despedido

Today is my last day in BA!  I just got back from an 8 day trip to the Northwest of the country- so beautiful!  It is both the heart of Argentina there and another country entirely.  It’s not very developed.  There is a ton of Catholicism and devotion to ancient spirits, such as the Pachamama.  You pee in a hole or pay a child with hungry eyes to use the “bathroom”, a dank hole in the wall with semi-running water and no TP.  However its views are breathtaking and it is the heart of Argentina with it’s food, music and traditions.

I’m feeling a little overwhelmed packing up my life of the last 5+ months.  Surprisingly I was conservative with my accumulation of things…I didn’t even buy too any shoes!  However I’m still crossing my fingers for two underweight suitcases…you never know! 

Tomorrow it will be summer and everyone will be speaking English!  Goodbye Argentina, I will always remember you with fondness and carino!  However, I am so excited to get back to my lovies at home and to certain American conveniences, foods, and ways of life.  I am so grateful that I was able to come here- my trip was definitely an important building block in my life and I come away from it having learned a lot.  I think if you googled that statement it would come up on every study abroad blog!  But it’s true!  Un beso enorme

4th of July in Argentina

Happy July Fourth!

I’ve been out of the country once before on July Fourth and it always feels a little strange. Although my family and I have no consistent traditions for the day, I love the general feeling of happiness, pride and relaxation that creates the aura of the holiday. When you’re outside of the country, you must go looking for something to do because, clearly, the country that you’re in thinks it’s just another day. I was thankfully invited to an “American Asado”, the closest thing we could get to a BBQ here. The hostess grilled burgers on the parilla, offered other BBQ food and even made mac and cheese! Additionally, we celebrated with some American brands- Oreo, Doritos…good ol’ American Junk food.

I had lots of fun and it (combined with the unusually nice weather for this time of year- probably over 60 degrees!) filled my homesickness that I was feeling at the start of the day. I have stolen pics (more camera troubles) to show you what an American Asado looks like!

Today, July 9, is actually Argentina’s Independence Day. Nothing much has been happening. It’s typical to eat locro, a sort of thick winter stew made of corn, meat and veggies, but that is the only tradition I’ve heard of.

I have two speculations about why nothing special is happening today, whereas in the US there are parades, concerts, etc:

1) Argentines have little indulgent pleasures daily i.e. leisurely lunches with their families, wine at dinner and dulce de leche. In the US, we tend to save all of our pleasures for “special occasions”, such as holidays. That’s why July 4th is so big- we finally get a chance to go to the beach and relax from work!

or perhaps:

2) There was much more celebration happening on 25 de Mayo, which is the day of the revolution that was important to Argentina’s coming independence. Judging by the omnipresent political protests and graffiti, I’d say that Argentines are fighters, politically-speaking. Therefore, the day of the fight should be celebrated rather than the day of the victory! My time here in Buenos Aires is winding down and I’m excited to milk these next weeks for all they’re worth- despite being without phone or camera, surrounded by rampant swine paranoia, and having to write a 15 page UBA paper!

Swine.

The Swine has come to Argentina in full force!  And everyone is paranoid beyond belief!!

These are the extreme measures they’ve taken here in Buenos Aires to contain the Swine:

1)Close all schools two weeks early—even if you haven’t taken your finals, the school is CLOSED. 

2) Flacso closed too.  No more hanging out in the computer lab.  No more seeing people in the Flacso Cafe.  No more seeing the staff or free printing. 

3) Flacso also canceled our final goodbye party :(

4) At least 1/4 of the people in BA are wearing masks (“barbijos”).  However at this point most stores are sold out of barbijos and hand sanitizer (people are basically bathing themselves with it!)

5) It is suggested that you don’t go to the movies, to bars, or to boliches due to the swine. 

Like I said, nearly every Argentine is PARANOID!  I’m pretty bummed that this had to happen in my last weeks here.  I am worried I won’t be able to see some of my friends here before I leave because I won’t see them in school and my phone got jacked.  And my Argentine friends are scared to go out!  I personally think this hoopla is pretty silly and an over-reaction, but I certainly keep using my hand sanitizer after every bus ride I take!

Gauchos, stinky pigs, and a little surprise

 

Our last full day in Bariloche we decided to take a trip within a trip.  We took a short bus ride to la Villa Angostura, a small town near Bariloche.  There is a very rare type of tree there that is protected in a national park on an island there (in the middle of the lake), so we were excited hike around and see what this tree was all about.  Unfortunately, when we got there we were informed that the trails were closed for the season and the only way to the zone was by expensive catamaran, so we decided to spend our day doing something else:

Horseback riding!  It was my first time ever!

We went out with two gauchos.  They say that Gauchos are men of few words, and when they do speak, it’s in the least number of words possible and they don’t open their mouths.  Well, I literally could not understand a word this guy said to me!  I just smiled and hoped that my horse wasn’t crazy.

The horses came from a Old MacDonald’s farm: 

This guy’s cute:

But these guys make me want to be a vegetarian:

We went out in the freezing, windy cold and serenaded by a constant chorus of dogs.  There are so many dogs (stray and non) everywhere in Argentina, but here it seemed especially like there were more dogs than humans (that’s what I told one of the Gauchos who simply responded “Sí”.  Poetic.) 

The dogs were clearly scared of the horses and so they barked and chased us.  Luckily, the horses were chill dudes who didn’t take off running.  Although my horse was sassy- she kicked some of the dogs.  

 

We were taken to a secret spot (more beautiful vistas!) to have some Mate to thaw our frozen selves.

Upon returning to Bariloche, we were greeted with a surprise:

SNOW!

IN

JUNE!!!

 

We woke up the next day to these frosted babies.  How sad we were to not be able to ski!

Although it was super windy too:

So we just picked up some more chocolate (we had to get “gifts” for the folks back home aka eat more ourselves), took a last awe-inspiring look at the lake, and headed home:

The weekend was (clearly…three posts!) wonderful, even though we didn’t get to ski.  At is has been everywhere I’ve gone in Argentina, it was fun to get a sense of the people from the region. 

And that fresh air…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those mountains…

 

 

 

 

 

And those lovely, lovely lakes… :-) 

Chocolate cures everything

After a week of school and paper, getting up early for our flight and biking up mountains, Lizzie and I agreed to take it easy the next day. And by take it easy I mean spend tons of money here:

aka Heaven. Mamuschka is the best chocolate store ever! Bariloche is known for its delicious chocolate, and this is definitely the best of all the stores in Bariloche (trust me, we tried a lot of them!). The industry and allure of Bariloche chocolate is completely fabricated (I talked to the owner who is not Russian as the store’s name would suggest and he told me that when people started to come to Bariloche for holiday the residents thought, “let’s start up a chocolate industry here to attract more tourism!”) yet I still call this place heaven.

But first we went to another vista point (360 degrees of lake) via aerosilla (chairlift)- it felt weird to be on one without skis!

(sorry, no makeup close up)----->

The islands and the mist on the lakes reminded me of Pirate’s of the Caribbean! But alas, the Black Pearl was no where to be found. But Mary, la Virgencita, was there, of course

But right as we got up to the vista point it began to cloud up and get colder, windier, rainier…

…And then we saw this ominous Poe-Bird and promptly took the aerosilla back down (and that’s when we retired to Mamuschka to assuage our weather-woes with chocolate, of course!)

More to come later!! We still had two days left in Bariloche!

Bariloche

Hi internet, black hole, and/or mom!

Recently, I went to Bariloche with my friend Lizzie. 

Bariloche is the northern most entrance to Patagonia, the region of the southernmost tip of South American.  Patagonia holds a mystical wonder for many people.  It is untouched nature for the most part, reaching across the two biggest oceans and split down the middle by the Andes Mtns.  The few roads in the region are often driverless and dirt.  

Bariloche, however, holds the beauty of Patagonia but can hardly be pegged as “vacant”. In fact, it’s a bustling city!  Filled with these guys (70 kilos of love- more than moi!)

And people too, of course!  In the summer, the lakes and mountains provide a plethora of outdoor activities that attract all sorts of tourists and backpackers.  In the winter, it is South America’s biggest ski town. 

Unfortunately, Lizzie and I arrived at just about the most awkward time you could ever visit Bariloche.  Misinformed, we missed the start of ski season (just one week too early!).  And, clearly, summer had passed! We were the ONLY ones in our entire hostel!

Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves entirely!  I would love to return in the summer sometime, but I still loved it in the awkward-time!

We went on a 25 km bike through a really mountainous region.  25 km didn’t seem like too much (after all, we’re young and able, right?) But OMG, it was SO HARD!  It was mostly uphill and I had to walk my bike a ton.

But boy, was it beautiful!  We saw the most gorgeous vistas of the lakes:

Pretended to be rich as we visited Hotel LLao LLao, the most beautiful and extravagant hotel I’ve ever seen: See, the patio and view from the back, the elegant inside (pics don’t do justice at all!), the “less desireable” view from the front (pic of lizzie and me, with my toolish reflective biker’s tape on my leg) and that cheesestick is actually a mezuza- the owners are Jewish!

Left our bikes on the side of the road to hike and find little treasures such as:

 

LAGO ESCONDIDO!!

Lago Escondido, the best echo spot ever.  We did lots of yelling here.  I still can’t get over how amazing and tranqui the lake was!

We looked for duendes in this enchanted forest:

We found a hidden mountain cemetery:

I hope someone writes me a poem like this after I die:

The clearest water ever (you could even drink it!):

Needless to say, we were POOPED after that day!  We had been hiking and biking until after sunset (it was SO dark biking thru the woods on the last leg of the trip).  We promptly crashed into bed that night!  But not before seeing Llao Llao from the other side, just before the sun set:

I’ll post more about the trip tomorrow!!

Ferias

Today I went to the Feria de Mataderos with some friends.  There are Ferias- streetfairs- everyday in some places, but the best ferias happen on Saturdays and Sundays.   While the San Telmo fair is very well known (suggested in all the Buenos Aires tourism books).  Although it is touristy…very, very touristy…it’s fun because of all the tango street performers and you can find some good stuff there, especially if you like antiques.  The Feria de Mataderos is on the other side of the city and centers more around gauchos than tango.   

In addition to having tons of trinkets and pretty things, there was also a ton of food!  Every Argentine food you’d ever want, homemade.  Also, I got a sample of homemade dulce de leche and chocolate.  Yum!  And all sorts of artists showing off their work.

 

<—that’s President Kirschner with the plastic surgery lips

 

There was folklore (pronounced folk-lor-ay) music and dancing playing.  It’s quite different from Tango, but is also danced with a partner.  While Tango is really big in Buenos Aires, Folklore is popular in the Northern parts of Argentina. Here’s my friend Matt trying to dance with me.  Unsuccessfully.    

I really liked this Feria and thought that it was very Argentine!  I only heard English spoken once and there was such a variety of things to see and do.  I love the Ferias in Buenos Aires- whether I just pass through one (like I do everyday on the way to school- you never know what will be there because there vendors always get new things) or spend a day at one, I always love to pick through the things there…and laugh at the weird stuff:

 

case in point!  (a dog on a Donkey pulling a family and a wooden guy spewing incense smoke, if you were confused)