School starts tomorrow. That is so hard to believe. I feel like my life since I have been home from Argentina has been a whirlwind. I was able to fit in a pretty good summer, though. I did some camping, beach going, bonfiring, cottage-ing, hanging out with friends, and some family time. The latter not as much as I would have liked, but it was nice to be home. I also worked at the ISD, which I am so thankful for.
After my solo trip up to the north of Argentina, I had a few days in the city alone until my family and boyfriend came to visit me. I am so appreciative that they all made the long trip down to Buenos Aires, and I loved showing them around the city. We went to a tango show, an art museum, ate delicious Argentine beef, walked around different neighborhoods in the city, and even made a trip up to Iguazú, where there are giant waterfalls. I can’t tell you how great it was to have the people who are closest to me become acquainted with my new city and my new family. It definitely was the best way to end my stay in Argentina.
Sometimes I look back at my trip and it feels like it was all a dream. None of the people that I met down there are around me here in the States, and I also left behind a whole family that I miss dearly. It almost seems that my semester in Argentina was a completely separate life from my life now, and there is no way to describe it to anyone. I feel like I went into hibernation from my regular life, grew immensely a person, and then woke up into my regular life. And I’m not so sure how I feel about that. I love where I’m at in life now, yes. I am capable of doing anything on my own and have this fresh feeling of self-confidence. I know now that if I work hard at anything, everything can be within my grasp, and I can do whatever and go wherever in the world that I want to.
All of this new me comes with a cost, of course. I feel some disconnect from everything that I knew before. For example, being back here at school feels really strange to me. Everyone went on with their lives while I was gone, obviously, and I have to kind of squeeze my way back into the swing of things. The other hard part is that Argentina was such an important time in my life, I grew so much and had such a great experience and learned so much, but people will take maybe thirty seconds to ask how it was and say, “You had a good time? Great! See ya around!” Granted, there is no way that I could describe those five months to them without talking their ear off for a week, but it kind of puts life into perspective for me. People are all struggling through this whole life thing, and no one really has the time to worry about the exact way that other people are living their lives. Which is funny, because we worry so much about what other people think about the little things in our lives, like our hair-dos or our clothes or that funny mole on our face. When it comes down to it, however, no one really notices and no one really cares.
Wondering what other people think about me is something that really died in Argentina. You really can’t take yourself seriously when the people who surround you are speaking a different language than your native language and for the first few months you’re speaking like a little kid. People are going to laugh at you, and you’re going to laugh at yourself, and communication itself becomes so much more of an important factor rather than what you pulled out of your closet to wear that day. Something else that changed was my view on school. My whole life, going to college was something that was never a maybe, it was just there, along with elementary, middle, and high school. But, after spending so much time in a foreign country and meeting so many people with such interesting lives, I really do see college as my OWN choice. I could just work and travel if I wanted to. I don’t feel tied down to college. Now I do see college as something that is the key to what I want to do as a career and as something that I want to work hard at for me, not for anyone else. In Buenos Aires, I took classes that may not advance me in the public health world at all, Cultural Icons of Argentina, Argentine Poetry, Argentine film, etc., but they are classes that I found interesting for ME. And now I’m at Hope, taking Biology and more Spanish because I find them interesting for ME. Not because someone told me to do it, but because I personally find those interesting.
I’m hoping that once my classes start, things will begin to fall back into place and I will feel like I belong. Right now I’m still trying to sort out everything that I just went through and break through this little identity/world/life crisis. Studying abroad definitely was a great choice for me, and I am so glad that I decided to do it. I learned so much about myself and the world and how I see myself in it. I wouldn’t throw that experience away for anything. I appreciate everyone who read my blog and who thought about me while I was away. If anyone wants to hear any stories about my trip or see pictures, just let me know, I love talking about my experience. I guess this is me signing off until my next big adventure.
Hasta luego, Rach
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
To The North!
So from last Thursday until this Thursday, the 1st through the 8th, I took a trip up to the northwest of Argentina, namely the Salta and Jujuy regions. It was my first solo trip ever and I had a fantastic time! As of yet I'm lacking my camera computer cord so I can't show you the amazing pictures that I have of the area, but I'll give you a day-by-day breakdown.
** DAY 1 **
After waiting around for what seemed like forever, I was finally able to board the bus to Salta. Boy, was it a rough ride. The seats were not comfortable, I couldn't sleep at all, and they only gave us one sandwich for the entire 21-hour ride. This was not the experience that I've had on previous bus rides. I was disappointed and exhausted. The ride was from 9:00PM - 5:30PM. Yuck.
** DAY 2 **
So I finally rolled into Salta and took a 5 peso cab ride to my hostel. The hostel was alright; it was cheap, had breakfast, had computers, and was close to the center, so I couldn't complain. When I got into my room, I met a lady who was on the bunk below me. She is a teacher in Buenos Aires and was also traveling by herself. There was also a couple from Denmark in our room.
I walked around the city a little bit, but seeing as I hadn't slept in such a long time I went back and took a nap. When I woke up the lady from BA, Mariela, asked if I wanted to get dinner. We went to a pretty nice restaurant, then I went back to bed.
** DAY 3 **
Argentina played Germany at 11:00 AM, so I went to find somewhere to watch the game. I found a restaurant that had a big projection screen, and I watched the game with a ton of other Argentines, which was fun. The game itself was painful to watch because Argentina just got killed, 4-0. After the game I was expecting there to be a riot or something, but it was almost like the game hadn't even happened. The only way you could tell was that people were pretty sulky.
Mariela and I then took a bus to San Lorenzo, a nice neighborhood of Salta. There were a lot of nice houses there, and it was all wooded and near the hills. We sat at a restaurant overlooking a little creek and ate tamales and empanadas. It was really nice weather and we just relaxed there a little bit.
After San Lorenzo we went back downtown and I went the Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (MAAM). It was soooo cool! They had found these Incan cemeteries of children that they had sacrified to the gods way up high in the mountains, and the high altitude of the mountains had preserved the children almost perfectly. They had a bunch of artifacts that the children were "buried" with and then at the end you could actually see the children on display. It was pretty eerie, but cool all the same.
At night I went out to dinner at a pretty touristy restaurant but it had regional food, which I was looking for. I met this young couple from Oregon, Lily and Shawn, while in line and ended up eating with them. Lily had been volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in Buenos Aires the past five months, and Shawn came to visit her and they were traveling around. Habitat for Humanity in a foreign country seems like a cool thing to keep in mind...
** DAY 4 **
On Sunday, I woke up late and took a shower, which ended up flooding the entire hostel room! I was so embarrassed, but the owner assured me that it was a problem with the drain and not me. Despite the bad start to my morning, I still had a really good day. I got some empanadas from a bakery and ate them in the central plaza. I'm finding out that the empandas are so different everywhere! In Chile I found out they were huge, and in the north of Argentina they're tiny!
I took the chair lift up to the top of the hill that overlooks Salta, Cerro San Bernardo. The view of the city was really cool! Then I walked down, and at the bottom of the hill I found a monument for General Güemes which was pretty cool! I walked through a nice part of town with really pretty houses, and then ended up at a market, where I found Lily and Shawn again! We went our separate ways and I walked around the market a little bit, and then I walked back to the main plaza and got some helado and sat for a while, and saw Lily and Shawn! Haha.
For dinner I sat outside at a restaurant and had an incredible meal all alone. I decided that it was my 4th of July treat to myself, if there is such a thing. I had an awesome steak, salad, and some wine, and the plaza was so pretty with the cathedral and town hall buildings all lit up.
** DAY 5 **
I woke up super early for being on vacation, 6 AM! I had to catch the bus to Tilcara, a tiny little pueblo four hours to the north of Salta. The bus ride was an amazing view the entire way, and I got to catch the sunrise coming up over the mountains. I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the beautifully colored mountains. We reached Tilcara, I got off the bus, and it was very different from any other city I had been to in Argentina! The town was sooo small! I found a tourist information desk and he gave me a map and told me how to get to my hostel. The hostel was on a hill towards the back of the town and had a beautiful view. The walk up there was rough, though! It was sooo hot! And I had all my bags and my jacket still on. The hostel is comprised of a bunch of different casas, each with lounge chairs outside of them. Within the first 5 minutes it was definitely my favorite hostel yet.
I dropped my stuff off and walked around the town. I went to a restaurant for lunch, where I met a group of 4 students who were traveling together. They were all from different countries (United States, Turkey, Ireland, and Germany), and had kind of just expanded their group along the way, which was cool. I had a tamale, two queso empanadas, and a LLAMA empanada! It was delicious haha.
I walked to el Pucará, which is the ruins of a pre-Incan civilization up on a hill in Tilcara. The ruins have been partially rebuilt, which is cool because you get to imagine what the city had been like. I kind of felt like a little kid in a playground with a bunch of little stone houses, walls, and cacti all over the place.
After el Pucará, I did a little trek on a trail up through these mountains. It was so beautiful! I was the only one on the trail that I could see for the majority of the hike, and I just LOVED it. The sun was shining, the mountains were amazing, I was in a little pueblo filled with indigenous people in the north of Argentina on a trip by myself, and extremely happy. At a landing point I took advantage of the timer on my camera and snapped some photos of my happy self, even a couple jumping shots in honor of my friends haha.
Tilcara, I decided, is easily my favorite place in Argentina.
I checked out the market in the main square, and it was great. It was re-sale stuff, but still sweet, mostly all from Bolivia and Peru. Alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats, textiles, bags, so much stuff. I had a great time walking around and wishing I could have taken it ALL home with me.
When I went back to my hostel I met a girl, Irena, from Madrid. She was also traveling by herself, and we went out to dinner together. I couldn't understand her at first AT ALL. Her accent was so different from what I was used to and she talked super fast. But we laughed a lot about our difficulty in communication and got along really well.
Where we went for dinner was the same place that I went for dinner, La Peña de Carlitos, but it was ok, because it turned out to be really awesome. First a guy came with his guitar and sang traditional Argentine folk songs, and then a band of 4 guys came and played. They were really good! I took some videos. The restaurant was full of tourist families, which gave Tilcara a different feel than it would have been if it wasn't winter vacation, but that's ok. I had a llama steak, and it kind of reminded me of venison. For dessert I opted to try a traditional northern dessert, and it was kind of weird. It was 3 strips of cheese with some sweet fruit on top. The fruit was good, but it was a little bit too much cheese to have for dessert.
** DAY 6 **
I woke up and Ire and I ate breakfast together, then walked around town and went to an artesanal store where these Tilcaran ladies had made these beautiful ponchos, scarves, and sweaters. Then Ire and I took a half-hour bus ride to Purmamarca, another pueblo. I then took a van ride with about 10 other people to las salinas grandes, huge salt flats (Ire had already gone). It was about an hour and a half ride to get there, even though it was only 60km, because it was all winding up through the mountains... the most spectacular views with the most spectacularly colored mountains. Besides las salinas grandes, Purmamarca is also known for el Cerro de los Siete Colores, which is amazing. I'll post pictures of that later. The highest altitude we got to was about 4,100 meters, and then we drove back down a little bit to reach the salt flats. They were really impressive, really huge, but really kind of strange. They gave us an hour to walk around... which was a lot of time. Basically it's the same view all around you, just salt and salt for milesssss. There are workers out there who dig up the salt, and they have to wear bandanas over their faces because it gets pretty windy. I met a couple from Mexico, and we walked around together. They were working as chefs and just traveling around Argentina for a year and a half or so. People have such different and cool lives.
After that Ire and I took the bus back to Tilcara, and then a bus back to Salta. We checked into the hostel around 12:30 AM and I basically just passed out. Traveling is exhausting!
** DAY 7 **
Ire and I had breakfast together and then we said our goodbyes as I checked out of the hostel and walked around town for a few hours to waste time before my dreaded bus ride marathon. Took the bus back to Buenos Aires from 12:45PM to about 10:00AM!
I discovered from my trip that you learn a ton when you're by yourself. It gives you a lot of opportunity to talk to other people, which is extremely beneficial in traveling. You get to hear about where they went and what they liked and didn't like, and then you can decide with more information whether you should do the same thing or not. I met a lot of great people during my trip and I'm so glad I decided to do it. I also learned about the different kind of lives people have, and how unique people are and what opportunities are available in the world.
Now I have my own room in a B&B. Lots of relaxation time before...
FAMILY COMES! They leave Saturday around 3:00PM and I'll probably see them around 11:00AM Sunday morning. I can't wait. I've been keeping myself busy by walking around the city, visiting the host fam (which has been a blast), sitting in cafes, reading, doing whatever I want to do. I'm finding that it's really nice to be by yourself sometimes; you get to do what you want to do on the schedule that you want to do it. However, I am oh so ready to spend time with my family. It's been a long time coming.
** DAY 1 **
After waiting around for what seemed like forever, I was finally able to board the bus to Salta. Boy, was it a rough ride. The seats were not comfortable, I couldn't sleep at all, and they only gave us one sandwich for the entire 21-hour ride. This was not the experience that I've had on previous bus rides. I was disappointed and exhausted. The ride was from 9:00PM - 5:30PM. Yuck.
** DAY 2 **
So I finally rolled into Salta and took a 5 peso cab ride to my hostel. The hostel was alright; it was cheap, had breakfast, had computers, and was close to the center, so I couldn't complain. When I got into my room, I met a lady who was on the bunk below me. She is a teacher in Buenos Aires and was also traveling by herself. There was also a couple from Denmark in our room.
I walked around the city a little bit, but seeing as I hadn't slept in such a long time I went back and took a nap. When I woke up the lady from BA, Mariela, asked if I wanted to get dinner. We went to a pretty nice restaurant, then I went back to bed.
** DAY 3 **
Argentina played Germany at 11:00 AM, so I went to find somewhere to watch the game. I found a restaurant that had a big projection screen, and I watched the game with a ton of other Argentines, which was fun. The game itself was painful to watch because Argentina just got killed, 4-0. After the game I was expecting there to be a riot or something, but it was almost like the game hadn't even happened. The only way you could tell was that people were pretty sulky.
Mariela and I then took a bus to San Lorenzo, a nice neighborhood of Salta. There were a lot of nice houses there, and it was all wooded and near the hills. We sat at a restaurant overlooking a little creek and ate tamales and empanadas. It was really nice weather and we just relaxed there a little bit.
After San Lorenzo we went back downtown and I went the Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (MAAM). It was soooo cool! They had found these Incan cemeteries of children that they had sacrified to the gods way up high in the mountains, and the high altitude of the mountains had preserved the children almost perfectly. They had a bunch of artifacts that the children were "buried" with and then at the end you could actually see the children on display. It was pretty eerie, but cool all the same.
At night I went out to dinner at a pretty touristy restaurant but it had regional food, which I was looking for. I met this young couple from Oregon, Lily and Shawn, while in line and ended up eating with them. Lily had been volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in Buenos Aires the past five months, and Shawn came to visit her and they were traveling around. Habitat for Humanity in a foreign country seems like a cool thing to keep in mind...
** DAY 4 **
On Sunday, I woke up late and took a shower, which ended up flooding the entire hostel room! I was so embarrassed, but the owner assured me that it was a problem with the drain and not me. Despite the bad start to my morning, I still had a really good day. I got some empanadas from a bakery and ate them in the central plaza. I'm finding out that the empandas are so different everywhere! In Chile I found out they were huge, and in the north of Argentina they're tiny!
I took the chair lift up to the top of the hill that overlooks Salta, Cerro San Bernardo. The view of the city was really cool! Then I walked down, and at the bottom of the hill I found a monument for General Güemes which was pretty cool! I walked through a nice part of town with really pretty houses, and then ended up at a market, where I found Lily and Shawn again! We went our separate ways and I walked around the market a little bit, and then I walked back to the main plaza and got some helado and sat for a while, and saw Lily and Shawn! Haha.
For dinner I sat outside at a restaurant and had an incredible meal all alone. I decided that it was my 4th of July treat to myself, if there is such a thing. I had an awesome steak, salad, and some wine, and the plaza was so pretty with the cathedral and town hall buildings all lit up.
** DAY 5 **
I woke up super early for being on vacation, 6 AM! I had to catch the bus to Tilcara, a tiny little pueblo four hours to the north of Salta. The bus ride was an amazing view the entire way, and I got to catch the sunrise coming up over the mountains. I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the beautifully colored mountains. We reached Tilcara, I got off the bus, and it was very different from any other city I had been to in Argentina! The town was sooo small! I found a tourist information desk and he gave me a map and told me how to get to my hostel. The hostel was on a hill towards the back of the town and had a beautiful view. The walk up there was rough, though! It was sooo hot! And I had all my bags and my jacket still on. The hostel is comprised of a bunch of different casas, each with lounge chairs outside of them. Within the first 5 minutes it was definitely my favorite hostel yet.
I dropped my stuff off and walked around the town. I went to a restaurant for lunch, where I met a group of 4 students who were traveling together. They were all from different countries (United States, Turkey, Ireland, and Germany), and had kind of just expanded their group along the way, which was cool. I had a tamale, two queso empanadas, and a LLAMA empanada! It was delicious haha.
I walked to el Pucará, which is the ruins of a pre-Incan civilization up on a hill in Tilcara. The ruins have been partially rebuilt, which is cool because you get to imagine what the city had been like. I kind of felt like a little kid in a playground with a bunch of little stone houses, walls, and cacti all over the place.
After el Pucará, I did a little trek on a trail up through these mountains. It was so beautiful! I was the only one on the trail that I could see for the majority of the hike, and I just LOVED it. The sun was shining, the mountains were amazing, I was in a little pueblo filled with indigenous people in the north of Argentina on a trip by myself, and extremely happy. At a landing point I took advantage of the timer on my camera and snapped some photos of my happy self, even a couple jumping shots in honor of my friends haha.
Tilcara, I decided, is easily my favorite place in Argentina.
I checked out the market in the main square, and it was great. It was re-sale stuff, but still sweet, mostly all from Bolivia and Peru. Alpaca sweaters, gloves, hats, textiles, bags, so much stuff. I had a great time walking around and wishing I could have taken it ALL home with me.
When I went back to my hostel I met a girl, Irena, from Madrid. She was also traveling by herself, and we went out to dinner together. I couldn't understand her at first AT ALL. Her accent was so different from what I was used to and she talked super fast. But we laughed a lot about our difficulty in communication and got along really well.
Where we went for dinner was the same place that I went for dinner, La Peña de Carlitos, but it was ok, because it turned out to be really awesome. First a guy came with his guitar and sang traditional Argentine folk songs, and then a band of 4 guys came and played. They were really good! I took some videos. The restaurant was full of tourist families, which gave Tilcara a different feel than it would have been if it wasn't winter vacation, but that's ok. I had a llama steak, and it kind of reminded me of venison. For dessert I opted to try a traditional northern dessert, and it was kind of weird. It was 3 strips of cheese with some sweet fruit on top. The fruit was good, but it was a little bit too much cheese to have for dessert.
** DAY 6 **
I woke up and Ire and I ate breakfast together, then walked around town and went to an artesanal store where these Tilcaran ladies had made these beautiful ponchos, scarves, and sweaters. Then Ire and I took a half-hour bus ride to Purmamarca, another pueblo. I then took a van ride with about 10 other people to las salinas grandes, huge salt flats (Ire had already gone). It was about an hour and a half ride to get there, even though it was only 60km, because it was all winding up through the mountains... the most spectacular views with the most spectacularly colored mountains. Besides las salinas grandes, Purmamarca is also known for el Cerro de los Siete Colores, which is amazing. I'll post pictures of that later. The highest altitude we got to was about 4,100 meters, and then we drove back down a little bit to reach the salt flats. They were really impressive, really huge, but really kind of strange. They gave us an hour to walk around... which was a lot of time. Basically it's the same view all around you, just salt and salt for milesssss. There are workers out there who dig up the salt, and they have to wear bandanas over their faces because it gets pretty windy. I met a couple from Mexico, and we walked around together. They were working as chefs and just traveling around Argentina for a year and a half or so. People have such different and cool lives.
After that Ire and I took the bus back to Tilcara, and then a bus back to Salta. We checked into the hostel around 12:30 AM and I basically just passed out. Traveling is exhausting!
** DAY 7 **
Ire and I had breakfast together and then we said our goodbyes as I checked out of the hostel and walked around town for a few hours to waste time before my dreaded bus ride marathon. Took the bus back to Buenos Aires from 12:45PM to about 10:00AM!
I discovered from my trip that you learn a ton when you're by yourself. It gives you a lot of opportunity to talk to other people, which is extremely beneficial in traveling. You get to hear about where they went and what they liked and didn't like, and then you can decide with more information whether you should do the same thing or not. I met a lot of great people during my trip and I'm so glad I decided to do it. I also learned about the different kind of lives people have, and how unique people are and what opportunities are available in the world.
Now I have my own room in a B&B. Lots of relaxation time before...
FAMILY COMES! They leave Saturday around 3:00PM and I'll probably see them around 11:00AM Sunday morning. I can't wait. I've been keeping myself busy by walking around the city, visiting the host fam (which has been a blast), sitting in cafes, reading, doing whatever I want to do. I'm finding that it's really nice to be by yourself sometimes; you get to do what you want to do on the schedule that you want to do it. However, I am oh so ready to spend time with my family. It's been a long time coming.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Chi chi chi! Le le le! Viva Chile!!
I survived finals. Packed up all my stuff. Said see ya later to the host fam. Flew to Chile. Exhausting, but fantastic.
I left for Chile last Friday morning with my friend Meg. We took a flight into Santiago, then bused it an hour and a half to Valparaiso. We were greeted in Valparaiso with... no taxis. Why? Because we arrived during the World Cup game, of course! So we went to a restaurant that was close to the bus station until the game was over. Oh my goodness, the Chileans get soooo into their futbol games, it's amazing. The experience was so much fun. Everyone was cheering, clapping, shouting, "CHI CHI CHI! LE LE LE! VIVA CHILE!" On top of that, we shared one of Chile's signature dishes, chorrillana. Which is, basically, french fries with whatever the heck you want on top. I think ours had beef, chorizo, egg, mushroom, onion, I don't even remember. A whole lot of stuff. It was delicious, but we only needed to try it once. We were probably 5 bites away from a heart attack.
After the game, we finally got a taxi to take to our hostel. The streets of Valparaiso were craaaaazy!! Even though Chile had lost! People were running around with flags, hanging out the back of trucks cheering, running around in groups chanting, it was really the best welcome into Chile ever.
So the taxi driver drives down this tiny little street and stops, points down these steps in front of us, and says, your hostel is down those steps and down the alley to the left. Ok! Alright! This is strange. So we lug our stuff down the steps and down an alley and sure enough our hostel was down there! It was a really nice hostel, and it had only been running for 5 months. It used to be a bar and the top floor, where the rooms were, was an art gallery. So there were chains hanging from the ceiling that used to hold art. At first it looked kind of creepy, but once we understood it was less threatening.
The view from our window onto Valpo was great. The city is situated on a bunch of hills, and each neighborhood is a different hill. The streets just twist around, not really a plan whatsoever. The art on the walls is insanely cool. The entire city has this very bohemian feel, very artsy. I took a lot of pictures of the graffiti, which I will post on Picasa soon. Valpo was definitely affected by the earthquake, a lot of the buildings had collapsed and a lot of the sidewalks were being redone. Besides the apparent reconstruction that has to take place, Valpo is still a beautiful city.
The first day in Valpo we just walked around and got a feel for the city. We didn't get lost, which I was sure we were going to do because the streets are sooo strange. But I think because the streets are so weird and because the art is so unique that you are able to remember landmarks really well and find your way back relatively easily. At night we went to a restaurant with two American girls that we met, one of which is living for a while in Santiago teaching English.
Second day in Valpo was probably my favorite day of the trip. We went to the bus station and wanted to take a bus to Isla Negra to see one of Pablo Neruda's houses. So we went up to this information desk, and this guy Mario says well, we have a tour that takes you for half of the day for 30,000 pesos and we'll take you not only to Isla Negra but some other places as well! (By the way, Chilean pesos are basically like 10,000 pesos = $20) So we decided that would be worth our time, and he called his friend Jorge.
So we spent the whole day with Jorge, from noon until about 6:00. It was a fantastic day. First, he took us to Casablanca, to a winery where we did a delicious wine tasting. After Casablanca we went to Isla Negra. We had to wait about an hour for a tour of Pablo Neruda's house, so we went to a little restaurant with Jorge. I had pastel de jaiba, which is basically crab pie. Soooo good. Then we were able to tour Pablo Neruda's AWESOME house. He seems like such a cool guy. The whole thing is sea-themed, and apparently he had parties all the time there. The whole house had beautiful views of the ocean; I can imagine that it would have been a great place to write. His and his wife Matilde's graves are actually right there outside the house as well, facing the ocean. I told Jorge that I was going to buy the house. If I do, you're all invited :) We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house but you can see pictures at this website - http://www.fundacionneruda.org/imagenes_islanegra.htm
After Isla Negra, Jorge took us to the beach where we walked around for a little bit and then he drove us through Viña del Mar, a city next to Valparaiso. By that time, it was dark and his sons were calling him. I felt bad, but I think he had fun that day too. We learned so much about him, and it was really fun to speak in Spanish all day. At first, it seemed pretty sketchy that it was only going to be me and Meg and Jorge all day, but it turned out to be a great experience.
At night, we went out with a VERY diverse mix of people from the hostel. I'll try to remember: me and Meg, the two other American girls, a guy from Brazil and his dad, two guys from Germany who were studying in Santiago and one of their Chilean girlfriends, and a guy from Colombia. We went out to a bar and shared some beer and ate empanadas. (Empanadas are HUGE in Chile! I usually eat three for lunch in Buenos Aires, but I only needed one for dinner in Chile!) Then, we went to this old prison that they had turned into some sort of cultural center. There was a Chilean rock band playing and people were dancing and it was soooo weird but soooo awesome at the same time. Our international mix of people and the fact that we were watching a Chilean rock band in an old prison in Valparaiso was really kind of difficult to take in.
The next day Meg and I went down to the port because Jorge (another Jorge) at the hostel told us that there were boat tours you could take and have a pretty good view of the city. So, we went down to the port and it was a MESSSSSS. The whole port was basically bumper boats and everyone is just trying to get you to take a tour on their boat and there's no organization at all. Eventually this guy came up to us and seemed legitimate enough, for what the situation was, and we got on his boat and he took us around for a little bit in the bay. His story was fantastic. He apparently lived in Brooklyn for five years, and worked with his dad. His English was hilarious, basically he had just learned a bunch of slang. So the way he talked was like a little gangster, and he had on clothes that made him look like a Chilean rapper. Anyway, he was in the United States for five years but he started to have nightmares all the time and he missed his wife and his family a ton, so he told his dad that he was going to return to Chile. So he told us the story of his surprise return to his mom and all his family and it was adorable. He apparently now is doing pretty well and just kept saying thank you to the United States for providing him with what he has. I really wished the boat ride could have been longer because his story was so fascinating to me.
After the boat tour we took a bus over to Viña del Mar, so we could see it during the day. We saw the Reloj de Flores, the flower clock, which was pretty cool. But basically we just sat on the beach for a long time. It was super relaxing and the sun was really strong. I felt like it was a perfect end to our time in Valparaiso.
The next day we took a bus back to Santiago, after a big dilemma of whether to leave before or after the World Cup game. I'm tellin' ya, the World Cup changes everything. Our problem was that our hostel was located basically in the center of the city, which is really dangerous while a game is going on. Whether Chile won or lost, the police and military were planning on there being a lot of beer and a lot of rioting. Ultimately, we decided to go early, before the game, and everything turned out just fine. We walked around in the neighborhood where our hostel was for a little bit, and then watched the game back at the hostel. We probably picked the worst day ever to visit Santiago, because besides there being a World Cup game, there also was a holiday, so all the museums and a lot of stores were closed. A couple hours after the game, of which Chile lost :(, we decided to venture down towards the center of the city. There were so many military trucks and men in uniform standing around and on horses. It was really kind of creepy. Basically no one was walking around, the whole center had emptied. I really would like to go back to Santiago someday because I feel like I didn't get a real representation of the city. I enjoyed my time there regardless.
All of the Chilean people that we met on our trip were the sweetest, most helpful people I have met in South America. All of the cab drivers, all of the hostel people, the restaurant workers, everyone. It really gave me a good impression of Chile and I would definitely be willing to go back. I feel like it would be an awesome place to stay for a while. The accent is definitely different and I had a hard time understanding it, which frustrated me. But I feel like I will be visiting Chile again in the future.
For now, I am back in Buenos Aires. Today, I checked into a hostel, which was soooo weird. The city feels so different when I'm not at my host family's apartment. I went over there to see them today and had dinner there which was great. I met their new student, who's staying in my room, which is extra weird. But she is really cool and I think I'll be able to hang out with her and her friends a little bit. In fact, I'm taking a trip to Salta starting on Thursday and she will be there this weekend, too. So that couldn't have worked out any more perfectly. Salta is in the northwest part of Argentina, pretty close to Bolivia. This trip will be my first solo trip. I'm excited and a little bit nervous at the same time because I have no idea what to expect. The bus trip is about 21 hours each way, and I'm just going to stay in a hostel. I have a bunch of research to do tomorrow to make sure that I make the most of my time there. I think that it will feel pretty good to have done a trip by myself. Very empowering. Let's just hope that everything goes as planned.
After Salta, I'm staying in a better place in Buenos Aires than this hostel; it's a B&B that my host mom helped me reserve that's only a block away from her (I'm going to miss her). Then, after three nights there, I get to head to the airport and welcome my family to Buenos Aires. I can't wait :)
I left for Chile last Friday morning with my friend Meg. We took a flight into Santiago, then bused it an hour and a half to Valparaiso. We were greeted in Valparaiso with... no taxis. Why? Because we arrived during the World Cup game, of course! So we went to a restaurant that was close to the bus station until the game was over. Oh my goodness, the Chileans get soooo into their futbol games, it's amazing. The experience was so much fun. Everyone was cheering, clapping, shouting, "CHI CHI CHI! LE LE LE! VIVA CHILE!" On top of that, we shared one of Chile's signature dishes, chorrillana. Which is, basically, french fries with whatever the heck you want on top. I think ours had beef, chorizo, egg, mushroom, onion, I don't even remember. A whole lot of stuff. It was delicious, but we only needed to try it once. We were probably 5 bites away from a heart attack.
After the game, we finally got a taxi to take to our hostel. The streets of Valparaiso were craaaaazy!! Even though Chile had lost! People were running around with flags, hanging out the back of trucks cheering, running around in groups chanting, it was really the best welcome into Chile ever.
So the taxi driver drives down this tiny little street and stops, points down these steps in front of us, and says, your hostel is down those steps and down the alley to the left. Ok! Alright! This is strange. So we lug our stuff down the steps and down an alley and sure enough our hostel was down there! It was a really nice hostel, and it had only been running for 5 months. It used to be a bar and the top floor, where the rooms were, was an art gallery. So there were chains hanging from the ceiling that used to hold art. At first it looked kind of creepy, but once we understood it was less threatening.
The view from our window onto Valpo was great. The city is situated on a bunch of hills, and each neighborhood is a different hill. The streets just twist around, not really a plan whatsoever. The art on the walls is insanely cool. The entire city has this very bohemian feel, very artsy. I took a lot of pictures of the graffiti, which I will post on Picasa soon. Valpo was definitely affected by the earthquake, a lot of the buildings had collapsed and a lot of the sidewalks were being redone. Besides the apparent reconstruction that has to take place, Valpo is still a beautiful city.
The first day in Valpo we just walked around and got a feel for the city. We didn't get lost, which I was sure we were going to do because the streets are sooo strange. But I think because the streets are so weird and because the art is so unique that you are able to remember landmarks really well and find your way back relatively easily. At night we went to a restaurant with two American girls that we met, one of which is living for a while in Santiago teaching English.
Second day in Valpo was probably my favorite day of the trip. We went to the bus station and wanted to take a bus to Isla Negra to see one of Pablo Neruda's houses. So we went up to this information desk, and this guy Mario says well, we have a tour that takes you for half of the day for 30,000 pesos and we'll take you not only to Isla Negra but some other places as well! (By the way, Chilean pesos are basically like 10,000 pesos = $20) So we decided that would be worth our time, and he called his friend Jorge.
So we spent the whole day with Jorge, from noon until about 6:00. It was a fantastic day. First, he took us to Casablanca, to a winery where we did a delicious wine tasting. After Casablanca we went to Isla Negra. We had to wait about an hour for a tour of Pablo Neruda's house, so we went to a little restaurant with Jorge. I had pastel de jaiba, which is basically crab pie. Soooo good. Then we were able to tour Pablo Neruda's AWESOME house. He seems like such a cool guy. The whole thing is sea-themed, and apparently he had parties all the time there. The whole house had beautiful views of the ocean; I can imagine that it would have been a great place to write. His and his wife Matilde's graves are actually right there outside the house as well, facing the ocean. I told Jorge that I was going to buy the house. If I do, you're all invited :) We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house but you can see pictures at this website - http://www.fundacionneruda.org/imagenes_islanegra.htm
After Isla Negra, Jorge took us to the beach where we walked around for a little bit and then he drove us through Viña del Mar, a city next to Valparaiso. By that time, it was dark and his sons were calling him. I felt bad, but I think he had fun that day too. We learned so much about him, and it was really fun to speak in Spanish all day. At first, it seemed pretty sketchy that it was only going to be me and Meg and Jorge all day, but it turned out to be a great experience.
At night, we went out with a VERY diverse mix of people from the hostel. I'll try to remember: me and Meg, the two other American girls, a guy from Brazil and his dad, two guys from Germany who were studying in Santiago and one of their Chilean girlfriends, and a guy from Colombia. We went out to a bar and shared some beer and ate empanadas. (Empanadas are HUGE in Chile! I usually eat three for lunch in Buenos Aires, but I only needed one for dinner in Chile!) Then, we went to this old prison that they had turned into some sort of cultural center. There was a Chilean rock band playing and people were dancing and it was soooo weird but soooo awesome at the same time. Our international mix of people and the fact that we were watching a Chilean rock band in an old prison in Valparaiso was really kind of difficult to take in.
The next day Meg and I went down to the port because Jorge (another Jorge) at the hostel told us that there were boat tours you could take and have a pretty good view of the city. So, we went down to the port and it was a MESSSSSS. The whole port was basically bumper boats and everyone is just trying to get you to take a tour on their boat and there's no organization at all. Eventually this guy came up to us and seemed legitimate enough, for what the situation was, and we got on his boat and he took us around for a little bit in the bay. His story was fantastic. He apparently lived in Brooklyn for five years, and worked with his dad. His English was hilarious, basically he had just learned a bunch of slang. So the way he talked was like a little gangster, and he had on clothes that made him look like a Chilean rapper. Anyway, he was in the United States for five years but he started to have nightmares all the time and he missed his wife and his family a ton, so he told his dad that he was going to return to Chile. So he told us the story of his surprise return to his mom and all his family and it was adorable. He apparently now is doing pretty well and just kept saying thank you to the United States for providing him with what he has. I really wished the boat ride could have been longer because his story was so fascinating to me.
After the boat tour we took a bus over to Viña del Mar, so we could see it during the day. We saw the Reloj de Flores, the flower clock, which was pretty cool. But basically we just sat on the beach for a long time. It was super relaxing and the sun was really strong. I felt like it was a perfect end to our time in Valparaiso.
The next day we took a bus back to Santiago, after a big dilemma of whether to leave before or after the World Cup game. I'm tellin' ya, the World Cup changes everything. Our problem was that our hostel was located basically in the center of the city, which is really dangerous while a game is going on. Whether Chile won or lost, the police and military were planning on there being a lot of beer and a lot of rioting. Ultimately, we decided to go early, before the game, and everything turned out just fine. We walked around in the neighborhood where our hostel was for a little bit, and then watched the game back at the hostel. We probably picked the worst day ever to visit Santiago, because besides there being a World Cup game, there also was a holiday, so all the museums and a lot of stores were closed. A couple hours after the game, of which Chile lost :(, we decided to venture down towards the center of the city. There were so many military trucks and men in uniform standing around and on horses. It was really kind of creepy. Basically no one was walking around, the whole center had emptied. I really would like to go back to Santiago someday because I feel like I didn't get a real representation of the city. I enjoyed my time there regardless.
All of the Chilean people that we met on our trip were the sweetest, most helpful people I have met in South America. All of the cab drivers, all of the hostel people, the restaurant workers, everyone. It really gave me a good impression of Chile and I would definitely be willing to go back. I feel like it would be an awesome place to stay for a while. The accent is definitely different and I had a hard time understanding it, which frustrated me. But I feel like I will be visiting Chile again in the future.
For now, I am back in Buenos Aires. Today, I checked into a hostel, which was soooo weird. The city feels so different when I'm not at my host family's apartment. I went over there to see them today and had dinner there which was great. I met their new student, who's staying in my room, which is extra weird. But she is really cool and I think I'll be able to hang out with her and her friends a little bit. In fact, I'm taking a trip to Salta starting on Thursday and she will be there this weekend, too. So that couldn't have worked out any more perfectly. Salta is in the northwest part of Argentina, pretty close to Bolivia. This trip will be my first solo trip. I'm excited and a little bit nervous at the same time because I have no idea what to expect. The bus trip is about 21 hours each way, and I'm just going to stay in a hostel. I have a bunch of research to do tomorrow to make sure that I make the most of my time there. I think that it will feel pretty good to have done a trip by myself. Very empowering. Let's just hope that everything goes as planned.
After Salta, I'm staying in a better place in Buenos Aires than this hostel; it's a B&B that my host mom helped me reserve that's only a block away from her (I'm going to miss her). Then, after three nights there, I get to head to the airport and welcome my family to Buenos Aires. I can't wait :)
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Nearing the End
More self-evaluation. Study abroad gives me a lot of that. What I have learned this weekend...
I am the master of procrastination.
Three papers... two finals... before Thursday.
Excuse me, if the World Cup is going on while I am studying abroad in a country that actually has a good team, doesn't that give me a free pass for finals week? No? Ok, back to the books then.
6 days before goodbye tears with host family.
21 days before hugs with real family.
I am the master of procrastination.
Three papers... two finals... before Thursday.
Excuse me, if the World Cup is going on while I am studying abroad in a country that actually has a good team, doesn't that give me a free pass for finals week? No? Ok, back to the books then.
6 days before goodbye tears with host family.
21 days before hugs with real family.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
It's a Wonderful Life
Today was extraordinary.
Basically it epitomized my past three months here in the duration of about six hours. It dealt with everything from transportation to knowing the city to lots of Spanish speaking to food to being independent.
I have been in contact with Dr. Marcos from the Instituto de Zoonosis "Luis Pasteur" de Buenos Aires since I have been here, which is thanks to a professor at Hope who studies the history of public health in Argentina. I went to the institute one time in what I believe was April, and Dr. Marcos showed me around and explained what the institute does. The institute is funded by the government and was created in 1927 in order to control zoonotic diseases, or diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans. For example, a large part of the institute deals with rabies, of which has been successfully controlled between humans and dogs in Buenos Aires (the last human case was in 1976 and the last canine case was in 1981). The institute also sees animals for regular veterinary visits, but its central mission statement is: "... to understand everything about the diagnosis, prevention and control of zoonoses in urban Buenos Aires, in order to preserve the good health of human and animal population of the City ..."
I asked Dr. Marcos if there was something that I could do at the institute to understand in more depth what effect it has on the city, and he informed me about their traveling clinics. What a perfect opportunity. I have plans to get my master's in public health in the future, and being able to observe a very specific type of public health in a big city like Buenos Aires is such an eye-opening experience. So now starts my story about today.
I woke up early this morning and found a new bus to take to get to Parque Centenario, where the institute is located. This is a pretty good feat, because it's difficult to know the exact route of the buses and where exactly you should get off. But everything went down perfectly and I made it to the institute on time. Which, in Argentina, being on time doesn't really matter, but Dr. Marcos told me the traveling clinics were leaving at 8 am, so I didn't want to miss out. I went upstairs and met about twenty people who were all drinking mate and chatting. We didn't end up leaving the institute until probably 8:45, and out of the twenty or so in the room only six of us left. We went right outside of a shantytown in Puerto Madero, and there was already a group of people with their dogs waiting for us.
When the institute has traveling clinics, there is someone who goes to the shantytown and organizes a group of people who need to have their dogs or cats castrated. They tell them when and where to go, and all the surgeries are funded by the government. I was talking to one of the vet techs, and she said that yesterday they went to the shantytown but no one showed up because of bad communication between organizers, but this isn't common.
The traveling clinic is pretty cool. Inside there are two operating tables, sinks, counters, cabinets, lights, even a remote control air conditioning system. They also keep mate materials in one of the cabinets, of which everyone partakes throughout all the surgeries (not the people doing the surgeries, of course). Everything was kept highly sterile, and it reminded me of any other animal clinic.
One by one the people brought their animals up into the clinic. There were two cats and four dogs castrated. The animals aren't supposed to eat for 12 hours before the surgery, or else the anesthesia won't work and they will suffer a lot of pain, become sick, vomit, and have a high probability of dying. We encountered this problem with one of the dogs that was supposed to be castrated. The anesthesia wasn't working, so they had to ask the owner the last time the dog ate. However, because the dogs live in a shantytown, it's difficult to control them and know for sure when the last time they ate was, because it's very possible that they could have dug into some trash. For this reason there was only four dogs castrated and not five. It was really cool to stand there and watch all the castrations and ask tons of questions. By the end I felt like I could have done the surgery myself!
Today I was at the highest Spanish-speaking ability that I have been at yet. I could understand everything that everyone was asking me. The veterinarians were making jokes with me and I could make jokes back. If someone had just met me, they would ask someone else, "Ella habla español?" and the people I was with would say, "Si! Ella habla español muy bien!" And I would think to myself SCORE! I loved having the opportunity to be around medical personnel who speak Spanish today, because it allowed me to realize that I now have a better capacity of understanding material specific to what I want to do in life.
After we arrived back at the institute, I walked to the subte (without a map) and took it to Abasto, which is giant shopping mall on the same street that I live but about ten blocks down. (Abasto also has the only kosher McDonald's outside of Israel.) I have been to Abasto at night to go to the cinema, but never during the day. So I decided to walk around, and it was really relaxing to be by myself in the mall (and without my debit card). I went to the food court, bought a chicken shwarma, sat and ate and just people watched, realizing that I was able to understand all the conversations around me. It was great. I no longer felt like an anxious, lost foreigner. People could understand me and I could understand them and I was sitting in a mall in Buenos Aires by myself with a chicken shwarma after a morning hanging out with veterinarians. Is this my life? Can this happen everyday? That moment was perfect.
I feel like I am 100x more knowledgeable about the world than when I first came here. Today made me realize the progress that I have made towards my goals in life and how much I have grown as a person since that first step off the plane. Not that I'm counting or anything, but there are 37 more days until my family arrives, and 37 more days to grow independently 5,000 miles away from home. Let's do this.
Basically it epitomized my past three months here in the duration of about six hours. It dealt with everything from transportation to knowing the city to lots of Spanish speaking to food to being independent.
I have been in contact with Dr. Marcos from the Instituto de Zoonosis "Luis Pasteur" de Buenos Aires since I have been here, which is thanks to a professor at Hope who studies the history of public health in Argentina. I went to the institute one time in what I believe was April, and Dr. Marcos showed me around and explained what the institute does. The institute is funded by the government and was created in 1927 in order to control zoonotic diseases, or diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans. For example, a large part of the institute deals with rabies, of which has been successfully controlled between humans and dogs in Buenos Aires (the last human case was in 1976 and the last canine case was in 1981). The institute also sees animals for regular veterinary visits, but its central mission statement is: "... to understand everything about the diagnosis, prevention and control of zoonoses in urban Buenos Aires, in order to preserve the good health of human and animal population of the City ..."
I asked Dr. Marcos if there was something that I could do at the institute to understand in more depth what effect it has on the city, and he informed me about their traveling clinics. What a perfect opportunity. I have plans to get my master's in public health in the future, and being able to observe a very specific type of public health in a big city like Buenos Aires is such an eye-opening experience. So now starts my story about today.
I woke up early this morning and found a new bus to take to get to Parque Centenario, where the institute is located. This is a pretty good feat, because it's difficult to know the exact route of the buses and where exactly you should get off. But everything went down perfectly and I made it to the institute on time. Which, in Argentina, being on time doesn't really matter, but Dr. Marcos told me the traveling clinics were leaving at 8 am, so I didn't want to miss out. I went upstairs and met about twenty people who were all drinking mate and chatting. We didn't end up leaving the institute until probably 8:45, and out of the twenty or so in the room only six of us left. We went right outside of a shantytown in Puerto Madero, and there was already a group of people with their dogs waiting for us.
When the institute has traveling clinics, there is someone who goes to the shantytown and organizes a group of people who need to have their dogs or cats castrated. They tell them when and where to go, and all the surgeries are funded by the government. I was talking to one of the vet techs, and she said that yesterday they went to the shantytown but no one showed up because of bad communication between organizers, but this isn't common.
The traveling clinic is pretty cool. Inside there are two operating tables, sinks, counters, cabinets, lights, even a remote control air conditioning system. They also keep mate materials in one of the cabinets, of which everyone partakes throughout all the surgeries (not the people doing the surgeries, of course). Everything was kept highly sterile, and it reminded me of any other animal clinic.
One by one the people brought their animals up into the clinic. There were two cats and four dogs castrated. The animals aren't supposed to eat for 12 hours before the surgery, or else the anesthesia won't work and they will suffer a lot of pain, become sick, vomit, and have a high probability of dying. We encountered this problem with one of the dogs that was supposed to be castrated. The anesthesia wasn't working, so they had to ask the owner the last time the dog ate. However, because the dogs live in a shantytown, it's difficult to control them and know for sure when the last time they ate was, because it's very possible that they could have dug into some trash. For this reason there was only four dogs castrated and not five. It was really cool to stand there and watch all the castrations and ask tons of questions. By the end I felt like I could have done the surgery myself!
Today I was at the highest Spanish-speaking ability that I have been at yet. I could understand everything that everyone was asking me. The veterinarians were making jokes with me and I could make jokes back. If someone had just met me, they would ask someone else, "Ella habla español?" and the people I was with would say, "Si! Ella habla español muy bien!" And I would think to myself SCORE! I loved having the opportunity to be around medical personnel who speak Spanish today, because it allowed me to realize that I now have a better capacity of understanding material specific to what I want to do in life.
After we arrived back at the institute, I walked to the subte (without a map) and took it to Abasto, which is giant shopping mall on the same street that I live but about ten blocks down. (Abasto also has the only kosher McDonald's outside of Israel.) I have been to Abasto at night to go to the cinema, but never during the day. So I decided to walk around, and it was really relaxing to be by myself in the mall (and without my debit card). I went to the food court, bought a chicken shwarma, sat and ate and just people watched, realizing that I was able to understand all the conversations around me. It was great. I no longer felt like an anxious, lost foreigner. People could understand me and I could understand them and I was sitting in a mall in Buenos Aires by myself with a chicken shwarma after a morning hanging out with veterinarians. Is this my life? Can this happen everyday? That moment was perfect.
I feel like I am 100x more knowledgeable about the world than when I first came here. Today made me realize the progress that I have made towards my goals in life and how much I have grown as a person since that first step off the plane. Not that I'm counting or anything, but there are 37 more days until my family arrives, and 37 more days to grow independently 5,000 miles away from home. Let's do this.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Pesadillas
I'm going to take a moment and forego the posts that should be in progress right now, my trip to Uruguay, this past bicentennial weekend, everything, to talk about something that has been ruining my sleep. Pesadillas... also known as nightmares. Those have been happening to me the past few days, and would you imagine the timing? I have one month left of IES and of living in my homestay.
WORRY 1
I consider my homestay my home. It has my room. My bed. My rock star brothers. My adorable host mom. I'm used to living here. Other things I've become used to...
-- taking the elevator up and down to and from my apartment
-- waking up in the morning and looking in my purse praying to God that I have coins to take the bus, otherwise I'll be leaving earlier to be able to walk to IES in time
-- having a rushed conversation with Javier the doorman before I go catch the 152 or speedwalk to class
-- gripping my purse until my fist turns purple because yes, even that business man in the suit will steal your stuff
-- walking in the city
-- pushing myself onto the subte (subway)... I have pretty good subte balance by now as well
-- alllllll of my classes in Spanish
-- alllllll the people around me in the city speaking Spanish
-- going out for a beer at night with friends
-- dinner at 9... 9:30... 10
-- not using my cellphone
-- knowing that I need to have close to exact change to buy anything
-- dividing every price by four to convert to USD
-- not telling anyone where I am and it's ok
These everyday situations all lead into this nightmare: I walk into my house, set all my luggage down, and have a complete breakdown. What do I do now? Where do I go? When I walk out of my house, I have a driveway... I have a lawn... I have to get in my car to go anywhere, and it doesn't matter if I have quarters or not. Everyone is speaking English and they will understand me the first time around when I ask them something. Everyone moved on with their lives when I was gone and now I just have to get back into the swing of things. Normal, everyday life like I never left. And that freaks me out.
I was talking to Mama Feli today about my pesadillas and how I feel like leaving is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. She said that all the girls that have stayed with her have cried when they left, and she always wondered why it was so sad for them to leave. But then she came up with this conclusion, that it's because the first day that we come here, we change from being a kid to being an adult. All of a sudden we have to take care of ourselves, venture around a HUGE city, no one is holding our hands or telling us where to go. We do everything on our own. Plan our own trips, take care of business on our own in a different language; it's a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time. When I go back, I'm not going to be the same person as when I left. For the better, yes, but it's still going to make the adjustment back difficult. When I go back home, I feel like either I'll be all over the place or I'll be stuck in my room, clueless about what to do.
WORRY 2
This may just be my personality, but I am afraid that I have not taken every opportunity that I have had here. Maybe I should have made the effort to travel to more places, walk around the city more, talk to more locals, eat at nicer restaurants, go shopping more, spend more time in different neighborhoods. I have this fear that I'm going to go back home and look back on all of the things that I could have done, instead of what I should do, which is look back at everything I was so lucky to experience. I'm afraid that I will regret every second that I wasn't exploring, every second that I didn't try to improve my Spanish-speaking ability, every second that I didn't take to stretch myself. I do realize that I have done a lot here, way more than I thought I would, but I just hope when I go back home the things that I did do resound stronger in my memory than the regrets of everything I didn't do.
Obviously thinking of leaving this country has been affecting me greatly. I've become very sentimental toward Buenos Aires lately, and yes, part of it could be a result of all the national pride displayed this past weekend for the bicentennial. But I really do feel like Argentina is a second home to me now. So, I have decided to finish my undergraduate degree here.
Juuuuussst kidding. I will be returning to the United States at the end of July. Hopefully by then I'll be able to collect my thoughts and prepare myself for West Michigan living. I do miss everyone and everything back home, but I have already begun to realize everything I will be missing here. I don't think there's any way that I could live the rest of my life without returning to Buenos Aires. This city, with all its quirks, has a special place in my heart. So, during my absence, don't cry for me, Argentina.
WORRY 1
I consider my homestay my home. It has my room. My bed. My rock star brothers. My adorable host mom. I'm used to living here. Other things I've become used to...
-- taking the elevator up and down to and from my apartment
-- waking up in the morning and looking in my purse praying to God that I have coins to take the bus, otherwise I'll be leaving earlier to be able to walk to IES in time
-- having a rushed conversation with Javier the doorman before I go catch the 152 or speedwalk to class
-- gripping my purse until my fist turns purple because yes, even that business man in the suit will steal your stuff
-- walking in the city
-- pushing myself onto the subte (subway)... I have pretty good subte balance by now as well
-- alllllll of my classes in Spanish
-- alllllll the people around me in the city speaking Spanish
-- going out for a beer at night with friends
-- dinner at 9... 9:30... 10
-- not using my cellphone
-- knowing that I need to have close to exact change to buy anything
-- dividing every price by four to convert to USD
-- not telling anyone where I am and it's ok
These everyday situations all lead into this nightmare: I walk into my house, set all my luggage down, and have a complete breakdown. What do I do now? Where do I go? When I walk out of my house, I have a driveway... I have a lawn... I have to get in my car to go anywhere, and it doesn't matter if I have quarters or not. Everyone is speaking English and they will understand me the first time around when I ask them something. Everyone moved on with their lives when I was gone and now I just have to get back into the swing of things. Normal, everyday life like I never left. And that freaks me out.
I was talking to Mama Feli today about my pesadillas and how I feel like leaving is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. She said that all the girls that have stayed with her have cried when they left, and she always wondered why it was so sad for them to leave. But then she came up with this conclusion, that it's because the first day that we come here, we change from being a kid to being an adult. All of a sudden we have to take care of ourselves, venture around a HUGE city, no one is holding our hands or telling us where to go. We do everything on our own. Plan our own trips, take care of business on our own in a different language; it's a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time. When I go back, I'm not going to be the same person as when I left. For the better, yes, but it's still going to make the adjustment back difficult. When I go back home, I feel like either I'll be all over the place or I'll be stuck in my room, clueless about what to do.
WORRY 2
This may just be my personality, but I am afraid that I have not taken every opportunity that I have had here. Maybe I should have made the effort to travel to more places, walk around the city more, talk to more locals, eat at nicer restaurants, go shopping more, spend more time in different neighborhoods. I have this fear that I'm going to go back home and look back on all of the things that I could have done, instead of what I should do, which is look back at everything I was so lucky to experience. I'm afraid that I will regret every second that I wasn't exploring, every second that I didn't try to improve my Spanish-speaking ability, every second that I didn't take to stretch myself. I do realize that I have done a lot here, way more than I thought I would, but I just hope when I go back home the things that I did do resound stronger in my memory than the regrets of everything I didn't do.
Obviously thinking of leaving this country has been affecting me greatly. I've become very sentimental toward Buenos Aires lately, and yes, part of it could be a result of all the national pride displayed this past weekend for the bicentennial. But I really do feel like Argentina is a second home to me now. So, I have decided to finish my undergraduate degree here.
Juuuuussst kidding. I will be returning to the United States at the end of July. Hopefully by then I'll be able to collect my thoughts and prepare myself for West Michigan living. I do miss everyone and everything back home, but I have already begun to realize everything I will be missing here. I don't think there's any way that I could live the rest of my life without returning to Buenos Aires. This city, with all its quirks, has a special place in my heart. So, during my absence, don't cry for me, Argentina.
Monday, May 10, 2010
SPRING BREAK (in the fall)
Time is going by extremely fast. Spring break always seemed so far away, and now almost a week has already passed since the break. I had an AWESOME time traveling, and it felt like I was done with school and that taking buses and staying in hostels was my normal life. I thought that it was difficult before trying to concentrate on my work here, but after break my attention span for reading about Juan Peron or doing worksheets on grammar has gone out the window. Luckily there is only 6 more weeks of class left. Actually, I'm not sure whether that's a luckily or not. While I would love to be done with class, that also means that I'm that much closer to having to leave the country. I can already tell that leaving is going to provoke a really weird mixture of feelings. But I'll deal with that when it comes.
Ok, now for spring break adventures! First up, TANDIL. (I actually forgot my camera for this trip (oops!), so I stole some pictures from my friends.)
Tandil is a city located about 5 hours south of Buenos Aires. Like I have found many parts of the Buenos Aires province to be, Tandil also looks a lot like Michigan. Its name derives from the Mapuche words tan ("falling"), and lil ("rock"). It's been suggested that the name refers to the Piedra Movediza ("Moving Stone"), which was a balanced rock. It fell in 1912 but a few years ago was replaced.
The trip to Tandil was through IES, and there were probably 25 students or so. Looking back on the trip, we didn't really do a whole lot, but it was relaxing and nice to be out of the city. This sounds really sad, but once you're out of Buenos Aires it's weird to look up at the sky at night and remember that there are stars. The hotel that we stayed at was really awesome and located on the top of this hill (that we got to walk up and down a number of times because the bus struggled to make it up).
Tandil is known for its cheese and salami, and at one of the restaurants we went to for dinner we had cheese fondue. We also ate out at a restaurant where we had the best carne empanadas I've had in Argentina. They weren't ground beef, there were actually little slices of steak in them. At another restaurant that we went to for lunch, we shared these entrees that were little casserole pots. Some of them were rabbit, some were venison, some were chicken. Really really delicious food. Other than eating... haha... we also did some hiking one day, where we saw the Piedra Movediza. Some of our time was also just spent at the hotel talking and enjoying some wine.
We were in Tandil from Saturday until Monday. Then Tuesday morning began what I would consider to be my real spring break trip. To PATAGONIA! Me and three other friends boarded a bus for a 22 hour ride on Tuesday afternoon, and after a ride full of bracelet and hair-wrap making, iPod listening, reading, and lack of sleeping, we arrived in Bariloche. The city is located next to the Andes, right on the border of Chile. The view in Bariloche is unbelievable. Our hostel had a fantastic view of the city, lake Nahuel Huapi, and the mountains. Just incredible.
The first day in Bariloche we attempted to rent bikes and do a tour called Circuito Chico. Right when we started out, it began drizzling, but we were tough and decided to keep going. Well, half hour into our ride it was basically hailing and really miserable. We attempted to be good sports about it but to go on would not have been fun at all. So since we were soaking wet and freezing, we went back to the hostel, took showers, then walked around the town. Bariloche is fairly large and pretty touristy. There are a lot of outdoors shops and CHOCOLATE SHOPS. It is known for its chocolate, so I definitely took advantage of that attribute!! We had some specialty hot chocolates, some bonbons with raspberries in the middle, some with dulce de leche in the middle, lots and lots of good stuff.
The next day, Thursday, we took a chairlift at Cerro Campanario, which according to National Geographic is one of the Top 10 Best Views in the world. It definitely was the best view that I have ever seen. It was so difficult to take it all in because there's mountains and lakes all around you. I probably took ten pictures of the same view but I couldn't help it.
Then we took a ferry to two different national parks. The first one was Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. It had a variety of trees and really good views of the area. Wasn't my favorite park but it was nice to walk around the island.
Then we hopped back on the ferry and went to Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes. This national park is the only place in the world where there is a whole forest of arrayan trees, so it was really cool to be able to see them.
The next morning, Friday, we took a bus to Villa la Angostura and had some waffles with frambuesas (raspberries). Very delicious. Villa la Angostura is a cute little town that also has an awesome view of lakes/mountains, just like the rest of the cities on the Seven Lakes Route. This route zigzags through the mountains and lets you see the lakes and forests in the region. The best way to appreciate the route is by renting a car, but we were able to see the region on our bus ride. We had planned our bus tickets for having about 7 hours in La Angostura, but after talking with some people we decided a couple hours was enough time to see the city. So after walking around a little bit, we took another bus to San Martin de los Andes, which is where we were to stay until Sunday.
At first, I wasn't so sure about San Martin. The ride going into the city was beautiful, but once we were in the city the view was just mountains. Which is still great! It just wasn't like Bariloche. When we were walking to our hostel, we walked by a community garage sale, and lots of families walking around; San Martin seemed to just be a residential city, and not somewhere to visit at all. We went to a little restaurant to eat some dinner and the city didn't seem to have much of a downtown.
At night we went out to a bar and that's when I changed my mind about the city. We met a bunch of locals at the bar, and the people that we were staying with at the hostel were really cool too. The bar had a ping pong table and I just about died when I saw it. I played some locals and even a gaucho. Then we made our way over to a dance club which was awesome too. It was different from dance clubs in Buenos Aires, it was a lot smaller but felt more safe and just more fun. I decided then that I loved San Martin because after seeing more of the city, it actually does have a small downtown with some cool shops and some fun places to go out at night. The people there are what make it awesome. Everyone is super nice and it's really easy to make friends.
In the morning my friend and I took a cab to a mountain a little outside the main city, called Cerro Colorado. After talking to a few people about hiking the mountain, they said it was really well marked and a fun hike that should take 3 hours up and 2 hours down. So our taxi driver Carlos, who we made friends with, dropped us off at this little sign on the side of the road that said Cerro Colorado. There was a little trail so we're like ok! We can do this! Carlos drives away and we start walking. Eventually the trail turns into car tracks that lead away from the mountains. Weird... Then horse trails start going in all directions off the car tracks and we really don't know which one to take. There are no signs at ALL and we were in the middle of this huge field between the mountains and the road.
Ok, so this is our dilemma. We told Carlos to come pick us up at 5:30, because we figure if we started walking at 12 and it's supposed to take 5 hours roundtrip, that would give us plenty of time. Well, by now it's 2 and we haven't started hiking UP at all. Umm... not good. But then we see this man walking in the distance toward us. YES! So we speed walk over to him and ask him where the Cerro Colorado trail is. He was really surprised that we were so far away from where the trail was. So we speed walk back over to almost where we started, and he takes us down a turn on the trail that really isn't well marked at all. It would have been very difficult to know to take that little fork because at the time it looked like nothing at all.
So it's 2:15 and we start hiking up the mountain. That was the most difficult hike that I have ever done. It was sooo steep, some parts you could have put your hands down and just crawled up. But even the way up had some of the prettiest views. We ran into about 3 groups of 2 people who looked like hard core hikers. They had their hiking sticks and their wicking clothing and hiking boots and hats. Here were two girls in tennis shoes, tshirts, and with a little backpack of rolls and carrots. Seeing these people made us think that maybe we were a little too ambitious and underprepared, but we were determined to make it up. After 2 hours, we made it up to the top of the mountain. GORGEOUS! So breathtaking, literally, after that intense hike. The fall colors, lake, and surrounding Andes made it so picturesque. We sat on some rocks at the edge and had a snack.
At 4:45 we decide that maybe we should start going down the mountain in order to meet Carlos at 5:30. So at every stretch that was not too steep we decided we would run. We even tried running at some stretches that we shouldn't have and ended up on the ground a few times. The problem was that because there was ice on the trail around noonish and now it was around 5, the sun had melted the ice and it became a little muddy. With the combination of mud and old running shoes that don't have any traction, I fell quite a few times. One time I even landed with my hand in some pricker plant and got about 12 splinters in my hand. There's still about 3 in there. But the running/falling down the mountain paid off because we met Carlos at EXACTLY 5:30. Which means it took us 2 hours to climb up the mountain and 45 minutes to go down. Yea... we felt accomplished. And tired. And needed a nap. Or some food. Or a celebratory beer.
So we did all of those things! We went out to a great Italian-ish restaurant for dinner and then met up with our hostel friends at this really cool bar. It was up this hill on the edge of the city, and there was a pool table and some tables and the bar downstairs, with some couches in the VIP section upstairs. One of the hostel guys we met had his boss visiting for a few days, and he had come out to the bar with us. He ordered a really cool appetizer that had trout, venison, wild boar, and some cheese on it. We had some drinks then he got us up into the VIP section, where we were able to look over onto the dance floor. We sat and talked a bit, then danced a bit. At the end of the night, this guy's boss paid for everything, we just paid the tip. It was an awesome last night to an awesome spring break.
The trip definitely was a great experience. I got to see the most amazing views, and did some great hiking, spent a lot of time with some great people, spoke a lot of Spanish, and learned more about Argentina and myself. I think that traveling without a detailed plan sometimes is the best, because you get to experience whatever the region throws at you and not what you want it to give you. During spring break I came up with the sweetest job. I could be a travel writer and stay in hostels and be able to have time to work AND experience tons of different cities. How great would that be? Don't worry. I'd send postcards :)
PS ... you can look at all of my spring break pictures at this link http://picasaweb.google.com/rachel.jantz
Ok, now for spring break adventures! First up, TANDIL. (I actually forgot my camera for this trip (oops!), so I stole some pictures from my friends.)
Tandil is a city located about 5 hours south of Buenos Aires. Like I have found many parts of the Buenos Aires province to be, Tandil also looks a lot like Michigan. Its name derives from the Mapuche words tan ("falling"), and lil ("rock"). It's been suggested that the name refers to the Piedra Movediza ("Moving Stone"), which was a balanced rock. It fell in 1912 but a few years ago was replaced.
The trip to Tandil was through IES, and there were probably 25 students or so. Looking back on the trip, we didn't really do a whole lot, but it was relaxing and nice to be out of the city. This sounds really sad, but once you're out of Buenos Aires it's weird to look up at the sky at night and remember that there are stars. The hotel that we stayed at was really awesome and located on the top of this hill (that we got to walk up and down a number of times because the bus struggled to make it up).
Tandil is known for its cheese and salami, and at one of the restaurants we went to for dinner we had cheese fondue. We also ate out at a restaurant where we had the best carne empanadas I've had in Argentina. They weren't ground beef, there were actually little slices of steak in them. At another restaurant that we went to for lunch, we shared these entrees that were little casserole pots. Some of them were rabbit, some were venison, some were chicken. Really really delicious food. Other than eating... haha... we also did some hiking one day, where we saw the Piedra Movediza. Some of our time was also just spent at the hotel talking and enjoying some wine.
We were in Tandil from Saturday until Monday. Then Tuesday morning began what I would consider to be my real spring break trip. To PATAGONIA! Me and three other friends boarded a bus for a 22 hour ride on Tuesday afternoon, and after a ride full of bracelet and hair-wrap making, iPod listening, reading, and lack of sleeping, we arrived in Bariloche. The city is located next to the Andes, right on the border of Chile. The view in Bariloche is unbelievable. Our hostel had a fantastic view of the city, lake Nahuel Huapi, and the mountains. Just incredible.
The first day in Bariloche we attempted to rent bikes and do a tour called Circuito Chico. Right when we started out, it began drizzling, but we were tough and decided to keep going. Well, half hour into our ride it was basically hailing and really miserable. We attempted to be good sports about it but to go on would not have been fun at all. So since we were soaking wet and freezing, we went back to the hostel, took showers, then walked around the town. Bariloche is fairly large and pretty touristy. There are a lot of outdoors shops and CHOCOLATE SHOPS. It is known for its chocolate, so I definitely took advantage of that attribute!! We had some specialty hot chocolates, some bonbons with raspberries in the middle, some with dulce de leche in the middle, lots and lots of good stuff.
The next day, Thursday, we took a chairlift at Cerro Campanario, which according to National Geographic is one of the Top 10 Best Views in the world. It definitely was the best view that I have ever seen. It was so difficult to take it all in because there's mountains and lakes all around you. I probably took ten pictures of the same view but I couldn't help it.
Then we took a ferry to two different national parks. The first one was Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. It had a variety of trees and really good views of the area. Wasn't my favorite park but it was nice to walk around the island.
Then we hopped back on the ferry and went to Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes. This national park is the only place in the world where there is a whole forest of arrayan trees, so it was really cool to be able to see them.
The next morning, Friday, we took a bus to Villa la Angostura and had some waffles with frambuesas (raspberries). Very delicious. Villa la Angostura is a cute little town that also has an awesome view of lakes/mountains, just like the rest of the cities on the Seven Lakes Route. This route zigzags through the mountains and lets you see the lakes and forests in the region. The best way to appreciate the route is by renting a car, but we were able to see the region on our bus ride. We had planned our bus tickets for having about 7 hours in La Angostura, but after talking with some people we decided a couple hours was enough time to see the city. So after walking around a little bit, we took another bus to San Martin de los Andes, which is where we were to stay until Sunday.
At first, I wasn't so sure about San Martin. The ride going into the city was beautiful, but once we were in the city the view was just mountains. Which is still great! It just wasn't like Bariloche. When we were walking to our hostel, we walked by a community garage sale, and lots of families walking around; San Martin seemed to just be a residential city, and not somewhere to visit at all. We went to a little restaurant to eat some dinner and the city didn't seem to have much of a downtown.
At night we went out to a bar and that's when I changed my mind about the city. We met a bunch of locals at the bar, and the people that we were staying with at the hostel were really cool too. The bar had a ping pong table and I just about died when I saw it. I played some locals and even a gaucho. Then we made our way over to a dance club which was awesome too. It was different from dance clubs in Buenos Aires, it was a lot smaller but felt more safe and just more fun. I decided then that I loved San Martin because after seeing more of the city, it actually does have a small downtown with some cool shops and some fun places to go out at night. The people there are what make it awesome. Everyone is super nice and it's really easy to make friends.
In the morning my friend and I took a cab to a mountain a little outside the main city, called Cerro Colorado. After talking to a few people about hiking the mountain, they said it was really well marked and a fun hike that should take 3 hours up and 2 hours down. So our taxi driver Carlos, who we made friends with, dropped us off at this little sign on the side of the road that said Cerro Colorado. There was a little trail so we're like ok! We can do this! Carlos drives away and we start walking. Eventually the trail turns into car tracks that lead away from the mountains. Weird... Then horse trails start going in all directions off the car tracks and we really don't know which one to take. There are no signs at ALL and we were in the middle of this huge field between the mountains and the road.
Ok, so this is our dilemma. We told Carlos to come pick us up at 5:30, because we figure if we started walking at 12 and it's supposed to take 5 hours roundtrip, that would give us plenty of time. Well, by now it's 2 and we haven't started hiking UP at all. Umm... not good. But then we see this man walking in the distance toward us. YES! So we speed walk over to him and ask him where the Cerro Colorado trail is. He was really surprised that we were so far away from where the trail was. So we speed walk back over to almost where we started, and he takes us down a turn on the trail that really isn't well marked at all. It would have been very difficult to know to take that little fork because at the time it looked like nothing at all.
So it's 2:15 and we start hiking up the mountain. That was the most difficult hike that I have ever done. It was sooo steep, some parts you could have put your hands down and just crawled up. But even the way up had some of the prettiest views. We ran into about 3 groups of 2 people who looked like hard core hikers. They had their hiking sticks and their wicking clothing and hiking boots and hats. Here were two girls in tennis shoes, tshirts, and with a little backpack of rolls and carrots. Seeing these people made us think that maybe we were a little too ambitious and underprepared, but we were determined to make it up. After 2 hours, we made it up to the top of the mountain. GORGEOUS! So breathtaking, literally, after that intense hike. The fall colors, lake, and surrounding Andes made it so picturesque. We sat on some rocks at the edge and had a snack.
At 4:45 we decide that maybe we should start going down the mountain in order to meet Carlos at 5:30. So at every stretch that was not too steep we decided we would run. We even tried running at some stretches that we shouldn't have and ended up on the ground a few times. The problem was that because there was ice on the trail around noonish and now it was around 5, the sun had melted the ice and it became a little muddy. With the combination of mud and old running shoes that don't have any traction, I fell quite a few times. One time I even landed with my hand in some pricker plant and got about 12 splinters in my hand. There's still about 3 in there. But the running/falling down the mountain paid off because we met Carlos at EXACTLY 5:30. Which means it took us 2 hours to climb up the mountain and 45 minutes to go down. Yea... we felt accomplished. And tired. And needed a nap. Or some food. Or a celebratory beer.
So we did all of those things! We went out to a great Italian-ish restaurant for dinner and then met up with our hostel friends at this really cool bar. It was up this hill on the edge of the city, and there was a pool table and some tables and the bar downstairs, with some couches in the VIP section upstairs. One of the hostel guys we met had his boss visiting for a few days, and he had come out to the bar with us. He ordered a really cool appetizer that had trout, venison, wild boar, and some cheese on it. We had some drinks then he got us up into the VIP section, where we were able to look over onto the dance floor. We sat and talked a bit, then danced a bit. At the end of the night, this guy's boss paid for everything, we just paid the tip. It was an awesome last night to an awesome spring break.
The trip definitely was a great experience. I got to see the most amazing views, and did some great hiking, spent a lot of time with some great people, spoke a lot of Spanish, and learned more about Argentina and myself. I think that traveling without a detailed plan sometimes is the best, because you get to experience whatever the region throws at you and not what you want it to give you. During spring break I came up with the sweetest job. I could be a travel writer and stay in hostels and be able to have time to work AND experience tons of different cities. How great would that be? Don't worry. I'd send postcards :)
PS ... you can look at all of my spring break pictures at this link http://picasaweb.google.com/rachel.jantz
Friday, April 30, 2010
Mendoza!
Greatest wine-producing city in Latin America. One of the nine Great Capitals of Wine. Next to the Andes Mountains. Full of outdoor adventures. A 14 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires. YES PLEASE!
Ok, because I'm not sure what else would best sum up this grand weekend, here are some pictures. Enjoy :)
BIKE TOUR -- MAIPU
PARAGLIDING
RAFTING
RAPPELLING
THERMAL SPRINGS
Ok, because I'm not sure what else would best sum up this grand weekend, here are some pictures. Enjoy :)
BIKE TOUR -- MAIPU
PARAGLIDING
RAFTING
RAPPELLING
THERMAL SPRINGS
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Theme of the week: GAUCHOS!
Last Sunday I went to a gaucho fair in Mataderos, which is on the edge of Buenos Aires. It's basically a big market that's all about the gaucho culture in order to keep that spirit and history alive in the city.
Vendors sold traditional gaucho clothing, tons of leather goods, cheeses and meats, dulce de leche, jewelry, guitars, books, everything. I bought a pair of traditional gaucho shoes, which are actually the shoes that TOMS shoes are modeled after.
There was also a stage where they played traditional music and a blocked-off road where they showed their horsey skillz. The atmosphere at the fair was really fun, and I'm planning on going back. It's a nice Sunday afternoon event.
Yesterday IES took a day trip to an estancia in Lobos called La Candelaria. Lobos is an agricultural area 100km from Buenos Aires. I felt like I hopped on a bus and got off in Sparta... that's exactly what it looked and smelled like (minus the apple trees and plus palm trees). When we got there we were greeted with hot empanadas and gaseosas (soft drinks). Then we ventured over to a polo exhibition match that was just ending. La Candelaria has a castle which has turned into a hotel. It was pretty sweet and we got to tour a little bit of it.
After the castle tour we found a fallen tree which we played on, of course.
Then it was time for lunch (aka meal that will fill me up for a week). The parillada was delicious!! We also had apple crisp for dessert (ahem, Sparta).
After the meal the gaucho guys and girls put on a dance show for us. I loved it.
The rest of the day we spent walking around the estancia and watching the gauchos ride their horses. I talked for about a half hour to (or actually listened to, it was kind of one-sided) an older guy from Detroit. He was visiting Argentina with his wife and another couple. I learned a lot about his son being an attorney and his wife being a teacher. Cool. Ok. Then my friends and I rode horses around the estancia. My horse was the slowest one of course and I got separated from the group quite a bit. After the guy in charge came and yelled at my horse to speed up though, I was towards the front of the pack the rest of the way. I hadn't ridden a horse since Girl Scout camp! I forgot how relaxing it is.
Then after tea time we said goodbye to Sparta, I mean Lobos, and took the bus back to Buenos Aires.
My life this past week hasn't been ALL gauchos all the time. Starting on the 7th of April and ending today was an independent film festival called BAFICI (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente). You can check this link out if ya feel like it: http://www.bafici.gov.ar/home10/web/en/index.html. I saw three films, one from Peru called Paraiso, one from Argentina called Rodriguez, and another from the United States called Bummer Summer. BAFICI is a really popular event and every movie that I went to was packed, some people didn't even have seats. I enjoyed Rodriguez the best. It was a film about two girls who took a trip together, and not everything turned out how it was planned, but they learned a lot about themselves and the world. The shots in the film were really cool and it had good music too.
Rachel's Reflections
As I've been having all these new experiences in my life, I've been thinking a lot about what makes a person unique. Even though so many new things have been happening to me lately and I've been discovering so much that to me is new territory, someone has done it before. It's all been done before. So many students have studied abroad in Buenos Aires. Each one has had to go through the experiences of living in a huge city, speaking a different language that maybe they don't know so well, interacting with tons and tons of people on a daily basis, traveling around the area. Two girls have probably even taken a train to Otamendi and realized that it wasn't exactly where they wanted to be. It's like this all around the world. Nothing's new. Everything that I'm going to do today, someone has done before. So what makes me different than the other 6.7 billion people in the world? I came to a conclusion, which even in itself is not original, someone has already thought of this, but that's not important. To me, it's my own thought. Although very, very few experiences in the world are unique, it's not the specific experiences but the combination as a whole that makes the person. Each life consists of an infinite number of interactions that in no way can be repeated exactly. That is what makes each person an individual. That is how we can go to sleep at night knowing that while we have a connection with those around us in experiencing similar hardships and happinesses, we are also our own person. We have grown and been exclusively molded by the combination of seconds in our lives that is without a doubt unmatched by any other life. This is why I believe it's important for us to keep searching for those things in life that are difficult, that take us out of our comfort zone, that appear scary, that are unknown. It is these experiences that are going to shape us even more into the unique people that we are.
Vendors sold traditional gaucho clothing, tons of leather goods, cheeses and meats, dulce de leche, jewelry, guitars, books, everything. I bought a pair of traditional gaucho shoes, which are actually the shoes that TOMS shoes are modeled after.
There was also a stage where they played traditional music and a blocked-off road where they showed their horsey skillz. The atmosphere at the fair was really fun, and I'm planning on going back. It's a nice Sunday afternoon event.
Yesterday IES took a day trip to an estancia in Lobos called La Candelaria. Lobos is an agricultural area 100km from Buenos Aires. I felt like I hopped on a bus and got off in Sparta... that's exactly what it looked and smelled like (minus the apple trees and plus palm trees). When we got there we were greeted with hot empanadas and gaseosas (soft drinks). Then we ventured over to a polo exhibition match that was just ending. La Candelaria has a castle which has turned into a hotel. It was pretty sweet and we got to tour a little bit of it.
After the castle tour we found a fallen tree which we played on, of course.
Then it was time for lunch (aka meal that will fill me up for a week). The parillada was delicious!! We also had apple crisp for dessert (ahem, Sparta).
After the meal the gaucho guys and girls put on a dance show for us. I loved it.
The rest of the day we spent walking around the estancia and watching the gauchos ride their horses. I talked for about a half hour to (or actually listened to, it was kind of one-sided) an older guy from Detroit. He was visiting Argentina with his wife and another couple. I learned a lot about his son being an attorney and his wife being a teacher. Cool. Ok. Then my friends and I rode horses around the estancia. My horse was the slowest one of course and I got separated from the group quite a bit. After the guy in charge came and yelled at my horse to speed up though, I was towards the front of the pack the rest of the way. I hadn't ridden a horse since Girl Scout camp! I forgot how relaxing it is.
Then after tea time we said goodbye to Sparta, I mean Lobos, and took the bus back to Buenos Aires.
My life this past week hasn't been ALL gauchos all the time. Starting on the 7th of April and ending today was an independent film festival called BAFICI (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente). You can check this link out if ya feel like it: http://www.bafici.gov.ar/home10/web/en/index.html. I saw three films, one from Peru called Paraiso, one from Argentina called Rodriguez, and another from the United States called Bummer Summer. BAFICI is a really popular event and every movie that I went to was packed, some people didn't even have seats. I enjoyed Rodriguez the best. It was a film about two girls who took a trip together, and not everything turned out how it was planned, but they learned a lot about themselves and the world. The shots in the film were really cool and it had good music too.
Rachel's Reflections
As I've been having all these new experiences in my life, I've been thinking a lot about what makes a person unique. Even though so many new things have been happening to me lately and I've been discovering so much that to me is new territory, someone has done it before. It's all been done before. So many students have studied abroad in Buenos Aires. Each one has had to go through the experiences of living in a huge city, speaking a different language that maybe they don't know so well, interacting with tons and tons of people on a daily basis, traveling around the area. Two girls have probably even taken a train to Otamendi and realized that it wasn't exactly where they wanted to be. It's like this all around the world. Nothing's new. Everything that I'm going to do today, someone has done before. So what makes me different than the other 6.7 billion people in the world? I came to a conclusion, which even in itself is not original, someone has already thought of this, but that's not important. To me, it's my own thought. Although very, very few experiences in the world are unique, it's not the specific experiences but the combination as a whole that makes the person. Each life consists of an infinite number of interactions that in no way can be repeated exactly. That is what makes each person an individual. That is how we can go to sleep at night knowing that while we have a connection with those around us in experiencing similar hardships and happinesses, we are also our own person. We have grown and been exclusively molded by the combination of seconds in our lives that is without a doubt unmatched by any other life. This is why I believe it's important for us to keep searching for those things in life that are difficult, that take us out of our comfort zone, that appear scary, that are unknown. It is these experiences that are going to shape us even more into the unique people that we are.
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