An Afternoon in La Boca...way more adventurous than it should have been

Tuesday morning we had our first Spanish class at UCA with the other international students. After the placement test I (Darrah) was placed in the lowest level, and Caitlin in the second level class...really pretty pitiful considering we've each had 3 yrs in high school and 3 semesters in college of spanish. All I have to say is you should have seen this test. It included a reading comprehension section that was a 1 1/2 page passage(single spaced) from the diary of some spanish conquistador or something.
Anyway, it was fun in class that day meeting other Americans and getting to know some of them. We hope to be able to keep in touch with them for moral support/study buddies/travel suggestions. But, we did decide not to continue with the course after I realized there were people in my class who had never had Spanish before(what they're doing here, I don't know), and it was going to be a slow go without much opportunity for improvement. We have decided instead to take classes at a Spanish school through Insight Argentina.
On Wednesday, we decided on a whim to try to get ourselves to La Boca. La Boca is a historic neighborhood on the fringes of Buenos Aires that was settled by poor Italian immigrants...more about that later. After Caitlin spent a solid 25 minutes trying to decipher what bus we should take to get there using the most complicated guide to public transportation known to man(I'm pretty sure I'm not exagerating), we confidently boarded the number 153. After covering aproximately 1/3 of the distance to La Boca, we were in an area that I'm pretty sure, translated, means "Sketchville Ghetto, Argentina". This was where the bus driver pulled into the station/garage where all of the buses go at the end of their routes, came to a stop, shut off the engine, and probably said something along the lines of "this is where I stop, and you get off," but of course my Spanish was classified as beginner, so who knows. We turned around to realize we and two other girls were the only ones left on the bus...if there has yet been a time when STUPID AMERICAN TOURIST was stamped clearly on our foreheads, this was it.
By the grace of God(and I mean that in all seriousness), these two girls were Brazilians(native language-Portuguese) who also spoke Spanish and English, and happened to get on the same bus we did hoping to get to La Boca...what are the odds? They got directions from the bus driver, introduced themselves to us, and accompanied us through one of the more dangerous, tourist-UNfriendly parts of Buenos Aires. We followed our directions further, and were intercepted by a policeman who proceded to volunteer a safer route, yet again something that does not usually happen. We finally arrived to La Boca, where we proceded to eat lunch in silence, I think due to residual shock and numbness.
After, we walked around this barrio famous for its houses made of scrap materials painted in bright colors, and for being the accepted home of the original tango dance and the music that traditionally accompanies it. We took lots of pictures for your enjoyment! At the end of a very eventful day, we arrived home safely, with only a sunburn to show for our brave adventure.