Argentina is pretty much ROCKING the Rugby world cup. I love the Pumas...Next game, Sunday. Vs South Africa... (semifinals)
GO PUMAS
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Las Pumas... Rugby
Argentina is pretty much ROCKING the Rugby world cup. I love the Pumas...Next game, Sunday. Vs South Africa... (semifinals)
GO PUMAS
No words
No words. Its a sign I saw in Iguazu... It's a man without a leg...
If you're lucky, I'll tell you the story when I get home. It's funny. Better in person....
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Igúazu, waterfalls... and BRAZIL!!!
I'm going to start off by saying that this trip was absolutely fucking amazing, and it was one of the coolest places I've ever seen in my entire life. Out of everything I've seen...this is right up there... it can't compare with oceans or mountains... But it's right up with Tahoe. I took like 1983432749827 pictures. But they don't do justice. Enjoy what you can, and what you want, but it was AMAZING.
Ok. Now I'll tell you about the weekend. It started out with at 12 hour bus ride... not bad at all. I woke up to a road through the jungle... It was like driving through Costa Rica. Lush, green trees, bushes and everything all around me. I was happy... (cause it didn't look like buildings and taxis anymore).
We checked into our hostel, which was really nice with a HUGE pool. We decided to do an excursion on the first day, since we'd be going to the waterfalls the following two days. This included a guided walk through the jungle (where we learned how to trap animals, and what we could eat to survive, I ate poison ivy. It was sweet), then rock climbing, zip lines (nothing like CR... nothing compares) swimming, then a boat ride up to tres fronteras (explained later.) It was a lot of fun. We got to see el Río Igúazu, and across it, Brazil. It was so cool to be that close to another country, that we couldn't enter legally. That night we went out to eat, and had an invitation, from our taxi driver, to go to Brazil to go to the clubs. He told us that it wouldn't be an issue to cross the boarder, and he'd take care of everything. We thought it was too sketchy of an offer, and decided to pass. Plus, we'd be waking up early the next morning to see the waterfalls.
We got to the park and decided to take a hike. We heard about it from a few friends who had visited the week before. The map said it was a 3k hike each way, to a really cool waterfall. We ended up hiking about 5k to the waterfall. It was beautiful. We swam around for a bit, then decided to hike back (which took a lot longer cause the other girls were really tired) to go see the real waterfalls.
When we saw the waterfalls, I was speechless. It was truly amazing. I have no idea what else to say. Natural beauty at its best.
Allison and I paid to go in one of the boats that took you underneath the falls (no not under the part that is POUNDING on you, but really close to that, and we got soaking wet.) I got a huge rush, cause you're coming up in a boat, really fast, to this huge waterfall, and there's nothing you can do. It was SO SO SO cool, and worth every penny (which was less than 20 bucks!)
That night we decided to eat at the hostel cause we heard it was good. They had an all you can eat asado (BBQ..... love it) with all you can drink Caipirinhas (brazilian liquor.. think guaro... lime and sugar). Note: I only had one... I'm on a 2 week drinking break. Dinner was calming down when 2 Brazilian dancers entered the room with really cool Brazilian music. They did their dance, and that was the entertainment of the night. We had a good time watching, then participating. wow. We met some (very typical) american guys, and ended hanging out with them for the night. We ended up going swimming in the pool, skinny dipping (in underwear) , and being THOSE americans. It was a lot of fun... and even more fun for me cause I was sober and I could watch everything pan out. The boys ended up going out to a club, and me and my girls decided to stay in, cause we had to get up early the next morning. We had a plan.
We were in a 6 person co-ed room, and one of the other people in the room was from Brazil. We were talking, and he was going into Brazil the following morning. We told him how we really wanted to go, but we couldn't without a visa.
Note: The US makes it practically impossible for Brazillians to come into the States, so in return, Brazil makes it super hard for US citizens to get into Brazil. You have to go through a long, drawn out visa process, where you have to show like 18 months of bank records in the US, your return flight, your mortgage info, etc. It sucks. And its expensive. Needless to say, we didn't have Brazilian Visas.
So he told us that we could travel with him and he'd do what he could to get us in. We would be taking public buses across the boarder. So we got up at 6:30 and caught the bus with him. It was a 4 peso ($1.25) bus ride across the boarder. We got on the bus and were scared shitless. We got stamped out of Argentina (which is necessary to get back in, so thankfully that happened) and drove across the bridge to Brazil. When we came to the customs check, the bus drove right through. We thought we were going to have to pretend to be stupid americans or whatever... but no. We drove straight through. Another guy on the bus made a comment like "what the fuck? (but in Spanish)... that never happens... Oh well" So we got really really lucky. We ended up going to the waterfalls, but from the Brazilian side, which was a completely different perspective, then out to lunch in the city. It was SO good. I had some lime juice thing (think jugo mixto...but just lime jugo, and no mixto) which was AMAZING.
Then we came back into Argentina, without any problems. Life was good. Until I got to the bus station. I needed to get my ticket printed up, cause I ordered online. This wasn't an issue in BsAs when i did it on the way to Igúazu, but apparently it was this time. They couldn't find my reservation because I made it online. Long story short, I ended up missing the bus cause they couldn't find my reservation. They FINALLY found it, but like 5 min too late. The lady told me to take a taxi and try to catch the bus. So that's what I did. We were going SO fast on the 2 lane road trying to catch the bus. We caught it like 40k out of town. It ended up costing more than I thought it would,but whatever, it was cheaper than a new bus ticket. It was pretty entertaining. The bus ride home was fine, and thankfully uneventful. We did however get to watch the same 3 quality movies we watched on the way out (Only If [shitty movie by Jennifer Love Hewitt], Flick-A [quality horse movie] and We are Marshall [football movie]) It was entertaining. So I read for pleasure and finished a book (by Nicholas Sparks). It was amazing. You'll get a quote from it in my next blog.
Enjoy the pics.
On our excursion, we took a boat trip up the Igúazu River... at the area called tres fronteras (3 boarders) we were in the water between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Brazil is on the right and Paraguay is on the left. Pretty freaking sweet. Sad though we couldn't visit cause it's illegal to enter either country without a visa.
Sarah F and me swimming in international waters.
Rappelling. I'm not going to lie, it was kinda scary at first.
They taught us how to survive in the wilderness (of the jungle) if it was necessary. I'm eating poison ivy... kinda cool.
When we checked into the hostel, we had to fill out a form about ourselves, and you had to check the boxes of where you were planning on visiting on your trip. I felt like a badass, cause i had over 1/2 the boxes checked :) I travel a lot.
Our amazing hostel... When we pulled up, we had to make sure it was the right place. 12 bucks a night gets you pretty far.
Driving back from Brazil. There is a big bridge connecting the two. It was cool cause each side had the walls of the bridge painted the colors of their flag.
Fashion in Brazil. Let's just say EEW. Purple spandex (spandex in general) High tops, converse...and everything else wrong with this picture. I had to do it.
This little fucker looked cute at first. We started taking pictures of him... Allison put down the bag with our lunch in it, he rand to it, and stole it from us.
Notice... in Portuguese. Yeah, we were in Brazil.
Before we got to customs in Brazil.. Keep going to enter Brazil... or you can turn left, and turn around and go back to Argentina.
Waiting at the bus stop waiting for the sketchy bus ride to Brazil.
Brazilian dancers in the Hostel. It was a sweet show. This american guy sure thought so.
Chillin at the waterfall we hiked to on day one... it was a really pretty waterfall, just didn't compare at all to what I'd see about an hour later... breathtaking.
For dad. I saw a lot of mushrooms.
The trail we hiked on at the beginning of our trip. It reminded me so much of CR.
Ok. Now I'll tell you about the weekend. It started out with at 12 hour bus ride... not bad at all. I woke up to a road through the jungle... It was like driving through Costa Rica. Lush, green trees, bushes and everything all around me. I was happy... (cause it didn't look like buildings and taxis anymore).We checked into our hostel, which was really nice with a HUGE pool. We decided to do an excursion on the first day, since we'd be going to the waterfalls the following two days. This included a guided walk through the jungle (where we learned how to trap animals, and what we could eat to survive, I ate poison ivy. It was sweet), then rock climbing, zip lines (nothing like CR... nothing compares) swimming, then a boat ride up to tres fronteras (explained later.) It was a lot of fun. We got to see el Río Igúazu, and across it, Brazil. It was so cool to be that close to another country, that we couldn't enter legally. That night we went out to eat, and had an invitation, from our taxi driver, to go to Brazil to go to the clubs. He told us that it wouldn't be an issue to cross the boarder, and he'd take care of everything. We thought it was too sketchy of an offer, and decided to pass. Plus, we'd be waking up early the next morning to see the waterfalls.
We got to the park and decided to take a hike. We heard about it from a few friends who had visited the week before. The map said it was a 3k hike each way, to a really cool waterfall. We ended up hiking about 5k to the waterfall. It was beautiful. We swam around for a bit, then decided to hike back (which took a lot longer cause the other girls were really tired) to go see the real waterfalls.
When we saw the waterfalls, I was speechless. It was truly amazing. I have no idea what else to say. Natural beauty at its best.
Allison and I paid to go in one of the boats that took you underneath the falls (no not under the part that is POUNDING on you, but really close to that, and we got soaking wet.) I got a huge rush, cause you're coming up in a boat, really fast, to this huge waterfall, and there's nothing you can do. It was SO SO SO cool, and worth every penny (which was less than 20 bucks!)
That night we decided to eat at the hostel cause we heard it was good. They had an all you can eat asado (BBQ..... love it) with all you can drink Caipirinhas (brazilian liquor.. think guaro... lime and sugar). Note: I only had one... I'm on a 2 week drinking break. Dinner was calming down when 2 Brazilian dancers entered the room with really cool Brazilian music. They did their dance, and that was the entertainment of the night. We had a good time watching, then participating. wow. We met some (very typical) american guys, and ended hanging out with them for the night. We ended up going swimming in the pool, skinny dipping (in underwear) , and being THOSE americans. It was a lot of fun... and even more fun for me cause I was sober and I could watch everything pan out. The boys ended up going out to a club, and me and my girls decided to stay in, cause we had to get up early the next morning. We had a plan.
We were in a 6 person co-ed room, and one of the other people in the room was from Brazil. We were talking, and he was going into Brazil the following morning. We told him how we really wanted to go, but we couldn't without a visa.
Note: The US makes it practically impossible for Brazillians to come into the States, so in return, Brazil makes it super hard for US citizens to get into Brazil. You have to go through a long, drawn out visa process, where you have to show like 18 months of bank records in the US, your return flight, your mortgage info, etc. It sucks. And its expensive. Needless to say, we didn't have Brazilian Visas.
So he told us that we could travel with him and he'd do what he could to get us in. We would be taking public buses across the boarder. So we got up at 6:30 and caught the bus with him. It was a 4 peso ($1.25) bus ride across the boarder. We got on the bus and were scared shitless. We got stamped out of Argentina (which is necessary to get back in, so thankfully that happened) and drove across the bridge to Brazil. When we came to the customs check, the bus drove right through. We thought we were going to have to pretend to be stupid americans or whatever... but no. We drove straight through. Another guy on the bus made a comment like "what the fuck? (but in Spanish)... that never happens... Oh well" So we got really really lucky. We ended up going to the waterfalls, but from the Brazilian side, which was a completely different perspective, then out to lunch in the city. It was SO good. I had some lime juice thing (think jugo mixto...but just lime jugo, and no mixto) which was AMAZING.
Then we came back into Argentina, without any problems. Life was good. Until I got to the bus station. I needed to get my ticket printed up, cause I ordered online. This wasn't an issue in BsAs when i did it on the way to Igúazu, but apparently it was this time. They couldn't find my reservation because I made it online. Long story short, I ended up missing the bus cause they couldn't find my reservation. They FINALLY found it, but like 5 min too late. The lady told me to take a taxi and try to catch the bus. So that's what I did. We were going SO fast on the 2 lane road trying to catch the bus. We caught it like 40k out of town. It ended up costing more than I thought it would,but whatever, it was cheaper than a new bus ticket. It was pretty entertaining. The bus ride home was fine, and thankfully uneventful. We did however get to watch the same 3 quality movies we watched on the way out (Only If [shitty movie by Jennifer Love Hewitt], Flick-A [quality horse movie] and We are Marshall [football movie]) It was entertaining. So I read for pleasure and finished a book (by Nicholas Sparks). It was amazing. You'll get a quote from it in my next blog.
Enjoy the pics.
On our excursion, we took a boat trip up the Igúazu River... at the area called tres fronteras (3 boarders) we were in the water between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Brazil is on the right and Paraguay is on the left. Pretty freaking sweet. Sad though we couldn't visit cause it's illegal to enter either country without a visa.
Sarah F and me swimming in international waters.
Rappelling. I'm not going to lie, it was kinda scary at first.
They taught us how to survive in the wilderness (of the jungle) if it was necessary. I'm eating poison ivy... kinda cool.
When we checked into the hostel, we had to fill out a form about ourselves, and you had to check the boxes of where you were planning on visiting on your trip. I felt like a badass, cause i had over 1/2 the boxes checked :) I travel a lot.
Our amazing hostel... When we pulled up, we had to make sure it was the right place. 12 bucks a night gets you pretty far.
Driving back from Brazil. There is a big bridge connecting the two. It was cool cause each side had the walls of the bridge painted the colors of their flag.
Fashion in Brazil. Let's just say EEW. Purple spandex (spandex in general) High tops, converse...and everything else wrong with this picture. I had to do it.
This little fucker looked cute at first. We started taking pictures of him... Allison put down the bag with our lunch in it, he rand to it, and stole it from us. 
Notice... in Portuguese. Yeah, we were in Brazil.
Before we got to customs in Brazil.. Keep going to enter Brazil... or you can turn left, and turn around and go back to Argentina.
Waiting at the bus stop waiting for the sketchy bus ride to Brazil.
Brazilian dancers in the Hostel. It was a sweet show. This american guy sure thought so.
Chillin at the waterfall we hiked to on day one... it was a really pretty waterfall, just didn't compare at all to what I'd see about an hour later... breathtaking.
For dad. I saw a lot of mushrooms.
The trail we hiked on at the beginning of our trip. It reminded me so much of CR.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Midterms suck!
So I just finished both my midterms. Essay tests. I was writing (in Spanish mind you) for 4 and a half hours!! UGH.
I think I did pretty well though, they weren´t hard :)
I´m out for the weekend now... off to Iguazu.. get excited (oh wow... there´s that sorority girl in me) for some AMAZING pictures. I dont know if Iguazu is one of the 7 wonders of the world, but from what I´ve heard, it should be!!
xoxo
I think I did pretty well though, they weren´t hard :)
I´m out for the weekend now... off to Iguazu.. get excited (oh wow... there´s that sorority girl in me) for some AMAZING pictures. I dont know if Iguazu is one of the 7 wonders of the world, but from what I´ve heard, it should be!!
xoxo
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The search for a perfect Sunday
I had an amazing Sunday, so I thought I’d share it with you.
So when our bus pulled into the bus station at 9 am, we were all starving, and craving a normal breakfast (other than medialunas, and dulce de leche). Becca had seen a place kind of close to my house called Waffles of the world. Since there are NO breakfast places in BsAs, we were stoked to try it out. We took a bus from the bus station to the restaurant. Note: we still have all our luggane and are in sweats because we are coming right off our 12 hour bus ride from the night before. The place ended up being closed on Sundays. We were bummed. So we took the subway, then a taxi to Olsen, which I KNEW had a Sunday brunch. They weren’t open yet, and were full with reservations. We still wanted breakfast so we walked 12 blocks (with our luggage and in sweats…stupid gringas) to a normal café that had desayuno Americano. We were so happy after our long journey to have bacon, eggs, toast, OJ and coffee. :) That was the first time, other than the breakfast at the four seasons, that I had a real, good, American breakfast.
The rest of my day was filled with fun. I ended up joining my host family watching a rugby game in a bar. Imagine a sports bar, with TVs everywhere, FILLED with people (like Superbowl Sunday filled… you had to reserve a table). They are huge guys screaming bad words at the screen. I loved it. I’m really starting to understand the game and I kinda got into it. It’s better than football, for sure.
My host dad Kay (pronounced K-eye) with my host brother Oli (ollie)
Later I met up with Alex and enjoyed Ice cram outside on the grass, it was a beautiful, warm, springtime day, then we went into the café, (downstairs in the far back corner…paranoid much?) and played on our computers and studied.
outside the cafe...everyone was outside...
The rest of the night was filled with a great dinner with my girls, going to Becca’s lover’s soccer game, and going out for a few drinks (I found a bar with great mojitos).
All in all, it was an awesome Sunday, I knew I had the rest of the week ahead of me, including 2 midterms and a trip to Iguazu on Thursday. Those will be some amazing pictures!
So when our bus pulled into the bus station at 9 am, we were all starving, and craving a normal breakfast (other than medialunas, and dulce de leche). Becca had seen a place kind of close to my house called Waffles of the world. Since there are NO breakfast places in BsAs, we were stoked to try it out. We took a bus from the bus station to the restaurant. Note: we still have all our luggane and are in sweats because we are coming right off our 12 hour bus ride from the night before. The place ended up being closed on Sundays. We were bummed. So we took the subway, then a taxi to Olsen, which I KNEW had a Sunday brunch. They weren’t open yet, and were full with reservations. We still wanted breakfast so we walked 12 blocks (with our luggage and in sweats…stupid gringas) to a normal café that had desayuno Americano. We were so happy after our long journey to have bacon, eggs, toast, OJ and coffee. :) That was the first time, other than the breakfast at the four seasons, that I had a real, good, American breakfast.
The rest of my day was filled with fun. I ended up joining my host family watching a rugby game in a bar. Imagine a sports bar, with TVs everywhere, FILLED with people (like Superbowl Sunday filled… you had to reserve a table). They are huge guys screaming bad words at the screen. I loved it. I’m really starting to understand the game and I kinda got into it. It’s better than football, for sure.
My host dad Kay (pronounced K-eye) with my host brother Oli (ollie)
Later I met up with Alex and enjoyed Ice cram outside on the grass, it was a beautiful, warm, springtime day, then we went into the café, (downstairs in the far back corner…paranoid much?) and played on our computers and studied.
outside the cafe...everyone was outside...The rest of the night was filled with a great dinner with my girls, going to Becca’s lover’s soccer game, and going out for a few drinks (I found a bar with great mojitos).
All in all, it was an awesome Sunday, I knew I had the rest of the week ahead of me, including 2 midterms and a trip to Iguazu on Thursday. Those will be some amazing pictures!
Springtime in The city...officially
Spring began on September 21, which also happens to be Dia del Estudiante (Day of the Student) in Argentina. This is the way it is every year….the day doesn’t change with the week, this time it just happened to fall on Friday. What this means, is that students in the high school on up don’t have school so they can celebrate being young. 
Even the universities lock the doors on this day. To me, this just means that yet again, Argentina has found another reason to get drunk. All Argentina's students go to the park where they share maté and have picnics, and in our case, drink wine. Also, everyone buys their loved ones flowers. They were handing out flowers in the restaurants, bars, everywhere. It was a fun day.
Classy... I know.
This also means that yes, Argentina has found yet another random reason to celebrate. It’s a wonder why they just can’t seem to get things accomplished…why they’re chasing the United States.
I went salsa dancing that night. I'm not good at that :(
At the bar, before dancing, with Michelle, Ashley and Andrés.
The following Monday, I went to see Bomba De tiempo. Bomba de Tiempo is a percussion group that gets together every week in Almagro (a shadier part of Buenos Aires) at the Konex center. It apparently has really cool shows, and this was definitely one of them. I had the opportunity to go with Flacso's art, music, theater group this past Monday, and it was nothing short of AMAZING! It was kind of like a drumline, but not….you could feel the heartbeat of the music. I ended up dancing, and doing a lot of people watching. We noticed many things:
1) The majority of the people there were smoking pot.
2) The majority of the people there were dancing African dances.
3) It looked like an X party.
4) The air was thick with pot and smoke.
5) Beer and wine was cheap.
6) My dad would have loved it... I definetly thought of you!!
It was a very interesting night! I wish that I had a camcorder to capture how it really was, but I don’t even know if that would have done this event justice.
Even the universities lock the doors on this day. To me, this just means that yet again, Argentina has found another reason to get drunk. All Argentina's students go to the park where they share maté and have picnics, and in our case, drink wine. Also, everyone buys their loved ones flowers. They were handing out flowers in the restaurants, bars, everywhere. It was a fun day.
Classy... I know.This also means that yes, Argentina has found yet another random reason to celebrate. It’s a wonder why they just can’t seem to get things accomplished…why they’re chasing the United States.
I went salsa dancing that night. I'm not good at that :(
At the bar, before dancing, with Michelle, Ashley and Andrés.The following Monday, I went to see Bomba De tiempo. Bomba de Tiempo is a percussion group that gets together every week in Almagro (a shadier part of Buenos Aires) at the Konex center. It apparently has really cool shows, and this was definitely one of them. I had the opportunity to go with Flacso's art, music, theater group this past Monday, and it was nothing short of AMAZING! It was kind of like a drumline, but not….you could feel the heartbeat of the music. I ended up dancing, and doing a lot of people watching. We noticed many things:
1) The majority of the people there were smoking pot.
2) The majority of the people there were dancing African dances.
3) It looked like an X party.
4) The air was thick with pot and smoke.
5) Beer and wine was cheap.
6) My dad would have loved it... I definetly thought of you!!
It was a very interesting night! I wish that I had a camcorder to capture how it really was, but I don’t even know if that would have done this event justice.
Córdoba!!
Flacso took us to Córdoba this weekend. Its in the middle of the country, a little north of BsAs. We took a bus this time (think nicer than greyhoud) for the 12 hour trip. It really wasn't that bad, I'm getting used to long bus rides, definitely worth the price (it's over two times as much to fly!!)
It was a really relaxing weekend and we really didn't do that much or anything really exciting... it was amazing. Everyday we went to a different place, went treking (hiking) swimming and just chilled outside. It was so nice to get away from the city and enjoy more of the nature that Argentina has to offer. The weather was amazing, hot and dry and we all came back muy bronceados (tan). :)
Our last day there was the best, there was really no set schedule at all. They bussed us about 10 min to another rancho, we all got out and chilled for a bit, then were given the option to go hiking, swimming, relax, or ride horses. I decided to start out with the horses. We all know the great horsewoman skills I have (none) and we were riding on Argentine saddles (no horn in the middle to grab on to) but we were able to go wherever we wanted to and didn't have to stay with the group. It was a lot of fun and I got to gallop...crazy. I definitely prefer bikes, I can control those.
But after the horses, we got to hike a bit, then the people from the cabañas we were stayin in made us a huge asado (BBQ) feast. There was SO much food and so many different types of food: sausage, steak, chicken, goat, lamb, kabobs, salad, tortas, etc. SO SO SO good.
Then we had more free time to hike and chill and swim. Amazing. I enjoyed it, and it was very difficult to return to the city.
It really reminded me of home (again) with all the mountains, fresh air, and laid back attitude. I really enjoyed it and really didn't want to come back. But then I thought about how much I love the city and how I have no idea when I'll be in the city again... so it's good to be back :)
Becca and me
chillin and relaxing
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