Leaving for Salta

Leaving for Salta tonight for 5 days! Salta is in Northern Argentina about 12 hours from córdoba, and borders Bolivia and Paraguay. We went through a travel agency for this trip because there are a lot of places to cover-Juyjuy, Tucumán, el centro- and because it's semana santa (holy week) here and reservations are hard to get. In Argentina, everyone travels during semana santa. Today Graciela told me about this 'holy' woman who lives on a mountain in Salta. Esta mujer vive en un montaña/cerrito arriba de la ciudad y afirma que puede ver/hablar con la virgen María. --She claims she can see visions of Mary and thousands of people from all over Latinoamerica/world take pilgrimages to visit her and some people say she heals. I don't know how much i believe this but I'm definitely going to ask the guide.

hasta luego

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=924137

I have been really busy with clases en la uni this week but had time to go to Lucas’ grad party! When you graduate from university here you give a presentation of your tesis in an aula in front of 4 judges and everyone’s family that is part of your group. His degree is in architecture he designed a miniature model of a handicap accessible business park. Here and only in Argentina, or maybe just Córdoba, people completely trash you after you graduate- meaning they through raw eggs, flour, horse poo, any whatever else they can find in their kitchen at you, and the boys shave their heads!!! You go from tears of joy from finally graduating to getting trashed to getting cleaned up in time for your party which lasts all night and morning!

We had Wednesday off for holiday of “día de la memoria.” This day of remembrance is sad because it is a tribute to some 30,000 disappeared citizens. Some history- and not kidding even children can tell you about this holiday- a military overthrew the democratically government & over the next 8 years 30,000 people were kidnapped and disappeared- some murdered in concentration camps like the Jews, some relocated in other parts of the country. The dictatorship terrorized the people and shut down congress, banned political parties, banned freedom of speech and freedom of press. Attempts have been made to find disappeared people and one recognizable organization is Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo- grandmothers looking for their missing grandchildren. Plaza de mayo is in the center of Buenos Aires in front of the casa rosada/pink house: equivalent of the white house in the states. A parade was held in Córdoba and Buenos Aires.

I spent my holiday with friends and my host family in Carlos Paz- a beautiful pueblo just outside of the city. Porteños love this city because it is like a tiny Buenos aires with teatro, excursiones, shopping, lago, boliches, etc. We ate asado at a restaurante en el centro allá y fuimos a las sierras chicas! The sierras surround Carlos Paz and we went on this ski lift incline up the mountains- which felt so unsafe and they didn’t tell us to take off our flip flops which could have fallen a thousand feet to the ground! At the top of the mt. there’s a café, shops, and an “aire tren” which is like this amusement park train track that was built like 2000 feet about the valley and it drives you through las sierras chicas, fue hermosa! I’ll have a chance to go back because I met a family from there on my flight from Chile and I can come and stay whenever!

Tonight, another fiesta for graduation in a club house! By the way, just wanted to say that I feel so blessed to be living with Graciela, she is the sweetest woman that God ever created!

Un beso!

This past week I started classes at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba! The profes are great and there are so many students- 100,000, a huge difference compared to the 1600 at W&J. I am taking 4 clases de castellano y 1 business class de Comercio Exterior (Foreign Trade). One piece of advice is to get to class early for a seat in the front because it kind of sucks to be in a class of 150 students with no microphone! It’s a bit chistoso when my profe de comercio exterior makes eye contact with the whole 2 estadounidenses/Americans every time he mentions trade policy with the US. Overall, I love this university!

Friday I got my yellow fever vaccine for when we go to Iguazu for a trip. Iguazu is home to the tallest waterfall in the entire world and it is bordered by Argentina, Paraguay, y Brasil. Vaccines are only necessary because it’s basically the rainforest there lol Other destinations that I want to go to here are- Machu Pichu, San Juan, Carlos Paz, Salta, Juyjuy, Tierra de Fuego, Bariloche, y Mendoza. This country is amazing and I don’t have class para los viernes/Fri so traveling on the weekends works!

Also, I am starting my volunteer internship with Manos Abiertos- a local nonprofit that lends a hand to families living in poverty in Córdoba. It’s 3 hours por semana/week hasta el fin de julio. It works out well since Graciela, my host mom, has been volunteering for the same organization for years. Working with the community here was something that I knew I wanted to be part of before I came here and this opportunity means a lot.

Last night we went to the birthday party of one of Graciela’s grandsons Lucas. Cumple 26años and is receiving his architect degree next Tuesday- another fiesta!

Tonight, music concert in the park and then dancing!

Hasta luego!

Villa Belgrano- Germany in Argentina

We just got back from Villa Belgrano and it was incredible!! This town was founded by German inmigrantes and feels exactly like the country. The bus ride from Córdoba es hermosa with a great view of las sierras. We stayed at the Clair de Lune, a bed and breakfast, similar to a posado but better- stay here because it costs 70 pesos/noche ($18 US), incluye breakfast, there's a pool, and the rooms are huge. The dueño is a woman who speaks castellano with a French accent and she was incredibly sweet. After realizing our tour of the town was pointless because we arrived during siesta we came back to the hotel. I love this pueblo but there isn't much to do between 1-5pm so I recommend going on an excursion if you can get a reservation in. Clair de Lune has a private pool and we went swimming and met some people from buenos aires who told us to go to el Tigre next time we visit there. Villa Belgrano es un sueño por la noche! There are christmas lights hanging on all the trees and stores and overhead across the streets. It is very charming and feels almost like epcot in Disney World. We tried the chocolate and the German food & I recommend going to a restaurant en el centro llamada "Viejo Munich" that has its own brewery in the back. I tried sausage which came with five other side dishes that I can't remember or pronounce- but I definitely gave it a thumbs up! There's so much to do during the night and el centro is made up of one main road so everything is easy to find. Also, remember to look up at night- South America is one of the best locations in the world to see a sky full of thousands of stars and the southern cross, especialmente en Belgrano.

Sunday we went on an excursión en la Cumbrecita- aka un parte de las Sierras. You MUST go here because it makes you appreciate God's beautiful earth! The mountains and las cascadas/waterfalls are amazing and you can even swim under them if you choose to almost kill yourself walking/climbing down the huge rocks- which we did lol There's an option to hire a guide but it's a waste of money if you ask me. The paths are marked well enough and there are enough tiendas y posadas si tienes aluguno problema. Las cascadas, las cascadas, las cascadas!! There's a German feel here too and the restaurants serve ma o meno the same type of food as in el centro de Belgrano.

Overall, great weekend!

Villa Belgrano este fin de semana!

I went to another birthday party on Wednesday for Delphina, the nieta/granddaughter of Graciela. The food was fantastic as always and there were tons of people. Also, I got to skip class because five of us were stuck waiting in the immigration office for almost 5 hours waiting for our official visas. There is always a never ending line here and if you ever have to go here make sure you get in line before the doors open. For the past few days Graciela has been having some construction done on the cracks on the walls in the house. 3 guys are working here and she cooks them food and treats them like her own children- it is so funny to watch.

Tonight we are going to the cine/movies to see La isla siniestra-- Shutter Island. The translations of movie titles are chistosos because they never translate exactly. For example, Alice in Wonderland is "Alicia en el país de las maravillas". As for the weekend, I'm going with some friends to Villa Belgrano. It is this pueblo ubica about an hour outside of Córdoba with the exact atmósfera of Germany. There are many activities to do here: tour a chocolate factory, brew you own beer, horseback riding, biking, trekking, museums, etc. Google some pictures to get a better idea, but I have heard that Belgrano is a must see if you come to Córdoba, especially if you like chocolate!

I thought I'd list a few typical things about la vida córdobes:

-yogurt and milk are sold in bags here

-medialunas, criollos, and facturas are always served for breakfast with coffee/tea/maté

-deodorant is almost always sold in aerosol cans

-it is almost impossible to ask for separate checks at a restaurant

-americans always pay with cien peso billetes/one hundred peso bills because it is all you

get from the atm-- this makes store dueños/owners mad and they always ask you for "algo

más chico?"

-bootleg copies of all the latest movies and movies that aren't even out yet are sold on

large blankets spread out in las calles - 10 pesos-- about $3 (US)

-if you live in a house you have a HUGE asado/grill in the jardín/backyard

-when it rains it's impossible to get a taxi

- water con gas is always served unless you ask for regular water- which you should because fizzy water tastes disgusting

-american music is popular here, especially Red Hot Chili Peppers, u2, y coldplay

-there are stray dogs everywhere in the streets

-tissues don't exist here!

Buenos Aires

This past week has been so busy here. Last Monday Graciela and I went to a fiesta de quinceanera de her grandchildren. The party was for twins, a boy and a girl, which meant tons of people. I'm thinking that most of her family is rich because they all live in Jardín Espinosa. Great food- torta, empanadas, etc. Also, we had our 2 placement exams last week for PECLA and CELU, las programas universitarias acá.

If you've read my facebook you would know all about our trip to Buenos Aires. Fantásitco! This city is huge and full of beautiful plazas, gente, and historia. We left on Thursday night for an overnight bus ride to the city. Rinna, Dories, and I got the best seats on the second floor of the colectivo in the very back with the most room to sleep. We arrived at our hotel the next morning, Hotel Apart Congreso. I would recommend this hotel because the rooms are 10 times the size of any normal room in the States and the service is great. First, we went on a city tour por bus and visited Casa Rosada, la Catedral Metropolitana, y the cemeterio de la familia de Eva Perón. Lunch was amazing at this restaurante called La Bistecca en Puerto Madero. This place was what we would call all-you-can-eat/tenedor libre, but so much better because the food is so rico/great. As great as lunch seemed, I accidentally tried octopus for the first time, thinking it was chicken, and almost threw up when someone told me what it actually was. This is bound to happen in a foreign country, and if you're wondering, I didn't like the octopus. Eww! Anything that has antennas or tentacles really grosses me out, and I'm not a seafood kind of person. After lunch we shopped around the city for a few hours and went out that night to this lounge that was built to look like a desert cave and had pictures of Indiana Jones hanging everywhere.

On Saturday we went to the official museum/mansion of Eva Perón. Her life was incredible and so were her clothes- all custom made from Europe. She did a lot of good things for the poor and sadly her life was cut short at33. Her coffin has been housed in 4 different countries and now is back in Arg. After the museum we went to my favorite place of all in BA- Boca. Boca is this pueblo on the far side of Buenos Aires that has building painted with bright rainbow colors. There are tango shows in the street and at any nearby cafe. The estadio/stadium of Boca Juniors fútbol team is here too. I love the feel of this place and there was even a small feria/tents of the artisans. That night we went to a tango show at a super elegant restaurante in Puerto Madero called Madero Tango. The show was amazing and had professional dancers and musicians. Buenos Aires is the birthplace of tango and to see one of the best shows in the city was an awesome experience for all of us. The featured dancer looked EXACTLY like Barbie- meaning too much plastic surgery for such a young girl, unfortunately this is common is BA.

On Sunday we packed and visited San Telmo, a place that hosts a feria cada Sunday. This feria was huge and you could hardly make you way through the streets because they were so full of people. I bought so many gifts here for friends/family and one thing in particular that I am so proud of- a real leather jacket, that cost less than 100 (US) dollars. Buen suerte! So many artisans. After that we went to el museo en Recoleta ,full of Argentine art. Upon leaving here, one girl in our group said a sweet goodbye to a boy that she met over the weekend. He actually met her a half hour later at the airport to say goodbye again, and now wants to visit her this week in Córdoba- again. It was a bit chistoso because we spotted him frantically running around the airport trying to find our friend, and after a few minutes of watching we decided to lend a hand and point him in the right direction.

The flight back was short and it felt good to be back. Buenos Aires is an amazing city and you MUST visit if you come to Argentina. TANGO-AMOR-AMIDSTAD