Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Apologies
Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I went to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world last week and the trip was absolutely amazing. I can't really write about it now. About two days ago I started experiencing really bad flu symptoms and since then have been going to the clinic and sleeping. I don't want to sit in front of the computer for too long writing down everything, but I promise I will update when I can. My fever has gone down, basically gone, but right now I have a really red sore throat. Say a prayer for me if you can cuz last night they took samples from my nose and throat to send off to some institute to see if I have swine flu or not. And it's the last week of classes! Ugh...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
En America Latina, los perros dicen "Wau, Wau"
Hey there folks, Charlie here just to give you guys a little more of an update on how my life's been. Seeing as how I haven't been up to anything extremely exciting, this blog will talk about some BsAs and non-BsAs things. I'll start off with things unrelated to Argentina that have kind of been on my mind lately.
So I finally have a place to live when I get back to DC! I'm going to be living in a condo in McLean Gardens with Veasey, Ben, and Wasser, three of my best friends at AU. I'm gonna be splitting a room with Veasey that will prolly come out to between $700-750 per month, a very workable number. I can't wait to get back to see all these guys. As much fun as Buenos Aires is, I wish more than anything that I could have some time home with my friends. But hey, only 6 weeks left, so no probs. Besides the housing situation, in the eyes of American University, I am a senior. All my senior friends graduated about a week or so ago and I don't know exactly how I'm going to deal with it all when I get back. Some of those guys were my closest friends and we hung out almost every day. Not seeing them will be weird, also add on the fact that I'm gonna be one of the "old guys" in Pi Kapp. There's a whole group of 11 new guys that I don't even know and I'm gonna be meeting a whole new social circle. Weird, but things should work out well.
So anyways, things have been kinda slow lately. I've been saving some money by not going out as much and until this weekend hadn't left the city, let alone the house, all that much. I've kind of gotten to the point where there's nothing really new and exciting about the city itself. I'm not bored, just kind of enough into the groove of things that, I don't know, it's not as fresh and special as it was before. That, coupled with certain circumstances I've had down here, make me miss the US of A a bunch, but as I said, only 6 more weeks left. I'm gonna try to do a bunch of traveling in the next few weeks and that should be a hell of a lot of fun. As of right now, I have Patagonia, Salta/Mendoza, and hopefully Chile to look forward to. We'll see how the dinero situation goes.
Anyways, noteworthy things:
Last Sunday I went to the Buenos Aires Zoo with Emily. I took the subte there and met up with her and we bought passport passes so that we could get into all of the special sections and exhibits without having to pay at each one. It was a pretty good day and I got to have an experience that i haven't had in quite a while. My trips to the zoo in DC were ok, but there were a number of animals I didn't get to see and at the Buenos Aires Zoo I got to see elephants (which I had missed in DC) and many many more.
Then Saturday I went to the zoo in Lujan, a town in the province of Buenos Aires, with Kim and Brittany. Brittany and I left the house around 11, having told Kim that we would meet up with here around noon. When we got to Plaza Italia I was pretty hungry so we had a healthy, hearty meal of....McDonald's. Hey, it's quick, delicious, and perfect after a night of drinking. So Kim met up with us there and we walked over to the bus stop. Now, when we were originally doing our research we saw that a colectivo (bus) went right to the zoo, so 1)we though we'd only have to pay the standard peso and some change fare and 2)the ride would be half an hour tops. It turned out that we had to buy our tickets at this little stand, which were 20 pesos roundtrip. Once we were on the bus, we got a little loopy. Id don't know what it is about traveling with these girls, but we always get a bit silly. Anyway, after about 45 minutes of driving, it began to dawn on us that the trip wasn't going to be that short. It ended up taking 2 hours to get to the zoo. Unfortunately, the driver was kind of a jerk and, even though we had told him we were getting off at the zoo, he zipped right on past it on the way there. So instead we had to go all the way into the town of Lujan and take a cab to the zoo.
When we got there, we paid our far and walked straight to where the Lions and tigers are kept. Now, the one thing that clearly distinguishes this zoo from the one in Buenos Aires is the funding put into it and the living conditions for the animals. Now, when we saw employees interacting with the animals, it was clear that they really cared about the animals, but they were living in pretty shitty conditions. Pardon my language, but that's the only way I can think to adequately describe it. The animals basically just live in cages with nothing in the background that resembles a recreation of their home environment, its jsut stone slabs that they occasionally climb onto and small spaces to just pace around back and forth. A slightly less happy feeling than the other zoo. After seeing the lions and tigers, we walked over to hte sections where the rest of the animals were. We walked up to the petting area and signed little release slips saying we didn't hold the zoo accountable for anything that might happen to us with animals we would be interacting with
Now here's where we really felt gipped. The whole reason we wanted to go this zoo in the first place was because we had heard it was a place where you could touch animals like lions, tigers and bears. "Oh my!" right? WRONG. Apparently, a couple months back a journalist had gone to the zoo to write a piece about the zoo and since then they don't allow visitors to go up to the animals and take pictures with them anymore. Here's the kicker: it's not because the journalist uncovered some sketchy conditions or horrible accidents, but because the zoo didn't want to be a huge tourist attraction for these animals, that they stopped letting the public pet the big animals. Apparently now they only let special needs children do it. Needless to say, when we found all this out, we were a bit dishonored. The enjoyment of my whole day had been dependent on the fact that I'd be able to pet a freakin tiger. So what were we allowed to pet? Baby coats and calves. The girls really enjoyed it cuz they thought the animals were "soooo cute" but I could have cared less. These kids were not the ferocious, predatory kings of the jungle I had come to play with. Either way, we were able to ride camels and elephants, which was something more than little farm animals and cheered up my spirits a bit. We first went to the elephants, where the employees give you an ear of corn, you feed it to the elephant, get a picture petting him, and then get to ride another one. It was actually really cool to ride them. I think the last time I had done that had been my early years of elementary school, so it was cool to relive that again. Then we also got to ride the camels, which was even cooler for me because I didn't need an employee to ride on the animal with me. They led him along, but I was the only one on the thing. I felt childish, but in a fun, carefree way and smiled giddily for Brittany while she took pictures of me from the sidelines. Besides the animals you could interact with, we saw a number of monkeys, felines, a bear and baby lion cubs. One of the ksot interesting about these animals is that they have dogs living in their cages with them. In the baby cub cage, one dog kept on picking on a little cub, biting his tail even as the cub paced back and forth trying to avoid him. Now, I knoe this is how animals play, but it was pretty clear the cub wasn't feelin it. At one point the dog bit him pretty hard, close up to his backside and the cub had to turn around and bare its fangs. The dog didn't care and kept pestering him for a couple more minutes, but eventually led up. I don't think he realized what he was getting himself into. Although the cub is smaller than him now, in some time he'll easily be 5 times the size of the dog and when that happens I'm sure the dog will want to avoid being eaten by the thing. When we got back to the city that night, we had an asado at Kim's with Jessie and her visiting brother, mother, and her mother's boyfriend. It was a very windy night and we had some trouble lighting the fire. Fortunately, I came to the rescue and, utilizing the fire fanning lessons I'd gotten from Veasey all those weekends in PA, was able to get the fire going so all the coals would get lit. After the whole dinner us younger ones went to a pool bar near Kim's place and had a good ol' night.
Yesterday we went to a Boca Juniors soccer game, something I'd been dying to do since I got here. For those of you that don't know, within the city of Buenos Aires, the two biggest teams are Boca Juniors and River Plate, basically having the rivalry equivalent of the Yankees and Red Sox respectively. Fans of both sides will vehemently argue the superiority of their team and unabashedly disparage the abilities of the other one. Boca is the slightly popular one, so it seems the natural choice for one visiting the city. However, David Escudero being a River fan, I was originally gonna try to go to one of their games first, but I couldn't avoid this opportunity. Jessie's mom hooked us up with the tickets through her hotel and we all met there at 1pm to get on a tour bus that would take us to the game. In attendance that day were yours truly, Brittany, Jessie, Lucas, David, Kim and Mark. We got dropped off a little bit away from the stadium and had to walk through a series of blocked off roads and policemen to ensure security. Let me tell you, the last thing you want is a crazy futbol fanatico sneaking into the stadium with any sort of weapon, so I had no problems with it. On the way in I found a store selling Boca merchandise and bought an official jersey. When the game started, the section across from us began playing instruments and chanting Boca songs. Let me tell you, one of the most amazing displays of dedication I've ever seen in my life was these hundreds of fanaticos banging drums, blowing horns, waving flags and chanting a number of songs straight through the entire game. They literally never stopped, even for halftime when at least the musicians kept going. In the end Boca won and the stadium exploded with excitement. It was a pretty cool experience.
These are the lyrics to the chant that roared through the stadium when they won:
Bocaaaa
Boca de mi vida
vos sos la alegría
de mi corazooon
sabes todo lo que siento
te llevo acá dentro
de mi corazooon
Loosely translated:
Boca,
Boca of my life
you are the joy
of my heart
you know all that I feel
I carry you here inside
of my heart
Here's an audio clip of it: http://www.mundoazulyoro.com/Audios/BocaBocaDeMiVida.mp3
So I finally have a place to live when I get back to DC! I'm going to be living in a condo in McLean Gardens with Veasey, Ben, and Wasser, three of my best friends at AU. I'm gonna be splitting a room with Veasey that will prolly come out to between $700-750 per month, a very workable number. I can't wait to get back to see all these guys. As much fun as Buenos Aires is, I wish more than anything that I could have some time home with my friends. But hey, only 6 weeks left, so no probs. Besides the housing situation, in the eyes of American University, I am a senior. All my senior friends graduated about a week or so ago and I don't know exactly how I'm going to deal with it all when I get back. Some of those guys were my closest friends and we hung out almost every day. Not seeing them will be weird, also add on the fact that I'm gonna be one of the "old guys" in Pi Kapp. There's a whole group of 11 new guys that I don't even know and I'm gonna be meeting a whole new social circle. Weird, but things should work out well.
So anyways, things have been kinda slow lately. I've been saving some money by not going out as much and until this weekend hadn't left the city, let alone the house, all that much. I've kind of gotten to the point where there's nothing really new and exciting about the city itself. I'm not bored, just kind of enough into the groove of things that, I don't know, it's not as fresh and special as it was before. That, coupled with certain circumstances I've had down here, make me miss the US of A a bunch, but as I said, only 6 more weeks left. I'm gonna try to do a bunch of traveling in the next few weeks and that should be a hell of a lot of fun. As of right now, I have Patagonia, Salta/Mendoza, and hopefully Chile to look forward to. We'll see how the dinero situation goes.
Anyways, noteworthy things:
Last Sunday I went to the Buenos Aires Zoo with Emily. I took the subte there and met up with her and we bought passport passes so that we could get into all of the special sections and exhibits without having to pay at each one. It was a pretty good day and I got to have an experience that i haven't had in quite a while. My trips to the zoo in DC were ok, but there were a number of animals I didn't get to see and at the Buenos Aires Zoo I got to see elephants (which I had missed in DC) and many many more.
Then Saturday I went to the zoo in Lujan, a town in the province of Buenos Aires, with Kim and Brittany. Brittany and I left the house around 11, having told Kim that we would meet up with here around noon. When we got to Plaza Italia I was pretty hungry so we had a healthy, hearty meal of....McDonald's. Hey, it's quick, delicious, and perfect after a night of drinking. So Kim met up with us there and we walked over to the bus stop. Now, when we were originally doing our research we saw that a colectivo (bus) went right to the zoo, so 1)we though we'd only have to pay the standard peso and some change fare and 2)the ride would be half an hour tops. It turned out that we had to buy our tickets at this little stand, which were 20 pesos roundtrip. Once we were on the bus, we got a little loopy. Id don't know what it is about traveling with these girls, but we always get a bit silly. Anyway, after about 45 minutes of driving, it began to dawn on us that the trip wasn't going to be that short. It ended up taking 2 hours to get to the zoo. Unfortunately, the driver was kind of a jerk and, even though we had told him we were getting off at the zoo, he zipped right on past it on the way there. So instead we had to go all the way into the town of Lujan and take a cab to the zoo.
When we got there, we paid our far and walked straight to where the Lions and tigers are kept. Now, the one thing that clearly distinguishes this zoo from the one in Buenos Aires is the funding put into it and the living conditions for the animals. Now, when we saw employees interacting with the animals, it was clear that they really cared about the animals, but they were living in pretty shitty conditions. Pardon my language, but that's the only way I can think to adequately describe it. The animals basically just live in cages with nothing in the background that resembles a recreation of their home environment, its jsut stone slabs that they occasionally climb onto and small spaces to just pace around back and forth. A slightly less happy feeling than the other zoo. After seeing the lions and tigers, we walked over to hte sections where the rest of the animals were. We walked up to the petting area and signed little release slips saying we didn't hold the zoo accountable for anything that might happen to us with animals we would be interacting with
Now here's where we really felt gipped. The whole reason we wanted to go this zoo in the first place was because we had heard it was a place where you could touch animals like lions, tigers and bears. "Oh my!" right? WRONG. Apparently, a couple months back a journalist had gone to the zoo to write a piece about the zoo and since then they don't allow visitors to go up to the animals and take pictures with them anymore. Here's the kicker: it's not because the journalist uncovered some sketchy conditions or horrible accidents, but because the zoo didn't want to be a huge tourist attraction for these animals, that they stopped letting the public pet the big animals. Apparently now they only let special needs children do it. Needless to say, when we found all this out, we were a bit dishonored. The enjoyment of my whole day had been dependent on the fact that I'd be able to pet a freakin tiger. So what were we allowed to pet? Baby coats and calves. The girls really enjoyed it cuz they thought the animals were "soooo cute" but I could have cared less. These kids were not the ferocious, predatory kings of the jungle I had come to play with. Either way, we were able to ride camels and elephants, which was something more than little farm animals and cheered up my spirits a bit. We first went to the elephants, where the employees give you an ear of corn, you feed it to the elephant, get a picture petting him, and then get to ride another one. It was actually really cool to ride them. I think the last time I had done that had been my early years of elementary school, so it was cool to relive that again. Then we also got to ride the camels, which was even cooler for me because I didn't need an employee to ride on the animal with me. They led him along, but I was the only one on the thing. I felt childish, but in a fun, carefree way and smiled giddily for Brittany while she took pictures of me from the sidelines. Besides the animals you could interact with, we saw a number of monkeys, felines, a bear and baby lion cubs. One of the ksot interesting about these animals is that they have dogs living in their cages with them. In the baby cub cage, one dog kept on picking on a little cub, biting his tail even as the cub paced back and forth trying to avoid him. Now, I knoe this is how animals play, but it was pretty clear the cub wasn't feelin it. At one point the dog bit him pretty hard, close up to his backside and the cub had to turn around and bare its fangs. The dog didn't care and kept pestering him for a couple more minutes, but eventually led up. I don't think he realized what he was getting himself into. Although the cub is smaller than him now, in some time he'll easily be 5 times the size of the dog and when that happens I'm sure the dog will want to avoid being eaten by the thing. When we got back to the city that night, we had an asado at Kim's with Jessie and her visiting brother, mother, and her mother's boyfriend. It was a very windy night and we had some trouble lighting the fire. Fortunately, I came to the rescue and, utilizing the fire fanning lessons I'd gotten from Veasey all those weekends in PA, was able to get the fire going so all the coals would get lit. After the whole dinner us younger ones went to a pool bar near Kim's place and had a good ol' night.
Yesterday we went to a Boca Juniors soccer game, something I'd been dying to do since I got here. For those of you that don't know, within the city of Buenos Aires, the two biggest teams are Boca Juniors and River Plate, basically having the rivalry equivalent of the Yankees and Red Sox respectively. Fans of both sides will vehemently argue the superiority of their team and unabashedly disparage the abilities of the other one. Boca is the slightly popular one, so it seems the natural choice for one visiting the city. However, David Escudero being a River fan, I was originally gonna try to go to one of their games first, but I couldn't avoid this opportunity. Jessie's mom hooked us up with the tickets through her hotel and we all met there at 1pm to get on a tour bus that would take us to the game. In attendance that day were yours truly, Brittany, Jessie, Lucas, David, Kim and Mark. We got dropped off a little bit away from the stadium and had to walk through a series of blocked off roads and policemen to ensure security. Let me tell you, the last thing you want is a crazy futbol fanatico sneaking into the stadium with any sort of weapon, so I had no problems with it. On the way in I found a store selling Boca merchandise and bought an official jersey. When the game started, the section across from us began playing instruments and chanting Boca songs. Let me tell you, one of the most amazing displays of dedication I've ever seen in my life was these hundreds of fanaticos banging drums, blowing horns, waving flags and chanting a number of songs straight through the entire game. They literally never stopped, even for halftime when at least the musicians kept going. In the end Boca won and the stadium exploded with excitement. It was a pretty cool experience.
These are the lyrics to the chant that roared through the stadium when they won:
Bocaaaa
Boca de mi vida
vos sos la alegría
de mi corazooon
sabes todo lo que siento
te llevo acá dentro
de mi corazooon
Loosely translated:
Boca,
Boca of my life
you are the joy
of my heart
you know all that I feel
I carry you here inside
of my heart
Here's an audio clip of it: http://www.mundoazulyoro.com/Audios/BocaBocaDeMiVida.mp3
Thursday, April 23, 2009
La Gran Aventura
The sound of crashing water completely surrounding you, bouncing off the rock walls of the cliff behind you. You look in front of you, and across the river you see a line of people from all over the wall waiting for their turn to take a step down the wet, stone stairs so they can get closer to the little ferry boat that will carry them to the island you're on. You take off your sandals and allow the soft sand to burn the soles of your feet as it works its way through the cracks of your toes. Realizing that you can't stand in one place for more than a few seconds, you run to the little roped off swimming area. The water is clear and cool, and hundreds of small fish the size of toothpicks circle around your ankles, curiously nipping you as you wade through the water. You hear screams of excitement to your left as the next group of tourists are swept back and forth under a small waterfall, bathed in the fresh jungle water. At around 2PM this past Sunday, I was lucky enough to have that experience. Where you might ask? Iguazu Waterfalls in the Misiones province in northeastern Argentina, right on the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
On Friday afternoon, Jessie, Brittany, and myself grabbed a cab to the Retiro train station and bought our tickets for Puerto Iguazu at the Via Bariloche office on the upper level of the station. It was about 5PM, and Kim wasn't going to be out of class til 6, so we passed the time filling our stomachs with some food, having not eaten much earlier in the day while recovering from a night of partying. When Kim showed up, she went to go talk to the guy who worked at the ticket office, but neglected to bring her passport, and her passport # was exactly what she needed. Luckily enough, Kim knows her passport # and after showing her driver's license was allowed to get her ticket. Our bus left Retiro at 6:50 and for the first 40 minutes Kim and I bickered like an old married couple. She kept chastising me for forgetting to bring playing cards, something she was apparently looking forward to so that we had something to do while drinking the boxed wine we had bought for bus ride. I passed out for about 2 hours while they played a "Bienvenidos a Via Bariloche" video and awoke to dinner time. The food wasn't that great, but seeing as how I hadn't eaten much that day, it was very welcome. The bus then proceeded to play Nim's Island on the TV screens, a god awful movie in which absolutely nothing happens. Jessie, Kim and I then cracked into our boxes of wine, had a bit of conversation and eventually fell asleep.
We were woken up at 7AM the next morning by the bus attendant for breakfast, after which I passed out for the next 4 hours. We finally arrived at the bus terminal in the town of Puerto Iguazu around 2PM and purchased our return tickets after checking out all the different times on the schedule. This process, however, took quite a while because Kim didn't have her passport and the lady in the office had to call up some office to confirm her driver's license and passport number. Afterwards, we walked over to our hostel, Hostel Sweet Hostel, which was only 3 blocks away. We checked in and got into our rooms, which were actually the nicest I'd seen out of every hostel I had been to. We had air conditioning, our own bathroom and a pool! However, by the time we had settled in and everything, it was 3:30, which meant we wouldn't ahve time to really do anything at the Iguazu Park, so we walked into town, did a little bit of shopping and returned to the hostel. When we got back we signed up for an asado dinner and the girls did some swimming. I, of course, had forgotten my bathing suit. We headed to be around 11:30 because the next day we would have to get up bright and early to make it Iguazu in time to do all we could in the park.
We woke up the next morning and arrived at the national park around 10:30AM. We walked to the train station, only to find out that we would have to wait in line for about 30 minutes before getting to see La Garganta del Diablo, the largest and main waterfall of the park. We decided that since we had signed up for La Gran Aventura, a safari/boat ride tour program that took about an hour, we'd have to put La Garganta on hold so we could make our time for the tour. We walked to the Gran Aventura starting point and got our tickets. By this point it was about 12 and our tour didn't wouldn't start until 12:45, so we decided to walk through the upper circuit. Forgive me for not knowing the names of the waterfalls, but there are quite a few names on the website, sin mapa, so I can't really tell which is which. Either way, we got our first glimpse of some of the falls on the Argentine side, and it was absolutely amazing to see. Below the platform we were on there was a pool of water over rocks with holes that looked like moon rocks, which poured down to create a small waterfall. Across the way was a large wall of waterfalls that fell down onto different levels to create a beautiful scene of churning water against the green jungle background. After the upper circuit we made our way back to the tour station and began our tour. We got into a large truck with rows of seats and were led through a safari path by our guide Paula. On the trail we were surrounded by green, but couldn't see much into the jungle itself. The hanging bamboo creates a thick wall of greenery that prevented from really seeing into the jungle, but it was a great peaceful ride nonetheless. A couple time the truck drove beneath huge spiderwebs with spiders the size of golf balls sitting right in the middle.
After the safari ride, we walked down a path to the little beach area to board our boat for the second leg of the tour. The boat led us down the river, cutting left and right to make the trip exciting and we bounced up and down small rapids. It was a lot of fun and great to look at the rocky cliffs and jungle around us as we made our way to the waterfalls. We even had special bags to put all our stuff in for when we would get wet. The river finally opened up into the waterfall area, and straight ahead of us, although quite a distance away, was La Garganta. The view down the length of the river leading up to La Garganta was amazing and upon seeing I couldn't wait until we had the chance to get closer. We took our last pictures before being driven underneath some of the smaller waterfalls and getting drenched in our waterfall shower. We then drove up between Isla San Martin and the rocky cliff that the circuits followed and drove into a small "U" shaped area with beautiful waterfalls on the Argentine side and proceeded to drive through those waterfalls. Water crashed down around us and although you couldn't really keep your eyes open, it was extremely fun to feel the water pound down on your head, making you feel really "in" the experience. After that ride we were dropped off at Isla San Martin and we sat on hte beach and ate a lunch of food we had bought the night before. Cheese, bread, salami, grapes, crackers, oranges, apples, and wine. A perfectly sublime moment just sitting there observing the wonders of nature around us. We then went in the water for a bit and the girls started tanning. After a few minutes, we checked the time, 2:30 PM. We thought the last train to La Garganta was at 3:30 for some reason, and me and Kim wanted to walk up the trail on Isla San Martin to see the waterfalls in that area from a closer vantage point, so we decided to go up the trail and see everything, trying to make sure we got it done by 3:30. We got to the top and once again a breathtaking view. I'm sorry if my descriptions fall short of what you guys might want to hear to visualize it, but it's impossible to describe. The photos I have also only give you a taste what it's actually like to be there. Kim and I stared around us in awe at the top of the island, while a hippie couple stood across from us passing a joint between each other. It must have been especially wonderful and romantic for them that day. We then headed back, only to realize that it was almost 3:30PM. We got down to the beach as quick as we could, only to see that the girls had left...without taking our things. We got to the spot we were at to see both our bags just sitting unattended on the beach. Brittany and Jessie had left our bags, which held all my money, ipod and passport, so that they could run to get the last Garganta train. Needless to say, Kim and I were a little upset, but seeing that all our stuff was still there, we decided to brush it off. We caught ferry boat off the other line and figured that sine we missed La Garganta we would walk through the lower circuit and see the falls from the closer, lower paths. After all of that we walked back towards the train station and Kim overheard a man telling the people he was with that if they hurried, they could make the last train to La Garganta. Apparently we had been mistaken and seeing as how it was 4, we rushed to the station so that we could catch the last train. We made it just in time and got the train at 4:15. When we got to the Garganta station we walked down the path, which was an amazing view. While the other places in the park had been surrounded by jungle our busy touristy stuff, the path to La Garganta was much more reserved and tranquil, out of the hustle and bustle of tourism. Long bridges crossed the river and around us we were completely surrounded by shallow river that looked like marshes which went on for yards.
When we finally got to La Garganta, my jaw dropped at the sight of one of the most beautiful and immense things I've ever seen in my life. i literally felt like a speck of dirt compared to the size of the waterfall. Tons of water poured over the side of the cliff creating a wide and forceful wall of white water falling into the river, which you couldn't even really see due to all the mist shooting up from the bottom. Water sprayed us even from all the way up at the top of the cliff. As if that wasn't amazing enough, to the left we could see the river leading up to La Garganta from the area we had been earlier, a large panoramic view that was absolutely insanely beautiful. By the end of the day, Kim and I were lucky and got to see every single thing there was to see in the park and were completely satisfied with the day. The next day we checked out of the hostel and got onto our 18 hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires. Although it's behind me now, i will never forget a single moment I spent at Iguazu. There are few things in this world that will ever compare to that day in my memory. Seeing wonders like that have me starving to travel even more. I can't wait for the next couple of trips I'll make in Argentina and after graduating, I am going to work my butt off so I can save up to do some more traveling, either through more of Latin America, or maybe even over to Europe. There is so much to see in the world, so much outside of the little bubble of our lives, it's insane to stay put in the US if you can acquire the means to travel. God, well done on the perfect and awe-inspiring creation that is planet Earth.
Links to the albums from the trip:
Album 1
Album 2
On Friday afternoon, Jessie, Brittany, and myself grabbed a cab to the Retiro train station and bought our tickets for Puerto Iguazu at the Via Bariloche office on the upper level of the station. It was about 5PM, and Kim wasn't going to be out of class til 6, so we passed the time filling our stomachs with some food, having not eaten much earlier in the day while recovering from a night of partying. When Kim showed up, she went to go talk to the guy who worked at the ticket office, but neglected to bring her passport, and her passport # was exactly what she needed. Luckily enough, Kim knows her passport # and after showing her driver's license was allowed to get her ticket. Our bus left Retiro at 6:50 and for the first 40 minutes Kim and I bickered like an old married couple. She kept chastising me for forgetting to bring playing cards, something she was apparently looking forward to so that we had something to do while drinking the boxed wine we had bought for bus ride. I passed out for about 2 hours while they played a "Bienvenidos a Via Bariloche" video and awoke to dinner time. The food wasn't that great, but seeing as how I hadn't eaten much that day, it was very welcome. The bus then proceeded to play Nim's Island on the TV screens, a god awful movie in which absolutely nothing happens. Jessie, Kim and I then cracked into our boxes of wine, had a bit of conversation and eventually fell asleep.
We were woken up at 7AM the next morning by the bus attendant for breakfast, after which I passed out for the next 4 hours. We finally arrived at the bus terminal in the town of Puerto Iguazu around 2PM and purchased our return tickets after checking out all the different times on the schedule. This process, however, took quite a while because Kim didn't have her passport and the lady in the office had to call up some office to confirm her driver's license and passport number. Afterwards, we walked over to our hostel, Hostel Sweet Hostel, which was only 3 blocks away. We checked in and got into our rooms, which were actually the nicest I'd seen out of every hostel I had been to. We had air conditioning, our own bathroom and a pool! However, by the time we had settled in and everything, it was 3:30, which meant we wouldn't ahve time to really do anything at the Iguazu Park, so we walked into town, did a little bit of shopping and returned to the hostel. When we got back we signed up for an asado dinner and the girls did some swimming. I, of course, had forgotten my bathing suit. We headed to be around 11:30 because the next day we would have to get up bright and early to make it Iguazu in time to do all we could in the park.
We woke up the next morning and arrived at the national park around 10:30AM. We walked to the train station, only to find out that we would have to wait in line for about 30 minutes before getting to see La Garganta del Diablo, the largest and main waterfall of the park. We decided that since we had signed up for La Gran Aventura, a safari/boat ride tour program that took about an hour, we'd have to put La Garganta on hold so we could make our time for the tour. We walked to the Gran Aventura starting point and got our tickets. By this point it was about 12 and our tour didn't wouldn't start until 12:45, so we decided to walk through the upper circuit. Forgive me for not knowing the names of the waterfalls, but there are quite a few names on the website, sin mapa, so I can't really tell which is which. Either way, we got our first glimpse of some of the falls on the Argentine side, and it was absolutely amazing to see. Below the platform we were on there was a pool of water over rocks with holes that looked like moon rocks, which poured down to create a small waterfall. Across the way was a large wall of waterfalls that fell down onto different levels to create a beautiful scene of churning water against the green jungle background. After the upper circuit we made our way back to the tour station and began our tour. We got into a large truck with rows of seats and were led through a safari path by our guide Paula. On the trail we were surrounded by green, but couldn't see much into the jungle itself. The hanging bamboo creates a thick wall of greenery that prevented from really seeing into the jungle, but it was a great peaceful ride nonetheless. A couple time the truck drove beneath huge spiderwebs with spiders the size of golf balls sitting right in the middle.
After the safari ride, we walked down a path to the little beach area to board our boat for the second leg of the tour. The boat led us down the river, cutting left and right to make the trip exciting and we bounced up and down small rapids. It was a lot of fun and great to look at the rocky cliffs and jungle around us as we made our way to the waterfalls. We even had special bags to put all our stuff in for when we would get wet. The river finally opened up into the waterfall area, and straight ahead of us, although quite a distance away, was La Garganta. The view down the length of the river leading up to La Garganta was amazing and upon seeing I couldn't wait until we had the chance to get closer. We took our last pictures before being driven underneath some of the smaller waterfalls and getting drenched in our waterfall shower. We then drove up between Isla San Martin and the rocky cliff that the circuits followed and drove into a small "U" shaped area with beautiful waterfalls on the Argentine side and proceeded to drive through those waterfalls. Water crashed down around us and although you couldn't really keep your eyes open, it was extremely fun to feel the water pound down on your head, making you feel really "in" the experience. After that ride we were dropped off at Isla San Martin and we sat on hte beach and ate a lunch of food we had bought the night before. Cheese, bread, salami, grapes, crackers, oranges, apples, and wine. A perfectly sublime moment just sitting there observing the wonders of nature around us. We then went in the water for a bit and the girls started tanning. After a few minutes, we checked the time, 2:30 PM. We thought the last train to La Garganta was at 3:30 for some reason, and me and Kim wanted to walk up the trail on Isla San Martin to see the waterfalls in that area from a closer vantage point, so we decided to go up the trail and see everything, trying to make sure we got it done by 3:30. We got to the top and once again a breathtaking view. I'm sorry if my descriptions fall short of what you guys might want to hear to visualize it, but it's impossible to describe. The photos I have also only give you a taste what it's actually like to be there. Kim and I stared around us in awe at the top of the island, while a hippie couple stood across from us passing a joint between each other. It must have been especially wonderful and romantic for them that day. We then headed back, only to realize that it was almost 3:30PM. We got down to the beach as quick as we could, only to see that the girls had left...without taking our things. We got to the spot we were at to see both our bags just sitting unattended on the beach. Brittany and Jessie had left our bags, which held all my money, ipod and passport, so that they could run to get the last Garganta train. Needless to say, Kim and I were a little upset, but seeing that all our stuff was still there, we decided to brush it off. We caught ferry boat off the other line and figured that sine we missed La Garganta we would walk through the lower circuit and see the falls from the closer, lower paths. After all of that we walked back towards the train station and Kim overheard a man telling the people he was with that if they hurried, they could make the last train to La Garganta. Apparently we had been mistaken and seeing as how it was 4, we rushed to the station so that we could catch the last train. We made it just in time and got the train at 4:15. When we got to the Garganta station we walked down the path, which was an amazing view. While the other places in the park had been surrounded by jungle our busy touristy stuff, the path to La Garganta was much more reserved and tranquil, out of the hustle and bustle of tourism. Long bridges crossed the river and around us we were completely surrounded by shallow river that looked like marshes which went on for yards.
When we finally got to La Garganta, my jaw dropped at the sight of one of the most beautiful and immense things I've ever seen in my life. i literally felt like a speck of dirt compared to the size of the waterfall. Tons of water poured over the side of the cliff creating a wide and forceful wall of white water falling into the river, which you couldn't even really see due to all the mist shooting up from the bottom. Water sprayed us even from all the way up at the top of the cliff. As if that wasn't amazing enough, to the left we could see the river leading up to La Garganta from the area we had been earlier, a large panoramic view that was absolutely insanely beautiful. By the end of the day, Kim and I were lucky and got to see every single thing there was to see in the park and were completely satisfied with the day. The next day we checked out of the hostel and got onto our 18 hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires. Although it's behind me now, i will never forget a single moment I spent at Iguazu. There are few things in this world that will ever compare to that day in my memory. Seeing wonders like that have me starving to travel even more. I can't wait for the next couple of trips I'll make in Argentina and after graduating, I am going to work my butt off so I can save up to do some more traveling, either through more of Latin America, or maybe even over to Europe. There is so much to see in the world, so much outside of the little bubble of our lives, it's insane to stay put in the US if you can acquire the means to travel. God, well done on the perfect and awe-inspiring creation that is planet Earth.
Links to the albums from the trip:
Album 1
Album 2
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Una semana de Rock y Tristeza
So, at the request of Diamira, my mother, and I'm sure many others I am sitting down once again to write another entry. The truth is, before this past week I didn't really have too many crazy stories to share with you all. My travels have been put on hold due to school and a serious lack of planning on my part. In fact, i should be on my way to Chile tomorrow...but that will come later. Over the past couple of weeks, essentially since Lucas's cumple, I have been making more of an attempt to integrate myself into the little bubble of Buenos Aires that is La Casa de Vainilla. Befoe i continue, let me write down the names of all the people living here to spar you anymore confusion:
Lucas - Colombia
Suji - South Korea
Hugo y Ivana - Argentina
Antonio - Mexico
Jorge y David - Costa Rica
Jessie and Brittany - American University
Anyway, a couple weeks ago i went out with Jessie, Brittany and Suji for Lucas's birthday. Where was he do you ask? Well, apparently the chicos from Costa Rice had something special planned for him that included taking a train ride 45 minutes away, a lot of alcohol, and a stripper. The girls and I had no idea this was being planned and when i emerged from my room after watching yet another cliffhanger ending from Lost, I saw the girls downstairs looking a little bit pissed off. I asked what happened and when we were leaving, and they told me all of what happened. Determined to still have a fun night, we went to this place called Bar Cervecero that has probably 100 different types of beer and chatted for a while about the situation. i also got to talk to Suji more, and explain why sometimes i have been so secluded from the rest of the house because I tended to stay in my room. Sometimes it was Lost, sometimes it was homework, sometimes it was a movie, and sometimes I just wanted alone time. But i explained to her about how we would hang out more and how i was originally looking forward to the night so I could have a night where all of us in the house hung out and bonded. Anyway, over the past few weeks this has greatly improved, especially when Suji became invested in helping me work on my Argentine love life.
Moving past boring classes and nights of endless barhopping, last Saturday I was able to have a truely amazing concert experience. Since I began school at BCA, I have gotten into a lot of rock, particularly metal and on Saturday i got to see the metal gods that are the members of Iron Maiden. Unfortunately I went by myself because people down here aren't all too fond of metal and there was no way I was passing up the chance to see Iron Maiden for a significantly reduced price from what it would be in the States. I hopped into a cab at about 5:30PM and after a 36 peso cab ride arrived at Velez-Sarsfield stadium. i walked into the stadium and was escorted to my seat where I remained awkwardly waiting for a band to start so I could look less lonely and try and enjoy some new music. One things that's interesting about South America is its love for good ol' rock and roll. Rock down here isn't so much defined by a certain genre you listen to, like emo, experimental, post-hardcore, whatever. The opening band was a generic rock band, but not necessarily a bad way. They weren't my favorite, but I could appreciate their sound and what they were trying to do. Then came an actual Argentine metal band, sort of like a spanish Symphony X. They actually rocked pretty hard and had some decent breakdowns and solos. Then came American band Sepultura. Pure s***. Finally, after a series of fake intros due to what must have been technical errors and sound checking, Iron Maiden came on stage, opening with clips from their new "Flight 666" DVD and opening with their classic Winston Churchill soundbite. Then straight into "Aces High"! I believe next was "Powerslave" and from that point on I don't remember much. But they basically played every song i love by them and it was an amzing experience. My head hurt like hell from all the headbanging the next day, but it was so worth it. There's no way to describe a packed, 42,000 crowd of argentinos jumping, chanting futbol songs and singing along to one of the greatest metal bands in history. The best part was a father son duo in front of me (the kid couldn't be older than 8) bonding over the whole show. The kid was rocking out almost harder than even I was and in that moment I realized that someday I would need to have that same experience with my son. Moments like that make me appreciate the fact that music is such an integral part of my life. How could something as beautiful as that bonding experience ever be denied as the most powerful expression of the soul and its communication with the rest of the world? The only thing that sucked about that night was that I had to walk for an hour and a half down Juan B. Justo before catching a cab, which dropped me off far from my house, where to the left of me were tranny hookers and to the right a militant Worker's Party demonstration at 2AM in Balvanera. Yeah, I felt safe...
Anyway, the next day all of us in the house went out to the Sunday feria in Recoleta and checked out some homemade merchandise and chilled on a hill watching a lone guitarist captivate the audience as the feria closed. It was a great day to bond more with Lucas and Suji and for all of us to do something together and I had a great time, aside from making some purchases that I can't wait to share when i get back home.
Over the course of the week I had started to hang out a lot more with some other people outside of AU. I became better friends with this girl Caroline from Rochester. Finally someone who actually listens to my music! Alexisonfire...hell yes. Anyway, me, her, Mark and her housemate went to good ol' La Bomba and I had an ok time, although for the entire show i was separated from them because of the ridiculously, tightly-packed crowd. Caroline didn't have too great of a time too and ended up having to leave due to some douchebag Colombians. Basically, anytime you go anywhere, I suggest that you all buy your own drinks. That Wednesday I went out for the birthday of another friend, Mara, who goes to GW. That night was fun, until I got to the point where I don't remember much except that once I got home I lost most of my dinner. No worries though, friends and family, I wasn't irresponsible! These things just happen sometimes, especially during a friend's birthday celebration. Then Friday i had an even better concert experience. I went to see Opeth, one of my favorite metal bands, and actually the first band I ever saw perform live. All of the openers sucked, but I was somehow able to bare through it. I eventually met an Australian guy who spoke no spanish and helped translate for him the rest of the night as we enjoyed Opeth. They didn't play all the songs I wanted, mostly just older, lesser known ones, but it was great nonetheless. It was like a freaking religious experience, losing myself completely in Mikael's voice and insane guitar solos and powerful riffs. I have never experienced anything like it before. Now people may criticize me all they want about the types of music I listen to, but you cannot tell me anything about music if you cannot appreciate Opeth. I don't care what anyone has to say. If you had been there, you wouldn't have been able to do anything but stare in awe and I will never listen to anyone who speaks a bad word against them.
Saturday I ended up goin out with Brianna, another girl from GW, and some of her friends and actually had a great time. I stayed out til about 7AM and got home at 7:30, promptly proceeding to cook up some spaghetti with Italian dressing because I needed some food and thought it sounded delicious. Lucas and Suji laughed as I made it, but it was great. I then slept until about 1:45 and felt like crap all day, extremely tired. Then that night I went to Kim's because Mark's family was visiting and we were having another asado (argentine BBQ). The food was absolutely delicious and his family was very entertaining. The only problem was that my nose was extremely runny and I felt like crap the whole night. When I got home, my constantly dripping nose made it impossible to fall asleep right away. After about half an hour I fell asleep, woke up 2 hours later, had to wait another 45 minutes before falling asleep again, and so on for the rest of the night. I got horrible sleep last night. Then today I felt even worse, developing a 101 degree fever and having to cancel my planned trip to Chile with Caroline and our friend Chris tomorrow. They're still going and I wish with everything I was healthy enough to go. I was ready to get out of here and spend some quality time with new friends...but God does not want it to happen. After canceling out trip to Salta, I thought Chile would be safer and a bit more fun. But no, as per usual, I got screwed out of two awesome trips for circumstances completely out of my control. All I know is when I actually do go to Salta with Caroline sometime in the coming months, nothing better come up. So tonight I just laid in bed, reading for tomorrow's classes and registering for my fall classes. I should get to sleep right now so I can feel healthy for a week of...what is it...oh yeah, a week where nearly all my closest friends are out traveling, having the Easter weekend of their lives and I'm stuck in BsAs sniffling my way through boxes of rough tissues.
Lucas - Colombia
Suji - South Korea
Hugo y Ivana - Argentina
Antonio - Mexico
Jorge y David - Costa Rica
Jessie and Brittany - American University
Anyway, a couple weeks ago i went out with Jessie, Brittany and Suji for Lucas's birthday. Where was he do you ask? Well, apparently the chicos from Costa Rice had something special planned for him that included taking a train ride 45 minutes away, a lot of alcohol, and a stripper. The girls and I had no idea this was being planned and when i emerged from my room after watching yet another cliffhanger ending from Lost, I saw the girls downstairs looking a little bit pissed off. I asked what happened and when we were leaving, and they told me all of what happened. Determined to still have a fun night, we went to this place called Bar Cervecero that has probably 100 different types of beer and chatted for a while about the situation. i also got to talk to Suji more, and explain why sometimes i have been so secluded from the rest of the house because I tended to stay in my room. Sometimes it was Lost, sometimes it was homework, sometimes it was a movie, and sometimes I just wanted alone time. But i explained to her about how we would hang out more and how i was originally looking forward to the night so I could have a night where all of us in the house hung out and bonded. Anyway, over the past few weeks this has greatly improved, especially when Suji became invested in helping me work on my Argentine love life.
Moving past boring classes and nights of endless barhopping, last Saturday I was able to have a truely amazing concert experience. Since I began school at BCA, I have gotten into a lot of rock, particularly metal and on Saturday i got to see the metal gods that are the members of Iron Maiden. Unfortunately I went by myself because people down here aren't all too fond of metal and there was no way I was passing up the chance to see Iron Maiden for a significantly reduced price from what it would be in the States. I hopped into a cab at about 5:30PM and after a 36 peso cab ride arrived at Velez-Sarsfield stadium. i walked into the stadium and was escorted to my seat where I remained awkwardly waiting for a band to start so I could look less lonely and try and enjoy some new music. One things that's interesting about South America is its love for good ol' rock and roll. Rock down here isn't so much defined by a certain genre you listen to, like emo, experimental, post-hardcore, whatever. The opening band was a generic rock band, but not necessarily a bad way. They weren't my favorite, but I could appreciate their sound and what they were trying to do. Then came an actual Argentine metal band, sort of like a spanish Symphony X. They actually rocked pretty hard and had some decent breakdowns and solos. Then came American band Sepultura. Pure s***. Finally, after a series of fake intros due to what must have been technical errors and sound checking, Iron Maiden came on stage, opening with clips from their new "Flight 666" DVD and opening with their classic Winston Churchill soundbite. Then straight into "Aces High"! I believe next was "Powerslave" and from that point on I don't remember much. But they basically played every song i love by them and it was an amzing experience. My head hurt like hell from all the headbanging the next day, but it was so worth it. There's no way to describe a packed, 42,000 crowd of argentinos jumping, chanting futbol songs and singing along to one of the greatest metal bands in history. The best part was a father son duo in front of me (the kid couldn't be older than 8) bonding over the whole show. The kid was rocking out almost harder than even I was and in that moment I realized that someday I would need to have that same experience with my son. Moments like that make me appreciate the fact that music is such an integral part of my life. How could something as beautiful as that bonding experience ever be denied as the most powerful expression of the soul and its communication with the rest of the world? The only thing that sucked about that night was that I had to walk for an hour and a half down Juan B. Justo before catching a cab, which dropped me off far from my house, where to the left of me were tranny hookers and to the right a militant Worker's Party demonstration at 2AM in Balvanera. Yeah, I felt safe...
Anyway, the next day all of us in the house went out to the Sunday feria in Recoleta and checked out some homemade merchandise and chilled on a hill watching a lone guitarist captivate the audience as the feria closed. It was a great day to bond more with Lucas and Suji and for all of us to do something together and I had a great time, aside from making some purchases that I can't wait to share when i get back home.
Over the course of the week I had started to hang out a lot more with some other people outside of AU. I became better friends with this girl Caroline from Rochester. Finally someone who actually listens to my music! Alexisonfire...hell yes. Anyway, me, her, Mark and her housemate went to good ol' La Bomba and I had an ok time, although for the entire show i was separated from them because of the ridiculously, tightly-packed crowd. Caroline didn't have too great of a time too and ended up having to leave due to some douchebag Colombians. Basically, anytime you go anywhere, I suggest that you all buy your own drinks. That Wednesday I went out for the birthday of another friend, Mara, who goes to GW. That night was fun, until I got to the point where I don't remember much except that once I got home I lost most of my dinner. No worries though, friends and family, I wasn't irresponsible! These things just happen sometimes, especially during a friend's birthday celebration. Then Friday i had an even better concert experience. I went to see Opeth, one of my favorite metal bands, and actually the first band I ever saw perform live. All of the openers sucked, but I was somehow able to bare through it. I eventually met an Australian guy who spoke no spanish and helped translate for him the rest of the night as we enjoyed Opeth. They didn't play all the songs I wanted, mostly just older, lesser known ones, but it was great nonetheless. It was like a freaking religious experience, losing myself completely in Mikael's voice and insane guitar solos and powerful riffs. I have never experienced anything like it before. Now people may criticize me all they want about the types of music I listen to, but you cannot tell me anything about music if you cannot appreciate Opeth. I don't care what anyone has to say. If you had been there, you wouldn't have been able to do anything but stare in awe and I will never listen to anyone who speaks a bad word against them.
Saturday I ended up goin out with Brianna, another girl from GW, and some of her friends and actually had a great time. I stayed out til about 7AM and got home at 7:30, promptly proceeding to cook up some spaghetti with Italian dressing because I needed some food and thought it sounded delicious. Lucas and Suji laughed as I made it, but it was great. I then slept until about 1:45 and felt like crap all day, extremely tired. Then that night I went to Kim's because Mark's family was visiting and we were having another asado (argentine BBQ). The food was absolutely delicious and his family was very entertaining. The only problem was that my nose was extremely runny and I felt like crap the whole night. When I got home, my constantly dripping nose made it impossible to fall asleep right away. After about half an hour I fell asleep, woke up 2 hours later, had to wait another 45 minutes before falling asleep again, and so on for the rest of the night. I got horrible sleep last night. Then today I felt even worse, developing a 101 degree fever and having to cancel my planned trip to Chile with Caroline and our friend Chris tomorrow. They're still going and I wish with everything I was healthy enough to go. I was ready to get out of here and spend some quality time with new friends...but God does not want it to happen. After canceling out trip to Salta, I thought Chile would be safer and a bit more fun. But no, as per usual, I got screwed out of two awesome trips for circumstances completely out of my control. All I know is when I actually do go to Salta with Caroline sometime in the coming months, nothing better come up. So tonight I just laid in bed, reading for tomorrow's classes and registering for my fall classes. I should get to sleep right now so I can feel healthy for a week of...what is it...oh yeah, a week where nearly all my closest friends are out traveling, having the Easter weekend of their lives and I'm stuck in BsAs sniffling my way through boxes of rough tissues.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Lo siento
This isn't really a blog entry, I was just going through the last one and realized just how many errors there are in it. Sorry for the typos! I'll try to keep it all in order from now on
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Sigo olvidando...
Hola everyone! Right about now you'd probably like to ask me "Charlie, where the H-E-Double hockeysticks have you been?" Well, I believe its been about 3 weeks since I last wrote? A lot has happened since then and I've just been busy living life. I'd love to keep you guys updated all the time, and I know you're all eager to hear new stories and whatnot, but I kind of just write this at my leisure. I want a record of the things I've done, but for the most part this experience for me is more about living this life than writing it all down. But it has been way too long, and a lot of things have happened, so I won't be able to go write all of what has happened. But the main points...
Exactly 3 weeks ago I took my final for the Intensive Spanish course, and did pretty well on it. All he kids in the program also went on a trip to El Tigre, only a bus ride out of the city. We all went kayaking and I, in my infinite, received the smallest most emasculating life vest. Once we actually got into the water, it too ka while for me and my partner Amy to get ourselves situated in the water. I was steering us (imagine how great a job I did) and we kept bumping into boats, even hitting the one some middle-aged couple was getting into as they left the little port area. Anyway, once we actually got out into the river, I got the hang of it all. It was a very peaceful trip, floating by quaint little riverside houses. For a while I felt just like Huck Finn, lazying his way down the river without a care in the world. The serenity was only really broken by large tour boats that made me paddle faster than I ever thought I could. We finally arrived at this little beach-like island, with a volleyball court, ice cream stand, and of course because it's Argentina, a bar. After that long trip we all got out and just chilled for about 2 hours, playing some V-ball, swimming in the river a bit, and downing our Quilmes yet again. A great evening.
That night was Emily's birthday, and we all went out to eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then pregamed our actual night out on the town with more than a few bottles of wine. We finally actually went out at about 2AM, but the bar we wanted to go to was closed, so we headed over to good ol' Plaza Serrano, which is always open. We danced and shared some drinks at a bar called Madagascar, then headed over to a 24 hour place at around 4AM. By that point in the night we had all partied pretty hard, but a few of us just kept going. Unfortunately, due to some of the activities of the night, me and Jessie got into a big fight, so I told her off and found a cab to take me home. The cab driver and I shared a lively conversation about how we didn't understand women during the ride home and literally 20 seconds after stepping out of the cab realized I left my phone in the car. Just my luck, he was too far to call back. By that time it was about 6 in the morning and there was no point in sleeping for 2 hours before class the next morning, so stayed up took the colectivo over there, groggy and still a little silly. This was our last class and when we got there, I was one of 6 ppl that had bothered to show up, so it didn't matter much when I left class early so I could get some sleep. I aced the final and needed nothing more.
Flash forward to the next week! Orientation for international students has begun! We got there early in the morning and I was refreshed to see the main lobby of UCA. For the last 3 weeks, we had been taking class with kids from this one abroad program, AIFS. Needless to say, we don't like them that much, so it was nice to see about 100 new faces and people from all over to interact with. The first activity we did was a scavenger hunt in groups and I got to meet some nice people. Of course, my team won and got free Mate gourds. By the way, I'm bringing mate back to hte states with me. It's a way of life down here and I'll look like a totally cultured, hip kid sitting on the quad sipping on some mate throughout the day...Anyway, the rest of the week was a mic of boring lectures that served almost no purpose except to bore us to death and wish we were out in a park just sitting and talking. I, in fact, did this on Wednesday when we were supposed to be having our tango lessons. I was kind of interested in learning it a little bit, but by that point I was getting tired of that scene and only about 30 kids actually attended anyway. Instead I made some new friends had a nice evening at the park. I also registered for classes that week and by the end of it all found UCA to be even more incompetent than AU. Yes, I know, pretty hard to believe. But when your registration system is comprised of two people standing at oppositesides of a stage, handing out numbered tickets for the order in which to register, without any sort of efficient line system so that a mob of kids just attack you to be able to register, then after that only have two guys with laptops registering students one at a time, you kind of lose your credibility. I mean, we're goin to what's considered to be one of the best schools in the city, if not the best, and they can't get their stuff together? No offense, but oh, Latin America! The nice thing is I only have class tuesday-Thursday, for 4 day weekends every week, sweet!
Moving on (this is already longer than I wanted it to be). After orientation week we all had one week before classes actually started, so me and 5 of our other friends went on a trip to Uruguay. We left that next Monday via ferry and arrived in the small, tourist town of Colonia. The place was simple and beautiful. We spent about one hour just hanging out on a pier, taking pictures and admiring the beautiful scene around us. It was probably the most peaceful moment that I had spent down here up to that point. Afterward we walked into the historical part of the town, up and down cobblestone roads, stopped at a little souvenir store, then headed over to the town lighthouse. Me, Brittany, Emily and Mark walked up the spiral staircase to the top where we had a ridiculous view of the city. I could see the whole town and looking out as far as I could see I knew that this had to be the beginning of a great trip. The pictures I took show an amazing view, but those photos don't compare to the feeling of being up there with a perfect sea breeze cooling you down in the hot summer weather.
A bit later we took a bus into the city of Montevideo and I arrived at my first hostel shortly after getting there. The hostel, Che Lagarto, was pretty chill and easy to live in. Me, Kim and Emily shared a room with 2 Brazilians and one guy from Uruguay. We didn't do much that night but get dinner cause we had been on a long trip. During dinner, however, we met some kids from GW that are going to UCA with us and I made a couple new friends. The next day we walked through the town and went to a little Feria Artesanal where people sold hand-made crafts that were absolutely stunning to look at. Windcatchers, jars, necklaces, leather bags, mate gourds, wind chimes, you name it. i made a purchase there for the sis and afterward we went to eat some lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out in the plaza outside of our hostel. At night we got dinner and went to a bar that was named....get ready for it....I'm already getting excited thinking about it.....The Prancing Pony! For those of you not cool enough to know, the Prancing Pony is the bar where the Hobbits were suppose to meet Gandalf in Bree after escaping from The Shire and where Frodo first wore the One Ring, and where they met Aragorn. Ring any bells? Guess not, but it was a cool moments for me when I realized and saw the movie posters on the wall. There was a chill live band there and we later met up with the GW kids and hung out with them the rest of the night. The next day we awoke to a freaking tropical storm. It didn't feel like much in the morning, and on the bus to the seaside beach town of Punta del Diablo, but once we actually got there it was a different story. The weather was ridiculous with the strongest wind I've ever felt and cold, stinging rain that we trudged our way through for about 45 minutes. By the time we actually found El Diablo Tranquilo, our hostel, we were soaked. We dropped our stuff in the room, and realizing that we were already soaking wet, decided to go out into the ocean for a little storm swim. The water was wonderfully warm (check out that alliteration) and it felt completely freeing. The fact that the storm hadn't calmed much didn't matter because that memory will be burned in my mind for the rest of my life. Afterwards we hung out a bit then got dinner at a restaurant where I ordered shark, which was muy rico. Sooo good. That night, the bars were closed so everyone came to the hostel to party and drink. There were soooo many people either under the influence or a bit tipsy, it was very surreal. I didn't get bad, but some people were just...idk...silly lol. And the power went out at least 3 times that night. At a certain point I had had enough and just went down to sleep. The next day was a bit better, not storm, just the occasional light showers so we were actually able to go chill out on the beach. While the others were laying down taking in some sun I sat on this little lifeguard post and just sat on hte edge of the wooden floor and stared at everything around me. Once again, any description or photo would'nt do justice to what the actual experience was like. That was the most peaceful moment I've had since I've been down here. That night, unfortunately, my allergies decided that I had had it too easy this entire trip and started kicking in, so I was unable to hang out with the others at night and went to sleep early. The next day was bright, sunny and gorgeous. We walked into town and went to the little craft stores in the area, where I purchased some more items and ate a nice seafood lunch with Mark. We spent the rest of the say just chilling on the beach laying on the beach and swimming through the water a bit.
Now, to conclude things, this week classes started for me. Unfortunately, I think God might have thought I had been enjoying my time a little too much because halfway through Monday I started feeling sick. I hung out with Mark, his visiting friend from home, and his roommate. We walked to the Botannical Gardens and took some pictures then headed over to the zoo, only to find out they were closed on Mondays. We then made a long long long long long walk to the Recoleta Cemetery which contains the graves of many prominent argentinos, including the heroine Eva Peron. You know, Evita, Don't cry for me Argentina, all that stuff... Once we stopped for lunch however, my knees were hurting, I felt really warm and weak and my skin was real sensitive. After buying some new sneakers (the other pair was ruined in Punta del Diablo) I went home and rested up. I had class the next day, which was alright. Unfortunetely, around 3pm I started feeling crappy again and didn't go to my last class of the day because I barely had the strength to hold myself up during the previous class. Today I didn't leave the house for fear that the sickness would come back, and only went out for some food and my International Migrations class, which was pretty boring. i though my sickness was done, but my headache came back a little later, followed by some very unpleasant stomach issues that I refuse to describe. Anyway, seeing as how it's 3:15 here and I have class tomorrow morning, I'm gonna hit the hay. Hopefully I'll be returned to full health tomorrow and will be able to have some fun instead of spending the day shut up in my room like the rest of this week has been. Night y'all, hope everyone in the states is alright and just want to let you all know that I miss you more than you know. This whole not seeing friends and family thing is not cool, but I'm at least living it up in South America with nice summer weather.
Exactly 3 weeks ago I took my final for the Intensive Spanish course, and did pretty well on it. All he kids in the program also went on a trip to El Tigre, only a bus ride out of the city. We all went kayaking and I, in my infinite, received the smallest most emasculating life vest. Once we actually got into the water, it too ka while for me and my partner Amy to get ourselves situated in the water. I was steering us (imagine how great a job I did) and we kept bumping into boats, even hitting the one some middle-aged couple was getting into as they left the little port area. Anyway, once we actually got out into the river, I got the hang of it all. It was a very peaceful trip, floating by quaint little riverside houses. For a while I felt just like Huck Finn, lazying his way down the river without a care in the world. The serenity was only really broken by large tour boats that made me paddle faster than I ever thought I could. We finally arrived at this little beach-like island, with a volleyball court, ice cream stand, and of course because it's Argentina, a bar. After that long trip we all got out and just chilled for about 2 hours, playing some V-ball, swimming in the river a bit, and downing our Quilmes yet again. A great evening.
That night was Emily's birthday, and we all went out to eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then pregamed our actual night out on the town with more than a few bottles of wine. We finally actually went out at about 2AM, but the bar we wanted to go to was closed, so we headed over to good ol' Plaza Serrano, which is always open. We danced and shared some drinks at a bar called Madagascar, then headed over to a 24 hour place at around 4AM. By that point in the night we had all partied pretty hard, but a few of us just kept going. Unfortunately, due to some of the activities of the night, me and Jessie got into a big fight, so I told her off and found a cab to take me home. The cab driver and I shared a lively conversation about how we didn't understand women during the ride home and literally 20 seconds after stepping out of the cab realized I left my phone in the car. Just my luck, he was too far to call back. By that time it was about 6 in the morning and there was no point in sleeping for 2 hours before class the next morning, so stayed up took the colectivo over there, groggy and still a little silly. This was our last class and when we got there, I was one of 6 ppl that had bothered to show up, so it didn't matter much when I left class early so I could get some sleep. I aced the final and needed nothing more.
Flash forward to the next week! Orientation for international students has begun! We got there early in the morning and I was refreshed to see the main lobby of UCA. For the last 3 weeks, we had been taking class with kids from this one abroad program, AIFS. Needless to say, we don't like them that much, so it was nice to see about 100 new faces and people from all over to interact with. The first activity we did was a scavenger hunt in groups and I got to meet some nice people. Of course, my team won and got free Mate gourds. By the way, I'm bringing mate back to hte states with me. It's a way of life down here and I'll look like a totally cultured, hip kid sitting on the quad sipping on some mate throughout the day...Anyway, the rest of the week was a mic of boring lectures that served almost no purpose except to bore us to death and wish we were out in a park just sitting and talking. I, in fact, did this on Wednesday when we were supposed to be having our tango lessons. I was kind of interested in learning it a little bit, but by that point I was getting tired of that scene and only about 30 kids actually attended anyway. Instead I made some new friends had a nice evening at the park. I also registered for classes that week and by the end of it all found UCA to be even more incompetent than AU. Yes, I know, pretty hard to believe. But when your registration system is comprised of two people standing at oppositesides of a stage, handing out numbered tickets for the order in which to register, without any sort of efficient line system so that a mob of kids just attack you to be able to register, then after that only have two guys with laptops registering students one at a time, you kind of lose your credibility. I mean, we're goin to what's considered to be one of the best schools in the city, if not the best, and they can't get their stuff together? No offense, but oh, Latin America! The nice thing is I only have class tuesday-Thursday, for 4 day weekends every week, sweet!
Moving on (this is already longer than I wanted it to be). After orientation week we all had one week before classes actually started, so me and 5 of our other friends went on a trip to Uruguay. We left that next Monday via ferry and arrived in the small, tourist town of Colonia. The place was simple and beautiful. We spent about one hour just hanging out on a pier, taking pictures and admiring the beautiful scene around us. It was probably the most peaceful moment that I had spent down here up to that point. Afterward we walked into the historical part of the town, up and down cobblestone roads, stopped at a little souvenir store, then headed over to the town lighthouse. Me, Brittany, Emily and Mark walked up the spiral staircase to the top where we had a ridiculous view of the city. I could see the whole town and looking out as far as I could see I knew that this had to be the beginning of a great trip. The pictures I took show an amazing view, but those photos don't compare to the feeling of being up there with a perfect sea breeze cooling you down in the hot summer weather.
A bit later we took a bus into the city of Montevideo and I arrived at my first hostel shortly after getting there. The hostel, Che Lagarto, was pretty chill and easy to live in. Me, Kim and Emily shared a room with 2 Brazilians and one guy from Uruguay. We didn't do much that night but get dinner cause we had been on a long trip. During dinner, however, we met some kids from GW that are going to UCA with us and I made a couple new friends. The next day we walked through the town and went to a little Feria Artesanal where people sold hand-made crafts that were absolutely stunning to look at. Windcatchers, jars, necklaces, leather bags, mate gourds, wind chimes, you name it. i made a purchase there for the sis and afterward we went to eat some lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out in the plaza outside of our hostel. At night we got dinner and went to a bar that was named....get ready for it....I'm already getting excited thinking about it.....The Prancing Pony! For those of you not cool enough to know, the Prancing Pony is the bar where the Hobbits were suppose to meet Gandalf in Bree after escaping from The Shire and where Frodo first wore the One Ring, and where they met Aragorn. Ring any bells? Guess not, but it was a cool moments for me when I realized and saw the movie posters on the wall. There was a chill live band there and we later met up with the GW kids and hung out with them the rest of the night. The next day we awoke to a freaking tropical storm. It didn't feel like much in the morning, and on the bus to the seaside beach town of Punta del Diablo, but once we actually got there it was a different story. The weather was ridiculous with the strongest wind I've ever felt and cold, stinging rain that we trudged our way through for about 45 minutes. By the time we actually found El Diablo Tranquilo, our hostel, we were soaked. We dropped our stuff in the room, and realizing that we were already soaking wet, decided to go out into the ocean for a little storm swim. The water was wonderfully warm (check out that alliteration) and it felt completely freeing. The fact that the storm hadn't calmed much didn't matter because that memory will be burned in my mind for the rest of my life. Afterwards we hung out a bit then got dinner at a restaurant where I ordered shark, which was muy rico. Sooo good. That night, the bars were closed so everyone came to the hostel to party and drink. There were soooo many people either under the influence or a bit tipsy, it was very surreal. I didn't get bad, but some people were just...idk...silly lol. And the power went out at least 3 times that night. At a certain point I had had enough and just went down to sleep. The next day was a bit better, not storm, just the occasional light showers so we were actually able to go chill out on the beach. While the others were laying down taking in some sun I sat on this little lifeguard post and just sat on hte edge of the wooden floor and stared at everything around me. Once again, any description or photo would'nt do justice to what the actual experience was like. That was the most peaceful moment I've had since I've been down here. That night, unfortunately, my allergies decided that I had had it too easy this entire trip and started kicking in, so I was unable to hang out with the others at night and went to sleep early. The next day was bright, sunny and gorgeous. We walked into town and went to the little craft stores in the area, where I purchased some more items and ate a nice seafood lunch with Mark. We spent the rest of the say just chilling on the beach laying on the beach and swimming through the water a bit.
Now, to conclude things, this week classes started for me. Unfortunately, I think God might have thought I had been enjoying my time a little too much because halfway through Monday I started feeling sick. I hung out with Mark, his visiting friend from home, and his roommate. We walked to the Botannical Gardens and took some pictures then headed over to the zoo, only to find out they were closed on Mondays. We then made a long long long long long walk to the Recoleta Cemetery which contains the graves of many prominent argentinos, including the heroine Eva Peron. You know, Evita, Don't cry for me Argentina, all that stuff... Once we stopped for lunch however, my knees were hurting, I felt really warm and weak and my skin was real sensitive. After buying some new sneakers (the other pair was ruined in Punta del Diablo) I went home and rested up. I had class the next day, which was alright. Unfortunetely, around 3pm I started feeling crappy again and didn't go to my last class of the day because I barely had the strength to hold myself up during the previous class. Today I didn't leave the house for fear that the sickness would come back, and only went out for some food and my International Migrations class, which was pretty boring. i though my sickness was done, but my headache came back a little later, followed by some very unpleasant stomach issues that I refuse to describe. Anyway, seeing as how it's 3:15 here and I have class tomorrow morning, I'm gonna hit the hay. Hopefully I'll be returned to full health tomorrow and will be able to have some fun instead of spending the day shut up in my room like the rest of this week has been. Night y'all, hope everyone in the states is alright and just want to let you all know that I miss you more than you know. This whole not seeing friends and family thing is not cool, but I'm at least living it up in South America with nice summer weather.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Che, Palos, y Yankys
So this won't be too long of a post, but it was a pretty big deal. Today after Spanish class, while me, Jessie, Mark and Emily were sitting in a restaurant enjoying some lunch, something happened that I had never really expected to see. We were all on the second floor of the restaurant sitting at a table right next to the window. Emily glanced out the window, looking down at Avenida Corrientes and said "Hey look at that cop smoking a cigarette." Mark and Jessie began snickering, thinking that it was another one of Emily's funny observations and kind of poked fun at the fact that she thought a cop smoking a cigarette on a motorcycle was so weird. Within the next minute, the cop was joined by about five others, and at this point it actually seemed like a noteworthy sight. The next thing we know, there was a large procession of people walking down Corrientes. Nearly all of them were wearing bandanas, covering their faces. They held signs that said things like "Down with Israel" and "Get out Yankees". Most interesting of all was that nearly all of them were carrying wooden sticks, basically little clubs. As the procession continued, more anti-American posters and large flags bearing Che Guevara's face passed by us. The protesters were also chanting something we couldn't hear from inside. Needless to say, it made us feel a little bit uncomfortable. I had never seen anything like it in person before. Before we left the restaurant, we decided not to speak while we walked back down Calle Florida towards our Subte stops. The last thing we wanted, after seeing that, was for people around us to hear Emily's strong Virginia accent.
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