UBA

            The entrance of the University of Buenos Aires social sciences building.  

UBA is the completely free public university(sorry mom and dad still not free for foreigners) that has about 350,000 students.  In UBA there is no time table and because it's free, people stick around for years-seriously.  In each class, you have two years after the course's completion to take your final, in this lax atmosphere almost everyone in BsAs is an UBA 'student'.

UBA is famous for being a hotbed for political and social activism, often times when I try to go to class either the professors or the students are on strike.  Because of this uncertain environment the students took over the parking lot(above) to provide a space to have class and forums.  When the parking lot is full sometimes students just blockade the street with desks and chairs, pick up a bull horn and have class in the middle of the road...maybe I should try that at Barnard...

Córdoba

Córdoba is a city about 10 hour bus ride northwest of Buenos Aires near the Sierra Chicas.  The big tourist attraction is the Jesuit circuit of churches in the center of the city.  After seeing a few churches they all started to look the same so we decided to see something different.  Right around the Jesuit circuit we found the Museo de Tortura (museum of torture) and because I like my vacations to be uplifting we decided to check it out.  This is where thousands of los desaparecidos were taken during the late 70's to be interrogated and tortured. 

La Boca

La Boca is a predominantly Italian barrio in Buenos Aires.  In 1882 rebels in the barrio attempted to secede from Argentina and raised the Genoese flag.  Unfortunately now La Boca has been reduced to La Caminito, a pedestrian street of brightly colored houses and cheesy tango shows to attract tourists.  So here are my touristy pictures:

Flowers

Which one of these is different than the other one...?

Real flower in the Rosedal in Palermo, one of Buenos Aires' many beautiful botanical gardens.

Floralis Generica, a huge metal sculpture in the Recoleta barrio of Buenos Aires that opens and closes based on the intensity of the sunlight.  Much like a real flower it is dependent on solar power...well that and hydroelectric machinery...

Uruguay

Recently I went to Colonia, Uruguay, a historically preserved city a short boat ride away from Buenos Aires.  The boat to Colonia is called "buquebus"- do not let this confuse you, it is in fact a boat not a bus (probably a spanish-english joke to fool tourists).  When taking the buqueBUS, you have the option of the 'fast boat' or the 'slow boat', but because my study abroad program was picking up the tab for this trip i didn't have a choice and ended up on a 3 hour tour instead of the 1 1/2 hour boat.  tiny suggestion: TAKE THE FAST BOAT, there isn't really anything to see except brown water(because of iron deposits, not trash) and in my opinion an hour of looking at murky water is plenty.  once we finally got to colonia we were greeted by a really quaint city, all cobble stone streets filled with crumbling beautiful buildings.  the city itself is very walkable and i think we saw most of the highlights in an afternoon.

One of the best parts though was that the director of my study abroad program has a bed and breakfast that he invited us all to have lunch at:

The house is hidden outside of the city on a small lemon farm so the entire property smells of citrus.  We had a great asado complete with chorizo, morcilla and bife de chorizo accompanied by a delicious salad.  Afterwards we lazed by the pool until it was time to get back on our 3 hour boat/bus...

Semana Santa

El Submarino

Semana Santa(Holy Week) is when everyone escapes Buenos Aires to hang out with their family in the country to celebrate easter.  I had imagined large fairs and religious festivals, but after talking to a few Argentineans I learned that Semana Santa is more about getting time off work and having asados.  I had wanted to go to Salta in the north, but after the dengue outbreak I decided not to risk it and go to San Juan instead.  After about a 15 hour bus ride we arrived in the sleepy town of San Juan which is conveniently located between national parks Ischigualasto and Leoncito.

Valle de la Luna in parque Ischigualasto is a desert full of strange geological formations and the site of the discovery of the oldest dinosaurs in the world.

cancha de bochas: basically means bocce ball court. DO NOT try to play bocce with these spherical stones...park rangers will get very mad.

Parque Leoncito, is home to the largest astronomical observatory in Argentina and sits on the Andean border.

Another great part of Leoncito is the dried out lake bed in the middle, perfect for doing gymnastics or donuts in our car.  

Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata is a seaside town about a 6 hour bus ride outside of Buenos Aires.  Apparently during the summer season the beach is packed and unbearably hot, just like the jersey shore! Fortunately we went during off-season when the beach was empty and the weather was agreeable.  At the port downtown there is a strange colony of sea lions who hang out by the boats and bark at each other.  If you have ever had the pleasure of encountering a sea lion you know that they are basically smelly angry manatees and that they have nothing in common with real lions.

Sea lion throwdown.  Although attacks on humans are rare, in 2007 a 13-year old Australian girl was mauled by a sea lion while surfing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6556895.stm)