vegetarian there is really no point in going and not indulging in their signature plata.

4. Cheap food:

I really can´t explain this any better than with a real-life example:

For our last night of our magical weekend in BA, my friends and I went to a really nice restaurant/tango house Café Tortoni. After seeing the show we decided to dine in the charming upstairs section. We had the best table service I think I´ve ever had in my life... our waiter, Alonso, was the nicest older Argentinian man ever and he TOTALLY brought us extra dessert.

Anyway, I was ridiculously hungry that night and figured to "splurge" on my last night in BA so I ordered a glass of hard cider, starter of cheese and olives, steak and the most expensive dessert on the list. My bill was less than US $15 and I was so full I could barely move when I left.

5. MALBA:

MALBA (I forget the name in it´s entirety) is one of many museums the city has to offer and has an impressive collection of works by national artists. Also, in the gift shop you can buy coasters shaped like cheese slices. I thought that was pretty cool. Whatever.

6. $30 cashmere sweaters on Calle Florida:

I really feel like this category is self-explanatory

7. La Boca:

It´s extremely touristy but I can´t help but love this little district in northwest BA. It´s one of the few places you can get a free decent tango show in the street, plus the artesanal feria and vividly-painted buildings are charming and great photo opportunities.

8. The really hot people:

For added emphasis I think this is worth adding twice.

9. The national pride:

White and sky blue everywhere. I don´t think I´ve ever met a group of people so proud of their country, but it´s pretty awesome to see.

10. Streets that are ten or twenty lanes across:

I bet you wish I were kidding. I do not recommend attempting to drive in Buenos Aires.

11. They totally appreciate Oasis and Coldplay more than most countries and it´s kind of cute:

While having lunch in San Telmo after the Sunday feria we heard an entire Coldplay greatest hits album. And every bar we went to played Oasis at some point during the evening.

12. Cheap yerba maté:

I don´t think I can ever move myself to buy a $4 box of yerba maté at Marlene´s after buying a 100-pack for under a dollar. But since it appears I have enough to last me a year now, I won´t have to worry about that for awhile.

There´s a lot more things to say about Buenos Aires, but my hand is aching so I figured I would take a little break. Stay posted for a "the day i became enamored with buenos aires: part deux" entry.