Vamos a Decirnos Adios, Como Se Debe (Let's Say Goodbye, like We Know We Should)

For those of you that know me, I stress... When I travel it's 10 times worse. I was scheduled to fly out of Buenos Aires Tuesday night, so naturally I had my bags nearly packed by Sunday night. :-) I just needed to figure out how much of my papers I could or wanted to being back and do some last minute shopping - aka get another suitcase and figure out what I could purchase with any remaining pesos. (on a side note, I spent all of my pesos with the exception of a few cents - yay!)

Sunday I finally went to the reserva ecológica (ecological reserve) in Puerto Madero and spent an hour or so walking around enjoying the gorgeous 65 degree 'winter' weather. I ate my last choripan (grilled sausage on a bun) in costanera norte (northern coast) and found a great green space  with tons of families enjoying the afternoon. Too bad I hadn't discovered this say, 6 months ago...

Monday I went to Parque de la Memoria (Memorial Park) in the coatanera sur (southern coast) which is dedicated to los desaparecidos (those who disappeared during the dictatorship.) it was a grey day and really brought a somber feeling to the already touchy subject. (most argentines never talk about the dictatorship nor mention Menon's name.) 

Last time I was in Argentina, I never discussed this subject nor heard anyone mention it. This time around  I got a much better picture of why things are the way they are currently in Argentina, as we heavily discussed the topic in my literature and political classes. 

Monday night I went to La Bomba de Tiempo - a drum show. It was a lot of fun.. and I couldn't believe they played for 2 hours solid! Afterwards we went to someone's apartment for dinner and then attempted to go to Frank's Secret Bar in Palermo.... However the girls who wanted to go there hadn't checked to see if it was open and sure enough it was closed. Epic fail. 

Tuesday I got up and went to the aduana to get information for my senior honors project. (I almost forgot I was supposed to be researching that while in Argentina - oops!) I was able to get a lot of pertinent information, so that was wonderful. For my last meal I went to Desnivel in San Telmo to eat my last asado (grilled meat) and finished off the day by getting ice cream with Bianca. I love ice cream and Argentine ice cream is no exception. Think soft serve with hundreds of flavors and add-ins. Every shop has a few of their own special flavors, so I tried a white chocolate ice cream with orange and  cookies covered in chocolate. It was delicious and tasted like an orange dream-sickle, but better. 

Carmen and Orlando graciously picked me up at 5 to head to the airport and we arrived around 6. There was a short line to check in for Continental, but tons of people for other airlines and more would be coming later. We went to a cafe and I had my first and last (at least this time around) submarino (steamed milk that you put a bar of chocolate in to make hot chocolate) 

I made my way to migrations and the scan of my carry on luggage - there were a TON of people and about thirty 15 year old Argentine girls in front of me traveling to the US in celebration of their quince - 15th birthday. (think sweet 16) An hour+ later I was waiting in my terminal and headed home. :-)

I sat next to a young guy who was born in the US, but his family is from Buenos Aires. During the dictatorship his parents moved to New York where he and his siblings were born. (so he has an American passport) they all studied in the US and he is the only one who stayed to work here. His parents and siblings  now live in Buenos Aires. I had never personally met anyone who moved to escape the dictatorship, so that was neat. It was also nice to talk to someone in Spanish and ease into the whole speaking English deal..

I cleared customs and went to claim my luggage, only to check it in again. I had minutes to spare by the time I reached the scan for the carry on luggage and walked quickly/ran to catch my connecting flight to Chicago. (I wouldn't have run except for the fact that they had 2 last calls for my flight and I was definitely not there. So yes, I was one of those people) 

I seem to have bad luck with traveling - last time the travel agent booked my ticket from Buenos Aires to Corrientes when I was in Corrientes needing to get to Buenos Aires. When I finally arrived, Carmen and Orlando rushed me to the other airport on the other side of town and I arrived 30 minutes prior to take off. (not to mention that there was a paro - protest - that day and one of the streets that cut the city in half was inaccessible.) While Orlando went to park, Carmen took charge and helped me skip the long waiting lines to check my luggage and saw me off to the migrations area. I was definitely the very last person on my flight!

Either way, I made it home!! :-D The next 3.5 weeks will be ridiculously busy as I start work on Monday and the move back to school at the end of the third full week to start training for my CA/RA job. However I still have a lot I want to blog about, so stay tuned if you're interested. If not, thanks for reading up until this point and sharing my journey with me. I hope my posts weren't terribly boring and they shed some light on Argentina, it's people and it's culture. 

A Series of "Lasts"

Well my Argentine adventure is coming to an end, but not without it's last surprising (or not so surprising) moments...

Saturday night I enjoyed a delicious dinner of fish and guiso (similar to a casserole, but not really) for Maria's birthday with the family before heading to Bora Bora with all the cousins for one last night filled with dancing until the wee morning hours. Sunday was spent sleeping and recovering with a traditional locro (soup) and staying warm by the fire. 

Tuesday night the electricity went out for a few hours in Santa Rosa and all the surrounding towns. Not to worry, you can still drink mate with the help of a friend's dual purpose cell phone (comes with a built in flashlight) and of course any planned party still takes place. :-) 

I couldn't leave without taking my last cumbi (like a 15 passenger van) to Corrientes at 4:30am the next morning to re-live all of my previous trips between Santa Rosa and Corrientes from my other exchange year. 

While in Corrientes, I was able to visit my old host family where one of my host sisters now has a 6 month old baby. I also had my last helping of homemade  gnocchis (noodles made out of potato) at a friend's old host family. It was fun to catch up with everyone and talk about the good ol' days ;-)

The rest of the days were spent in all of my favorite spots: Cabana for a ham & cheese panini with a peach smoothie, walking the centro (open air shopping area) eating chipacitos (bite-sized cheese bread) from La Reina and enjoying ladies night at Cristobal with a delicious pizza with hearts palm and salsa golf - mm!

In addition, I had some new experiences which included going to the police station (no worries - I wasn't arrested or harmed in any way), watching Argentina play in La Copa America, getting a hair cut (more on that later) and eating at *gasp* McDonalds. In all fairness, I only broke my rules  because I was told it has a distinct taste since they use Argentine beef ... However I don't frequent McD's enough in the States to really know.

My final trip to Santa Rosa/Corrientes ended with a customary stop at the Lezcano's house to say goodbyes and snap a few pictures with the adorable Pilar. I flagged down my last Apipe remis (taxi)  and I was off to the (bus) terminal. 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but I really hate goodbyes and leaving the familiarity of a place that I feel so much a part of... But who knows, someday I will probably be back and will be able to go to all my favorite spots once again :-)

Coffee

For anyone that's a fan of coffee, one may be disappointed when ordering coffee in a cafe in Argentina. For those of us who are addicted to americanos, forget about it...unless you break the rules and go to Starbucks. Which by the way has super ugly international travel mugs this year -sad!

Most cafes serve the following: café, jarrito, café con leche, lagrima, and café cortado. Let me translate that in terms you can identify with...

Café - essential a shot of espresso

Jarrito - double shot of espresso

Café con leche - coffee with hot milk 

Lagrima - mostly hot milk and a little bit of coffee

Café cortado - coffee with a little bit of hot milk

Or in a series of bad translations that I recently stumbled upon...

Café chico - coffee guy (small coffee)

Café grande - great coffee (large coffee)

Lagrima - tear coffee

Depending on the coffee shop, coffee may mean regular coffee or espresso. American sized coffees do not exist and you don't see people getting their coffee to go. (extremely rare and most places don't even have this option) However, coffees generally come with a shot glass of water for when you finish, and accompanied by a mini alfajor or cookie complementary. At certain coffee chains, you can get something similar to a flavored latte, but this is rare and usually seasonal.

Traveling for Le$$

Who doesn´t love traveling and who doesn´t love saving money? I´m always surprised by the number of young people don´t know of some simple ways save money and still do what you wanted to do, so I thought I would share some of my tips and tricks..

If you´re a student in Argentina, you can actually use that pesky student visa we had to apply for. (Shocking, I know!) As you will quickly find out...museums, theaters, tours and other tourist attractions have different prices for residents and foreigners. However, with your student visa and residence paper you are in fact an Argentine resident :-) for example, you can visit Iguazu waterfalls for $10 instead of $25

If you aren´t a student, you can still get a discount by going on the free or discounted day of the museums. Most have a day every week that they don´t charge admission to anyone, but some only have this for students. In other cases, they have a 50% off discount on certain days of the week. Try combining this discount with the resident discount and viola - double the discount! If you tour Teatro Colon on a Monday it's half price, so only $8 or if you're a resident, $2.50

Be sure to check out the free cultural events put on by the government. (http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/cultura/) There is always something exciting to see instead of taking an afternoon siesta. 

Want to travel around the country? No problem - public transportation is great AND you can save money by using it. The colectivos that go to other parts of the country are housed in Retiro, but you can check their schedules online at Plataforma 10 or Omni Lineas

Students get a 20% discount when traveling by colectivo by showing a letter from the university saying you are a student there (certificado de regularidad), your passport & university ID card (and bringing a photocopy of both)

If you prefer flying (not advised with this volcanic ash), reserve your tickets online and go to an Aerolineas Argentinas office with your passport and visa. If you have a student visa (thus you have residency), you pay the same price as an Argentine. 

If you're planning on staying awhile, you will probably purchase a cell phone. Since 90% of cell phones here are pay as you go, you will spend a significant amount on communication. Texts to someone with the same service provider are around 50 cents and more expensive if someone has a different service provider. Calls are $1+ depending on the person's service provider, area code and if you are calling a land line - which I would NOT advice unless you have tons of prepaid credit on your phone. For calls to land lines, go to a telecabaña, as they are significantly cheaper.

However, you can sends texts for free via the company's website. For example, if Susy has a phone with personal, go to www.personal.com.ar to text her. If Bobby has claro, go to http://www.claro.com.ar/portal/car/  Most service providers also have favorite numbers (números amigos). So if you put on a certain amount of credit each month, you can call one number for free and text another for free. 

Things I will NOT Miss

Having to leave extra early to take public transportation and accounting for the occasional paro (strike), traffic jam or crazy soccer fans that make the trains stop working and los colectivos change their routes

Stepping on any and all cracks, crevices and broken or loose sidewalk tiles... Which ALWAYS had nasty, dirty liquid underneath that sprayed my feet every single day

Watching where I walk, not only because of the tiles, but because sidewalks aren't surrounded by grass. No big deal, right? Except for the fact that dogs are as numerous as students and you can count on them having left a present or two or three for you to step in

Polluted breathing air - you can especially tell a difference with the volcanic ashes in the mix

Overpriced goods thanks to inflation, but I'll miss the cheap services!

Being dripped on by the buildings as I walk by... I'm pretty sure I'm the only one this happens to though because I've asked other people and they never get dripped on

Being whistled at / yelled at / clucked at / muttered at / stared at / given cheesy pick up lines / you name it by every other guy anywhere I go... Police officers, men in business suits, old men, young boys, construction workers, security guards, waiters, etc etc

Being spoken to in English - especially when I talk to the person in Spanish

*although as most of you probably know, overall I love it here so this is in no way a knock on BA, just things that I can definitely do without*

Free Things Everyone Should Do in B.A.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a planner. I plan everything - despite the fact that you just can't possibly account for certain things. I'm also a big fan of doing everything humanly possible when I travel and thankfully these planning skills come in handy.


Over the past 5 months, I've (re-)discovered some awesome activities that everyone should do if WHEN they visit B.A. :-) Since students and tourists are constantly pouring into the country, I thought I'd share a few...


..in no particular order..

• 9 de julio and the obelisk - walk across the widest street in the world and take a picture with the famous obelisk

• Reserva ecológica and the costanera sur - take a walk down on the trails by the river and forget that you're in the city. You'll be surrounded by a variety of trees, grasses, birds and other species
• Floralis generica - the giant metal flower that opens during the day and closes at night is a must-see!

• B.A. Free Tours - the best way to see B.A. is to walk and what better way to learn about a city than to go on a free walking tour! One covers everything from congreso to the casa rosada and the other focuses on aristocratic B.A. (Don't worry, they are English tours.)
• La Casa Rosada - on the weekend, take a tour of where the president works and see where Evita once lived

• Cementerio de Recoleta - wander the city's first public cemetery, where you can see the burial grounds of hundreds of famous Argentines... don't miss out on the short tour for some of the highlights
• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) - Home to the largest collection of Argentina’s national fine arts, however you can also see a great number of European pieces
• La Boca - see the colorful neighborhood on the edge of the city, where the houses are painted bright colors. Don't miss out on the caminito (its most famous street)

• Teatro Colon - attend a free function every month. It's an awesome way to experience the theater. (They also offer cheap tours...)
• Ferias - San Telmo and Plaza Francia are two big ferias (craft fairs) in the city that you should visit on the weekend, but you can undoubtedly find others throughout the city - Belgrano, Palermo (Plaza Serrano), Parque Centenario

Feria de San Telmo

• Florida - not the state, but rather the street that is filled with shops, street venders and tango shows -- rain or shine
• Puerto Madero - a clean, modern neighborhood filled with tall office buildings, ships and the puente de la mujer bridge. A good place to eat an asado or get coffee with some friends 

Asado

Teatro Colon

First things first, this marks my 33rd post in the past five months - success! (Considering I only blogged 32 times in a nine month period the last time I was in Argentina.)

On to more interesting topics...Teatro Colon, which is considered one of the top five in the world. It is especially well-known for its acoustics and its architectural value. (Interesting fact: they don't use any microphones and you can hear even the slightest whisper.) A few years back, it celebrated its 100th birthday.

About a month ago, I went on a guided tour. The theater was built over a period of 20 years, due to the death of two of the three architects. (The first one died a year after starting the project and the second one was killed by his butler when the butler found out he had an affair with his wife.) Due to this, one can see varying styles of architecture within the building, depending on which architect carried out that specific project.

In 2006, restoration of the theater began. This process took 4 years, 1500 individuals and $100 million to complete. This makes sense when you consider that the theater takes up the whole city block and that it has three levels underground, which houses the tallers ... in other words, the shops needed to create everything the theater needs - costumes, wigs, backdrops, etc. (Interesting fact: everything used in the theater is made there.)

This morning, I had the opportunity to go to Teatro Colon and listen to Cuarteto Petrus for free in great seats! (More on that later) For anyone into music, they played Felix Mendelssohn: Capriccio en Mi menor; Anton Arensky: Variaciones sobre un tema de Tchaikovski, Op.35 a; José Bragato: Tres movimientos porteños; and Maurice Ravel: Cuarteto en Fa. It was neat because Mr. Bragato was present ...and because the theater is breath-taking! I'll leave you all with a tidbit of the concert. :-) 

A Bittersweet Realization

Today as I was passing through migrations in Uruguay to get on the boat back to Argentina, I realized that today is June 12th...Thirty days until the day I have been dreading for the last five months - July 12th. Why you ask? The very day I will be in Ezieza International Airport boarding a plane to return to Iowa.

Maybe "dreading" isn't the best word choice, but pretty much. Let me explain... Unlike most college students, I'm not dreading living with my parents for 3 weeks. And I am definitely not dreading seeing my family, boyfriend or friends, but that comes with the realization that I don't know when I'll see my Argentine friends and adopted family again (or my study abroad friends for that matter). I can't even begin to explain how sad that makes me.

Many talk about culture shock when going to new countries, but few people know of reverse culture shock. I have never had a problem with culture shock, but reverse culture shock gets me every time. Summer 2007 is still a blur to me.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely have a list of things to do and places to go when I get back, but going from a life in a city of 14 million people to one of 300,000 or 50,000 has no comparison.

I found a good explanation of reverse culture shock from the study abroad student handbook (http://www.studentsabroad.com/reentrycultureshock.html):

Reverse culture shock is usually described in four stages:

- Disengagement
- Initial euphoria
- Irritability and hostility
- Readjustment and adaptation

Stage 1 begins before you leave your host country. You begin thinking about re-entry and making your preparations for your return home. You also begin to realize that it's time to say good-bye to your friends abroad and to the place you've come to call home. The hustle and bustle of finals, good-bye parties, and packing can intensify your feelings of sadness and frustration. You already miss the friends you've made, and you are reluctant to leave. Or, you may make your last few days fly by so fast that you don't have time to reflect on your emotions and experiences.

Stage 2 usually begins shortly before departure, and it is characterized by feelings of excitement and anticipation - even euphoria - about returning home. This is very similar to the initial feelings of fascination and excitement you may have when you first entered your host country. You may be very happy to see your family and friends again, and they are also happy to see you. The length of this stage varies, and often ends with the realization that most people are not as interested in your experiences abroad as you had hoped. They will politely listen to your stories for a while, but you may find that soon they are ready to move on to the next topic of conversation.

This is often one of the transitions to Stage 3. You may experience feelings of frustration, anger, alienation, loneliness, disorientation, and helplessness and not understand exactly why. You might quickly become irritated or critical of others and of U.S. culture. Depression, feeling like a stranger at home, and the longing to go back abroad are also not uncommon reactions. You may also feel less independent than you were while abroad.

Most people are then able to move onto Stage 4, which is a gradual readjustment to life at home. Things will start to seem a little more normal again, and you will probably fall back into some old routines, but things won't be exactly the same as how you left them. You have most likely developed new attitudes, beliefs, habits, as well as personal and professional goals, and you will see things differently now. The important thing is to try to incorporate the positive aspects of your international experience while abroad with the positive aspects of your life at home in the United States.

Obviously this process is different for everyone and not all steps will apply to each individual, but in googling reverse culture shock I came across a comment from a girl that I completely identify with...

"Reverse culture shock sucks. It's so hard to sum up an entire semester abroad in a conversation let alone as an answer to 'so what exactly did you while you were in Argentina?'"

I also enjoyed some sarcastic advice from: http://www.women-on-the-road.com/reverse-culture-shock.html

"Fill your backpack. Carry it around with you every day, even to work. Then lock it to your desk and look back furtively each time you take a few steps away."

So in a month if you see me with my backpack or struggling to find the right word in English, you'll know why :-)

A Successful Day

Finally - a successful day! After a not so successful Saturday, which was spent waiting and waiting and waiting, I welcomed an action-packed Sunday.

I slept in, had my cup of coffee and was off. There was nobody in the street as I waited...and waited...and waited for the colectivo. It finally came, but failed to stop for me. (crazy colectivero) The next colectivo was as equally full as the first, but I literally squeezed in. At the next stop, he let people climb on through the rear door. I´m pretty sure a majority of the riders didn´t pay, as it was impossible to reach the machine to put your coins in.

I started out the day by visiting the National Library, which in all honesty, I thought was going to be much cooler than it was. (Probably due to the fact that I wasn´t getting a tour -- only Fridays at 3pm -- and I was allowed to go to the 6th floor to ¨study with my materials¨ or the 5th floor to check out/reference books. The 6th floor was full of people drinking mate and studying and the other wing was closed, so I have no idea what was in it. The 5th floor was equally as drab...a few computers to look up reference materials, a row of lockers to put your belongings in, a circulation desk for when you wanted to get a book and a security guard who wouldn´t let you pass unless you only had your notes and the form you had to fill out to get in the library. All purses, drinks, books and other belongings needed to be put in a locker. If you wanted a book, you had to look it up on the computer and then tell the desk what book you wanted. I bet the 1, 2, 3 and 4th floors were much more interesting, but they were off-limits. It did have an interesting piece of art outside and a weird structure to the building, so I guess it isn´t all bad.

I proceeded to aimlessly walk around Recoleta, an exclusive neighborhood in BA, and stumbled upon some lovely buildings before making my way to one of the five most famous cemeteries in the world for the 2 PM tour. In 1822, the Recoleta Cemetery was the first public cemetery in Buenos Aires and is the final resting place of some of Argentina's richest and most powerful citizens - national heroes, former Argentine presidents, soldiers, scientists, writers and other celebrities - like Evita.

There are few individuals buried underground, as the majority are housed in ornate buildings. These buildings have 2 floors underground (about 7 meters) and some even have space for individuals above the main room. Many had stained glass works, but interestingly enough, they were created for the person who peers in the building from the outside. (Not for the person who looks at the window from the outside of the building.)

It was interesting seeing the graves of many of the writers that I have been learning about in my literature classes, especially Eugenio Cambaceres' daughter, Rufina, who died in 1902 at the age of 19. She was getting ready to go Teatro Colon when she fell to the floor unconscious. She was pronounced dead and thus buried, despite having only suffered a catalepsy attack. (The heart beats, but extremely slowly and the body becomes rigid.) Her grandmother (who was in France at the time) didn't believe that Rufina had died, so she hoped on a boat and arrived a few months later. She got permission to see the body and when they opened the casket they saw Rufina's hands all scratched up from trying to get out. She unfortunately died of suffocation and her grandmother had this monument made for her in the cemetery.

After the tour, I walked around the feria (artesian fair) to purchase a few things I had been meaning to get and drank mate in the plaza with some friends while taking in the different shows - a band and then Brazilian martial arts - before heading home to bundle up for the next item on my bucket-list ... an Argentine soccer game!

I've never been a huge fan of soccer, but I must say the game kept me entertained. The hinchas (biggest fans) were cheering from the moment they walked into the stadium and the atmosphere was laid-back, but you could tell the fans meant business. It was 0-0 for what seemed like forever and then the other team scored a goal. There was a 5-year old boy behind us who kept screaming profanities at the players and fans were not happy. If River (the soccer team) lost the game, they would be endanger of dropping down a league. Thankfully they got their act together, scored a goal, and the crowd went wild!! They had a few more close goals, but the game ended in a tie.

The River fans had to wait in the stadium as security escorted the visiting fans out of the stadium and into their buses. (Each stadium has a special section for visitors.) I had a lot of fun, despite not being a River fan *BOCA, BOCA* I can't believe I didn't go to a game sooner, but next time I come to Buenos Aires, I will be sure to schedule in a few. :-)

Staying Informed

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like a lot has happened since I've been in Argentina:

• Extreme flooding in Brazil
• Japanese earthquake and tsunami
• Multiple tornadoes in the U.S.
• Earthquake in Spain
• ...and now the Chilean volcano 

It may also be that I don't pay that much attention to the news when I'm in the States, but I feel like I would have been informed of any worldly news items of this magnitude. Either way, the recent eruption of the Chilean volcano doesn't make me want to visit Chile anytime in the near future (even thought I had planned on it when I first got to Argentina).

A few days ago, a friend was supposed to fly into Buenos Aires from the Bariloche area, but the flights were cancelled due to the ashes that covered everything and when I saw them on tv...it reminded me of a snow storm. Today, I heard that these ashes will be arriving in Buenos Aires tomorrow! The volcano located is more than 1,000 km from here, but due to the direction and speed of the wind, ashes have already arrived in other parts of the province of Buenos Aires.  We shall see...

I'll leave you with the post be CNN, which has pictures: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/06/thousands-evacuate-ashes-spread-after-chilean-volcano-erupts/?hpt=wo_t1

OVNI

Dinner last night was interesting... Miguel (one of my "host family's" sons) came over for dinner and the wife actually ate with us! There was a lot of conversation, especially in comparison to the usual dinner where the owner talks and talks and talks and never seems to stop. (But really, I don't even have to comment or anything because he just keeps talking....)

Either way, they were all excitedly talking about OVNIs and I understood Omnis (colectivo). In any case, I wasn't really paying that close of attention to the conversation until I could no longer avoid not chiming in. They were talking about how craters were formed in Cordoba and then I had to ask - 'What exactly are we talking about?' ... 'OVNIs' 


As I came to find out, OVNI stands for objeto valador no identificado or as we all know it - unidentified flying object. Why were we talking about UFOs you might ask...well, I really don't have a good answer for that. What I do know is that they all thought that they saw a UFO in Buenos Aires in 1982/5? Are you kidding me??! At first I thought they were kidding, but insistently said saw a UFO....I'll let that one sink in... Apparently this UFO was so large that the military planes tried to get near it, but they could never reach it. At one point, the UFO had a giant pole that it lowered down for who knows what reason.

This morning on my way to work,  I was reading the paper (La Razon - The Reason) and they had a part about UFOs. Ironic. For all of you interested, there is a documental called Invasion Extraterrestre (Extra-terrestrials Invasion) that talks about what would happen if extra-terrestrials attacked Earth and how we would defend ourselves. Scientists in the Department of Defense consider this to be a 'real possibility and one that we shouldn't ignore.' Thus, they are developing military tactics and strategies for it.

If this isn't intriguing enough, there are more out-of-this-world experiences occurring in recent years, such as 20 some cows found without a single drop of blood in their bodies in La Pampa, Argentina (without any puncture marks on their bodies) or cars that just stop running on certain roads. I also found an article online that NASA "verified" the sighting of a UFO in Argentina this past December.

Speaking of NASA, during dinner they also discussed how they don't think that Neil Armstrong actually landed on the moon....again, are you kidding me?! Apparently they landing was 'filmed' elsewhere to make it seem as though he landed on the moon, but with today's technology you can see that it is actually a backdrop. Thankfully we didn't discuss Michael Jackson, but a few weeks ago an Argentine told me that he thought that Michael Jackson faked his death and is actually in hiding. Um, I'm pretty sure he's dead. If he had wanted to fake his death, I bet he would have done so a long time ago, but then again...what do I know?

Humahuaca

We arrived Tuesday mid-afternoon and set out for the hostel. After checking in, we reserved our spots on four excursions and went exploring before dinner. At the feria artesanal (craft fair) we looked around for a bit and also tried some foods traditional of this part of Northern Argentina -- tamales and humitas, which come wrapped in corn husks.

We proceeded to take a cable car up to Cerro San Bernardo, where we got a wonderful view of the city as the sun was setting. On our way down we could see all the city lights against the dark and cloudy mountain backdrop. 

Wednesday we got up at 6am - yes, 6am - to go on our first excursion, Humahuaca. It started off by driving through the yunga forest. (Yunga means dark and closed.) I learned a lot of interesting things - half of which I can't recall because it was 12 hours worth of information, but nonetheless I will do my best to share some...

If anyone has ever studied Latin American culture, you probably know that many people suck on coca leaves - particularly in Bolivia and Columbia, but also in other parts like Salta and Jujuy. A small bag of leaves is around $2.50. It's interesting to note that Argentina doesn't cultivate coke plants. Instead, it is brought into the country illegally from Bolivia and then sold legally in northern Argentina. 

In order to cocear, the person packs 20 or so leaves between their cheek and teeth and lets them sit there - no chewing involved. Every once in awhile the person may put a bit of baking soda on the leaves to bring out the flavor. The coca leaves curb your appetite, is a natural stimulant and has nutritional value. All of our tour guides had coca leaves packed into their cheeks.

*To clarify, these people are not drug addicts. It takes 100 kilos of coca leaves and multiple chemicals to make one gram of cocaine. (In any case don't worry, I did NOT try it.)

We stopped at the Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colors) and various Andean pueblos (small villages) - including Purmamarca, Maimara and Tilcara - whom still preserve traditions and customs of ancient times. I took countless pictures of old churches, adobe buildings, cardones (similar to the cactus) and the breathtaking mountain views.

For lunch, I ate more food typical of the region - milanesa de llama and pumpkin in almibar (a sweet syrup). It was delicious! After lunch I checked out some stores and found the coolest pair of slippers ever -- made out of leather and alpaca fur. The best part was that you could take the inner part out and wear them as socks in bed and the  put the outer part back on to walk around your house. Unfortunately I have large feet, especially considering the average height of Argentineans, thus they did not have my size or any size close to mine. :-( oh well it was still a fun day!

And I'm Off

My mom would be proud, I had my bag packed and ready to go before I got up this morning for my flight to Salta AND I packed light. I may or not have been late leaving my house to meet up with Cara and Paula at school to go to the Jorge Newberry Airport, so I took a remis (taxi) and got there a good 15 minutes before they arrived.

With our flight in two hours, we flagged down another remis ... well he flagged us down ... and we were on our way. Our remisero was jamming to the radio and in a matter of minutes we pulled up to the airport. There was hardly any wait and before I knew it we had tickets in hand.

We opted to carry-on our bags and right before the scanning process we realized that we probably had prohibited items - tweezers and aerosol cans. But since this is Argentina we ran our bags through the machine, walked casually through the body scanner with our shoes still on and continued on our way. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure I could have packed more than a ziplock bag full of liquids if I had wanted.

In order to get to our gate, we had to pass through a shopping area with everything imaginable -- suitcases, wine, chocolate, clothes, leather goods, etc. When we finally reached the end, we were greeted by the national Argentine soccer team! I used my stealth picture taking skills to capture the moment, so I'll have to post that later. For the moment being, I'm really loving the laid-back travel procedures here :-)

Stealth Pictures

Bus trips are good times to blog since 12 hours in one spot doesn't lend itself to many options. Nonetheless, I promised to share my stealth picture taking abilities and so here they are..

You may be wondering why on earth is she creeping on innocent bystanders? Has she gone completely insane? Let me take a moment to explain myself.

In Argentina, you will see people of all ages, genders and socio-economic statuses walking around with shopping bags. Not anything to out of the ordinary, or so it would seem. However, the majority of these people are not coming back from a day of shopping nor are they going to return something (returns are non-existent here for the most part). They instead use these bags to carry any and everything: Umbrellas, shoes, cell phones, wallets, books...you name it.

I'm not sure, but I feel that carrying bags from certain stores may be a public demonstration of one's status in a way. Especially since I've seen people carrying around Victoria Secret, ambercrombie and fitch and Gilly Hicks bags - none of which exist here. Either way, I think it's rather ridiculous for people to carry them around since these bags are open for prying eyes to see the contents. In a city where people get robbed everyday, I would think people would use a purse, backpack or the like. Oh well, what do I know. :-)

Traveling In Style

Usually los colectivos aren't worth writing home about. If you're lucky you get food and in some cases, even a cup of pop. There are hundreds of bus lines and service varies depending on the line, the length of the trip and what kind of ticket you purchase. Since most buses travel overnight, you have the option of a semi-cama or cama seat. Semi-cama seats recline halfway and cama seats go practically horizontal. (not to mention that they give passengers more space in general)

I recently was told about a bus line that goes to Corrientes and has amazing service...Not to mention that the price is the same as other bus lines, so I had to see for myself. Let me tell you - it was everything they told me and more. I still can't believe that nobody told me about it before now!

Once on el colectivo, I got comfortable in my large comfy seat - complete with pillow and blanket. I looked up to see my own LCD screen and then one of the workers appeared, offering me a caramelo (piece of hard candy). Not five minutes later, she appeared again offering me crackers and five minutes later a glass of champagne. Yes, you read correctly, champagne. The only other time I have been offered champagne while traveling in Argentina was on an airplane in first class. Talk about traveling in style!

A few minutes later she came around to hand out bingo cards - although these "bingo" cards were not what i was used to. Either way, an entertaining way to pass the time. A movie started shortly after and then she came back around to take drink orders - water, pop or wine. Sadly, dinner was better than at my host family's house and consisted of a hot and cold dish. The dessert was delicious and after dinner we were offered coffee... And then whiskey or Tia Maria. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, she handed out bottles of water and toothbrushes.

Plus, they had wifi so I was able to check email and facebook while on the road. Needless to say, I think I will be booking my trips through this bus line whenever possible! Absolutely wonderful :-)

I Collect Things

Over the years, I've collected various things (for lack of a better term). It started with Barbies and then I moved on to postcards from everywhere I've been. Somewhere along the line I also started acquiring various coins - half dollars, Susan B Anthony dollars, wheat pennies and random foreign coins. (Not to worry... I am also guilty of the beanie baby craze :-P)

One of my favorite collections is the state quarters. When they first started coming out, my grandpa bought all 9 grandchildren huge display boards and collected all of the quarters for us. (thanks Grandpa!!) A few months ago when I was in Mar del Plata, I found out that Argentina has 5 bicentennial pesos. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! (Yes, I'm kind of nerdy.) 

The hard part is that despite the fact that 12 million of each were put into circulation nearly a year ago, they haven't reached all parts of the country. Most Argentines don't even know of their existence! Thankfully, I was able to collect 4 of the 5 right away and I'm only missing "Aconcagua." Fingers crossed that I find it in the next month and a half before I head home :-)