Even though I am writing this from my bed in Chicago, I have to get down the end of my time in BA, if only for my own records! During my last two weeks I didn't take the formal intensive classes and instead just relaxed and used the time to see any final places that I wanted to see in BA. I did however, take some private lessons with a teacher named Yesica. Private lessons are one of the things that are significantly cheaper there than in the US - about 1/4 the price - so I figured I should try to stuff in as much knowledge as I could before I left. Yesi taught out of her apartment and we did a good mix of just regular conversation and reviewing a lot of the grammar that I had learned in the last four months. It was great, but after just 90 minutes of one-on-one your brain is definitely exhausted!
I finally saw some tango during celebrations for the International Day of Tango (December 11th, in case you want to celebrate next year!). The city sponsored a huge free show in Palermo and blocked off one of the main streets for a stage. It was a sort of "best-of" show which was perfect for me - various singers and dancers did one or two songs, so you could hear lots of people and different types of music. But at the end of the day I think I just have to admit that tango, especially the music, just isn't for me.
I also tried to get my fill of my two favorite local foods - empanadas and ice cream (highly nutritious!) - from various places so that I could pick a favorite and be able to give recommendations. My default emapanada order was one carne picante (a taco-like filling that is never actually that picante, since the locals don't like hot foods) and one humita, which is corn in a white sauce. For empanadas my favorite was El Noble, which is a chain, mostly because the shells were really nice and crisp. My ice cream experiments centered around Banana Split flavor, which I first tried at the polo and fell in love with. It's banana ice cream with a ribbon of dulce de leche and chocolate chips. In BA there is an ice cream store about every three blocks and they are always full of people having an afternoon ice cream. As the weather was so hot, it was easy to make an excuse for an ice cream break in the afternoon. For me Freddo & Volta were tied on flavor, but the Volta I visited (on Santa Fe & Callao) had a gorgeous hidden patio to sit on so it takes the prize!
The oddest thing about the last two weeks was how I could not reconcile the fact that Christmas was soon approaching with the warm weather and lack of decorations. I would occasionally see a newspaper, or a ticket, that said 'December' on it and I would seriously think it was old, from last year. And while you would sometimes go into places that were decorated, for example the Hilton, which I popped into to use the ladies room, was Christmas light crazy, in general you didn't see a ton of decorations around. One of my neighbors in the building attached a small stuffed Santa to the fire extinguisher outside his door but that was it. And I was spending all my time in shorts & t-shirts, so it just didn't feel like Christmas was coming.
Since it didn't feel like Christmas was coming, it also didn't feel like my birthday. In the end it was a pretty anti-climactic day, especially since a number of the people I would normally hang out with had already left the city. I went out the night before with my friend Kim - I met her at boot camp in about September but sadly we didn't hang out until the end of November. It's one of the sad things about moving to a place for only four months - it's just enough time to get to know people and then it's time to leave! On the Saturday I met up with my friend Nina and we went to an exhibition of photos from a Rolling Stone photographer. Then we went over to San Telmo to a Basque bar to eat a few pintxos - the Basque type of tapas. While we were there we talked about how neither of us had been to the famed Cafe Tortoni, which is one of the oldest restaurants in the country and a major tourist spot. We spur of the moment decided to walk over there and see if we could get in (since there are often hour long lines). It turns out that a Saturday at 8.30 pm is perfect timing! Too early for anyone to be going out to eat, but late enough that the daytime tourists aren't around. The building was really nice, but the menu isn't very exciting - in the end I had a ham & cheese toastie...quite appropriate for an Argentinean institution!
And then it was time to go home to Chicago! My flight wasn't until 11.30pm so I had all day on Sunday to enjoy one last day of sunshine. I was handing over all my left over stuff (SIM card, cotton balls, stir-fry sauce, a whole collection of random things!) to Kim since she is staying at least for another three months. So she made lunch at the house she lives at with her boyfriend - huge delicious sandwiches and pasta salad - and we sat on their roof patio in the sun afterwards. Then it was home to pack and check out of the apartment! It was sad to leave my little apartment - I definitely got lucky when I picked it off the internet - but I didn't cry all the way to the airport like I did when I left London, so that's a good thing!
Chau! Molly
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Everyday Living
So this weekend was a relatively boring one, although I am off to do some sight-seeing with a boot camp friend this afternoon, so I thought I'd write down a bit of my normal day-to-day life when not at national parks or polo matches!
Going to the grocery store
For food there are what we'd think of as "normal" grocery stores and also Chinos. The place I go normally for big shops is called Disco and they suck you in with a 15% coupon for the following week every time you go. The grocery stores here are generally smaller than at home, although I am sure that out in the suburbs there are some huge American-style ones. One thing I had to get used to is getting the fruit weighed in the fruit section - luckily I saw someone doing this on my first trip, so I didn't get stuck in the check-out with un-priced fruit! It's funny to see the differences in what is sold. Cereal is not at all popular here, so there are usually only about 10-15 options to choose from. Meanwhile the red meat section is about 3x the size of the Jewel's.
The main hassle of the grocery store is check out. All the stores offer home delivery and the system is so slow - they painstakingly write out the information on a pad of paper using carbon paper. Then the food is packed (slowly) into delivery crates, often by the check out girl. If you see someone with a really full cart getting into line it's a definite avoid - they are probably doing home delivery and it will take ages! Also, they are always running out of change and when they do there is no sort of light that flashes to alert the manager - the cashier just says "Cambio" in a slightly louder than average voice, so that it takes about five minutes for the manager to realize that help is required. Lastly, to me the craziest, is that if one cashier is finishing her shift she will go to each other station to give a kiss goodbye and a quick chat, even if that person is mid-customer. Needless to say, I shall no longer be complaining about slow cashiers in Chicago!
The Chinos are a mix between a grocery store and large convenience store. The one by me does have a butcher and a mini-deli counter, but I'm not too sure about them. The Chinos are meant to be cheaper than the large stores, but to me it appears basically about equal. The nice thing is that there is basically a Chino every other block, so if you need something you can get it in about two minutes. I go to my local one alarmingly often - probably about 4x a week! Usually it's just to pick up a diet coke or toilet paper or something quick that I need. I am sure I mentioned this before, but they are called Chinos because they are run by Chinese immigrants (Argentina is not the slightest bit politically correct!).
Getting around
Most of my time spent going around the city is on foot or on the bus (the colectivo). My school was luckily walking distance and, with the weather being generally good, I liked that I could get 40 minutes of walking in each day. Pedestrians here have no rights though - even if the crosswalk is green, cars can and will turn right in front if you - so you need to vigilant (and also vigilant for spotting dog poo!). The colectivos are great for getting around, although you do feel at times like you might not make it off alive. There are usually a few different buses at each stop, so you need to wave down the bus. Sometimes, say if there is a taxi pulled over dropping someone off, the driver will just drive on by since they can't be bothered to wait until the taxi pulls away. Also, they will start pulling away from the curb as soon as you have a foot on board so you need to hold on!
All the colectivos are owned by different companies, so they are painted different colors and have all sorts of different designs. So you need to pay attention to the numbers on the front to make sure you spot the one you want. The good thing is that they are cheap (about 30 cents a ride) and on most lines you never wait more than three or four minutes for one to come by.
The Subte is also convenient and I used to take it a fair amount, but now that we are into spring/summer it is unbearably hot. It is always super crowded at rush hour and with no a/c you feel like in an oven after about 5 minutes. I prefer taking an extra 15 minutes and being above ground, with open windows, on the colectivo. Although yesterday I did take the famous Linea A, which was the first Subte line in the city and is still using the original cars. Everything is wooden and you can actually open and close the doors by hand (which seems a bit unsafe, but par for the course here!). It was very cool and old-fashioned feeling.
Laundry Day
The thing I am maybe most excited to see when I get home (besides friends & family of course) is my washer and dryer! Here my options are service wash (for about $4 / load) or hand-washing. While at times it's great to hand off a bag of dirty laundry and get clean back, it can be a huge pain. Like when they lose a shirt or a sock or send home someone else's sock, or when they are closed randomly and you need to drop your clothes. Also, since everything at the laundromat is done in the dryer, I don't send some of my jeans and shirts because I am afraid of what an hour in the dryer would do to them. So I end up doing lots of hand-washing, either for those clothes or when I want something clean in-between trips to the laundromat. And I just never feel like hand-washing gets clothes clean enough. In two weeks, everything I own is going to get a serious spin through the washer and I can't wait!
Going to the grocery store
For food there are what we'd think of as "normal" grocery stores and also Chinos. The place I go normally for big shops is called Disco and they suck you in with a 15% coupon for the following week every time you go. The grocery stores here are generally smaller than at home, although I am sure that out in the suburbs there are some huge American-style ones. One thing I had to get used to is getting the fruit weighed in the fruit section - luckily I saw someone doing this on my first trip, so I didn't get stuck in the check-out with un-priced fruit! It's funny to see the differences in what is sold. Cereal is not at all popular here, so there are usually only about 10-15 options to choose from. Meanwhile the red meat section is about 3x the size of the Jewel's.
The main hassle of the grocery store is check out. All the stores offer home delivery and the system is so slow - they painstakingly write out the information on a pad of paper using carbon paper. Then the food is packed (slowly) into delivery crates, often by the check out girl. If you see someone with a really full cart getting into line it's a definite avoid - they are probably doing home delivery and it will take ages! Also, they are always running out of change and when they do there is no sort of light that flashes to alert the manager - the cashier just says "Cambio" in a slightly louder than average voice, so that it takes about five minutes for the manager to realize that help is required. Lastly, to me the craziest, is that if one cashier is finishing her shift she will go to each other station to give a kiss goodbye and a quick chat, even if that person is mid-customer. Needless to say, I shall no longer be complaining about slow cashiers in Chicago!
The Chinos are a mix between a grocery store and large convenience store. The one by me does have a butcher and a mini-deli counter, but I'm not too sure about them. The Chinos are meant to be cheaper than the large stores, but to me it appears basically about equal. The nice thing is that there is basically a Chino every other block, so if you need something you can get it in about two minutes. I go to my local one alarmingly often - probably about 4x a week! Usually it's just to pick up a diet coke or toilet paper or something quick that I need. I am sure I mentioned this before, but they are called Chinos because they are run by Chinese immigrants (Argentina is not the slightest bit politically correct!).
Getting around
Most of my time spent going around the city is on foot or on the bus (the colectivo). My school was luckily walking distance and, with the weather being generally good, I liked that I could get 40 minutes of walking in each day. Pedestrians here have no rights though - even if the crosswalk is green, cars can and will turn right in front if you - so you need to vigilant (and also vigilant for spotting dog poo!). The colectivos are great for getting around, although you do feel at times like you might not make it off alive. There are usually a few different buses at each stop, so you need to wave down the bus. Sometimes, say if there is a taxi pulled over dropping someone off, the driver will just drive on by since they can't be bothered to wait until the taxi pulls away. Also, they will start pulling away from the curb as soon as you have a foot on board so you need to hold on!
All the colectivos are owned by different companies, so they are painted different colors and have all sorts of different designs. So you need to pay attention to the numbers on the front to make sure you spot the one you want. The good thing is that they are cheap (about 30 cents a ride) and on most lines you never wait more than three or four minutes for one to come by.
The Subte is also convenient and I used to take it a fair amount, but now that we are into spring/summer it is unbearably hot. It is always super crowded at rush hour and with no a/c you feel like in an oven after about 5 minutes. I prefer taking an extra 15 minutes and being above ground, with open windows, on the colectivo. Although yesterday I did take the famous Linea A, which was the first Subte line in the city and is still using the original cars. Everything is wooden and you can actually open and close the doors by hand (which seems a bit unsafe, but par for the course here!). It was very cool and old-fashioned feeling.
Laundry Day
The thing I am maybe most excited to see when I get home (besides friends & family of course) is my washer and dryer! Here my options are service wash (for about $4 / load) or hand-washing. While at times it's great to hand off a bag of dirty laundry and get clean back, it can be a huge pain. Like when they lose a shirt or a sock or send home someone else's sock, or when they are closed randomly and you need to drop your clothes. Also, since everything at the laundromat is done in the dryer, I don't send some of my jeans and shirts because I am afraid of what an hour in the dryer would do to them. So I end up doing lots of hand-washing, either for those clothes or when I want something clean in-between trips to the laundromat. And I just never feel like hand-washing gets clothes clean enough. In two weeks, everything I own is going to get a serious spin through the washer and I can't wait!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Polo & Onda Vaga
This weekend was a long one (the third I've had since I've been here, but no one really seems to know what the days off are for!) so I have today off school to catch up on recent activities. Holiday Mondays are pretty boring because most stores and restaurants are shut and museums are generally closed on Mondays already. I have been looking forward to getting out of the house to go to boot camp this evening, but it has just started pouring rain outside - hopefully just a short summer rain storm and it doesn't get cancelled.
This past week was back to school after three weeks off. I definitely felt the impact of the break - my brain wasn't operating as quickly as it used to! In addition there was an incredibly annoying student in our group of four who was really opinionated and dominated the class. I felt bad for the teacher who was always having to try to steer the discussion away from her. Since the classes are so small, one bad apple really does make a difference in how well class goes. Luckily she is gone next week and apparently it is just myself and one other American girl who is meant to be really nice (she has been at Vamos before).
On Saturday I went to the polo with my friends Karl & Guro. This is the annual Argentine Open and they play round robin games for four weekends in November, with the championship played in early December. The polo grounds are only about a 15 minute walk from my apartment, so it was a very easy day out. The polo was of course great people watching - I have never seen so many guys in white jeans before! - it's like how I imagine South Beach (someday I will go to Miami and confirm that suspicion). We had purchased the cheap seats and what makes them cheap is that you are more in the sun and it was H.O.T. We had to skip 3 of the 8 chukkas and sit in the shade and eat ice cream to recover (I am newly obsessed with Banana Split flavor). The nice thing is that they let you bring in water bottles so we did stay hydrated.
Of course none of us had bothered to Wikipedia the rules before we went, so there was a lot of confusion - especially before we discovered that the teams switch goal ends each time one of them scores. In addition, the field is gigantic - probably 3x a football field - so it can be hard to see what is going on. But when the action gets close it's amazing to see how fast the horses are going and how they really bang in to one another. The riders change horses really often - sometimes in the middle of the action one would ride over to the sideline and just slide onto a different horse. In addition, the crowd is very reserved - it's generally quiet except for when a goal is scored when everyone politely applauds. But all in all it was interesting to see a new sport and enjoy a nice afternoon out. And my Scandinavian friends took some great photos for their blog:
Guro & I enjoying the game- link
Players in action - link
The closest the horses got to us - link
On Sunday I went to a very fun concert with a girl named Kelly who is the receptionist at my Spanish school and one of her friends. Kelly is really cool - she is from Indy and went to Dayton (so of course she is cool...right Mom?). The concert was actually a mini-festival set up by the headlining band, Onda Vaga, and included a number of other bands that people in the group play in. So we saw four bands and it was a good mix - a bit of acoustic guitars, a bit of 80s synthesizers, some trumpet & trombone. And the best thing about concerts in Argentina is that being 5'8" I am taller than 99% of the girls and a good proportion of the guys, so there was no problem seeing the stage! We came out completely sweaty though - even after the sun went down it was still probably about 90 degrees - and went to have some diet cokes and empanadas to restore ourselves.
Here is a link, so you can be in-the-know if they make it in the US:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufS9fROh6Z4&feature=related
One thing we were reminded of at the concert is how there just aren't rules for a lot of things here - or rules that are enforced, which is probably more correct. It was nice to not be patted down and have our bags checked at the concert because they didn't care what you brought in. There was a sign saying they wouldn't serve alcohol to under-18s but no one seemed to check IDs ever (and there were definitely many under-18s there). And when we were waiting in line outside the venue for the box office to open, a guy was selling beers from a cooler and everyone was having a nice cold beer outside on the sidewalk, with no worries about open containers or anything like that. Argentina is also very liberal when it comes to pot - the only rule is against selling it - you can grown, possess and smoke it with no issues and many people do. On a normal day going about town it seems almost as common as normal cigarettes. Of course I do get annoyed when bus drivers ignore the rule about only opening the doors only when the bus has slowed below 10 kph - the exit door often fly open when they are going about 30 mph and you have to wait for the 2 seconds that they get somewhere near stopping to jump off - but in general I like it.
This past week was back to school after three weeks off. I definitely felt the impact of the break - my brain wasn't operating as quickly as it used to! In addition there was an incredibly annoying student in our group of four who was really opinionated and dominated the class. I felt bad for the teacher who was always having to try to steer the discussion away from her. Since the classes are so small, one bad apple really does make a difference in how well class goes. Luckily she is gone next week and apparently it is just myself and one other American girl who is meant to be really nice (she has been at Vamos before).
On Saturday I went to the polo with my friends Karl & Guro. This is the annual Argentine Open and they play round robin games for four weekends in November, with the championship played in early December. The polo grounds are only about a 15 minute walk from my apartment, so it was a very easy day out. The polo was of course great people watching - I have never seen so many guys in white jeans before! - it's like how I imagine South Beach (someday I will go to Miami and confirm that suspicion). We had purchased the cheap seats and what makes them cheap is that you are more in the sun and it was H.O.T. We had to skip 3 of the 8 chukkas and sit in the shade and eat ice cream to recover (I am newly obsessed with Banana Split flavor). The nice thing is that they let you bring in water bottles so we did stay hydrated.
Of course none of us had bothered to Wikipedia the rules before we went, so there was a lot of confusion - especially before we discovered that the teams switch goal ends each time one of them scores. In addition, the field is gigantic - probably 3x a football field - so it can be hard to see what is going on. But when the action gets close it's amazing to see how fast the horses are going and how they really bang in to one another. The riders change horses really often - sometimes in the middle of the action one would ride over to the sideline and just slide onto a different horse. In addition, the crowd is very reserved - it's generally quiet except for when a goal is scored when everyone politely applauds. But all in all it was interesting to see a new sport and enjoy a nice afternoon out. And my Scandinavian friends took some great photos for their blog:
Guro & I enjoying the game- link
Players in action - link
The closest the horses got to us - link
On Sunday I went to a very fun concert with a girl named Kelly who is the receptionist at my Spanish school and one of her friends. Kelly is really cool - she is from Indy and went to Dayton (so of course she is cool...right Mom?). The concert was actually a mini-festival set up by the headlining band, Onda Vaga, and included a number of other bands that people in the group play in. So we saw four bands and it was a good mix - a bit of acoustic guitars, a bit of 80s synthesizers, some trumpet & trombone. And the best thing about concerts in Argentina is that being 5'8" I am taller than 99% of the girls and a good proportion of the guys, so there was no problem seeing the stage! We came out completely sweaty though - even after the sun went down it was still probably about 90 degrees - and went to have some diet cokes and empanadas to restore ourselves.
Here is a link, so you can be in-the-know if they make it in the US:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufS9fROh6Z4&feature=related
One thing we were reminded of at the concert is how there just aren't rules for a lot of things here - or rules that are enforced, which is probably more correct. It was nice to not be patted down and have our bags checked at the concert because they didn't care what you brought in. There was a sign saying they wouldn't serve alcohol to under-18s but no one seemed to check IDs ever (and there were definitely many under-18s there). And when we were waiting in line outside the venue for the box office to open, a guy was selling beers from a cooler and everyone was having a nice cold beer outside on the sidewalk, with no worries about open containers or anything like that. Argentina is also very liberal when it comes to pot - the only rule is against selling it - you can grown, possess and smoke it with no issues and many people do. On a normal day going about town it seems almost as common as normal cigarettes. Of course I do get annoyed when bus drivers ignore the rule about only opening the doors only when the bus has slowed below 10 kph - the exit door often fly open when they are going about 30 mph and you have to wait for the 2 seconds that they get somewhere near stopping to jump off - but in general I like it.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Iguazu Falls
Not content with flying about 28 hours to and from London the week before, I decided to book a spur of the moment trip to Iguazu Falls this week. I had made the decision to return to school five days a week starting this coming Monday, so this week was the best time to do the trip before I left (and before it got TOO hot up in the north). I flew LAN, which I highly recommend for anyone travelling in South America, they have nice planes, delicious snack packs for free and you can earn AA miles.
Even though staying at a hostel was a bit of a bust in Salta, I decided to try it again this time and really embrace hostel living by staying in a ten person dorm. I picked the most highly rated one off Hostelworld.com, which was called Hostel Bambu Mini. When I was packing I had to remind myself about all the elements of hostel living that I hadn't dealt with since studying abroad - ear plugs, flip flops for the shower, bring-your-own-towel, etc. And in the end it worked out great, although 2 nights in a row is probably my capacity now (so don't worry...I am not going to depart for a six-month backpacking adventure anytime soon).
There are two sides to Iguazu - Argentina & Brazil - since the river forms the international border. Since I don't have a Brazilian visa I could only do the Argentinian side. The nice thing is that the town in Argentina (Puerto Iguazu) is much nicer than Brazil's (Foz do Iguacu). Puerto Iguazu is pretty tiny, but relaxed and very safe feeling. Also, the airport only has two gates so it made for a very easy arrival and departure! My hostel was right in the center of the town which meant that we could easily walk to restaurants or the station to catch the bus to the falls.
There were about 12-15 people staying in the hostel and as soon as I arrived I met an Aussie guy and a Canadian guy who I ended up going to the national park with the next day. The nice thing about Iguazu is that everyone is basically there for one reason...to see the falls. So everyday at that hostel you can probably find a few people to go to the park with. The hostel also has a little bar area outside where everyone sat around and had snacks and a cold beer (the temps were mid 90s) before dinner, which was nice and social. On Thursday night the three of us and two Canadian girls went out to dinner in town for a "wok" (what they call stir-fry here). The girls had been to the falls that day so were able to give us lots of tips which was really helpful. After dinner I was afraid of insomnia and having a terrible night lying awake in a room full of strangers, but a benadryl (which I really did need for my allergies) did the trick.
On Friday we woke up pretty early, ate breakfast (the usual medialunas, like every breakfast in Argentina, but with an added bonus of ham & cheese to make a toastie and actually get some protein). There is a bus that goes right from the center of town to the national park, which takes about 25 minutes. We got to the park at about 9am and decided to first do a jungle walking trail that not many people do, and let the crowds dissipate a bit. On this trail there were amazing butterflies everywhere, but they are near impossible to photograph - especially when your camera is actually a T-mobile phone! We also saw a crazy furry caterpillar (credit to other walkers who actually spotted it) and monkeys!! The monkeys were also camera shy up in the trees, but it was cool to see them in a non-zoo setting.
After the trail we were starving so had a quick lunch. The national park is really well organized with little restaurant stands dotted around. We all had salami & cheese sandwiches, which makes a break from the monotony of plain ham & cheese. :) Unfortunately we were very popular with the coatis, which are little animals similar to racoons who love to hang about the picnic tables waiting for scraps.
Finally it was off to the falls! The park has three main trails which are all metal walkways that extend over the river. The upper trail takes you to the edge of the falls at the top and the lower trail extends over the water at the bottom of the falls, so you can get a sense of the power of the water, while getting absolutely soaked at the same time! I believe the falls are about 8 stories high and there is so much water and mist that you can't even come close to seeing the bottom. Then there is a trail to the biggest fall, called Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). At that waterfall the rainbows were amazing, with double rainbows at times. Watching the water was almost hypnotizing - there is so much and it is never ending. I now need to rewatch The Mission, which we watched at some point at Ignatius, as it was filmed all around the falls.
Lastly we did a power boat ride into the falls. The main tip from the Canadian girls was to bring a pair of flip-flops for this part and I am so glad we did. The crew give you waterproof bags to put your stuff in, so we just stuck our socks and gym shoes in there and wore flip flops for the boat ride. Some people stripped down to swim suits, which is probably the way to go! The ride is a little scary because if you go overboard the water would probably just overwhelm you, but they do at least give you life jackets. The boat goes into two different falls and it's like being in the most powerful shower you have ever been in. I had to keep my sunglasses on, otherwise I think my contacts would have been washed right out. We came out completely drenched, but at least had nice warm and dry socks and shoes to put on. And luckily with the heat we got relatively dry pretty quickly.
After eight hours at the park it was time to head back to the hostel and relax a bit. We picked up another hostel mate, who was from Switzerland, and went to a food market in the town. It was actually quite a neat little place. There were about 15 stands with picnic tables, so you could buy food and wine from the stands and just eat right in the market. However, being Argentina, the stands were basically all the same - Ham/Salami, Cheese and Empanadas. We picked one of the stands and got a huge antipasti plate of ham/cheese/olives and some delicious chicken empanadas (if you are keeping track, this is the third meal in one day that involves a variation on ham & cheese...it's a good thing I don't keep kosher!). The Swiss guy works in a wine shop back home and he picked out the nicest bottle of malbec that I've had while in Argentina. We were slightly tempted by a bar near the market, but in the end just too tired from the day to go out any further so had a relatively early night.
Now I'm back in thunderstormy BA. Four more weeks to go here! I restart school tomorrow which I am really excited about. And on Tuesday I am going with my Scandinavian friends to a cool art exhibit in the Puerto Madero neighborhood which I am really looking forward to.
Even though staying at a hostel was a bit of a bust in Salta, I decided to try it again this time and really embrace hostel living by staying in a ten person dorm. I picked the most highly rated one off Hostelworld.com, which was called Hostel Bambu Mini. When I was packing I had to remind myself about all the elements of hostel living that I hadn't dealt with since studying abroad - ear plugs, flip flops for the shower, bring-your-own-towel, etc. And in the end it worked out great, although 2 nights in a row is probably my capacity now (so don't worry...I am not going to depart for a six-month backpacking adventure anytime soon).
There are two sides to Iguazu - Argentina & Brazil - since the river forms the international border. Since I don't have a Brazilian visa I could only do the Argentinian side. The nice thing is that the town in Argentina (Puerto Iguazu) is much nicer than Brazil's (Foz do Iguacu). Puerto Iguazu is pretty tiny, but relaxed and very safe feeling. Also, the airport only has two gates so it made for a very easy arrival and departure! My hostel was right in the center of the town which meant that we could easily walk to restaurants or the station to catch the bus to the falls.
There were about 12-15 people staying in the hostel and as soon as I arrived I met an Aussie guy and a Canadian guy who I ended up going to the national park with the next day. The nice thing about Iguazu is that everyone is basically there for one reason...to see the falls. So everyday at that hostel you can probably find a few people to go to the park with. The hostel also has a little bar area outside where everyone sat around and had snacks and a cold beer (the temps were mid 90s) before dinner, which was nice and social. On Thursday night the three of us and two Canadian girls went out to dinner in town for a "wok" (what they call stir-fry here). The girls had been to the falls that day so were able to give us lots of tips which was really helpful. After dinner I was afraid of insomnia and having a terrible night lying awake in a room full of strangers, but a benadryl (which I really did need for my allergies) did the trick.
On Friday we woke up pretty early, ate breakfast (the usual medialunas, like every breakfast in Argentina, but with an added bonus of ham & cheese to make a toastie and actually get some protein). There is a bus that goes right from the center of town to the national park, which takes about 25 minutes. We got to the park at about 9am and decided to first do a jungle walking trail that not many people do, and let the crowds dissipate a bit. On this trail there were amazing butterflies everywhere, but they are near impossible to photograph - especially when your camera is actually a T-mobile phone! We also saw a crazy furry caterpillar (credit to other walkers who actually spotted it) and monkeys!! The monkeys were also camera shy up in the trees, but it was cool to see them in a non-zoo setting.
After the trail we were starving so had a quick lunch. The national park is really well organized with little restaurant stands dotted around. We all had salami & cheese sandwiches, which makes a break from the monotony of plain ham & cheese. :) Unfortunately we were very popular with the coatis, which are little animals similar to racoons who love to hang about the picnic tables waiting for scraps.
Finally it was off to the falls! The park has three main trails which are all metal walkways that extend over the river. The upper trail takes you to the edge of the falls at the top and the lower trail extends over the water at the bottom of the falls, so you can get a sense of the power of the water, while getting absolutely soaked at the same time! I believe the falls are about 8 stories high and there is so much water and mist that you can't even come close to seeing the bottom. Then there is a trail to the biggest fall, called Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). At that waterfall the rainbows were amazing, with double rainbows at times. Watching the water was almost hypnotizing - there is so much and it is never ending. I now need to rewatch The Mission, which we watched at some point at Ignatius, as it was filmed all around the falls.
Lastly we did a power boat ride into the falls. The main tip from the Canadian girls was to bring a pair of flip-flops for this part and I am so glad we did. The crew give you waterproof bags to put your stuff in, so we just stuck our socks and gym shoes in there and wore flip flops for the boat ride. Some people stripped down to swim suits, which is probably the way to go! The ride is a little scary because if you go overboard the water would probably just overwhelm you, but they do at least give you life jackets. The boat goes into two different falls and it's like being in the most powerful shower you have ever been in. I had to keep my sunglasses on, otherwise I think my contacts would have been washed right out. We came out completely drenched, but at least had nice warm and dry socks and shoes to put on. And luckily with the heat we got relatively dry pretty quickly.
After eight hours at the park it was time to head back to the hostel and relax a bit. We picked up another hostel mate, who was from Switzerland, and went to a food market in the town. It was actually quite a neat little place. There were about 15 stands with picnic tables, so you could buy food and wine from the stands and just eat right in the market. However, being Argentina, the stands were basically all the same - Ham/Salami, Cheese and Empanadas. We picked one of the stands and got a huge antipasti plate of ham/cheese/olives and some delicious chicken empanadas (if you are keeping track, this is the third meal in one day that involves a variation on ham & cheese...it's a good thing I don't keep kosher!). The Swiss guy works in a wine shop back home and he picked out the nicest bottle of malbec that I've had while in Argentina. We were slightly tempted by a bar near the market, but in the end just too tired from the day to go out any further so had a relatively early night.
Now I'm back in thunderstormy BA. Four more weeks to go here! I restart school tomorrow which I am really excited about. And on Tuesday I am going with my Scandinavian friends to a cool art exhibit in the Puerto Madero neighborhood which I am really looking forward to.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
MDinLDN
The last two weeks have flown by and I can't believe there are only five weeks before I go back to Chicago. I am making a list today of all the things I need to do before I return and I think I am going to make this week "Tourist Week" and try to see any of the big sites I have missed. I may do a quick trip up to Iguazu Falls next weekend before it gets too hot up in the north. I am also considering returning to do a few more weeks of classes, since I already feel at loose ends without something to do every day.
Most of the last two weeks have been taken up by London and getting to and from London, but before I left on my trip I did another bike tour with my Scandinavian friends Guro & Karl and Guro's cousin Jenny who is here visiting. This was a special tour focusing on graffiti / street art - I'm not sure of the exact legalities, but it's definitely not as forbidden here as it is in the states and is often financially supported by the political parties, since much of it is politics related. And because the artists don't get in trouble they have more time to create cool works rather than just tagging. Here is a cool photo that Guro took and posted on their blog.
And then it was off to London!
I was very lucky to have a direct flight there on British Airways, which was excellent. It was totally empty, so I had three seats to myself. Unfortunately, since the flight left at 2.30pm, I couldn't make myself sleep much, even after taking a Tylenol PM. So I entertained myself watching Bridesmaids, 30 Rock and reading the entirety of Mindy Kaling's new book which I highly recommend for an easy airplane read.
When I got to Hannah's, Katie had dropped off a few long dresses that she had for me to try on and one of them fit perfectly and I ended up wearing it for the wedding. The dress was actually Katie's mom's dress from 1987 - black velvet Laura Ashley - the first time I've worn Laura Ashley since 8th grade! We decided to call it "vintage".
The wedding was really lovely, even though I was extremely nervous during my reading and felt like I couldn't catch my breath (not one of my best performances!). The church is very historical and located right in the center of the city, which was very cool (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bride's_Church). They also had the church choir performing at the wedding, so the music was amazing. Unfortunately we left the wedding and walked right into a march for Occupy London (only a few blocks away at St Paul's), with everyone in black tie and long dresses the protesters all started shouting "You're the 1 %!! You're the 1%!!". We just scurried onto the buses to the reception because there probably were people there who are in the 1% and it was best not to argue! The reception was at a club in Mayfair - excellent food and great speeches (speeches are a big deal in the UK and much longer than we are used to in the US, so you hope for good ones!).
The rest of the time in London was really relaxing, although very grey (the sun only came out for about two hours on my last day, but I guess that's to be expected in November!). Hannah and I went to the British Museum and checked out the mummies, and I went to the Museum of London on my own. I window shopped on Oxford Street and thought longingly about the future when I will have a paycheck again. I had a coffee with my old PwC friend Susan and a glass of wine with one of my UBS co-workers so she could give me the scoop in case I want to go back (not sure!). We went to see The Help and afterwards to a BBQ place for pulled pork sandwiches and baked beans to continue the southern theme. I was in heaven with all the food choices - Chipotle, conveyor belt sushi, Pret, even Old El Paso taco mix! Also, it was great to be back in Fall, with the leaves all changing color, and to see all the Christmas decorations that are already up.
At the end of the trip I really didn't want to come back to BA (although now that I am here, the blue skies and 75 degree weather are alleviating the pain a bit!). I'd been going back and forth on whether I want to come back here after Christmas, but this trip made me realize that I am ready to leave. Of course I have no idea what I want to do when I return. Suggestions are welcome! (Hannah - ever the HR professional - has suggested that I need to write a Life Charter. Maybe something to do this week!)
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saying 'Chau' to Vamos, Tango Concert & a Chorpian
In Argentina, they almost never say "Adios!", it is always "Chau!". It's one of the main Italian-influenced words here, along with "buenissimo!" which is used basically like how we'd use "great!" in the US. On Friday I had to say "Chau" to Vamos, where I have been taking lessons every weekday since I've arrived, except for my one week trip to Salta. I am actually pretty sad about this as I've met nice people and learned a ton, and it's gotten me out of the apartment every morning. I ended up with a B1 rating on the DELE scale. DELE is basically the same sort of thing as TOEFL, but is an organization of the Spanish government. They do regular standardized tests throughout the world to allow people to get certified at a specific level. I haven't done the test, but in theory I should be able to pass B1 which means that I have "sufficient knowledge of the language to handle situations which require an elementary use of the language". I think it's probably a fair assessment! When I return from London in 10 days, I am going to start taking occasional lessons with a private tutor so that I can focus more on my conversational skills.
Sadly, the deficiencies in my Spanish knowledge were very apparent last night, when I went to a tango music concert with my friend Nina. We didn't know that part of the concert was monologues about the history of women in tango - I picked out words, but really had no idea what the narrator was saying. Luckily the music was really good and it was in a nice little cafe so we could have a glass of wine and some snacks during the show. This was my first real cultural outing and I need to do some more for sure. I will have to do a better job of being a tourist when I am back in town!
The weather here has been absolutely beautiful all week, so today I went off to the south of the city where there is an ecological reserve. Apparently when they were building up the city, they would dump dirt and debris into the river which created a landfill that is now covered in grasslands. Unfortunately I decided to walk there from the subte station, which took much longer than I expected, and I was so tired when I got there that I decided to just do a quick walk into the reserve rather than do the full trail. The reserve is right next to Puerto Madero, which is the former port, and now the modern high-rise development of the city. I think next time I will take the bus, then rent a bike for a better exploration!
Alongside the reserve is a wide street called the Costanera Sur. This street is lined with a number of small grill stands selling sandwiches and I decided that I needed to finally try THE sandwich of Buenos Aires - the choripan. A choripan is just a chorizo sausage (not as spicy as what you'd get in Spain), split lengthwise and grilled, then put on french bread (below photo via google). Since basically every place offers the same menu I went with the most crowded, figuring that the natives knew best, and it was pretty delicious. The stand had about 10 bowls of various sauces that you could use to your heart's content - I went with a red pepper one and a mix of tomato and green onions. I skipped the onion mayo as it was about 80 degrees out and there was no sign of any refrigeration (I am not sure if the concept of health code violations exists here!). They ask for your name and of course "Molly" caused a lot of confusion - when my order was ready the cashier just yelled "Che, Chica!" (Hey, girl!). I am thinking of going by Maria in the future...
Sadly, the deficiencies in my Spanish knowledge were very apparent last night, when I went to a tango music concert with my friend Nina. We didn't know that part of the concert was monologues about the history of women in tango - I picked out words, but really had no idea what the narrator was saying. Luckily the music was really good and it was in a nice little cafe so we could have a glass of wine and some snacks during the show. This was my first real cultural outing and I need to do some more for sure. I will have to do a better job of being a tourist when I am back in town!
The weather here has been absolutely beautiful all week, so today I went off to the south of the city where there is an ecological reserve. Apparently when they were building up the city, they would dump dirt and debris into the river which created a landfill that is now covered in grasslands. Unfortunately I decided to walk there from the subte station, which took much longer than I expected, and I was so tired when I got there that I decided to just do a quick walk into the reserve rather than do the full trail. The reserve is right next to Puerto Madero, which is the former port, and now the modern high-rise development of the city. I think next time I will take the bus, then rent a bike for a better exploration!
Alongside the reserve is a wide street called the Costanera Sur. This street is lined with a number of small grill stands selling sandwiches and I decided that I needed to finally try THE sandwich of Buenos Aires - the choripan. A choripan is just a chorizo sausage (not as spicy as what you'd get in Spain), split lengthwise and grilled, then put on french bread (below photo via google). Since basically every place offers the same menu I went with the most crowded, figuring that the natives knew best, and it was pretty delicious. The stand had about 10 bowls of various sauces that you could use to your heart's content - I went with a red pepper one and a mix of tomato and green onions. I skipped the onion mayo as it was about 80 degrees out and there was no sign of any refrigeration (I am not sure if the concept of health code violations exists here!). They ask for your name and of course "Molly" caused a lot of confusion - when my order was ready the cashier just yelled "Che, Chica!" (Hey, girl!). I am thinking of going by Maria in the future...
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Spanglish Take 2, a Bike Tour & the election
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to return to the Spanglish conversation exchange last weekend and see if I had improved since my last visit, during my first few days here. And it turns out I have! (Thank god, otherwise those 8 weeks of intensive Spanish would have been a waste!) I didn't panic during any of my five-minutes in Spanish segments and understood about 80% of what my partner was saying. My own speaking needs a lot of work, but I notice that I can also understand a lot more on TV and the news. I have one more week of formal lessons, then it's off to London where hopefully it will all sink into my brain (rather than completely disappear!). Then I need to figure out tactics when I am back here.
The weather here in BsAs has been warming up in the last two weeks - I went to school without a jacket for the first time on Wednesday. Unfortunately the onset of spring does mean a bit more rain, but nothing too terrible so far. Yesterday was a perfect day - blue skies and about 80 degrees - and luckily I got to spend the afternoon riding bikes around town. There are two guys from San Diego who run a small bike tour company out of my Spanish school (they rent space for a desk and the bike storage) and yesterday was the perfect day to test it out. We did only a half day tour, so it was about four hours long. The bikes are nice, comfy cruiser types with cushy seats, which I love. Most of the sites we went to I'd been to before, but it was really nice to just ride around the city in the beautiful weather. In the last few years they have added a ton of bike paths, so you don't feel like your life is in danger from the city's crazy traffic. Here is a photo of the rose garden and also one of huge steel flower sculpture which used to open and close but has been broken for a few years now (luckily it broke while open).
The big news this weekend is that tomorrow is election day! There are a ton of parties here, so I would estimate that about eight people are running for president. However, it is generally accepted that the incumbent, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, will win tomorrow. To win, she needs to get either 45% of the vote or 40% and 10% more than the nearest rival. Otherwise, there will be a run-off in November with the top two candidates. Argentina has mandatory voting for everyone from 18 to 70 and if you aren't going to be in the country you need to get a release form in advance. If you are sick or in the hospital you can also apply for a release after the fact. Otherwise you are fined (not sure how much) and, according to my teacher, it can make it hard to get loans or buy property in the future. It's an interesting concept, and I wonder what would happen if something like that was in place in the US. At the same time, since the government wants everyone in their right mind when they are voting, alcohol sales are completely banned from 6pm tonight until midnight tomorrow. It's probably not the favorite day of bar and club owners!
The weather here in BsAs has been warming up in the last two weeks - I went to school without a jacket for the first time on Wednesday. Unfortunately the onset of spring does mean a bit more rain, but nothing too terrible so far. Yesterday was a perfect day - blue skies and about 80 degrees - and luckily I got to spend the afternoon riding bikes around town. There are two guys from San Diego who run a small bike tour company out of my Spanish school (they rent space for a desk and the bike storage) and yesterday was the perfect day to test it out. We did only a half day tour, so it was about four hours long. The bikes are nice, comfy cruiser types with cushy seats, which I love. Most of the sites we went to I'd been to before, but it was really nice to just ride around the city in the beautiful weather. In the last few years they have added a ton of bike paths, so you don't feel like your life is in danger from the city's crazy traffic. Here is a photo of the rose garden and also one of huge steel flower sculpture which used to open and close but has been broken for a few years now (luckily it broke while open).
The big news this weekend is that tomorrow is election day! There are a ton of parties here, so I would estimate that about eight people are running for president. However, it is generally accepted that the incumbent, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, will win tomorrow. To win, she needs to get either 45% of the vote or 40% and 10% more than the nearest rival. Otherwise, there will be a run-off in November with the top two candidates. Argentina has mandatory voting for everyone from 18 to 70 and if you aren't going to be in the country you need to get a release form in advance. If you are sick or in the hospital you can also apply for a release after the fact. Otherwise you are fined (not sure how much) and, according to my teacher, it can make it hard to get loans or buy property in the future. It's an interesting concept, and I wonder what would happen if something like that was in place in the US. At the same time, since the government wants everyone in their right mind when they are voting, alcohol sales are completely banned from 6pm tonight until midnight tomorrow. It's probably not the favorite day of bar and club owners!
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