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)

Quilmes Rock

Quilmes Rock is a big music festival in Buenos Aires sponsored by the national beer company of the same name.  Radiohead and Kraftwerk kicked off day 1 of the festival on March 24 at the Buenos Aires Athletic Club.  Radiohead opened with 15 step, played 3 encores and closed with Creep.  It was incredible to be an American at the concert of an English band, in a crowd of people from all over South America.  I have never been at a more crowded concert, apparently there were 70,000 people.  It was so packed, at one point I put up my hair and then didn't have enough space to put my arms back at my sides, so I just had to stand there with my arms in the air(although a funny mental image, an extremely awkward physical situation).   After the show was over we flooded the streets and completely shut down Avenida del Libertador.  The public transportation system was insufficient to handle a crowd of that size so my friends and i walked about a mile before we could find an empty cab.  Although I was exhausted and covered in other people's sweat, it was absolutely amazing.

FEMA Argentina

This past weekend I went to Tigre (a town on the Parana Delta about an hour outside of the Buenos Aires). Tigre is known for its Puerto de Frutas(Fruit Port), which is now more of a huge craft fair instead of a functioning place of importation. There are a bunch of little islas surrounding Tigre so we took a boat to one called Parque LYFE. By the time we got there, the last boat back to Tigre was about to leave. It was at this point when we had the great idea to camp out there. With nothing more than my camera bag, we convinced the bartender to let us sleep in the tiki hut and lend us some cots. It was great! We met a bunch of Argentine campers and had an asado cookout. However, when we woke up in the morning, the delta had risen and the island was completely flooded. According to people who worked at the campground, this has never happened before we came, from which I can only surmise that this freak natural occurrence was at least partially my fault.

View when we woke up in the hut.

Bariloche

A few weeks ago our program took us to Bariloche (a city in northern Patagonia). Its about a two hour plane ride and a 20 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires...fortunately we took a plane. It was beautiful. This picture shows the lakes that surround the city and cut through the Andes an over the Chilean border. Apparently, this is where the Swiss first settled and their influence can be seen in the large number of microbreweries and artisanal chocolate shops. There is still a 'Swiss colony' that you can visit, which is pretty strange when you imagine Swiss chalets and beer gardens filled with people speaking spanish.

So on our free day in beautiful Bariloche, some friends and I decided to rent mountain bikes and go on a trail called "Circuito Chico"(short circuit). Apparently the name of the trail was some short of sick joke, like the Iceland/Greenland misnomer because we ended up biking for 6 hours! It was breath-taking, but definitely one of the most physically demanding activities I've ever done.

Worth it. The view from our hotel as the sun set behind the mountains.

Buenos Aires

After a fair amount of waiting and a lot of running around, I finally made it to Argentina!  For the past two weeks, I have been busied by orientation activities, and trying to find my way around this city.

Things I have learned so far:

1.  Not all Argentineans like tango, or mate

2. Buses here think they are cabs and will not stop for you unless you hail them (even if it is raining and you have a backpack and perishable goods)

3.  Mayonnaise is its own food group. It goes on everything. It is a salad dressing, a cheese replacement and it comes in a bag

4.  Mullets-are in fact stylish.  This applies to both genders, and the occasional rat tail

5.  Dinner served before 9pm is called lunch