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 :-)

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 :-)