My Return Home

After two weeks of being back in the states, my travels through South America already feel like a blur. I have been taking my free time to reflect on the last five months of my life and think about what I have learned from traveling and now appreciate after being gone for so long.
The first thing my mom discovered the day I returned home was lice in my now extremely long hair. I needed a hair cut to help make the process of removing the lice easier, but of course no hair salon would cut my hair. My head had been itchy for the past couple months, but I thought that I mainly had dry skin due to the water and that my skin had been very dry the entire time I had been gone. But no, I had lice. Most likely I had gotten it from one of the hostels I had stayed in. Of course, my mom. dad, and brother all had to help me remove every louse from my hair and wash everything in my suitcase. Even if I had realized I had lice in Argentina, I don’t think anyone would have taken the time to single handedly pick each individual nit from my hair. I am very lucky to have a family who cares enough to do such a task.
I have seen a few friends since I have been back. It’s hard sharing some of the stories I think are funny with them and my because they have no way of fully understand each situation if they haven’t been to Argentina. They say most people experience a kind of reverse culture shock coming back to the U.S. after being in a foreign country for so long. I don’t know if it’s so much culture shock that I have because I don’t feel that I suffered from it too terribly while I was in Argentina. I think my sleep pattern has definitely been significantly affected. I was used to staying out until 7 in the morning then waking up at 11 or 12. Especially being at home where I do not have a whole lot to do during the day, it is very hard trying to wake myself up before 11 or go to bed before 2.
I visited a friend from Cofc this past weekend in Oxford, Ohio where Miami University is located. We went to a bar to see a band and of course got carded and X’s on our hands for being under 21. I got so used to being able to go into any bar or club without an id or being able to order a glass of wine at dinner if I wanted it, it’s going to be aggravating that I can’t even walk into a bar under 21 once I am back in Charleston. We also went to a Mexican restaurant, I was able to actually speak Spanish to the waiter now. I was pretty excited.
In general, it has been weird coming back and not ordering in Spanish in restaurants anymore or just not hearing the language at all. I find myself saying certain words in Spanish all the time like bueno, gracias, lindo, and claro. (Probably some of the most used words by the Americans in Argentina). I have been attempting to teach my family a little bit since I have been home. They’re learning…

What I gained from Argentina…
Patience! Accepting the fact that going to the post office will be at least 1 and a half hours. For example, getting a number, waiting for them to call my name, showing my passport, and then receiving a number like 565,321. Then going to another room and having to listen to that number over a loud speaker with hundreds of other people talking. In Spanish this number is quinientos sesenta y cinco mil tres cientos veinte y uno. This number is read extremely fast and some times read in this way or read by individual digits and very difficult to understand over the only sometimes functional loud speaker. After thinking I might have heard my number, I go to another room where I tell them I heard my number and the 15 people sorting through packages take another 20 minutes to search for my package. Then having to take the enormous package on the subway crammed in with hundreds of other people on an extremely hot day.
Developing patience forced me to have to relax more than usual. The semester before I left for Argentina, I was always worried about school, SIFE, or the thousand other things I had on my mind. Being immersed in a more relaxed lifestyle where people aren’t always in a hurry to have something done or be busy all the time helped me calm down and truly live in the moment. I home hoping to stay this way when I return to Charleston in a few weeks.
Overall, I feel like my Spanish improved immensely. I notice myself randomly thinking of words in Spanish and trying to think in Spanish every now in then. I think I became much wiser with traveling and learning how to really plan trips on my own and that I will probably never take a 40 hour bus ride ever again!.
After having several hours of free time, I had lots of time to think about my life and what I want to accomplish in the future. I feel like now I really know who I am and how to not let other people get in the way of something I want to do. I really enjoyed some of the things I did on my own in Buenos Aires. Whenever I did not feel like waiting for someone to go do something, I would just go on my own and find somewhere in the city to explore. It gave me a sense of independence that I could find my way around that huge city without getting lost or even feel afraid.

Things I forgot to mention that I think were funny about Argentina…

People smoking in the University of Belgrano underneath the no smoking sign
Justo a Tiempo, the ridiculous game show I watched with Virginia and Vicente. One of the games in the show consisted of the contestants sitting in movie theater seats that moved violently while they had to keep popcorn bowls on their head. Whoever kept the most amount of popcorn in their bowl and the end won. Also, Homer Simpson would randomly appear and dance throughout the show.
The transvestites on TV. in the clubs and also in the park at night. There is a huge park in Palermo where all the transvestite prostitutes go at night to get picked up by clients. Charlie took Lizzy and I there after our tour of the city and there was literally a huge line of cars checking them out. We actually were told that a lot of straight men go there to pick them up…
The one man band on the subway one day. He had an amp, microphone, and electric guitar on the subway!! It was like a live concert. A guy in a business suit even got up and took over and played a song and sang.
Buenos Aires is probably one of the few places that you will get pooped on by a pigeon and step in dog poop in the same day.
On my last day in Buenos Aires I attempted to try on jeans. I assumed a 27 would fit since the jeans I was wearing were a 26. They were way too small and the girl working at the store offered to bring me another size and asked me the size I had tried on. I told her a 27 and she laughed at me and said that was the biggest size they had! (A 27 is a size 4 U.S.) How are normal people supposed to find clothes in that city?
A way of hitting on someone is asking them if they’re pregnant.
There are many more that will have to be composed into a novel later in my life.


The future…
I recently was elected president of SIFE for the upcoming year. I am hoping to stay in contact with a similar organization my friends are members of in Argentina and do a project with Argentine students.
The summer Olympics are in Brazil in 2016. I hope to have paid of some debt and have some extra cash to return to South America by then. Brazil is one of the many places I wasn’t able to go to. Jared, Lizzy, Rachael, and I hope to travel there together in 2016
I am hoping to find an internship for this coming summer in a Spanish speaking country, ideally Costa Rica or Spain.
I am really looking forward to spending the next year and a half in Charleston and cannot wait to see my friends when I return in a couple of weeks.
One day I would like to write a book about my travels, but I think I need to focus on graduating from college first.

The present…
Today is my mom’s 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you and am so happy to be home with you again. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I thank all of you who have been following my blog and hope you have enjoyed it. : )

Final Days!

Its been awhile since I have written. I havent had the desire to be online as much lately, just trying to enjoy my last days in the city!

The last time I wrote was Thanksgiving. It was weird spending Thanksgiving without the family and only talking to the entire extended family through Skype. That night I went to dinner at an American restaurant called Kansas. We ate on Argentine time, which ended up being around midnight. The food was good, but not the same as home. I had a good time though with Allison, my friend Barbara, and then we saw some other guys there from ISA who sat with us and had drinks while we ate. I had plans to go out after but was so full and tired from dinner that we all decided just to go home and go to bed.

The last week seems like a blur to me! I spent most of last weekend doing my Christmas shopping in Recoleta and San Telmo. I got some great gifts for my family and friends that I cannot wait to give them. On Monday night, I got a call from Franco (Liz's Argentine boyfriend) at 7:00 to come to his house at 8:30 for a surprise going away party he was having for Liz. Apparently he had texted me earlier in the day but I didnt get it. Anyways...the party was really nice. His two other sisters, brother, and mom were there with their boyfriends/girlfriends. We had a great dinner. Liz was really surprised and happy about the party.

Liz left on Tuesday and it was really sad to see her leave. It was really weird because once she left I was pretty much the only one of my American friends left. I felt kinda sad but like being on my own to explore and do things I couldn't always do with a group of people.

On Wednesday Brenda and I went to MicroCentro again and had lunch at the smoothie bar, Pura Vida. We then went to a mall called Galeria Pacifica which is absolutely beautiful and very upscale. There is an art center called el Centro Cultural de Borges. There wasnt much there but a small art exhibit because the main exhibit wasnt opening until the following day. The center also has a lot of plays and tango shows which arent playing until after I leave. One thing I would have liked to do more of was see more shows while I was here. Those kinds of things are difficult on a college student budget though.

Thursday was probably one of the most interesting days I have spent in Buenos Aires. The taxista (cab driver), Charlie who drives for ISA drove Lizzy, Emily, and I to the airport before going to Peru and told us he would take us around one day to show us parts of the city we probably would never see on our own. Thursday he drove Lizzy (Griffin's roommate) and I through the provinces surrounding Buenos Aires.
Charlie had amazing stories to tell us. He was originally born in Scotland. After his father died when he was 10, his mother bought boat tickets for him and his 9 other brothers and sisters to go to the U.S. The boat stopped in Argentina, they got off to see BSAS and ended up staying for the rest of their lives. He grew up in Argentina, and when he was 18 he went back to Scotland and joined the Royal British Marines and fought in the Vietnam War. After his time in the war, he played professional rugby in South Africa and Argentina for several years when he said he was tired of showering several times a day. He is now married to an Argentine woman, has two daughters, teaches English, and does city tours for fun.

Throughout the entire day, Charlie drove us through the outer provinces of Buenos Aires. He took us to his boat club in Martinez where he keeps his sail boat, and we met the chef of the restaurant at the club who has traveled all around the world and now prepares Argentine dishes but with a flare of all the different countries she had been to. We didn’t get to eat but the food looked delicious. We also drove through beautiful residential neighborhoods of San Isidro, Olivos, and several others. It was great to see things I wouldn’t have seen on my own before I left. Charlie was also extremely funny and told us some amazing stories.
One of the most touching of his stories was about his time in the Vietnam War. For just under a year, he was stationed in Thailand. He lived in a small village where he lived at a house that he paid less than 60 USD a month and received two meals along with his living. The house he rented actually had previously belonged to the parents of two young teenage girls but had died and now the home belonged to the government. The girls who lived in the house offered all of their services to Charlie. One night, he said the girls tried to bathe him and offered him more services than what would be considered the norm. Charlie was so disgusted but was told by a local that that was normal in their village. It turns out the girls had been raped several times by any man on the street, and they were just 13 years old. Charlie lived with the girls, treated them with respect, and taught them English. At the end of his 11 months, because he had saved so much money he was able to buy the house for just $3000. He gave the house to the girls and opened a bank account for the two girls to get an education. He also threatened all the men in the village that if they ever laid a hand on either of the girls again, he would kill them. Charlie said that now the girls both have a college education and are married with children. This was just one of the incredible stories Charlie told us!
After a full day of seeing the city, we went to a parilla and had really good meat and appetizers for only $25 for the three of us. That night, we went to Club Niceto that I had planned to go to on Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. It was a gay club with some pretty ridiculous transvestites but had some really awesome break dancers mid way through the night. They were so entertaining, like some stuff I had seen at dance competitions in high school. They also interacted with the crowd and had people come up on stage and do flips over them while they were laying down. I had a great time!
Friday was my last meal with Virginia and Vicente, which although I will miss them I am glad to no longer have to eat Virginia’s food. I also enlarged a picture of Machu Picchu for them and framed it. They loved it because they were never able to go to Machu Picchu. That night, I went out dancing for Brenda’s friend Lao’s birthday. The club played a great mix of music that was really fun to dance to.
On Saturday I said goodbye to Jessica who was leaving that night to go back to California. It was really sad saying goodbye to her and all my friends from the west coast. It will be hard to visit each other. But one of the coolest things about study abroad is that I have met people all over the U.S., Argentina, Europe, and Australia. I hope to see them all again some day. Later in the day I moved out of Virginia and Vicente’s to stay in Griffin’s with Emily (who is no longer able to stay with her host family) for the last two nights. It was really sad! Virginia and I both cried. I guess I wasn’t expecting her to be upset because I figured she was used to having students come and go for 13 years. I must have made more of an impression than I thought. I’m really going to miss my host family!
Yesterday, Emily, Lizzy’s friend Tim, and I went to a barrio called Barracas which is an artsy up and coming part of the city. An artist painted murals on all the houses on this one street. They streets were also lined with colored tiles. It was really neat and I got lots of really cool pictures. Afterwards, we walked to San Telmo where I got a few last minute gifts and also met up with Francisco and two of his friends. We walked around and had coffee and he helped me pick out new sunglasses because sadly I somehow lost my antique ones I had bought in midst of my stressful trip back to Buenos Aires from Chile. It was sad to say goodbye to Francisco because it will be even more difficult to see him if he moves back to Panama.
Last night was Emily’s 21st birthday at midnight, which is about all I can say without making my parents worry. We went to a club called Amerika which was really fun, and don’t worry Mom and Dad we all took care of Emily. I will be making my flight back to the U.S. tonight at 11. That’s all I have for now! Its going to be hard to leave her and say goodbye to Brenda and everyone at ISA today, but I am looking forward to a month relaxing at home with the family and then returning to Charleston in January.
It has been a life changing journey throughout South America, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to travel with so little responsibility. The next time I return here, it will most likely only be for a short vacation and possibly to work. But who knows what can happen in a year and a half. I should have some more to write about in the airport tonight and upon my arrival in the States. That’s all for now!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is the first Thanksgiving that I have ever been able to wear a tank top and flip flops. Usually I am in the freezing cold in Ohio. Today is a beautiful hot and humid day in Buenos Aires. Its weird not being home with the family for the first time in 20 years,but it helps knowing I will be seeing them in less than two weeks! Tonight, I am going to a restaurant called Kansas, which is a renowned restaurant for American cuisine. They have a Thanksgiving dinner that I am going to with Allison, my friend Barbara, and possible a few other people that are still here from my program. Afterwards, Lizzy, some other people, and I are going to Club Niceto which actually has a drag show tonight. Everyone I have talked to thats been there said its a blast, so it should be a good time.

Its funny because Argentines seem to really like transvestites. Virginia always watches this talk show which is kind of like Jerry Springer but usually includes a transvestite talking about his/her problems and then other women arguing about someone who stole their boyfriend or husband. Its pretty dramatic, but Virginia loves it. Its funny because when ever she gets up to answer the phone (which is nightly because the phone is guaranteed to ring at least once during dinner) when we are watching the ¨tranny show¨ (as me and Liz call it) Vicente changes the channel to soccer. When Virginia comes back from talking about something equally dramatic on the phone, she usually starts arguing with Vicente to change the channel back to her show. Its pretty funny to watch them argue over it.

I think one of the reasons why transvestites are so popular here is because plastic surgery is very cheap and good. Usually if you see a transvestite on the street you often times cant tell he/she is a man. I talked with my tutor Paula today about why people like transvestites on t.v. today and she just laughed. I think its something I just really wont ever understand about Argentina.

After returning from Chile on Friday, I have just been relaxing and seeing parts of the city I havent seen yet. For the first time, Brenda and I had a conversation entirely in Spanish (which is usually more like Spanglish) which was good because I am finally noticing a huge different in my speaking. Paula even told me yesterday when I went for tutoring that I was speaking perfectly with only a few mistakes. That was good to hear, and I feel like I have accomplished my goal for coming here.
I hope all is well with everyone in the states and that you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Vina del Mar

The past five days in Chile were wonderful after the several stressful and long bus rides through Peru. Last Saturday was a beautiful day. After having a nice breakfast in the hostel, Lizzy, Emily, and I went to the beach all day and laid in the sun. Later that day, we decided we needed to go for a run after sitting on a bus and being lazy on the beach for the past two days. Vina del Mar is a beautiful place to run. There is a nice running path on a boardwalk along the beach. The city looks very much like San Diego and is very Americanized in general. It is also much more expensive than Argentina. Saturday night, the cook in our hostel made us an amazing seafood dinner. She made trout stuffed with tomato, mussels with melted cheese, salad (actually with lettuce unlike most of the salads I've ordered in BA), rice,bread, and wine. It was probably the best meal I have had in South America. That night, we just hung out in the hostel. THe workers were really funny and we also made friends with some other people in our hostel.

Sunday was also a beautiful day. Although we were pretty sunburned from the day before, we decided to go to a different part of the beach. There were some street vendors along the way. They had some neat things, but I think I have found better things for cheaper in Buenos Aires. After another nice day at the beach, we decided to save money and cook at the hostel instead of going out to dinner. We made some pasta which turned out to be really good considering it was hard to find all the ingredients we needed. That night we hung out in the hostel again and met some guys who were visiting from Cordoba.

Monday, we were a little too burnt to lay on the beach all day, so we decided to go to Con Con to find the sealions that one of the workers at the hostel told us we would see if we went there. It was about 30 minutes on a bus to get there. And when we got there, we of course could not find the sealions. We walked up the coastline looking for them but werent too successful. We found a sushi restaurant and had a pretty good cheap meal. After that, we decided to quit our search for the sealions and went back to the hostel. We complained at the hostel and the man told us that he didnt actually know for sure that there were sealions in Con Con. I'm pretty sure it was just the offseason for them.

Tuesday was a rainy day, so we decided to take the metro to Valparaiso which is only about 20 minutes away. There wasnt a whole lot to do there. It seemed more residential kind of like Belgrano where I live in BA. Most of the houses are up in the hills and you can take what is called an ascensor (a car that takes you up the hills) up the hill. The houses were all very colorful and there was a lot of artwork on the streets. There was also a really pretty view of the ocean and the rest of the city. We walked around taking pictures for a few hours and then went back to Vina. That night we stayed in the hostel and played cards with some people in the hostel and had a fun time.

Wednesday, Lizzy and Emily left for Santiago before going to back to BA to meet their parents. I had planned on staying for two-three more days, but then we realized how expensive our hostel ended up being. IT turns out they charged a tax if you pay in Chilean pesos, which made the bill significantly more . They didnt accept credit card and there was no where to get U.S. dollars. It didnt really make sense to me that there would be a tax on Chilean money but not on USD. So, I decided to make Wednesday my last day in Chile. It was cold and rainy again on Wednesday. I went back to Valparaiso with an Australian guy that I met in the hostel and two other girls from the states who were also studying in BA. We had lunch at a cute seafood place on top of one of the hills and then just came back to Vina. The Australian and I walked on the beach for a bit, but it was almost too cold and windy for that. That night we met some new people who were traveling through South America. I played an Argentine card game called Truco (trick) with an American guy who had just gotten to Chile from BA and two Irish guys who are traveling all over the world pretty much. The game was fun but kind of confusing. I ended up winning..I think by luck. Afterwards, we all had sandwiches at a small place nearby and then went back to the hostal before going out to a small bar/boliche called Cafe Journal. I had a really good time talking to one of the Irish guys named Connor. He has a really interesting job. He majored in electrical engineering in college and then got interested in graphic design. He now works all over the world with different start up companies. He said he absolutely loves what he does and told me as long as I always do what I love I will be happy and successful. I hope to be as successful as he is someday.

The next morning I had to catch my bus from Vina to Mendoza that would then continue on to BA later that night. After being on the bus for about two hours we were stopped in traffic because an oil truck had crashed and was blocking the road. We did not move for SIX HOURS! Of course I had become highly tolerable to miserable long busrides, so I wasnt too surprised. It reminded me of when I was going to Bariloche and we didnt move for four hours when there were teachers striking in the middle of the highway. So after six hours, the bus started moving again and we reached the border of Argentina and Chile which was backed up due to all the traffic that hadnt moved for six hours. Coincidentally I saw Lizzy and Emily who were also stuck on their bus from Santiago and we agreed to meet in Mendoza because we were all going to miss our connecting bus that was on our original itinerary. Three hours later, I arrived in Mendoza to find Lizzy and Emily sitting on the floor of the bus station and told me the next bus wasnt until 7 am (it was midnight at the time). I did not want to sleep in the bus station, but it wasnt worth it to spent less than a night in a hostel. Fortunately, we were able to get on another bus at 1 a.m. that got as back to BA at 2 the next day. After a long journey back, we were so happy to be back in BA. It was actually the first time returning to BA after traveling that the weather was nice.

Last night, I had coffee with Brenda and for the first time we spoke entirely in Spanish which was good because usually we talking half in Spanish and half in English. It was nice to have dinner with Virginia and her grandkids after not having a meal for a couple days. However, it was not the most appetizing meal. It consisted of what LIz later told me were leftover egg rolls, milanesa (breaded steak), reheated vegetables, and salad. It wasnt the best, but i had a good time talking about my travels with them, showing them pictures, and watching this ridiculous game show called Justo a Tiempo.

Today Lizzy and I went to Micro Centro, which is in the downtown area (business district) and had lunch at the California Burrito company. We then walked around San Telmo and found some neat art galleries and then went to the Natural History Museum which was located in a beautiful park. San Telmo is probably one of my favorite places in the city. All the apartments and buildings are very beautiful and historic looking. I would have liked to live there if it was a safer place to be at night. Tonight, I am going to meet Francisco at a party for one of his friends and then going out with Lizzy and some of our friends who are still in the city at Pacha. It should be a fun night. Only two more weeks for me to see and do all the things I havent done yet!

Machu Picchu, Puno-Lake Titicaca, and the crazy adventure from Peru to Chile

Hey there. This is going to be a long entry due to my lack of time on the computer. Brace yourselves, this is a good one.

So I dont even know where to begin. I just arrived in Chile after forty hours on two different buses from Peru. I am going to go backwards and tell you first about the last week in Peru at Machu Picchu.

The last time I wrote, I was in Cusco which is an adorable town. We woke up early last Sunday morning to catch the three hour train to Aguas Calientes which is just down the hill from Machu Picchu. We spent the day at the hot springs which was more like a few semi warm kind of dirty pools. We laid out in the sun most of the time while strange Peruvian men took pictures of us, which we didnt realize until about two hours later. I really hope we dont end up on the internet. We then decided to leave after being attached by ridiculous amounts of mosquitos that left huge bleeding welts all over our arms and legs. As we were walking back from the hot springs, we got bombarded by restaurant hosts trying to get us to eat at their restaurant, one who tried to kiss me, which was just strange. We decided to go to a Peruvian restaurant. The food was good, but not exactly what we expected.

The next morning we woke up at 3:30 to begin our hike up the mountain to Machu Picchu. It was about an hour and a half up the hill. It was tough due to the altitude, lack of sleep,a nd the fact that the past 4 months in Buenos AIres practically killed our lung capacity and exercise ability. We finally reached the top to get in line to make sure we got tickets to the highest part of Machu Picchu called Waynapicchu which they only allow 400 people to enter per day. We finally got to enter the park and greeted by one of the locals as the Spice Girls like local celebrities. It is almost impossible to describe Machu Picchu. It is a city that was built by the Incans thousands of years ago on the side of a mountain and it is pretty much unknown as to how they did it. The view was absolutely incredible. I have tons of pictures that I will post when I get back to the states. Around 730 we went on a tour with a group and learned about the Incans and the city. Supposedly the king of the Incan tribe had 400 children. So basically his only job was making babies for the majority of his life. We learned about how they were able to predict the future and I think seasons as well. I cant exactly remember due to all the craziness that has happened over the last week. Around 10 am we started our hike up to Waynapicchu. It was a crazy/difficult hike up a mountain with a ton of other tourists. I understand why they only allow 400 people to climb per day because the mountain is steep and the stairs up are also very narrow. I bet people have been hurt maybe even killed in the past. We finally got to the top and were able to see an aerial view of Machu Picchu which is in the shape of some sort of eagle like bird. i cannot remember the name. It was so incredible pictures and words dont even do it justice. I am so lucky that I was able to see one of the Wonders of the World at such a young age.

After hiking back down Waynapicchu, which was pretty scary because I have a fear of steep stairs going down sometimes and also pretty bad knees that were already worn out, we decided to take the bus back down the mountain to our hostel. Unfortunately I arrived back at the hostel to an unfortunate email from my roommate in Charleston. One of our roommates from last summer past away last Saturday. He wasnt one of my closest friends, but I was definitely looking forward to seeing him when I got back to Charleston,a nd we had a lot of fun together last summer. It really made me appreciate my friends and family in my life and all the I have been able to do at such a young age. It made me sad that my friend will never be able to see what I have seen in South America over the past five months. My condolences go out to his family and friends.

The next morning, after a good nights rest the Spice Girls and I decided to do what we thought was going to be a ¨tranquilo¨(relaxing) hike up a recommended hill by the girl at our hostel called Punta Cuasi. All started out well until we came to a ladder, followed by several other ladders. At one point we were literally rock climbing without equipment. This would have definitely been a liability in the states. After about two hours, lots of water, and several breaks later we made it to the top of the ¨hill.¨ It was definitely ¨vale la pena¨(worth it). We were able to see Machu Picchu from another aerial view as well as Waynapicchu. It was a really hot beautiful day and we just laid at the top of the hill for awhile and chatted about our adventure. The climb back down wasnt too bad however my knees were pretty much done for. We ran into some other people from the states who had clearly showered and probably about 50. They werent even close and asked how it was. We told them there was quite a bit of climbing involved. I dont know if the made it to the top...most likely not. We were pretty dirty and sweaty afterwards.

After our hike/climb we stopped back at the hostel to shower and then made our way back to the train station to get back to Cusco. Once arriving in Cusco, our cab driver that brought us there two days eariler was supposed to pick us up to take us to the bus terminal so we could get to Puno (where we were going to Lake Titicaca), and claro he was not there. After waiting for twenty minutes, and anxious security guards trying to get us to leave we found another cab driver to take us to the bus terminal. We arrived at the bus terminal around 9:30 and wow did we look foreign. We were the only gringos among several Peruvians. We managed to purchase tickets to Puno for only 20 soles (about 6USD) a piece for a 9 hour bus ride. Of course this couldnt go perfectly. we get on the bus and a man was sitting in what was supposed to be Liz´s seat. After debating with the bus company Liz had to sit by herself at the front when the man refused to move because he bought his ticket first. Shortly after, I observed another woman from the U.S. get on the bus causing a scene because her huge backpacking bookbag would not fit under her feet in her seat. (Claro!) I politely made a suggestion that she could take of the sleeping bag that was attached and put that under her feet and then put her backpack above. She very rudely said ¨I appreciate that, but this bag stays with me¨ When the woman from the bus company told her she had to put it down below the bus, she was rude to her too. She must have been robbed, which I understand because I have been robbed as well but there is no reason to be rude to other people because of it. She later stormed down to the bottom of the bus and yelled at the bus drivers until she got a bigger seat to keep her bag. She is the kind of person that give people from the U.S. a bad name!

Anyways...After a long and miserable bus ride, Liz, Emily, Lizzy, and I (the Spice Girls) arrived in Puno at 5:30 am. We had previously seen our friends from ISA at our hostel in Aguas Calientes and were going to stay at the same hostel they were staying at with our tour group. We got to the hostel which was acutally a hotel that wanted to charge us $55 for two rooms with two people each. We were going to do it and charge it to a credit card out of pure exhaustion, but claro they didnt accept credit card in this ¨hotel¨. So we walked at 6 am to another hostel in a city we did not know. We actually found a way better hostel/hotel that was only 70 soles (25USD) per night for a four bed room with its own bathroom. We collapsed into bed shortly after arrival and slept a few hours. After waking up in a daze, we made our way through the town and had breakfast at a small restaurant. We then went to the port to buy tickets to see the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. The only one were able to see was Uros that day for 15 soles each (5 USD). We took a half hour boat ride to the island of Uros. We met the current president who I belive rotates yearly and he explained the isalnds to us. The floathing islands are built of this strawlike plant which they can also eat a part of. It is actually very dangerous to cook on the island considering it is basically made of highly flammable straw. So the ten families who lived on that particular part of the island were very careful when cooking. After learninga bout the island, the locals insisted that we each pay 5 soles to go to another part of the island by boat. We basically had no choice so we went. All we did was walk around for about 5 minutes while people tried to sell us stuff, and when I went to the bathroom I was greeted by a hen and a toilet with no seat or toilet paper and then was asked to pay 1 sole for using the facility. (It is very common to have to pay for toilet paper or the restroom in general throughout South America. Public restrooms are not as common except for restaurants and clubs) After another day of pure exhaustion we managed to walk to the bus terminal to purchase tickets for the next day where Liz was going back to Cusco to fly back to BA, and LIzzy, Emily, and I were continuing on to Tacna(Peru) to then get a taxi over the border to Arica, Chile where we would take another bus from there to Vina del Mar. Now this is where the adventure begins. Lizzy, Emily,a nd I just received a facebook message from Liz´s experience back to Cusco. Here is here story.

Liz:
Sooo, to tell you all about my day today: wait around the terminal until 7:50 for my 7:30 bus, finally the driver comes, when he goes to put my bag underneath the bus guess what rips...of course! the ONCE shoulder strap, que bueno! But, the wierdest thing was that there was already a bunch of misc. boxes and crap where all the bags should go, then I get to my seat and its full of locals..like straight off the moving reed islands and farms...I am literally the only gringa, rubia, tourist! So the bus finally gets on its way, about 30 minuts in we make a stop in some random town so the bus driver can get some snacks, fine by me but for 40 minutes?? The stop and go went on like this the entire 9 hours...mind you i said 9 not the 7 its supposed to be. People kept getting on and off and bags of shoes and backpacks and blankets kept being passed around like it was Navidad. The worst is yet to come...While stopped in some no-mans land town vendors would come on the bus, with either live chickens or cooked, the coked came in a not-so-spill proof plastic bag reaking like indian food in a diaper (speaking of indian food, Lizzy I heard of an amazing indian restaurant in BA you should take your parents to, its called Mumbai on Honduras st.) so of course the señora sitting next to me cant resists the tasty smell of this chicken and buys 3 bags of them, and of course the bags drip all over my and my iPod while the transaction was being mad...claro! So I decided to go straight to the airport after the bus ride from hell to try to switch my flight to an earlier day, I wasnt able to but everything worked out, guess which three awesome ISA people are staying st the SoCo conmigo...Aaron, tatiana and Stephanie! wooohoooo. Not all is bad, at least I know people here and tonight we went to this BOMB restaurant. I ate Beef hearts kebab it was actually amazingly good, Im full and this hostel is the shit, lots of fun people to chat with and have some fun girls sharing my room, theres even a cinco here! his name is Tigre...hes sooo cute h god. I hope your bus ride was better than mine and that Chile is absolutely amazing!! I know it will be, give me a call whenveer you{re back in BA, I cant wait to see you girls!

So if you think Liz´s experience on the bus was bad. Now here is the response Lizzy sent to Liz´s message
Lizzy:
Welllllllll, where did we leave you? Oh yes, Puno. So we get on the bus, which is basically deserted for the first hour of our voyage. Then, we start to get BOMBARDED by indigenous Peruvians and their big ass bags of produce and god knows what else....dead bodies maybe? We made at least 15 different stops during only the first 10 hour bus ride to Tacna. At every stop, Peruvians crowded their way into the aisles, pushing each other to get to their bags of raw dripping produce. Our bus driver almost got in three wrecks while also threatening the lives of many indigenous persons. Additionally, there was the man that got on the bus and talked for almost an hour about music and being single before prodceeding to wake Emily up, ask her if she had a boyfriend, and then throw candy at her. All the while, Peruvians were yelling ¨PELICULAS!¨and giving the man money. Oh, we almost forgot the three times police officers and customs officials with machine guns got on the bus and started looking through everyone´s shit/jacking some people´s stuff. They were nice to us, but the Peruvians were not happy about their presence. This was all on the SHORT 10 hour bus ride to Tacna (still in Peru).We arrive in Tacna, take a cab to another terminal to get into another cab with a Peruvian couple whose only luggage was 2 huge packages of toilet paper (apparently crossing the border for toilet paper is a common thing to do in South America?). The cab driver takes our passports, we freak out, then he drives us into the desert before we get to the border, where Elise doesn´t have her entrance/exit pass from Peru (the thing we got at the airport). She runs back to the car and finds it in a random envelope, meanwhile Emily and I are staring at each other wide eyed wondering how life will be in Peru if Elise isn´t allowed to leave. We get out of Peru and have to run to the cab with all of our luggage as our taxi driver yells for us to move ¨rapido!¨ We get to Chile and have to go through customs in the middle of the desert where Emily almost gets lost. Finally we get to the Arica bus terminal where we only owe the man who got us through all of this 18 soles a piece (about 6 dollars mind you!).We are expecting a 24 hours max full cama bus ride to Vina del Mar, before we find out that every bus company´s schedule is leaving at 11:00 PM Thursday and arriving at 7:00 AM SATURDAY MORNING!!! Count them, that equals 42 hours on a bus in total. Thank you, South America. Oh, forgot to mention, that´s SEMI-CAMA!!!! Then Emily and I think we´re taking out 100 US dollars from the ATM, but it turns out we took out 100,000 Chilean Pesos (about 200 US dollars) which means both of us probably overdrew our accounts, que bueno. We try to mentally prepare for the 30 hours facing us, little did we know there would be Chilean men hissing at us every time we went to the bathroom, a mom cooing at her baby, a creepy man leaning over our seats with sunglasses on staring at us the entire time, the flagellant Chilean man sitting next to Emily, the boxed snack we got for both lunch AND dinner consisting of pineapple juice, crackers, and a cookie BOTH times, American movies dubbed in Spanish (all about war and very depressing), AND being woken up at 6:00 AM the FIRST morning in the middle of the desert to take everybody´s luggage OFF of the bus and be searched again by Chilean customs officials who we´re pretty sure again had machine guns. Elise went to the bathroom at one of the stops and had to pay for a toliet with no seat. Que bueno.All in all, a grand adventure. We made it to Chile, and our hostel where 2 of us will have to share a bed tonight considering the entire thing is occupied by a Chilean dance team consisting of 7 year old glittered, curled girls and their crazy dance moms burniong us with curling irons to get breakfast seats for their precious little daughters.

So yes, this is our experience so far. I actually think I am going to spend a few extra days here i Chile to relax after Emily and Lizzy go back to BA to meet their families. By the way: The seven year old dancers remind of my days in competition dance where all the moms went crazy trying to get their daughters hair and makeup perfect to compete on stage.I totally felt for those poor girls getting their hair pulled and sprayed and getting yelled at to have more ënergia¨ (energy).

After a long journery, it shoud be agreat week. We are going to just lay at the beach. The sun is out and the water is beautiful. That´s all for now!

Arrival in Cusco

Hey there,
I am pretty dead from traveling. Lizzy, Emily, and I left from Buenos Aires yesterday after at 3 after celebrating the previous night out with our friends who are leaving to go back to the states this weekend. Our flight left from BA at 6 and then we flew to LIma where we had a twelve hour layover! We attempted to sleep in a freezing cold hallway of the airport and then later on in more comfortable chairs in Starbucks. We then had a flight at 10 am this morning to Cusco where we met Liz. We arrived at our hostel which is absolutely adorable! THe town of Cusco is very quaint and reminds me of a small Greek town where the houses and streets are all built close together and with cobblstone streets. We had lunch at a small restaurant near the hostel where we tried Inca Cola, which is the soda of Peru that tastes kind of like bubble gum to me. We then wondered around the town a little bit and bought some souvenirs for our friends and families to take home. I dont have too much too say. I am pretty exhausted from running on pretty much no sleep. Tomorrow we are taking the Backpackers Train to Aguas Calientes where we are going to go to the hot springs that are outside of Machu Picchu and then the next day do an early hike. i am sure I will have much more to say in the next couple of days. Can´t wait!

Random Thoughts

So I am waiting at the University of Belgrano right now for my teacher to give my class of 100 people our grades from the exam we just took, and I thought I would reflect on some random things about my time in Argentina. I am longing for efficiency. The inefficiency here is starting to get to me. For example, in order to take final exams every student has to go to the advisors office to get a piece of paper for the teacher to write our final grades on. We also have to bring one of the several copies of our passports we have had to provide at this university for our professor to look at to make sure we are actually legally students here. Today was my Literature I exam. Last week, our professor told us that our exam would be mainly multiple choice with a few quick answer questions and only on the second half of the class after the midterm. When she passed out the exam, the test was all short response questions with questions ab out the first and second half of the class and they were all very vague and difficult to answer. We only had 40 minutes to complete the exam and then she said she would take an hour and a half to grade the exams and then call us in individually to give us our grades on our piece of paper aka hoja de situacion (literally paper of situation). So we all have been waiting for an hour and a half, and she just told us that she needs another hour to finish grading and then we can have our grades, or we have the option to just go to an office tomorrow and pick up our hoja de situacion. Why wouldnt she just tell us that before?! Also, not to mention that she had her assistant guy who happens to do everything with scheduling and random stuff at this school tell us in a hallway full of shouting people. It really doesnt make sense. Since I have already been waiting and do not have much time to do anything productive until dinner I decided to just wait and complain through writing.

Another thing I dont really understand is how they express grades here. When I got my midterm grade for my globalization class, the professor just read everyones grades allowed to the whole class. And for our final he just posted them outside an office. In the states people would sue over student privacy laws. I suppose it isnt a huge deal, but I think grades are everyones personal business. I dont think an entire class should be able to know everyone elses grades.

Also, I keep forgetting to mention the difficulties with getting change back here. When I go to the bank I normally take out 980 pesos (about 250 dollars to avoid several small atm fees). The reason why I take out that amount is so I dont end up with only 100 peso bills because it is really difficult to get change for 100 pesos (about 25USD). I understand that it can be a lot of money at times, but honestly its not! When I was in Bariloche I was renting ski equipment for 35 pesos and paid with a 50 and the man couldnt even give me 15 pesos back! He told me he would have change for me when I came back the next day to return my equipment. And I just thought to myself..Come on, people buy expensive ski stuff here all day, and this man does not have change?! Another issue here is the shortage of coins (centavos). The first week I was here, one of the ISA staff told us it is due to the mafia with holding and selling the coins. Franco told Liz and I it is because the colectivos (buses) which are the only reason you need coins, receive the majority of the coins and for some reason cannot figure out a way to redistribute them. If I return to Argentina, I would like to figure out a way to solve this problem. I really dont think it would be difficult. It is funny cause sometimes stores and kioskos would rather not sell you something than give you change. Sometimes my friends and I have to scavenge around Buenos Aires to find coins. It can get a little ridiculous.

Thats enough complaining for now.

Happy Belated Halloween

Happy Halloween to all a little bit late! I am in my final week of classes with exams the whole week. Its kind of sad because the people who are not traveling after classes end are all going home and I probably wont see them again (or at least for awhile) because most of my friends I have made live on the other side of the U.S. We all are making the most of our final days together. Wednesday night I returned to the bar I had mentioned awhile back that has a band every Wednesday night that plays tango music. It was a relaxing night after a somewhat difficult globalization final. Thursday after class, Griffin, Jessica, Liz, and our friend Kathleen went to a district called Once to look for our Halloween costumes. I was surprised by how many costume and party stores there were that were packed with people buying decorations and costumes for Halloween. Halloween for the most part isnt celebrated here, but I guess occasionally little kids have Halloween parties. That night I went to my Italian friends' house for an asado. I met some of their friends from their Argentine classes who were very nice and said I spoke Spanish well which was good to hear. Afterwards, I met Jared, Lizzy, Rachael, Brenda, and her friend Floppy (nickname for Florencia) at a club called Lost which a lot of people go to on Thursday nights. We had a good time dancing as usual. Friday wasnt too exciting. Saturday rained all day but stopped just in time for the Halloween/Lizzys birthday party. I dressed up as Audrey Hepburn. Virginia even lent me some of her pearls to wear and made Liz a cape for her costume. Liz was Mujer Maravilla (Wonder Woman). Rachel was a greek goddess, Lizzy- Waldo, and Jared and Indian. We all looked really funny on the bus on the way to the bar dressed up in costumes. Liz got hollered out quite a few times. i was kind of afraid someone was going to mug us because she was being loud and attracting a lot of unwanted attention to the group. The party was a lot of fun, with the exception that I had been having terrible stomach pain all day and it continued throughout the whole party. Instead of drinking like rest of the people, I made myself the official photographer of the night. i got some great photos and wasnt hungover in the morning. Everyone who came had great costume including: chiquita banana, trailer trash pregnant girl, our super gay male friends ( cheerleader and catholic school girls), alphabet blocks, ronald mcdonald, harry potter and ginny weasley, the guys from La Bomba (L a Bomba is the drumming concert every Monday night), and the coolest pumpkin costume Ive seen in awhile. Yesterday, my terrible stomach pain continued, so I attempted to study for my exam today and relaxed. I am ready for exams to be over and go to Peru. I leave on Friday! Cant wait to tell about my next adventure.

Distractions

I have already been back from Iguazu for two days and for some reason everytime I sat down trying to write on my blog there was some sort of distraction. Its kind of the same everytime I try to study here. The city in general is just loud and I am always running into someone who creates a distraction. For example, yesterday I wanted to go get my lap top at Jareds where I always leave it and just go there to use the internet. I wanted to use it at the ISA office so I wouldnt get distracted by Jared when I was trying to do research for schoool and actually get something accomplished. I went to his house in the morning and buzzed his apartment (because someone took my cell phone by mistake in Iguazu and wasnt yet able to get it back). Marta (his host mom) answered and said he was still sleeping and to come back later. I went to the gym, showered, and returned later and then no one answered. I decided I would make due without my lap top for the day and just spend all day on it today. I then went to the ISA office to study. Of course everyone in the office yesterday was someone Im friends with and ended up getting distracted several times to talk to them. Not to mention there was also really loud construction in the building that I could only tune out with electronic tango music on my Ipod. Before I knew it I had class, then talked to my parents on Skype, and then went to dinner for Lizzys 19th birthday. I got very little studying done for my final which is tomorrow. However, the Mexican restaurant we went to called Lupita for Lizzys birthday was fantastic. All the food was very flavorful (usually hard to find) and even the margaritas that usually are bad were good. More on my distractions a little later. I have to talk about my amazing trip to Iguazu.

This was our last trip with ISA and they really did a great job with this one. We left Thursday night on a micro (charter bus) drove through the night and arrived in Missiones which is outside Iguazu around 7 am. We went to see these ancient ruins that were really neat but the tour was pretty boring. I dont do well on tours with a bunch of Americans. I would rather just explore on my own. After we drove a couple of hours to what is called a chacra (ranch, estancia in BA). It was really beautiful. It actually reminded me of the plantation I stayed on when I went to Cameroon last spring. There was a nice pool that all the (40 girls and only 4 boys!) swam in and sunbathed. We then had an asado (bbq) and ate a ton of food. We also toured a mate plantation which is the tea that everyone drinks here ( I think i described in one of my other entries). It was pretty neat, I got some interesting photos of how mate is made. After a full day of sun and too much food, we drove another four hours to the hotel in Iguazu. We had another huge meal and then Liz, Lizzy, Rachael, and our friends Fran and Julia and I just relaxed outside by the pool until we went to bed.

Saturday was supposed to be our first big day at the waterfalls. I woke up to torrential rains of course. We got to the park and it only continued to pour harder. We were only able to see one of the best falls that day before they closed the park due to extreme weather conditions called "La Garganta del Diablo"(devil's mouth). We had to walk about a mile on a metal slightly unstable bridge to get to it over a river while it was pouring down rain, extremely high winds, and thunder and lightening. I was pretty sure 4'11" 90 pound Liz was going to blow away. It was definitely worth the walk. It was the most amazing water fall I had ever seen. After seeing the waterfall we had to wait two hours for the train to take us out of the park because it closed due to the weather. Of course there were trees and branches on the train tracks which slowed down the process immensely. Finally after leaving the park, we just went back to the hotel and I studied and relaxed until dinner.

After dinner we saw Griffin and some people in his program who happened to be there at the same time and hung out with them in our room. We decided to go to the only boliche in Iguazu. As we were walking there, I somehow managed to step off a curb and my leg went right into a sewer. Luckily Griffin was there to keep me up or else I would have fallen all the way in. Unfortunately I came out with a giant bloody muddy scrape on my thigh. We got to the club and I asked if they had something to clean my leg with. They at first said no, so Fran handed me a shot of rum and I figured alcohol might prevent any nasty infection I could get from the sewer. The bartenderes later managed to find an old rusty first aid kit somewhere which had perioxide and cotton to clean my cut with. I was ok after that and managed to dance for the next several hours.

The next morning Liz and I did not receive the wake up call we were supposed to have a t 7am and woke up to Paula (ISA staff member) knocking on our day saying we had to leave in 10 minutes. Or course we hadnt packed or anything and had to scurry to get packed and clean up the room. I had set my alarm on my cell phone, because I assumed we wouldnt have a wake up call like the previous morning but it turned out that Griffins friend Skyler took my phone by mistake and that was why we didnt wake up in time. We ended up getting ready just in time to get on the bus where we were returning to the falls to see the remainder of the park. It was a beautiful day for the falls and we got several fantastic pictures of them. Unfortunately I will probably not be able to post them until I return to the states because it takes forever to upload photos here. After a couple hours in the park, we returned to the hotel to prepare for our flight back that night. After returning to BA, I went to an amazing middle eastern restaurant called Sarkees. This food also had a lot of flavor and was actually pretty healthy which can also be hard to find here. I returned home pretty laid absolutely exhausted and pretty beat up especially with my wounded leg. The next morning the extremely annoying man who works at the gym asked me what happened and of course touch my cut causing me pain which I did not appreciate. I understood his concerns but he really gets on my nerves. He always talks to me and touches my face while I am trying to get through my workout. I usually cant get away because I am on the bike or the elliptical. Hes nice but I do not want to talk to anyone when Im sweaty and out of breath.

Today my distractions continued as always. I was planning to meet Griffin before his class to get my cell phone back. I forgot that he had class in a different building than I do. I was supposed to meet him at 950 and realized at 1015 that he wasnt coming because he had class in the other building. I raced to the other building and ended up finding one of his friends who had his number for me to text him. I waited for about 20 minutes when he arrived and said he actually had class at 11 and thats why he couldnt meet me sooner. At least I got my phone back. I then went to the ISA office planning to study for the next two hours until my tutoring session. I got there and saw my friend JEssica and we started talking. I was then told my one of the staff that I had to complete an online survey which took about 40 minutes. My friend Mark then convincced me to go get empanadas with him. By the time we got back it was time for tutoring and I didnt study at all. Tutoring was helpful as always. I feel like it is more beneficcial than studying anyways. For the past four hours I have been at Starbucks, attempting to study but I really just cant get anything accomplished. i actually had to go all the way home to get a different adapter for my charger because the one I had did not plug into the outlet here. So from now until 9 I am going to try avoid any other distractions and really study for once! I have my globalization prefinal tomorrow. If I do well I do not have to take the actual final. ITs my hardest one. Hopefully I can focus long enough to acctually learn something! Por suerte!

Only two more weeks of class left!! Its so strange because all my friends in the U.S. just had midterms and I am about to have my finals. After finals, on November 6, I am heading to Peru, Bolivia, Chile and then back to Buenos Aires for my last couple weeks. I do miss home and Charleston a lot but I will definitely be sad to leave Argentina. There are so many things I want to do, but even 5 months isnt enough time to do it all. I talked to my friend Allison this weekend and we want to plan a trip to come back after we graduate.

I am gonna go backwards this week starting with yesterday. Yesterday was el dia de la madre (mothers day) here. Seeing all of the advertisements and people with their moms made me really miss my mom. At least I got to celebrate with my host mom here Virginia. Liz and I figured she would get lots of flowers and gifts from her 8 grandkids and her own kids, so we asked if we could make dinner for her and Vicente instead. Surprisingly she allowed us. We made pasta, salad, and brushetta. We tried to avoid putting too much flavor into the food because we were afraid it would be too much since the food is usually more bland here. Virginia and Vicente were really impressed with our cooking and said it was the first time any of their 80 students had cooked for them. It felt good to cook and I was happy that they liked the food. I even heard Virginia talking on the phone about how good the food was to one of her kids. Its so funny because she is constantly on the phone talking to usually her kids or grandkids. Everytime I use the phone to call home the call waiting beeps in at list 7 times. And as soon as I hang up the phone rings. Everytime she answers the phone it always seems like there is some sort of crisis, but usually its just someone telling her about their day. Its pretty funny. I guess its common for older ladies to always be on the phone here.

On Thursday Liz and I went to the leather district searching for leather boots. Liz ended up buying a leather wallet that she justified by telling herself that she had had her other one for the last 3 years. I resisted a leather bag that I was in love with, but went back to buy it on Saturday when my mom told me I could have it for a Christmas gift. Its something I will use for everything. It had be used a shoulder bag or a purse. I love it! Thursday night I went back to the jazz club that I went to the week before and actually got there on time. It was great music and I actually met a guy from Akron (40 minutes from my hometown Poland in Ohio) who is traveling through South America until December. ITs crazy how I could be in a city with 13 million ppl and meet someone that lives so close to me at home.

Friday I wasnt too productive during the day as usual. I forced myself to research classes for the spring in Charleston which was hard to think about considering my classes here have been such a breeze. Later in the day I went to Lago de Palermo and read for my globalization class because I have my prefinal next Wednesday that I decided to get a head start on. Friday night one of Virginia and Vicente's previous students came for dinner with her Argentinian husband and new baby Noah. Jennifer met her husband Juan here while she was studying and they ended up getting married after 3 years of being apart after she returned to the US and then went to the Dominican Republic while she was in the Peace Cor. They now live outside of LA and were here for the week visiting Juan´s family. Jennifer came here speaking no Spanish seven years ago and now is obviously fluent. I hope to say the same in the future. Juan said I spoke Spanish well which was good to hear.

Later that night, I was supposed to go salsa dancing with Allison but the salsa place was closed for the weekend for some kind of government inspection. We ended up going to her friend Nina's house who goes to UCLA with her for her bday party. Nina´s host brothers are our age and are planning to go to the states in December to work at a ski resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Thats actually what Liz's boyfriend Franco is doing also in December. Its very common for Argentinians to do that because there are many job recruiters that come here from the U.S. to get workers. ARound 3am, we went to a club called Kika which was so much fun. The club played a great mix of reggaton and some actual good American music for once. I didnt get home until around 630 am.

Saturday I went to a park in Palermo with Griffin, his roommate Lizzy, and some other friends. It was a beautiful day to be outside. So we just relaxed most of the day and then I went home for dinner later on. Dinner was pretty comical which it is most nights. Virginia insisted on watching this show about a transvestite who actually really looked like a woman. For some reason transvestites are really popular on t.v. here. I guess they provide good entertainment. Later in the show, there was a midget stripper who stole someones boyfriend. It was pretty ridiculous. OF course the phone rang several times during the show,a nd Virginia always left the table to answer it, so Vicente would change the channel to a soccer game while she was gone. She would then yell at him to change it back when she returned. It reminded me of when my dad is constantly changing the channel when my mom is trying to watch something (but is usually falling asleep), or when my dad falls asleep and I steal the remote and then he suddenly wakes up and the first thing he says is ¨Where is the remote?¨ It was a pretty funny situation, which is how Virginia and Vicente are pretty much all the time. Usually they will bicker to each other about something and then just start laughing.

After dinner, I met up with some friends and a bar called Sugar which was packed on Saturday. Afterwards I went to a birthday party with Brenda and met some of her other friends I hadnt met before. (Its always someones birthday here!) I was pretty tired from the night before so went home early (around 3). All in all it was a good week, I am looking forward to this weekend. I am going to Iguazu which is like the Niagra Falls of South AMerica. I had friends who went this past weekend and loved it. I cant wait!! Chau chau!

So apparently the shirt I was wearing yesterday made me look pregnant because when I was shopping the woman working at the store asked me if I was pregnant. When I told her no she didnt appear embarassed or apologize for her mistake. I later noticed that the shirt was bunched up under the sweater I had on and I guess could have made me look slightly pregnant. I couldnt take too much offense to it because of how direct the culture is here eventhough normally I would have considered her to be very rude. Sometimes I feel like I am being yelled at by Virginia but really she is just talking in her normal tone which can at times sound angry.

This past weekend was another long weekend due to Columbus day where pretty much no one works or goes to school. Thursday night I went to a jazz club with Griffin some of his friends from the U.S. who had arrived that day and Brenda. We got there late, and the hostess told us there was still a second of the show left and made us each pay 20 pesos (5 USD). However, the band only played about three more songs. So we were kind of mad that we had to pay so much. Apparently we could have argued with the lady and gotten some money back. Brenda told us that every restaurant and club has some kind of book that is required by the government here. If you are unhappy with your service you can ask to see it and I guess write complaints in it and get money back for poor customer service. If the restaurant doesnt have a book or refuses to let you see it you supposedly can get them in trouble with the law. At the time we didnt feel the need to do so and just stayed after the band played.

Friday I wasnt too productive during the day pretty much relaxed. That night I went with Griffin and some other people to a reggae club called Uniclub. It was a relaxed atmosphere and the music was really good. I met a girl who noticed me and another friend speaking English in the bathroom and introduced herself. Her name was Ruby and said she was from Hawaii but now lives here with her Argentine boyfriend. I told her how it is difficult to find nice Argentine guys who arent total creeps. Apparently their are some good ones out there.

Saturday I went shopping in an area called Plaza Serrano that has a feria on the weekends and all the shops are open and many local designers sell their merchandise there. It is really cool because a few of the bars that are only open at night allow the designers to set up stands inside the bar and sell until later at night. I found a lot of good things but it was nearly impossible to shop and try things on because there were so many people! Also trying stuff on gets difficult because usually there is only one size and the sizes here are so small that it makes normal body types seem obese. This country actually has the second highest rater of eating disorders in the world under Japan. The majority of the women are extremely thin and really look very unhealthy. Brenda told me that in the 90's anorexia was such a "fad" that stores only carried the smallest of sizes. The government actually had to pass a law to require stores to carry bigger sizes. I really don't understand how the people are so skinny here because most of the food is horrible for you. The milk that they drink is more like cream, a lot of the stuff is fried, breadm pasta, pizza ,and they love red meat here of course. I am really excited to have vegetables and low carb meals again and food with more flavor when I go back to the U.S.

After my shopping excursion, I went to see the Argentina vs. Peru soccer game. A group of us got there right when the game was starting but of course it was a long process to actually get into the stadium. We had to walk through several barricades because we were at the wrong entrance of the field. Most of the streets were blocked of making it impossible to get around. Eventually we got into the stadium and got up to our "seats." I felt so foreign! There were tons of Argentinians blocking the stairs to get into the bleachers, so we had to somehow squeeze through all of them to get up to the top. Once we got to the top, we had an amazing view and it was a great game. Argentina scored and was winning pretty much the whole game. Shortly after half time it started to pourrrrrr down rain. It was coming directly towards where my group was sitting of course. Within the last ten minutes of the game, Peru scored tying the game 1-1. And somehow despite the ridiculous amount of rain one of the players Maradona (who is actually a drug addict) slid and scored winning the game for Argentina. It was pretty exciting! But then we all had to walk home in the pouring down rain because it was nearly impossible to get a cab or bus. That night, I met some other friends at a little bar in Palermo called Sugar that has good drink specials. We then went to a club called Pacha which was pretty far away on the outskirts of the city. It was also still pouring down rain. The club was huge and really neat however pretty much everyone there was on drugs except for us. It was actually nice to not be approached by creepy boys because they were all in their own world. We stayed there til about 630 am and decided we had enough of the blasting techno music.

Sunday I went to San Telmo and found a really nice birthday gift for my room mates 21st which is coming up. I wont say what it is in case she is reading. That night I went out with Brenda for one of her friend´s birthdays. We had a good time dancing and the dj played a lot of really great music from the 90´s. I called it an early night since I was out so late the night before.

Yesterday I attempted to go to the gym but it was of course closed due to the holiday, so I went on a run around Belgrano and found a lot of neat little parks I had never been to. Afterwards I went to the Japonese garden with my friend Jessica. We had really good Japonese food at the restaurant there and walked around the garden and got some pretty pictures. Afterwards, I shopped around Plaza Serrano again and found a purse that I had been looking for to go out. I was pretty tired after walking around all day and attempted to go to a movie store to rent some dvds. I didnt have my passporte and so couldnt create an account there so couldnt rent a movie. I decided just to go home and watch a movie that I had bought that my friend Francisco suggested I watch. It was supposed to be in French with Castellano subtitles but for some reason the subtitles didnt work. So I attemped to understand a movie and French but pretty much just fell asleep. Today is a beautiful day...going to the Lago de Palermo with Liz. Thats all I have for now!

Its finally starting to get warm and sunny here more often which is good. Technically the first day of spring was two weeks ago but it was pretty cold the beginning of last week but was really nice all weekend. I have really been missing things from the U.S. lately and found a few things that I havent seen the whole time I have been here. On Thursday Rachael, Lizzy, Liz, Jared, and I went to a place called Pura Vida which is a smoothie and health food cafe. It was so good to have a wrap with healthy vegetables and hummus in it. Its so hard to find something healthy that actually tastes good at a restaurant here. Lizzy, Rachael, and I went back on Friday morning to have bagels which are pretty hard to find here. I hadnt had a bagel since I left the states, so I was pretty excited! After the bagel place on Friday I went to el Museo de Bellas Artes which is a European art museum in Recoleta. Along with the European art, it also had a modern art exhibit which was really colorful and abstract. After the museum, I decided to take the subway to go to a bookstore my literature professor recommended my class goes to find a book we have to read for class on Wednesday. Of course I went there on two different subway lines and the store didnt have the book I needed. I went to several other bookstores who didnt have it either. All of the store workers who I asked about the book kind of gave me a strange look (like why would you want that book?) and I have no idea why. Luckily my friend found it online and sent me the book in a pdf through email. Friday night, I went to my Italian friends' apartment to hang out before they were going out to a boliche. My friends Klaus and Stefan are from northern Italy but their first language was German, and they also study in Austria. They can speak English, Italian, German, and Spanish. They had never learned Spanish before coming here and manage to take all classes with Argentine students and speak better than me. I guess its easy for them because Spanish and Italian are pretty similar. It was really neat because there were people there from Germany, Italy, one guy from Costa Rica, another from Colombia, the U.S., and then my friend Brenda from here. Everyone spoke entirely in Spanish which was really good. Usually when I go out with my friends from the states we speak English, so I was glad to get the extra practice. I was talking to the Colombian guy, but had a difficult time understanding him and times because he used some expressions I was not familiar with. He also asked me if I liked Latino men and I told him no, especially Argentinian men because they are really forward and annoying. He then continued to tell me he liked my eyes and asked for my number! I dont understand why men here just cant tell when you are not interested. It is really hard to get away times. They will follow you around and annoy you into talking to them. Later on in the night, I went to a local bar with Brenda to meet up with some of her friends. It was a neat place with a terrace on the roof. I met a girl name Yammy (pronounced Shammy here) and her boyfriend Leo and another girl named Flor. Flor asked me about the United States and what I liked about Argentina. I told her I liked how relaxed the culture is here and how people arent always rushed when doing things. People dont seem to be as stressed out here about every little thing. However at times that can be frustrating when you really want to get something done. For example, when you just want pick up a package at the post office and have to wait an hour and then have to pay for the package that the person who sent it to you already paid for.

On Saturday I went with Brenda to buy tickets to see Phantom of the Opera on Sunday and then we had lunch near the theater down town. I got a turkey sandwich which was also really exciting because turkey is pretty rare to find here. After lunch, I had a few free hours and decided to get ahead on the 600 pages of reading for my history exam on Thursday. That night I went to Pilar which is suburb on BA with Liz and her boyfriend Franco and one of Franco's friends. Franco's soccer team had won some kind of tournament and him and his friends rented out what was like a hall in the U.S. for a party. There were a ton of people there! They bought some ridiculous party decorations and those abnoxious glasses with a moustache and nose for people to wear. I met a lot of people and spoke in Spanish alot.

We returned on Sunday afternoon and Liz and I went to lunch. Last night, Brenda and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera. It was in Spanish but I was actually able to understand most of it mainly because I have seen it in English. The music was beautiful, and the cast was very well done. Overall a great week! I have a lot o f reading to do for class this week. Chau!

You know you're in Argentina when...

I had another great weekend with many funny memories that could only happen in Argentina. My friends and I have been talking about things that make you realize that you're in a foreign country. For example, when you get cat-called on the street by really creepy men or grabbed by strange Argentine men in a bar or club. Or, for example when I attempted to purchase a plastic knife and spoon for my lunch I had brought to the school cafeteria with me on Wednesday. My friends and I had all brought food with us while we were studying for our Globalization exam later in the day. I bought a block of cheese, avocado, bread, and yogurt at a grocery store before thinking it would be easy to get plastic silverware at the school. I was so wrong! I asked the people working at the cafeteria for the plastic spoon and knife and because I did not purchase food there they said no. I asked if I could pay for them and they still said no. I then then decided to go to the cafe in the other part of the building. They too said I could not purchase plastic silverware for food purchased outside of the building. So, I bought a coffee and took a spoon to stir it with and figured I would just use the other side of the spoon to cut my cheese with and save my avocado for another day. An Italian guy from one of my classes then came into the cafe and I told him what had happened. He figured they probably just didnt understand me and then asked if he could have a knife. They told him they cant give a knife to anyone who doesnt have food that requires a knife. He had just bought medialunas (crossaints) and asked if he could have a knife to cut them. They said yes, so he cut his medialuna with a knife and then gave it to me. What I would have done for better customer service in that situation! There really is no place like the U.S. when it comes to customer service. Unlike the U.S. here. when you order food that is bad or do not like it, they will not take it back and give you something else without charging you. Or in another situation... When I was in Mendoza and went rafting and canopy gliding, we were supposed to receive breakfast which was included in the price we paid. We met for both trips at a hostel/hippy camp that had tables a bar and small cafe for people to go to between excursions. We arrived late due to Dia de los Esudiantes where ever student in Mendoza just happened to be camping and blocking the highway and for some reason we couldn't go around them for about 30-40 minutes. So, we did not receive breakfast but they asked before we left to go rafting if we wanted empanadas when we got back to have before we went canopy gliding. We said yes figuring they were providing us with lunch since they didnt serve us the breakfast we were supposed to have. When we got back, they had empanadas and pizza waiting for us and also provided us with drinks. Since, we were already running behind we had to leave for canopying shortly after, so they rushed us to eat. As we were about to leave, the man from the cafe/bar chased after us to tell us we owed 20 pesos each for the lunch we didnt even get to finish plus 7 pesos for the drinks. We didnt have time to argue so we just paid. It was pretty aggravating, but I just accept the fact that seriously nothing is free here! Anyways...you can the idea that things are never perfect when your studying abroad.
This weekend was a great time! Thursday I had to buy a new cell phone to replace the one I had lost that of course didnt work until Friday because the lady put the wrong sim card in it, and I thought at just wasnt activating. When I went back to the store where I bought it the man working apologized for the mistake and had my sim card waiting for me. I really wasnt shocked by the situation. Its another part of being in Argentina, assuming that your cell phone will be guaranteed to not work at least once every couple weeks. Thursday night I went to another intercambio with Argentines at the same mate bar I went to about a month ago. I was trying to explain something in Spanish to one of the Argentines I met last time and he made fun of the way I was speaking...which I was not too happy about, but I just let it ago. At one point we were talking about words in English that sound the same but are spelled differently, which are homophones. When we figured out the word, one of the Argentines who is in charge of our program here said to me that he thought we were talking abour phones for homosexuals. I was laughing pretty hard. I guess it made up for all the times I was laughed out for mispronunciations in Spanish. After the intercambio, I went to dinner with my Argentine friend Brenda and Liz. Brenda has helped me so much with ajusting to Buenos Aires. If I ever have a question about anything or want to know where to find things in the city she always finds our for me. She has been a really great friend and we always have fun when we go out together. Friday was a beautiful day. I ran to a park in Palermo and ran around a lake there called Lago de Palermo. I met a brother and sister from Ecuardor who gave me advice about getting to Peru which was very helpful. I also went to El Museo de Artes Plasticos which was pretty neat and was only a peso to enter. Friday night I went to Brenda's to watch the Soup which apparently is popular in the U.S. but I haven't seen because I hardly ever watch t.v. here. Saturday I went to Colonia which is an old historic city in Uruguay which was included in my program. Its only a three hour on the Buquebus which is basically just a ferry that goes from Buenos Aires to Uruguay. My friends here and I always laugh because everytime we go on a trip with our program they tell us its a day that we can relax and everything will be "tranquilo" (relaxing), which in reality means less work for the people who take us there. There was a city tour that was offered but my friends and I just decided to go off on our own and explore. We had lunch at a small cafe and then headed to the beach that runs along the river. We spent pretty much the rest of the day there relaxing and actually had a great time. Of course, we couldnt make if through the whole day without something funny/strange happening. While we were laying on the beach a skinny old man in a speedo came up to us and starting talking to us about "Christiano Apostolico" and attempted to convert us to his religion and told us his name was Char. He kept asking us if we learn about God in the U.S. and kept telling us we need to go to his church. Eventually we had to just ignore him so we didn't have to talk to him anymore. When we were leaving, my friend Tess decided she would change back into her bathing suit behind a tree on the beach so she didnt have to feel bad for changing in the nearby restaurant without buying anything. As she was changing, a man on the top of the cliff above where she was "hiding" starts cat calling her, and of course she started freaking out. I attempted to guard her and when I looked to my left I saw Char peering behind a rock trying to watch Tess. We were obviously creeped out and the rest of us decided to just change in the bathroom of the restaurant. Another girl Jessica and I were the last two out of the bathroom and the rest of the group was waiting outside with Char who had decided to sit with them while they were waiting. When we walked out my friends were very anxious to leave. They told me as walking away that the creepy old man kept telling them his name "Char" and then proceeded to dig through his back pack and just happened to pull out a condom and set it on the ground in front of them. We were all really creeped out and got away as quickly as possible. He has become the joke of our trip now and gave us something to laugh about on the three hour boat ride back to BA. Sorry this entry is so long...turns out I had a ton to write this week. I hope everyone enjoys it...my life here can be pretty comical. I finally found a way to upload pictures more effectively through picasso. They should be up this week. Chau!

So, I made it back from Mendoza safely this morning, but it was a pretty adventurous trip. Last night on the way home someone through a rock through the window of our bus and nearly hit this girl in the face. We then had to stop and switch buses which added about another hour and a half to the already 14 hour trip. However we did make it back to the city safely after that. Sadly I lost my cell phone at a party in the hostel we stayed at this weekend. So, I am now contemplating buying a new one or just trying to make it without a phone for three more months. Other than those two things, the trip was a blast!! My roommate Liz and our two friends Lizzy and Rachael arrived to Mendoza on Thursday which was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We explored the city which is so much cleaner and seems to be safer than Buenos Aires. We sat in two different parks and enjoyed the nice weather. Mendoza has tons of shops and one of the main plazas is located on a pedestrian street. It was nice to walk around without having to worry about getting hit by cars. That night, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Palenque and drank wine from penguin shaped mugs which was pretty cool. Later in the night, we went to a bar with some Argentinians guys we met at our hostel. The boys were in Mendoza for a philosophy convention through the University of Buenos Aires for the weekend. The next day we went on a biking tour through three different bodegas (wineries) and olive oil factory and a chocolate factory. We met a girl from Canada, another girl from Holland, and also a guy from Austrailia who was staying in our room at the hostel with us. We learned the correct way to taste wine. I ended up buying four bottles at the organic winery which was my favorite. We were all pretty tired after the wine tour, so decided just to make our own dinner at the hostel and relax the rest of the night. Saturday morning, we woke up early to go paragliding. We went paragliding from on top of a hill. We were harnessed onto an instructure with a parachute and ran and jumped off a hill and glided around for about a half an hour. We had such a beautiful view while we were in the air; it was incredible! Later that day we paid $50 pesos for a party with our hostel that included a wine tasting, asado (bbq), and a night out to a club. It was supposed to start at 1 but the majority of the events didnt start until around 8 when we went to a different hostel for the asado. After the asado the argentinians who worked at the hostel insisted on pouring tequila down our throats and we danced the rest of the night at the hostel instead of going to the boliche. Sunday Liz and I went rafting for the first time while Rachael and Lizzy went horseback riding. Our guide was pretty crazy but we had a good time and no one fell out of the raft surprisingly. We met Lizzy and Rachael back at the campground that we left in the morning, had a lunch that was supposed to be included but had to pay for and had to hurry to eat it because we had to leave to go canopy gliding. Canopy gliding is the same thing as zip lining where you are harnessed to a cable and you wear special gloves to glide across. We trekked up a hill and then glided down several times. The final two times we glided across a huge river. Two of the girls went upside down with an instructor. After a long day of activities we stayed in and had dinner at a taco place which was good but way more salty than normal. Yesterday before we left Liz and I shopped a little bit and went to what we though was going to be a good restaurant for an earlier dinner before getting on the bus. I got something called Sorrentino which the waiter told me was like a big ravioli. Liz ordered a salad but apparently the wrong one. My so called ravioli like pasta had ham and melted cheese in it. I hate ham, but I ate it because I was hungry. Liz's salad did not even have lettuce in it. It was bad tuna and gross canned vegetables. My meal included dessert which the water said was Alemendrado which means almond ice cream. He brought me a backed square of ice cream that actually had peanuts on it. What if I was allergic to peanuts?! After that, Liz and I decided we just needed to get back to BA. In all, the good things we did outweighed the bad and we had a great trip. I have to go now. Chau chau!

This weeks here have been flying by. I cannot believe I have been in Argentina for almost two months! Friday night I went to a salsa club with two other girls. It was fun but there weren't a whole lot of guys to dance with because most of the people seemed to be couples only dancing with each other. Saturday I went to a soccer game for the first time. It was so crazy!! The beginning of the game reminded me of my high school football games. A marching band came out and then there were dancers all over the field. Then there were these people twirling umbrellas and then random cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Spiderman skipping around the field. It was really funny to me, but something that is completely normal here. Once the teams come out, the crowd gets really routy and throws these rolls of paper onto the field. It is kind of hard to describe; it is kind of something you have to experience for yourself. The Argentines have tons of chants that they yell at their teams during the game. The one that I learned is "Ponga huevo que ganamos." It literally means "Put the egg in the goal so we win." It is commonly used when the game is tied meaning "kick the ball into the goal so we win." It ended up being a pretty unexciting game. The game ended in 0-0. That night I went out with Brenda, her friend Jenny from Tucuman (a province in northern Argentina), and Juan Manuel (my host family's grandson, who is my age). I had a midterm yesterday that I studied for most of Sunday and I have another one tomorrow and next Wednesday. Based on my test yesterday, I think the rest of my exams will be pretty easy. After being here for two months, I am noticing a lot of differences in the culture here compared to the U.S. One thing that people from the United States are constantly criticized for here is calling themselves Americans. Technically, Argentinians and the rest of South Americans are Americans too. Also, in the U.S. I pretty sure everyone learns that N and S America are separate continents. Here they learn that N and S America are one. I have gotten in several disputes with Argentinians over this, and they think people from the U.S. are arrogant because we consider Canada, US, and Mexico to be separate. I tried to explain that it is just a different way of categorizing but it never goes over well. I usually just accept that I am wrong about 90% of the time in most cases here. The other night at dinner was pretty comical. We were eating dinner and my host mom, Virginia, has been putting out ranch dressing that my friend Griffin brought for me from the U.S. I told her that in the U.S. a lot of times we eat raw vegetables with ranch. We were eating cooked cauliflower and I told her I usually it it raw with ranch. The word for raw is "crudo," which is what I said. She did not believe me for some reason. She was just like "No! You can't eat that raw." I didn't feel like arguing so I just changed the subject. It is funny how some differences in culture just do not translate. Virginia also asked Liz and I exactly what kind of meat we eat. We tried to explain to her the first week that we do not eat a lot of red meat but we will try it. To her, that really meant we dont eat it at all. So she freaked out when Liz said she ate milanesa (a type of breaded steak), and was just like I dont understand you crazy girls. So I tried again to explain to her, but I still think she is a little confused. For the past two weeks also, Virginia has been confused by my name. Liz's real name is Elizabeth which is obviously pretty common in the U.S. For some reason, all of a sudden she is calling me Elizabeth and Liz- Liz. I told her grandson about it, and he said he would tell her, but she still is calling me Elizabeth. I feel like it is too late to correct her, and she might get mad at me. Liz did say the other day that Vicente referred to me as Elise. So, I think I might just let it go. I am still working on getting pictures up. It just takes so long to download photos here because its not the best internet connnection, and I do not have easy access to internet all the time. I will get some more up asap. I am leaving for Mendoza tomorrow and returning on Tuesday. It is located in the wine country about 18 hours from here in the northwest part of Argentina. Can't wait!!

Hola,
This past weekend was good. I was super tired all week after coming back from such a long trip to Bariloche. Thursday I met up with Griffin and some friends for lunch. Griffin goes to Cofc with me and just got here last week for the semester. THat night we went out to a bar that had just opened that was a bar on the first floor and an art gallery upstairs. It was really cool and we met some really nice people there. Friday Jared and I went to downtown BA to a street called Avenida Florida. Its basically a street with a bunch of shops that no cars can drive down. THe downtown area reminds me a lot of NYC. That night I went to a concert at a club. An Argentinan band played called the Babasonicos. They were really good and I really liked the music but was so tired and went home early. Saturday I went to the Evita museum which was really neat. I will post pictures soon to show what it looked like. The museum basically followed her life and had her biography written on the walls. It also displayed some of her clothing which was beautiful and really stylish for the 50s. We then went to the Malba which is a really famous modern art museum with the works of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. That night was the Argentina vs Brazil soccer game. IT was a huge deal here! It reminded me of the super bowl. PEople were getting to bars hours ahead of time to reserve tables to sit at and watch the game. Unfortunately Argentina lost but they still have one more chance to make it to the world cup. YEsterday, I went to the feria in Plaza de Mayo which is near the Casa Rosada (equivalent to the White House in the U.S.). This part of the city looks very European and is also very expensive. I bought antique Givency sunglasses for about $15 which was pretty exciting since I broke mine. The feria actually connects to another part of BA called SAn Telmo where there a lot of tango dancers in the street and the buildings also look European. Its very pretty. LAst night I went to a birthday party for my Argentine friend Franco. It was just a few people; we just hung out at his house and ate and talked. I am starting to plan some of travels in a couple weeks because its a long weekend due to a holiday. I am pretty sure I am going to Santiago and Vina del Mar/Valparaiso! Suerte!

Elise

Bariloche!

Hey everyone,
I just got back from Bariloche this morning, and it was so awesome! Three other girls and I left on what is called an omnibus on Thursday night and what was supposed to be a 20 hour bus ride ended up being about 24 hours. Just when we were about three hours from Bariloche, there was a strike of teachers requesting higher pay in the middle of the highway. It ended up being a pretty fun three hours. We got out of the bus and took pictures of the surrounding landscape and made friends with some girls from Mexico who are also studying in Buenos Aires for the semester. We arrived in at our Hostel in Bariloche around 7:00 Friday night, went to dinner, and made friends with some other people from Buenos Aires that were also staying in our hostel. We ended up drinking wine with them and I attemped to teach everyone in Spanish how to play an American card game. It was difficult to explain but everyone ended up getting the hang of it. I went to bed pretty early instead of going out to wake up early for skiing the next day. Saturday was rainy and really windy up on the mountain; so not the best for skiing. Because there was no snow on the lower part of the mountain, we had to take a chair lift all the way up to the top. By the time we got up there, it was snowing like crazy and really hard to ski. I got pretty freaked out at the top of the hill because it was my first time skiing in seven years since my ACL surgery. I ended up skiing down the hill just fine with a couple of instructors and a family that was taking there little kids down and easier route. After one run, the other skiier Allison and I ended up just hanging out in the lodge most of the day at the top of the mountain. We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day and went back to the lodge, ate dinner, met some more people, and then called it an early night again. Sunday was a perfect day for skiing. It wasnt windy at all on the mountain, it was warm, and the snow was perfect to ski on. I was actually sweating by the end of the day because the snow was so thick and difficult to ski in. I got some incredible pictures that day. They actually had photographers on the mountain who stopped us as we were skiing down the hill and took our picture. We chose not to buy the pictures and just took our own instead. Bariloche is also known for having some of the best chocolate in the country. That night, we walked around the town sampling different chocolates. I ended up spending about 100 pesos on chocolate (about 25 USD). That night we were even more exhausted and chose not to go out. Instead we decided to wake up early to go on a hike up a hill nearby called Campesario. It took about 40 minutes to hike up the hill and was so worth a somewhat exhausting hike. We could see the best view of Bariloche. At the top you we could see out to the mountains which are surrounded by several lakes. I have some really beautiful photos. I will work on getting them up when I can. I still have not figured out a way to put pictures up on the blog. After the hike down the hill, we stopped back at the Hostel, checked out, and got on the final 20 hour bus ride back to BA. On the way back we passed a river that weaved through the hills we drove through. I had never seen water like that. It was a really pretty seafoam green color. Absolutely beautiful! It was a great trip and I would love to go back again to try some of the summer activities Bariloche offers. Im looking forward to this weekend. My friend, Griffin who also goes to Cofc just got hear over the weekend and I am planning to meet up with him this week. Chau!!

Elise