MALBA | trying to travel light

Taking photos of the zoo through the fence

After my adventures with nature it was back to the big city of Buenos Aires. Adriana was once again my excellent host (Mario was working in Mexico) and Mariale (Mario’s sister) was back from Venezuela.

I also met up with David (from London) and his girlfriend Adriana (from Buenos Aires). We went to the botanical gardens, where they had a joint exhibition project with Buenos Aires and Maracaibo about green spaces (even though I’ve never really seen a green space in Maracaibo) and walked around the city. We also went to see the amazing exhibition by Carlos Cruz-Diez (the most well-known Venezuelan visual artist, think Latin Bridget Riley and you get the idea) at MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano). I managed to get in free with my ICOM card and I loved the museum. Their permanent collection and temporary exhibitions programme are amazing, and its all housed in a beautiful contemporary building.

Roof top pool party in the rain

Hanging out in the plaza (Luiza, Wil and the French guys)

I tried to go to about four other museums but they were all closed for the holidays and re-opening in February so the only other place I made it to was the National Museum of Decorative Arts, which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would, especially their temporary exhibition of little Buddhas from South East Asia.

Someone in the hostel in Salta had joked with me that to have a good time in Buenos Aires all I needed to do was make friends with someone with a roof-top pool. At the time I laughed hard about this but I laughed even harder when I went to a party with Mariale and her friends in an apartment with a roof top pool!! Luiza (from Brazil and a friend of Mariale’s) was having a birthday party and it was super international with hardly anyone from. Eventually the party got too loud so we all had to leave and we went to a club (that looked like an art/punk squat) where there was random karaoke. To help celebrate Luiza’s birthday we belted out a few numbers before the club closed in the morning and then we went to the nearby plaza to hang out some more. Seemed like everyone in Buenos Aires had the same idea as we met a couple of French travellers and a couple of punk guys from Uruguay.

By chance I was still in Buenos Aires for Chinese New Year so me and Adriana went to check out the action in China town. We had super yummy Chinese food (I was over the moon to get tofu) and Adriana bought a Chinese hat for Mario (not quite sure why he wanted one, or when he’ll wear it, but I’d like to see the photos!). China town was packed with people watching street performances and dragon parades and there was a really fun atmosphere.

I was so sad to South America but at the same time I was super excited about seeing all of my great friends in Sydney and Melbourne again!