Leaving Buenos Aires

I leave for the airport in 4 hours to catch my flight to Lima, Peru. I'm so upset to be leaving this incredible city, but I'm both excited and anxious to move to Peru. I'll get to experience a completely distinct culture and live with a new family, which I'm hoping is going to be amazing! Before I move on up the continent here are some random things I've experienced in BsAs...

Futbol!!!!!! Yep. Argentines are insane soccer fanatics (and I do not use insane lightly). The two most important BsAs teams are Boca and River. They are rivals and their fans hate each other. The Boca vs. River game has actually been called one of the top sporting events to attend in the world. I went to a Boca game last week (not against River, thank god). It was calmer than I expected, mainly because there are 2 sections of fans: crazy and absolutely freaking out-of-their-minds insane. We were in the crazy section. Lets just say I learned a lot of new curse words. Boca won! Our public bus back to our neighborhood was full of fans jumping, chanting, and banging on the windows and the ceiling as the poor driver tried to navigate the busy BsAs streets. (Oh, almost forgot, a fight between the two teams fans resulted in 2 innocent bystanders being shot...)

Argentines will celebrate anything. No joke, they have parties for Teacher's Day. So, as you can imagine, St. Patty's brought a little bit of excitement to town. Thousands of people drinking along one giant pedestrian street for 24 hours straight. We waited in line for 3 hours to get into the best Irish pub in town, during which we witnessed people dance on light poles that were about to wobble out of the cement sidewalk, a fight in which a guy started pushing dumpsters at his sloppy opponent, and a whole lot of broken bottles. It was a very classy night for the porteno crowd. Vicky G you would've been proud.

Many of you may be wondering if I actually took classes here. The answer to that question is yes. In February I took an Intensive Advanced Spanish Language class 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. It was actually very interesting, my teacher was really nice, and I got 6 credits for it! This month I took Argentine Culture and Art, and right now most of you are probably assuming "Hmm, that sounds like an interesting class." Wrong. It was 12 class meetings for 4 hours each over a 3 week span and it was absolute hell. The worst class I've ever taken in my entire life. For a total of 1 hour we summed up the tango, mate, urban tribes, the protests, and just ignored the entire military regime of the 70s. The other FORTY-SEVEN hours we discussed native tribes. We spent 4 of those watching Marcela (the worst teacher I've ever had)write illegible tribal names on the board and asking her to spell them out loud. For FORTY-SEVEN hours I sat in that class and picked at my hair while Marcela tried to convince us all that the white Argentines (Marcela's ancestors) had nothing to do with the fact that all the tribes people were mysteriously killed. Ugh. It was a painful 3 credits.

Argentina is a completely livable country. I felt safe and comfortable here. I've learned that you can easily live without air-conditioning, internet, cell phones, blow dryers/straighteners, dishwashers, and dryers - these are all things that I'm grateful to have access to in the US, but I've realized I don't need to depend on them. Here, I never leave a light on. Even if I'm just going to the bathroom I turn off the light in my room before turning on the bathroom light - there's never more than one room with a light on. I'm lucky that I have hot water, not everyone in my group does, but I only take a 5-10 minute shower each day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for hot water in Peru!

Where I´ll Be Going in the Upcoming Weeks...

Where I´ve Been So Far....

Iguazu Falls...way better than a milkshake.

Iguazu Falls! One of the new 7 wonders of the world. Consists of 275 waterfalls, the largest being La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat) which is 82 meters high, 150 meters wide, and 700 meters long, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. For those of you wondering why this looks familiar...Planet Earth.

One of the things they offer at Iguazu park is a motor boat ride underneath the falls. Yes. Underneath the falls. They pile you into a motor boat, give you a lifevest, a waterproof bag for your camera, motor out to the falls (which by the way have rock walls behind them), and then on the count of 3 they charge at them at a seemingly high speed until you are actually underneath the waterfall, soaking wet, and blind because your contacts fell out, and then they back up and do it again! It was awesome! I guess that's just one of the perks of being in South America, where impending lawsuits aren't sucking the fun out of experiences like this ;).

The first photo is of me standing in front of the falls, soaking wet. The second is on our motor boat as our driver decided which fall he wanted to propel us underneath. The third is me standing in at the top of La Garganta del Diablo. Click here for more photos! (Create a Snapfish account. Dont be lazy. It takes 2.5 seconds and it's worth it. I will know if you don't... :).

Oh, and if you're wondering about the milkshake reference, ask Liz.

My favorite part of Buenos Aires...

is without a doubt my housemom, Ivonne! I have a week and a half left in Buenos Aires before I move to Peru, and I´m really sad to be leaving her. She has taught me so much about the culture, the language, art, life, and I am so incredibly grateful that I ended up with her as my housemom!
She sits down with me for breakfast and dinner EVERY DAY. This is where I practice the majority of my Spanish. Her food is incredible. She´s always incorporating her artistic visions into her meals. for instance last night we had spicy fish, curry rice, a salad with oranges and sunflower seeds, and for dessert a pear baked in Malbec wine. She also invites her friends and family members over for dinner so that I can meet them and practice speaking Spanish. She´s always inviting me to art shows and concerts, and I go whenever I can. I feel so lucky to have met her and to know her, and I´m actually tearing up as I write this because I don´t want to leave.

Gotta love moms!!!

Mom was here last week!!!! She spent 6 days in BsAs with me, and then we went to Punta del Este, Uruguay for 2 days.
I think one conversation sums up her trip quite nicely...
When we arrived in Punta del Este the hotel gave us glasses of champagne. I only had a couple of sips of mine because it was 10 am. The next morning I glanced over at my glass and it was empty...me: "Mom, does alcohol evaporate overnight if you leave it out?"...Mom, from the other side of the room without even looking up to see what I was talking about, "I drank it!"
Honestly, I couldn´t leave her alone for a second. (Sorry Mom, but it´s true.) She didn´t know a word of Spanish. At one point we were in a bar with my friends and she tried to order a Grey Goose and OJ, and the bartender freaked out because he thought she wanted a whole bottle of vodka. I dont know how this happened, but my friend Melissa had to step in and fix the situation because I wasn´t paying attention. Another time, I went to the bathroom and she decided to order coffee. They brought her a giant hot chocolate. It took me 20 minutes to figure out that she had ordered a latte (which does not exist in South America) and the woman thought she had said "chocolate." After that, there was a new rule in place: Mom you´re not allowed to speak. ;)
We had so much fun though! We stayed in a cute, boutique hotel in Palermo Soho (a barrio of BsAs full of cafes and shops). All we did was eat, hang out, and drink wine. It was fabulous.
We also had one of the best meals of our lives at La Cabrera, a steak house in BsAs. Mom ordered steak, I ordered veggie kabobs - our meals came with 20 sides. That´s not an exaggeration. Hummus, red peppers, caramalized onions, baked garlic, spicy sauces, olives, pumpkin pure, lentils, pine nuts, and the list goes on.....
Thanks for coming Mom!!!! Love you!

Patagonia and the End of the World!!!!

To see photos of Patagonia and the glaciers click here! I know there are A LOT of photos, but trust me it is worth your time. I am not exaggerating, my group stood in front of this glacier for 20 minutes without ever saying a word. We were all speechless.

I´m going to write more about this later, but for now just enjoy the pics!

Valparaiso, Chile

"Valpo" is my favorite place I have visited in South America. A relatively small town of steep hills, cobblestoned streets, colorful buildings with graffiti murals and a giant port. Perfection. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for its ascensores (elevators) and the home of Pablo Neruda. The people were unbelievably friendly, and our two days there were very relaxing (despite the steep climbs everywhere).

For those of you who don't know Liz, she's one of the most easy going girls in the world, so what did we do while we were here?? Nothing. It was great. We walked, shopped, sat around in cafes, drank wine and listened to music. Oh, and Liz took lots of pictures of animals...

One of the most noticable things about Valparaiso is the amount of stray dogs and cats that roam the streets (this is true for most of Chile, Santiago too). According to one of the friends we made, the reason there are so many stray animals is because the pounds there do not put any animals to sleep, unlike the US. The strays are not sickly like the ones you see in the US or Mexico - they roam around the streets just like the humans do. The dogs in Valparaiso were so smart. At one point, 3 were accompanying us up a hill and they would surround and bark at every Valparaisano that walked by. The Valparaisano would yell at them and then they would stop barking and continue to follow us. I guess they were trying to get food? They did this about 5 times, but never to us. We must have been sending friendly vibes! (at least Liz was...)

One new fact I learned about Liz on this trip: She is OBSESSED with taking photos of animals. If she sees a gross pigeon on the sidewalk she will take 25 photos of it, even though she has plenty of pigeons in NYC to stare at everyday. She literally took hundreds of photos of dogs and cats. It got to the point where I would automatically stop when we passed an animal, point, and wait for her to whip out her camera, then I would laugh and make fun of her. I probably would have found this very annoying after the first 20 times, but since we had ZERO plans I just found it really amusing.

On Saturday afternoon, we made friends with a Mapuche woman named Marcela who owns an art store in town and she invited us to have tea with her. Hysterically, her two friends (who happen to be the creators of the annual Valpo cat calendar) showed up, and Liz got to show them all of her animal photos! I almost gagged when they asked her to be their business partner (they even exchanged contact info) - it was absurd! I'm still laughing about how ridiculous that situation was - but it was great Spanish practice!

We spent our time walking in shops and talking to tons of locals. We even joined the 60th birthday party of a man who's family was throwing him a party at the restaurant we ate dinner at. AND the food was incredible here! My 2 favorite meals since I've come to South America were consumed in Valpo! The first consisted of an amazing Chilean corn and bean soup that Liz and I ate at Color Cafe (This place was amazing, rivaled Fido in every way imaginable. I know, you're all questioning my sanity right now.) The second was breakfast at a bistro called el Desayunador (The breakfaster.) where Liz and I got incredible coffee; warm homemade wheat bread with freshly made peach preserves (we licked the bowl clean); sliced apples, bananas, and peaches; yogurt and freshly squeezed orange juice for US$3!!!!! It was out of this world.

Our trip was flawless! And on our flight home Liz and I turned to each other simultaneously and discussed this outloud. Ten minutes later our pilot announced that our flight would be diverted to Montevideo, Uruguay because of hail storms in BsAs. I got to my apartment at 4 am and headed back to the airport for my flight to Patagonia, Argentina at 8am. Thank you, higher power, for putting Liz and me in our place. ;)

For more photos of Valparaiso click here!

Santiago, Chile

Liz and I went to Chile last weekend and it was amazing! The culture was so different and the people were really friendly - we had so much fun!

Our first stop was the capital, Santiago. We flew over part of the Andes on our way there, which was absolutely breathtaking. Santiago was a pleasant surprise because we had zero expectations. Our trip was so spontaneous that we didn't have time to research the cities we planned to visit, we didn't even choose our hostel until we got there. We also decided not to buy a guide book, but to make up our own stories about the city's history. So to all the santinguino historians out there, I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure Liz's and my creative fabrications are more interesting than yours (Note: I have no idea if a Santiago resident is called a santinguino, but it seemed like a great guess.)

Anyway...if you know Liz and me, you know that if you point us in the direction of a cafe, we will find it, spend an entire day there doing absolutely nothing, and be perfectly content. We got to Santiago, found a hotel, walked around the main streets, and found our first cafe, where we insisted on receiving Spanish menus but annoyed the waiters with thousands of vocabulary questions. The Chileans were much friendlier than the Argentines. They let us annoy them for 15 minutes before they brought out a menu in English, and when we wanted to know what "arvejas" were this cute old man brought out a bowl of them to show us and we learned that they were green peas! After our delicious lunch we walked through this fairy-tale like park that took us to the top of a hill to get a better view of the city. Obviously, we came up with a very interesting story to explain the presence of this park in the middle of the city and for some reason it involved Rapunzel. The view of the city was really impressive, we could make out the outline of the Andes in the background, but the smog made it hard to see the actual mountains. Afterwards, we found a traditional, local fruit market and wandered around there for a while.

Then,we made a new discovery! Mote con huesillo. Chile's famous drink that we didn't know existed, but a woman on the street informed us that we had to try it. Here is wikipedia's description....

"It is made from husked wheat (mote), mixed with sun-dried peaches (huesillo) that have been rehydrated in water for hours. The water in which the peaches were rehypdrated is mixed with some sugar, and the wheat is mixed in a glass with the peaches and the peach-flavored sweetened water. The drink is usually sold on streets, from carts and stands, during the summertime. The industrial preparation of this drink has had only partial success in Chile."

If you're thinking "what???" that would be a pretty similar reaction to ours. We sat on the side of the street eating/drinking this strange concoction of chunky peach ice-tea with a bulgur wheat, corn-like substance sinking to the bottom feeling both intrigued and confused. We're still not sure if we enjoyed it, even though we finished the whole glass. We decided some nut-job accidentally poured rice into his ice-tea, called it mote and brainwashed his neighbors into thinking it was a delicious refreshment - that's the best we could come up with.

Our only night in Santiago began and ended with a vat, oh sorry I meant pitcher, of Sangria, and Liz and I giggling until an early 3 am. ;)

Click here for more photos!!!