Just got back to córdoba last night from San Rafael, Mendoza! This pueblo is beautiful & is about 10 hrs south. We left Friday night from the center and went directly to white water river rafting the next morning in Cañón del Atuel (valle grande). I had never tried this before but it was actually pretty awesome and out of our whole group of 40-ma o meno- only one person fell out of the raft in the rapids. The river was surrounded by las sierras mountains on either side and I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. Next we ate asado and then took off to the mountains. We had to climb up a mountain to do repelling and tirolesa/or zip lining across the range. It was so amazing and I want to find a place to do these things in the states when I get back. Sunday we toured una bodega/vineyard/winery where we tried the wines (merlot, cabernet, etc) They eat dried fruit with the wine there which is actually a good combination. the ride back took longer than expected but it was worth the trip! I still want to visit the center of the medoza province sometime in julio!

ciao ciao

Just finished dinner and had the hardest time trying to explain to Graciela what a marshmallow is and what a smore is. If I can find the ingredients I'm going to make some for her. Also, she showed me her wedding pictures and when she was 20 she was drop dead gorgeous! (ahora tiene 70 años) I couldn't believe it was her.

This weekend I went to Carlos Paz with Graciela to visit her friend that has a casita/(little house for the weekends) there. There are five houses on the same property and they all belong to the brothers and sisters in her family. So pretty much every weekend they all drive out of córdoba to stay at their casitas and pass time with family. The weather was great and it's feeling like fall here. I went online to look for winter boots on an american website and realized that it's summer in the states so of course no one is selling them. Sin embargo todo bien porque voy a comprarlas acá, unas de cuero-ojalá!

This weekend everyone in our program is going on a trip to San Rafael, Mendoza!! Basically in any pueblo of Mendoza you drink wine, go river rafting, ride bikes/horses, and tour vineyards. Can't wait!

ciao ciao!

I scheduled for fall classes last night online== bad idea since the wifi (pronounced wee-fee acá) no funiciona todo del tiempo. Scheduling at W&J kind of sucks because classes are first come first serve. So I was supposed to sign up at 10, got ready to and then realized I forgot to factor in the time difference here!! Sin embargo, todo bien, I got into everything...after taking a half hour of searching for a signal!

Skipped class at the uni tonight to go with some friends on a ghost tour of Córdoba. Perfect night- cold and rainy. The tour was free and is offered every Tuesday the 13th. Acá in córdoba Tuesday the 13th is like our Friday the 13th- so how apropos is a ghost tour! First, we went to a haunted mansion that is now a museum and our tour group was so big the local news crews followed us. Then we went to el centro, underground, and below one of the busiest streets of córdoba to visit a crypta/crypt. The stairs to the crypt look like stairs to a subway and usually go unnoticed by everyone. Below are these cave like rooms that are supposedly haunted by sacerdotes/priests and the jesuits-- people who founded Córdoba. Supposedly the lights shut off by themselves, there are walking shadows on the ceilings, apparitions of priests, and black cat sightings. Regardless of if you believe in ghosts it was still awesome to see because most córdobeses don't even know the crypt is there. The guide told us that calle Belgrano (a well known street) has ghosts of caballos/horses and people have claimed to hear galloping of horses por las calles por las noches. Great tour!

-random but I was talking with Graciela at dinner about Christmas and she told me that Santa Claus/Papá Noel is a pagan and is not celebrated here!!!!! Pobres niños!

Hasta luego

Salta!

Just got back from Salta/Tucuman/Jujuy and had an awesome time! This area of argentina is one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. Basically our bus drove us through mountains of every color imaginable-purple, green, black, yellow, etc, vineyards, desert lands, and the pueblos in the surrounding provinces. Our hotel was in center of Salta, se llama Alto Parque (great hotel, cheap, in el centro) and we traveled on the bus every day of our trip. We left from Córdoba on Wednesday night and drove 12 hours north, stopping in Jesús María y Río Hondo. We got the best seats on the whole bus- 2^nd floor, first row with a panoramic view. Thursday, we drove through what looked like a rainforest that actually has wild pumas and monos/monkeys. We arrived at ‘Abra del infiernillo’ the top of a mountain at 3042 meters high and took pictures and met some of the locales. Note, the people of these regions are indigenous and look like what Americans would call Indians. The land is absolutely beautiful but also poor. It was hard to see tiny children begging for pesos, anything, one little boy said he would tell me a poem for 5 pesos!!! Adorable!! The mountain tour continued as we headed to Amaicha del Valle y la city of Cafayate en la Provincia de Salta, then to Valles Calchaquíes. The mountains are so beautiful and you can see the erosion up close. There were wild alpacas, llamas, and goats in the road and land. We stopped at a little area on the side of the road with a few artisan tents selling souvenirs and crafts. Some of the locales brought their animals- alpacas there for the tourists to take pictures with for a small donation. In the part of the mountains where we were, there lives hardly any people because there is limited water and no electricity. It was so sad to see that the only way people could make money was for tourists to take fotos with their animals. Next, was the pueblo of Tefi del Valle- muy lindo! We finally got to the hotel Thursday night and got dinner there. We met some of the nicest people on our tour bus that were from Córdoba. We shared mate and talked about our time in Argentina. Friday was a city tour of Salta and we stopped at a local artisan feria. There are two main cathedrals in the city on is called Iglesia Cathedral and it is completely painted pink with white pillars. The other, Iglesia de San Francisco, which is completely painted in Red with gold pillars and was built 500 years ago. That night we went to una peña folklórica- a dinner with a show of dancers and music of the culture of Salta. There are about 50 songs that every argentine knows and the musicians on stage kept playing them and inviting people from their dinner tables to come on stage and sing- which lasted all night/early morning. Saturday we went to Quebrada deHumahuaca- Purmamarca, Uquía, Humahuaca, y Maimará. We visited the Cerro de 7 colores- a famous mountain that has 7 colors because of the different minerals and erosion. This mountain is famous and stunning. Along the drive we stopped at the side of one mountain that had a huge crevice on the side that led to this cave area inside. We walked in and saw some musicians with native instruments and we stayed for a while to watch them play. It was incredible- we were inside of a mountain with hardly anyone except for these local musicians playing- I took a video. We didn’t end up seeing the woman who supposedly sees visions of the Virgin María/Mary. One woman took a taxi drive for almost an hour up the mountain to the house of this woman, but she wasn’t there because of the Easter/Pascua holiday. This may sound weird to Americans, but the people of Salta/Arg. really believe that this woman speaks to the Virgin Mary/ sees her and that she can heal people. Sunday we toured some more in San Miguel de Tucumán and visited the house of Independencia of Argentina. We arrived back in Córdoba late that night.

Overall great trip! If you travel to Argentina you must take a trip to Salta WITH A GUIDE. If you go without a guide it is impossible to see everything because the provinces are so spread out and you’ll waste time trying to make reservations.

This week back to clases at the uni and we are going to an international feria north of Cordoba that happens once a year and a music show.