Over the Andes and through the Dunes, to Mendoza and Chile we go! (went?)

Hola a todos!!

Its been quite some time since I've updated, which always makes it difficult to say everything I want to say in one blog post. The past week I have been traveling, since we had time off of school for our Winter Break. My trip was certainly a whirlwind 8 day adventure, the details of which, I am about to share with all of you! I will try to break it down day by day for easy read-ability. Here goes....

Saturday, 17 de julio
Our overnight bus was scheduled to leave BA for Mendoza around 8:30 pm. We trekked down to the Bus station (about 50 min worth of walking/subte riding from my house) without our bags packed. The bus station was, what they say in spanish, una locura. A giant crazy mess! You aren't told your "gate" or where your bus leaves from, so you just kind of huddle with the masses until a bus pulls up that is labeled with your correct departure time and destination. Luckily, we found some locals who kind of knew what they were doing and led us to the correct bus, and an hour later than expected, we departed from BA.

Sunday, 18 de julio
I slept through the entire night, without a problem. I won't venture to say that the seat were comfortable, but for a $50 ticket, I wasn't complaining. We arrived in Mendoza around noon, taking a taxi to our hostel. I will be the first to say that traveling the backpacker style was pretty new to most of us, and we didn't really know what to do once we got to our hostel. Actually, I take that back, we knew what to do: eat. We enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta, and of course got some Malbec wine to share. Other than some eating and exploring, our first day in Mendoza was rather relaxing. We made some friends at the hostel, a British guy and an Argentine, so it was definitely entertaining to talk to them. Mostly, it was exciting to be outside of the city, enjoy some peace and quiet. After living and deciphering BA, going to ANY city while traveling feels like a piece of cake. Honestly. Also, it was FREEZING in Mendoza. It was actually freezing the entire trip, especially because hostels do not have heating. Our hostel in Mendoza did have a very questionable open flame heater that reeked of propane...but it was warm. Whether the fumes cost me several years of my life remains to be seen.

Monday, 19 de julio
In the afternoon on Monday, we went on a wine tour! We arranged for a tour guide to come pick us up outside the hostel. Ana, our tour guide, was very nice, telling us about Mendoza as an arid region that receives very little rain, and its main function as a region that produces wine, especially the Malbec grape. We went to two wineries, Weingart and Laguarde. They were both medium-sized old-fashioned wineries, so it was amazing to see the dungeon-like caves and gigantic oak casks being used in the wine production. Tasting wine is a field in which I doubt I will ever be an expert. It all tastes like wine to me, I don't get the aromas of cherry, pepper, onion, etc. Ana just told me I needed to develop my "palate." Haha. The only wine most of us liked was a very fruity fizzy wine, which was just like drinking soda. Yum!
After the tours, we drove near to the Andes Mountains, got out of our van and took some pictures. I truly love the mountains. I like living in a city, and the constant excitement and barrage of culture, but something about the majesty of nature pulls me.

Tuesday, 20 de julio
We woke up very very early to catch a 7:30 am bus from Mendoza to Santiago. We said goodbye to half of our group the night before, and then we were four, embarking on our journey across the border to Chile! The bus drive was INCREDIBLE. We drove through windy, steep roads in the Andes, watching the sun rise. We eventually made it to the border at the peak of the mountains, passed through customs without any problems (well, they did open my bag and question my jar of jam...) and drove on the Santiago. Santiago was rainy and freezing when we arrived. Not cool, Santiago, not cool. However, even through the weather you could see that Santiago was a very cool city. To me, it had more of a colonial feel than BA, and parts were definitely more run down. In Santiago, the Chilean people looked very much like Argentines, in that they were European. During the afternoon we were in Santiago, we took a city tour, and our tour guide told us that Chile, like Argentina was very much a country of immigrants. The city tour was great, we saw the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, got a (cloudy) view of Santiago from surrounding hills, and even tried some Pisco, the national drink.
I'm going to take a moment to talk about the hostel in Santiago. IT WAS FREEZING. I wore two pairs of wool socks, two pairs of long underwear, a thermal top layer, two shirts, my northface fleece and a hat and gloves to go to sleep. It was not enough. Fortunately, we only stayed one night there, but I do not think I will be going back there in the winter!

Wednesday, 21 de julio
We took a 1 hour bus to Valparaiso/ Vina del Mar, sister cities on Chile's coast. These cities were the highlight of the trip, without a doubt. As we drove from Santiago to Valpo, we could see the scenery change. It transitioned from scrubby mountains to lush green vegetation and palm trees. We took a taxi to our hostel once we arrived, and not only did we gape at the brightly colored houses the were built into the hillside, we cheered as the sun finally came out! Our hostel was adorable, reminiscent of a house, with a very welcoming staff. We wasted no time to exploring, our first quest was to find La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's house. Seeing his house, it was no shock that he could write such beautiful poetry. His house was brightly colored and had a panoramic window overlooking the entire coast and rainbow houses. It was breathtaking. After finding La Sebastiana, we went down to the coast, and went on an ascensor (elevator) up a hill to get another breathtaking view of the port. The sun was starting to get down, and it got cold again (unfortunately). But we appreciated the sunshine during the day!

Thursday, 22 de julio
THIS WAS THE BEST DAY OF THE ENTIRE TRIP!
We had planned earlier in the week to go horseback riding. I emailed a company about 30 km north of Valpo, and they arranged transportation to get us to their location. We mounted our horses for a full day adventure, with an asado for lunch, not really knowing what to expect. Before we knew it, our guides were leading us over gigantic sand dunes, forests, and all the way to the BEACH. One of my friends and I reached the beach and started experimenting with how fast our horses would go, until we were galloping down the beach. The coast, and riding along it on a horse was absolutely incredible, I don't even have words to express how perfect the day felt. Our asado lunch was delicious. For the non-vegetarians in the group, our guides cooked sausage, pork, AND giant steaks. For me, there were quesadillas and salads, it was amazing. After our late lunch, we returned to the beach with our hourses, and rode again on the beach as the sun set. It was unbelievable.

Friday, 23 de julio
We spent Friday exploring Vina del Mar, the more touristy sister city to Valparaiso. It was beautiful, except it started to rain. We also needed to schedule classes at 5 pm, so a large part of the day was spent figuring out those annoying real-life details.

Saturday, 24 de julio
This was our original departure date. When we woke up early to catch our bus back to Mendoza, we hear pouring rain. THis was not a good sign, because if it was raining along the coast, it was snowing in the mountains we needed to cross. We embarked on the journey anyhow, driving for two hours before our bus driver turned around. No buses could cross the Andes due to weather. We were put out for only about 30 seconds, because as soon as we got off the bus, the SUN came out! And it was the perfect day! We found this fish market where Chileans were gutting hundreds of fish, selling vegetables, and engaging in pure chaos. In a building near the market, we found several restaurants that all served very fresh fish, which was delicious! After the market, we went to beach, where we were able to watch the sunset, the perfect end to an amazing trip.

Sunday 25 de julio - Monday, 26 de julio
25 hours on buses. We smelled very bad. Nothing more needs to be said.


Okay, thats a long one! More updates of life in BA and semester classes to come...

Final Exams, Winter Break...in JULY

The weeks here pass so quickly, its hard to believe that today marks the one month mark of my trip here.
This past week was interesting because it truly felt like I was living my normal life...but in BA. I didn't do anything touristy, or really go visit any new parts of the city. This was because I had something looming over me all week: my final exam for my intensive month classes.
So, the days were spent at Universidad de Belgrano, and afternoons were split between time our or program office trying to plan our upcoming trip (more about that in a second) and meeting in cafes, etc. to get some studying in.
Our exam was Thursday morning, two hours for the written part, and a five minute oral exam. It was a little tricky, and I was pretty concerned because the final exam was our one and only grade in the class. The night before the exam, I even had an anxiety dream in which I got a '29' on the exam- this doesn't even make sense because the Argentina grading scale is 1-10! However, it was good to know that I can have test anxiety dreams on any continent!
The exam went pretty well, I ended up getting a 9 in the class (remember, out of 10), and I am not sure what that will translate back as once I return to OSU, but I am pretty sure it will be an A or A-.
Now that our intensive month of classes is over (and I am fluent in Spanish, haha not yet), we have a week long break! This is equivalent to winter break, which is very hard to wrap my head around, being that its July...
Anyhow, some friends and I are going to spend the next week traveling to Mendoza and Santiago de Chile. Mendoza is Argentina's wine country, equivalent more or less to Napa Valley. Its a 14 hour bus ride to Mendoza and then a short bus ride to Chile, and then it will be about 20 hours on a bus to get back to Buenos Aires. I'm so excited for my first real travel adventure!
I splurged on a backpacking backpack so that I can fit a week's worth of gear into one bag. Of course, this probably only means bringing two pairs of pants and a sweatshirt, but I felt I needed something a little bit bigger than my regular backpack.
Last night, I went to yet another synagogue...this time a Chabad! This past Wednesday, I had met up with Miriam's sister (Miriam is our Solon Chabad Rebbetzin) who lives 8 hours south of BA, in a very small town called Bahia Blanca. I spent a couple hours with her, viewing the religious part of BA (the neighborhood of Once) and even got some kosher cold cuts! She also put me in contact with Rivka Lipinski, the Rebbetzin of the Chabad that is 10 minutes walking distance from my home here!
So last night, Ruthie and I braved the cold and went to Chabad, and had an absolutely lovely time! It was very reminiscent of Chabad at home, with the set up of the building and the population of people that attended. Ruthie and I spoke to a woman from Córdoba (another city in Argentina) for a while, and I felt especially welcomed by the Rabbi and his wife.
There was a dinner after services, good to know that even in Argentina, I can eat a Shabbos meal of gefilte fish, chicken, and kugel!! The population of people there were mostly young married couples, but I spent a while talking with one of the Rabbi's daughters, hearing about her impressions of the US compared to Argentina. After dinner, everyone even went around the table introducing themselves and saying why they were at chabad (let me tell you, I love speaking Spanish to a roomful of natives, not. i mean, its great practice, but its stressful.)
All in all, it was a great evening!
Tonght I embark on my trip, and I am not sure if I will have time for a blog post while traveling...
So, for the time being, CHAU!

MALBA, Mate & Uruguay

Its been a while since I've updated, sorry to my readers out there! As I read on someone else's blog, its the blog paradox that once you have things to actually write about, you are too busy to write about them!

I guess I'll just give some highlights of the past week or so...

1) MALBA. Last Wednesday, my friend Drew and I went to MALBA (Mueso del arte latinamericano de BA/ Museum of Latinamerican Art in BA). MALBA is known to be one of the best museums in BA, since it was actually built to be a museum, rather than being an older building that was converted into a museum. The main exhibit was a photography exhibit feating the work of Robert Magglethorpe. This exhibit was pretty graphic, and definitely pushed the limits of my understanding of art. However, it was still very engaging to walk through. The rest of the museum was more sedate, featuring non-traditional/modern art from 20th century latinamerica. All in all, a very enjoyable museum, although rather small- only taking about 45 min to pass through.

2) Avatar. Ok, I know that Avatar has nothing to do with Argentina. But my friend bought a pirated copy for a couple pesos, and when I told him that I had never seen the movie, he lent it to me. I stayed up very late Wednesday night watching Avatar...and I LOVED IT. I know that many of my friends/family members were pretty critical of the movie, but for me, it was the perfect mix of Pocahontas and non-scary sci-fi. It was great! (Ok, sorry, I just had to share my review of a 6-month old blockbuster.)

3) Mate (MAH-tay). I finally tried my first mate, traditional Argentine tea. You should google mate so that you can see the copa (little bowl) in which mate leaves are packed and soaked in hot water and the bombilla (straw) that is placed within the leaves, so the water can be sucked up. Argentines can be seen holding these copas along with a thermos of hot water while on the streets, in schools, in the subte- really anywhere. You can drink mate from normal tea bags, but theres no fun in that. Also, mate isn't really drunken in restaurants, so I wasn't sure how to access it. On Thursday, I went over to a friend's apartment after classes, and she had some mate for us! It was pretty bitter and tasted like the earth. Her host mom had told her that Argentines (women especially) drink mate instead of eating, and thats how they stay so thin....

4) On Friday we didn't have classes because it was 9 de julio, Argentine Independence Day. Independence Day here is not such a big deal. Apparently a big celebration occurs on 25 de mayo, which was the day that Argentina, Bolivia and a few other South American countries began to fight Spain for independence. However on 9 de julio, there is a military parade that draws few spectators (so I was told, I didn't attend). I spent my day going to a DELICIOUS, VEGETARIAN restaurant- La Esquina de las flores- (its on my street, and I had passed it every day, finally getting a chance to try out its food) and the botanical garden.

5) On Friday night, I went to another synagogue with Ruthie. We went to one called Bet Hillel. As we tried to enter, we were stopped by security guards- they asked our names, purpose for coming, who we knew inside, our reasons for being in BA, and it went on. Thankfully, Ruthie actually did know someone in the congretation, but it was very much an eye-opening experience. I take for granted being able to walk into a shul at home- no questions asked. I feel very safe as a Jew in America. I've not encountered Anti-Semitism here, but the whole synagogue experience made me a little suspect as to the safety of Jews here. The service was again, reform, and full of lovely music. I love that I still understand Kabbalat Shabbat no matter the country I am in. Its truly a wonderful feeling.

6) Since we had a three day weekend, my friend Bri and I decided to spend Saturday/Sunday in Uruguay! Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay is a hop, skip and a jump from BA (ok, so its a 1 hour ferry ride), and for a $70 USD round trip, how could I resist? Colonia del Sacramento is a tiny town. Mostly built up for tourists, its main attractions are a beach, a historic neighborhood, and renting mopeds/golf carts to ride around. The best part of being in Colonia was its tranquility. It actually felt like we were on a little vacation from the hustle and bustle of BA. We could walk down the middle of the street, or take some turns without the fear of getting lost. It was wonderful. The first day we were there was sunny and clear. We walked along the beach, explored the little town, watched Uruguay lose (unfortunately) in the World Cup match, and saw the sun set over the water. The second day we weren't so lucky- it was rainy and very chilly. We had rented bikes in the morning, before the rain had started, so it was quite an adventure navigating our bicycles in the rain. Ultimately, however, we still found some nice places to walk around and spent a leisurely afternoon before heading to the ferry terminal, where we watched Espana win the World Cup! Some differences from Argentina noted in Uruguay: the speed people spoke, and the currency! People spoke MUCH faster than they do here in BA, it was unbelievable. Also, the currency is very different. 100 uruguayos=20 pesos=5 USD. Hows that for confusing??

On the horizon: my month-long intensive classes end this week...meaning finals are on their way, oh no! 10 day break- where will I end up?? End of July=starting volunteering at an Old Folks Home and a new semester of classes. Also, which synagogue will I try out next?

Stay tuned! :)

What goes up, must come down (read: a bus that goes one way, must eventually return in the same way)

So, having had some success with navigating the buses, I decided to try again, and hopefully continue my lucky streak.

Well folks, I should have just shelled out 15 pesos for the taxi.

Let me tell you the whole story.

So, I had left my jacket at a friend's apartment, about a week ago. I wasn't too concerned about said jacket (I brought two spares to BA) but I needed to get it back, and tonight had been chosen as the night.

I mapped out my route on comoviajo.com, proud that I was such a bus maven (they are called colectivos here). I walked to the two blocks to the stop, waited and boarded.

I pretty much immediately knew something was wrong, since we didn't seem to be going in the right direction. However, I put my faith in the route I looked up, because I don't really have the best direction sense. About 30 minutes in, when I should have been arriving at destination, we had just entered some darker, dirtier looking residential areas. At this point, I knew I was not getting the jacket tonight. I told myself not to panic, that the bus had to loop back at some point.

45 minutes later, we arrive at the end of the line and I get up, then ask the bus driver why I never got to my planned destination. He laughed, telling me I should have gotten on the same line but in the OTHER DIRECTION. He told me how to walk to the right bus stop (three blocks through some area that wasn't for gringas, let me tell you), then I boarded the bus and another 45 minutes put me right back where I started.

Lesson learned, look at a map, check the necessary bus direction before embarking on journey.

Argentine Moment: Te con leche and cafe culture

Hi everyone, I know its been a few days. However, I've been getting requests (cough cough, Sarah) for more updates, so although I spent some 2.5 hours on Skype tonight (I miss all of you!), I am faithfully keeping to the blog!

So, the last day I talked about was Thursday...

On Friday, I was quite thankful to finish up our first full week of classes. There is just something exciting about Fridays, in any country really, that signals the end of the week and the possibility of the upcoming weekend. I woke up a little later than I was supposed to, so I experimented with taking the colectivo (the bus) to UB, because I knew it would take half the time. It was a success! A quicker commute and much less walking, I might be taking the bus fro now on. Buses are CHEAP (30 cents USD) and go pretty much everywhere in BsAs. I think I will be getting very familiar with the bus system as the weeks wear on and my monies dwindle.

In class, we worked some more with the demonio known as the subjunctive. Something fun we did was act out scenes with a partner...showcasing out knowledge of the subjunctive. of course. There were three options, novios (boyfriend/girlfriend) that were breaking up, an employee getting fired, and a students petitioning a teacher for a better grade. Myself and a classmate acted out the novios situation, telenovela style ("Arturo! My love for Alejandro is real!") and it was quite entertaining.

After class, I headed home to rest up a bit (after the previous night's Teatro Colon/Twilight adventure, I was pretty exhausted), and watched the end of the Uruguay/Ghana game with my host mom. I loved watching the game with Elina! She was very enthusiastic, and when Ghana lost, she kept saying pobre negritos (poor little black people), which apparently isn't politically incorrect here.

When the game finished, I met up with my new friend Ruthie to seek out a synagogue. Ruthie had chosen Amijai, a Reform congregation in the middle of Chinatown (strange placement, I know). We took the subte halfway there, walked a bit, got a little turned around, took a taxi for the rest, and still on missed half the service! At Amijai, they had some pretty music- bongos, a piano and a cello, and while the musical service wasn't really my cup of tea, I very much enjoyed hearing and understanding a sermon in Spanish and of course, eating some challah on a Friday night. I am very excited to check out other synagogues in the area, maybe find some Kosher eating establishments (I miss meat) and just delve into the Jewish community of BsAs!

Saturday was the epic Argentina-Germany game. We all know that Germany was going to be tough (even Elina said, "Ellos están muy duros," they are very strong). However, what we watched was just carnage. My friend Diana and I met up at a burrito place (it was good, but Chipotle still wins in my book) and watched Argentina score a goal that didn't count, pass the ball to players that weren't in the right spots, and get scored on. The Germans were little machines and by the end of the game, we knew it was all over. I don't get too emotionally involved with sports, but this was sad! This country LOVES futbol! When I got home, I remarked "Que triste/how sad!" about the game to Elina and her friends, and they were surprised and confused that I cared about Argentina's team. To them, it was obvious that I would cheer for the USA, and beyond that, be indifferent. However, cheering for Argentina was just too exciting to pass up :)

On Sunday, Drew, Ruthie and myself went to the market at San Telmo. San Telmo is known as a bohemian/artesan area, and truth be told, I did see more dreadlocked-people at this market than I had ever seen in one place. For blocks upon blocks, there were tables set up with artist's wares. From what I could tell, it was all slightly touristy, yet still fun to walk among. Strolling through the streets was fun, but my favorite part was listening to the groups drumming on the streets. There was a group of 7 or so people who all had various drums and just played awesome music. It reminded me a bit of marching band days, but it was lovely to just stand, listen and dance a little in the street.

Even though yesterday was the 4th of July, I didn't really celebrate. This marks the fifth 4th of July I have been out the US (thanks to all those summers at Camp Ramah in Canada) and I can't say that it upsets me too much. There was no apple pie, no fireworks, but I didn't really miss it all too much. This upcoming Friday is Argentina's Independence Day (9 de julio), so I am excited to see what that brings!

Today began our third of four weeks of intensive Spanish class. Mondays are always rough, today being no exception. We read a story called "La adolescente/The adolescent" in class, which detailed a young writer being watched by another writer in a cafe. The most exciting part of this story was that I understood it the first time that I read it! Yay! We also worked on the usage of the words por and para, both ways of saying "for" that are varied based on context. Our class is structured such that we have no tests or quizes until our final in two weeks...this frightens me. I guess I should start studying!

After class, I went to the ISA office to socialize for a bit and began to think about what kind of trip to plan during out 10 day break...update to follow regarding that! After ISA, my friend Bri and I went to the grocery store/pharmacy (always fun adventures when you are in a foreign country) to get super exciting things like grapefruits (in my case), chapstick, etc.

We rewarded ourselves for surviving this rough Monday with some te con leche. This is little that I enjoy more than sitting in a cafe for a couple hours, talking, over some te con leche (tea with milk) and medialunas (sweet croissants). Firstly, the tea is delicious. Secondly, its very common just to linger in cafes and there is no rush to get customers out the door. In fact, our waiter didn't even think the bring the check until we asked for it, two hours in.

This tea time is so delicious and so relaxing, I love when its incorporated into my day. Whenever we go to this cafe, it feels like such an Argentine moment, where sitting, talking, and sharing stories takes precedent over the week's unrelenting undertow.

I'm so cultured

Yesterday, my class took a field trip to San Isidrio. San Isidrio is a little neighborhood north of BsAs, where the wealthy retreat in the summer, reminiscent of Tigre but minus the boats. We took the train to get there, costing 30 cents USD and taking about half an hour.

When we arrived, we first walked to a cathedral, then to a small plaza with benches and a flower clock. We strolled around looking for my teacher's favorite empanada spot (second only to her Grandma's, she told me) only to find that it was closed. Thankfully, empanadas can be found on every corner in this country, so it wasn't too long until w

e stopped somewhere else.

After we ate, we went to Villa Ocampo, the home of the Ocampo family- most notably Victoria Ocampo- which is now a museum.

Victoria Ocampo was, according to wikipedia, "an Argentine intellectual," and according to me, a pretty cool lady. She was a very wealthy, independent woman who broke

many barriers for South American women in the 1930s. On our tour, we learned that she was involved in the magazine Sur, which both translated internationally renowned poets/authors of that era into Spanish and also published unknown Argentine authors. She sounded like an all-around classy lady, and her house was BEAUTIFUL. It was a mix of Italian, English, and Argentine styles, surrounded by trees and flowers.

It was funny, it was so quiet while we were there. Since I've been in the city, which is pretty regularly noise-filled, I now only notice absence of noise. I love living in BsAs, but it was nice to be in nature for the day!

After returning from the field trip, I met up with my friend Drew to go to El Teatro Colon (the famous colon theatre!). He is a music major and was interested in hearing a certain pianist, and I just like going new places and having new cultural experiences, so we went!

The colon theatre is gorgeous. It was different than any

other theatre I had ever been in, because it was completely vertical. It was as if the theatre was a giant hollow cylinder with only three rows of seats lining the wall of each floor. We sat at the very top of theatre, tickets were only $25 pesos (a little over 6 USD!). I enjoyed listening the music, especially when I could pick out the oboe- my former instrument- and I think I would like to return to see a ballet.

After the performance, some of my friends were headed to see the latest Twilight installment- Eclipse. Before I could protest, a ticket had been bought for me and I was headed to the movie theatre. This was funny to me because in the span of an hour, I went from a highly genteel activity to the absolute bottom of the cultural-food chain...pop culture. Anyhow, it was a pretty silly movie (plot= nonexistent) but now I will understand what people are talking about when they talk about twilight!