It's been awhile

So I've been a terrible blogger lately. It's been over 2 months since I last updated. To be honest though, I haven't really felt up to writing lately because I work online about 10 hours a day and being on the computer anymore than necessary isn't that appealing. But what needs to be done, needs to get done!

So to recap a bit, I went to the beach with Facu and his family. They have a house there with a grill and it was so nice to escape the big city and just enjoy the ocean. Especially since there weren't a ton of people there since it was chilly. His mom made homemade fried calamari one night which was wonderful. With just a little bit of lemon and salt and we were all set. Nom nom nom...

I think the best part of the entire trip though was when we went out to a bar one night with some friends and they had a special going on for unlimited beer for 3 hours for 30 pesos. And that my friends is the equivalent of $6.83 USD. Oh what fools! They told that secret to the wrong group of people too. Why pay 24 pesos for one beer if I can pay 30 for infinite beer? And then, to make the night even better, the bouncer was from none other than the greatest city in the world: Dallas, Texas. AND THEN, if you didn't think the night could get any better, oh it did. This random German Shepherd just strolled into the bar and plopped himself down on a couch like he owned the place. And of course we took a picture with the celebrity before he was quickly shooed away:

The rest of the weekend we spent failing miserably at fishing, but at least we tried.

Facu Fishing

Facu's Dad fishing

And then this week was spent getting back into the swing of things. Facu's birthday was yesterday so I made some chocolate chip oatmeal raisin walnut peanut butter cookies since he doesn't really like cake. Nom nom nom.

Yes, that is a triple decker cookie stacked with layers of dulce de leche!

Anyway, that's all I've got going on at the moment, but hopefully I'll have some stories after my first soccer game this weekend! Got my cleats ready and everything (my mommy polished them for me before she sent them). I'll let you know.

Bridget

Pinamar beach

My new crib

I have officially moved into the city. For the past 2 months I had been living outside it in Quilmes where the beer is made. But now I'm a city dweller! I'm living in the home of a good friend of Facu's that's in a really nice part of the city called Retiro. I'm next to the train station and a few touristy places and the most important thing...a Starbucks. I'm getting a little tired of this instant coffee thing so the fact that there's 2 within walking distance is incredibly convenient. And there's also 3 grocery stores within 2 blocks as well as some fruit ladies that sit nearby selling produce to people that walk by. 

But of course this is Argentina (TIA) and 4 days after I move in to this awesome place, there's a story all over the news about some French photographer getting killed in the park down the street. Seriously? He apparently went for a walk yesterday morning and was taking pictures of some nature in plaza San Martin (a relatively safe place - during the day) when some rando tried to steal his camera. Of course the frenchie said no, and proceeded to tackle the man to get his camera back which is when he was then stabbed in the chest...6 times. The poor guy was on vacation here and just wanted to take a few pictures of some trees. At least he kicked the thief's butt. Although if he hadn't done so he would probably still be alive.

I don't understand the way people can warrant taking another human's life for something as insignificant as a camera. Btw the criminal was caught and is now in jail. Lucky for him the photographer wasn't a Texan, because then he would have pulled out his gun and shot the thief and got his camera back (in the leg of course so as not to kill him).

Anyway, mom and dad don't worry I'll be smart so I'm safe. Also I'm not french and I don't have expensive things...except the phone I'm writing this with. But I'll be careful. Okay I guess I should give a tour of my new place.

shared living room

my bathroom...Jacuzzi tub!

shared kitchen

my giant bedroom

my living room/work space

It's beginning to look a lot like Summer

This was my first Christmas away from home so I figured I'd make I might as well make it as nontraditional as possible and spend it in the southern hemisphere. 

There were a few things a bit different for me being in Argentina.  For starters, it's summer here, which might be normal for Argentina, but not for us winter Christmasers who bundle up in sweaters with cocoa and coffee to watch Home Alone marathons on a regular basis.  Another things is that, like New Years Eve is for us, Christmas Eve is the biggest night of the year down here.  So we celebrated by dressing up and having an asado (barbeque) around 10:30 pm and cracking open a bottle of champagne to go watch the fireworks outside.  They were going off like crazy all over the city - it was like the 4th of July when I was a kid, before firework control to effect. Some guy in the villas (slums) was even setting them off as well, Facu said "he probably didn't eat tonight, but he's setting off fireworks."  Which is pretty amazing and sad at the same time since they probably didn't much to give, yet they're willing to give what they did have to share the celebration of Christ's birth with everyone.

About 12:15 AM on Christmas morning!

After the fireworks finished, we all went back inside to open presents from "Papa Noel" (Santa Claus).  Us foreigners were really surprised because we usually open presents after everyone wakes up in the morning, but this was really neat doing it this way because then you can enjoy the rest of the day with your friends and family.  So we sat around and some more people came over for dessert and then around 2A.M. we headed out to a Christmas party at a friend's house. 

When we got home the next morning (!), I changed into a skirt and tank top, strolled downstairs and got ready for another asado with Facu's dad's family.  He is one of 7 kids so they all came over with their kids and it reminded me a lot of Christmas with my family since there were tons of people in the house.  They set some tables up outside for lunch and then we all went inside and exchanged more gifts.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us confused winter celebraters and it was a lot of fun. And even though I missed my family and friends at home quite a bit I'm really glad I got to experience and appreciate celebrating a little differently this year.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I cannot wait to see what this next year has in store.

Fruit Pizza for the Christmas BBQ

Skyping with my family later

  .

Machu Picchu

Well, I finally got the opportunity to see Machu Picchu.  It had been on the travel list for awhile and then the trip just kind of fell into my lap.  Bernard Chu, a Southwestern buddy, had been telling me he was heading that way in November and so I just jumped on board.  The only issue was missing Christmas since I was planning on heading to Argentina and didn't see a point of going back to the States when I was already so close.  But my parents assured me that they wouldn't disown me for missing out (although my mom has graciously been sending me pictures of all the Christmas decorations she decided to put up to rub it in).  I will just pretend it's her way of coping with my absence this year.

NFL Sunday

So after avoiding the malls on Black Friday, I shoved half my life into a few suitcases hoping I wouldn't be charged an arm and a leg for luggage fees.  After arriving in Lima I met up with Bernard and we headed to stay at a guest house of our friend Whitney - also a  booketeer.  She actually grew up in Peru so we took advantage of her language skills and headed to Cuzco.  Cuzco is a great little city but a bit high so we had to spend a little time getting acclimated up there with some Coca Tea.  There is a great little pub called Norton Rat's in the main square that we crashed for awhile. They were promoting NFL Sunday so as Americans it was a no-brainer which bar to go to.  It was actually pretty weird because I ran into a guy with a Cowboys hat on that happened to be from the exact same city as me and even lived with a family friend of ours when he was out in LA.  Small world.

Our trip to Peru was already planned out and completely organized be a tour guide that my friend Emily recommended.  His name is Jimmy Jhon and he was awesome and if any of you want to travel there some day let me know so I can give you his info. Not only was he more reasonably priced than most guides, but he also picked us up from the airport in Cuzco and from then on out we didn't have to worry about anything.  He already had our meals, hostels, excursions, train tickets, and tickets to Machu Picchu all set up so all we needed to do was survive long enough to take advantage of everything.  Easier said than done though. (Also her really like to be called Jaime Juan).

The first day we took a van up to the top of a mountain that was 2796 feet above sea level (4500 meters) and then biked 72 Kilometers down (about 45 miles).  It was great, the weather was beautiful, the view was amazing, etc.  And the roads were surprisingly good.  Afterwards we grabbed some lunch and went white water rafting which was good. We headed to dinner and then a local bar for a bit, keeping in mind that we had to get up at 6am the next day.  The 2nd day we had an 8 hour hike up the Inca Jungle Trail with a few stops on the way (Thanks God).  It was the most difficult hike I've ever done.  Not really sure if it's the altitude or that I'm just out of shape, but I was really sore the next few days.  It was beautiful though because we could see the whole valley from the top.  And the places we stopped at for more water, bug spray, etc. were neat little homes of people that lived up there.  They all had monkeys for pets and sold their homemade juices, chocolate, and other things like Gatorade. At the end of the hike though there were some really nice hot springs strategically located for our use. So good. 

Relaxing in the hot springs

The next day we went zip lining between the mountains which was really cool.  Some of the areas between the lines though were a little iffy.  For instance, we landed on one platform and had to climb up a ladder (which is probably the best word for it) that consisted of metal bars hammered in to the rock on the side of the mountain.  Which reminds me to mention, that if you're afraid of heights then you should probably avoid going to Machu Picchu or at least hiking any of the trails to it.  There were many parts were I knew if I slipped or stepped on a loose rock that I was a goner. Not really sure how I managed to survive actually, seeing as I'm not the most coordinated person and add a backpack on there that weighs have my body weight.  It's a miracle really.

Path up Wayna Picchu

We had a 3 hour hike over some railroad tracks after the zip lining which brought us to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. It was a cute little town built around the river, probably one of the nicest towns I saw while in Peru.  Some good restaurants and little shops to look through, though the prices were a lot higher compared to Cuzco since we were at Machu Picchu.  But we had an option of either waking up at 4am to hike to Machu Picchu the next day or wake up at 530 and take a bus up.  Definitely chose the bus. Best choice we could have made too because not only did we get to sleep longer, but Whitney had sprained her ankle the week before and it was swelling up again after all the hiking, but also, if we had hiked up we would have been completely drained.  And this would probably have prevented us from hiking up Wayna Picchu which is a cliff overlooking Machu Picchu.  It was really steep and you had to go slow since it was a lot riskier than your typical mounting hike, but it was definitely worth it once you got to the top.  The view was amazing.

There were some "stairs" if that's what you want to call them that people were coming down while we were hiking up.  All I could think when looking at them was "there is no way in hell that I'm going down those stairs."  Here's a pic of them:

And even though we went up a different way, guess had we had to go down?  That's right, the stairs of death. They give you no other option.  It was okay though, you just had to go REALLY slow.  But it was definitely worth it.

There were a few first experiences for me this trip.  One was peeing in a hole in the ground. Awesome.  Now I see why guys love peeing outside. Another was the consistent lack of running water in the hostels we stayed at.  It was great for me because I had an excuse not to shower everyday (although a few cold showers were necessary when running water was found). I think my favorite part was in one hostel the water wasn't working so Bernard went to tell the lady "hey there's no water...no hay agua" and she just looked at him and said in Spanish: "yeah, the water is turned off"  and then just walked away.  No big deal, and not going to do anything about it. Another thing I had never seen before was people taking the pet monkeys around town.  We were eating breakfast one day and this woman's brown hair started moving and then jumped down onto the table.  Obviously it wasn't really her hair, just the baby monkey living in it...which she proceeded to start feeding at the table in the middle of the restaurant.  Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure health codes don't exist in Peru, so nobody got mad at her. A very common thing there that I wasn't used to was when you were standing in line somewhere, patiently waiting your turn, people would just come up and cut in front of you.  No biggie, I was just standing there for 10 minutes like a normal human being, but thanks for making me hate you.  Forget social courtesy, next time I go I'm gonna cut lines like nobody's business.

Also, while Cuzco and Aguas Calientes were really nice cities, Lima was the ugliest place I have ever seen.  And I'm from Plano, Texas.  Plano.  First off there was no green anywhere, I don't remember seeing any trees outside of this one park we went to.  Second, the buildings were no higher than 3 stories, brown, and everywhere.  I think the city has 10 something million people and there aren't really any skyscrapers so it was just built out.  I didn't feel it was necessary to take any picture of it during the day time.  I took one picture of a street at night where the lights could help disguise the ugliness.  Here it is, enjoy:

 

Anyway, I think that's it.  Here are some more pictures from the trip!

 

Cuzco, main square

Where we biked the 1st day

Monkey on a leash

the group

chewing Coca leaves to help with altitude sicknes

not really sure what these are

nice safe mountain pass

Santa Maria ghost town

my feet after the 8 hour hike

they were blasting one of the mountains

Cuzco

Machu Picchu

our awesome guide

at the top of Wayna Picchu

 

Machu Picchu

travel buddies

rest stop

fountain park in Lima

The last few weeks

Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile, I’ve just been really busy since school’s been over. NOT.  I actually didn’t do anything really until Lauren got here.  Eat, sleep, walk to the store to buy more food, watch some Copa America, etc.  Going shopping with Paz and Romi was a good break from being a vegetable, and it was nice to hang out with them without having to worry about getting up for school the next day.  I also got to witness a FIRST EVER Starbucks tasting because Romi had never tried it before. BLASPHEMY!

The new artist in residence, Alice, got here on Friday so we showed her around a bit.  She went to capital with Facu and me that night to meet some people.  As we waited for the bus at the stop some rando came up to us and asked politely if we could “give him all of our belongings.”  And of course he said it in Spanish so Alice and I didn’t know that he was trying to mug us.  Especially since he couldn’t make eye contact with us, had a grocery bag in his hand, and couldn’t decide if he wanted to keep his gun out or not.  He kind of half heartedly touched Alice’s purse strap and she was so confused that she thought he was trying to tell her there was something on her back.  And when Facu saw the gun, he told him in Spanish “Ok, wait. We will give you what you want,” but the guy just turned around and walked away.  Slowly.  What a weirdo.  Piss poor effort on his part if I may say so.   We were so confused when the bus came that we just walked on like nothing had happened.  Welcome to Argentina Alice!

Lauren Lynn got here on Tuesday; so her, Alice, and I did all of the touristy stuff in Buenos Aires this week. Woo!  Wednesday was “friend day” here in Argentina which is kind of like mother’s day or father’s day, but for your friends.  Everyone gets together with their friends and has dinner.  Isn’t that cute? So naturally, since the 3 of us were on our own, we decided to buy some friendship bracelets and do friend things together and then meet up with the boys afterwards.  Our own little wolf pack.

We spent the rest of the time going out…way too much - and sight-seeing too I guess.  And then, as a last hurrah, we went to La Bomba del Tiempo on Monday night.  If only we had known Lauren’s flight on Tuesday would be cancelled.  I just can’t seem to get rid of her! Haha no just kidding I’m really glad she came.  I had so much fun this past week, it’s going to make it hard to leave on Thursday.  I guess we’ll both just have to continue the fun in Dallas.

I’ll put pictures up later.

Stateside on Friday. 

Iguazu Falls!

This past weekend I flew with Peggy to the North of Argentina to Iguazu Falls.  We almost didn’t make it because of the Ash cloud from the volcano in Chile.  But after an hour or so delay we were able to take off and fly north.  Take that volcano!

The waterfalls are located on the border of Brazil and Argentina.  Paraguay is also very close.  Unfortunately I couldn’t go to the Brazilian side of the falls because they require a visa for Americans.  But it worked out fine because the Argentine side is better since you can go below the falls, on top of the falls, and get a pretty good long shot of them as well.  Wow.  That’s all I can really say.  They were amazing.  Much different from Niagra where you only really need to spend an afternoon looking at the falls.  We spent two days walking around the area and we still didn’t do everything! 

It was cold and it rained a lot, but only after we had already left the park for the day.  And the hostel we stayed out was pretty nice because it wasn’t very crowded because of the weather.  So it worked out perfectly for us. 

La Garganta del Diablo

La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat) was ridiculous.  It’s the main waterfall and I can’t even begin to describe the amount of water the flows over it.  It was one of those moments where you just look at it and are speechless.  Un montón de agua! So much water!  It really makes you sit back and realize how miniscule we really are in the grand scheme of things. Here's a video of it, but it still doesn't quite capture it.

The other falls were breathtaking as well.  There was so much green everywhere!  We saw monkeys, birds, etc.  There were also these other animals called coatís that would come to the area where all the tourists were and try and steal their food.  It was funny to watch.

Afterwards we almost didn’t make it back to Buenos Aires because the bus didn’t come when we thought it would.  And when we tried to order a taxi there weren’t any because it was a local election day.  Luckily, we managed to convince the only available taxi to bring us to the airport and were able to make it back.

Earlier in the week though I was surprised to hear that Katherine Lagow was in Baires.  So I met up with her at Jackie's art exhibition and we went to get some dinner afterwards.  It was good to finally see Jackie's photos!  She does pinhole photography and then printed them on metal sheets or drew them for display.  They were awesome!

The artist and her work!

Now there are only two weeks left of school.  And I’m spending this week at the North campus to help out a bit with the kindergarten.  It’s a bit of an inconvenience getting up early for the hour commute, but oh well, I can get over an inconvenience for one week.  I’ll let you know how it works out!  Here are some more pictures from Iguazu: 

La Selva

Giant mate!

a secluded fall

Rainbow