Caffeine overload

My house here is not like a house in the states, where it's one building which a few floors, a garage and a yard. Or a dog. No furry pets. :( Our house here is more like a condominium. It's attached to the buildings on either side of it and we're on the second floor. The people below us are good friends with my family. So the other night we had them all up for dinner. It was an extremely international guest list, with 4 Argentines, 2 Venezuelans, 1 Italian, 1 Brazilian and 1 me. My host dad made homemade pizzas which were great and we had a Venezuelan, cherry flavored, pepto bismol colored mousse/jello dessert, which is about as good as it sounds. Meals in Argentina are about more than just eating (for instance you have to ask for the check at restaurants because the waiters can never assume that you're done) and so after dinner we turned on some music and played on toy instruments with my host sister, Manuela. The guests finally left at 2 AM, and Manuela was still awake.

My host parents have taken a liking to the two young men, Thiago from Italy and Humberto from Brazil,  because they (my parents) used to live in Italy and my host mom is getting her Masters degree to be a translator, so she likes to practice as much Italian as she can. This is why we went out to lunch today to a parilla (an Argentine bbq restaurant) with them and when I came back from my run they were in our house again! We ate donuts with dulce de leche from a bakery down the street and since Humberto loves coffee we drank some coffee as well. Then, we drank maté because we are in Argentina. I was stoked because I really like maté and sharing it with people. 

At this point you're probably thinking, wow that's a lot of caffeine but Rachel can handle it. That's what I'm thinking too. But then my host dad pulls out this plastic bag full of coca leaves. In case you don't know, this is what cocaine is made out of, but we just had a little bit. You fold a bunch of leaves together and suck on them on the side of your mouth. It goes numb. Then you switch sides. That goes numb too. Coca leaves are like the South American, natural alternative to Ritalin; it helps with concentration. I tried explaining to my host parents that in the US we take prescription (hopefully) medicine AKA chemicals to concentrate but that idea didn't go over so well.  You can also make tea with these leaves and it helps with altitude sickness; they do that in the Andes. Or you can make cocaine... Just kidding! I don't know how. 

Still awake and bouncing on my bed, 

Rachel

Day Trips

So this post is a little late, but the last few weekends I've done some day trips that I want to share. The first trip we did was to two hours outside of Buenos Aires. We went to an estancia, a ranch, in a town called San Antonio de Areco. It was a fun, relaxing day. For lunch we had an asado, a bbq, and after that the people from the estancia did traditional Argentine folk dances.

And of course, no ranch would be complete without horses. I went on a short guided trail ride with some friends. The estancia ws so beautiful--green and serene--but of course I didn't take my camera with me. We got back and there was a gaucho show going on. A gaucho is the traditional Argentina cowboy. I don't know if these guys are actual gauchos or just show off for tourists, but they did some cool stuff. First there was a competition where they rode on their horses really fast and tried to get a pencil-like stick through a small ring hanging from a bar. Most of the gauchos got that, and when they did they'd give it to a girl. 

Next, they played a game called Pato, which seemed to me a cross between polo and handball. The gauchos were divided into two teams, the gauchos and the indians (political correctness doesn't exist here) and each side of the audiance cheered for one of the teams. It was hard to tell them apart so I don't actually know who I was rooting for. I took lots of pictures, which don't really do it justice. I also have a video but that doesn't seem to want to upload here, sorry! 

Next the gauchos played musical chairs, and the trick was that they had to hop down off of their horses to sit in a chair. These guys have so much control over their animals!

Finally, the gaucho showed off the horse handling skills for us, riding on their horses standing up or hanging on to the sides. 

So the estancia was really cool, and I definitely want to go back to see what others are like and to take in more of the beautiful landscapes! 

The next day trip I took was to Tigre, a suburb of Buenos Aires that's about 50 minutes west by train. The best part about Tigre is that it costs about 57 cents for a round trip ticket. There's not a whole lot to do in Tigre, but it is on the Rio de Plata delta, and there are lots of islands that make up the town so the main form of public transportation is by boat! We took a boat tour and saw lots of different kinds of houses, from the run-down to the very fancy. There was one point where the water changed colors; we're still not sure how it went from transparent brown to translucent brown, but we were kind of freaked out. Finally, the other main attraction in Tigre is the former fruit market. Now it sells what any other market in Buenos Aires sells: leather, clothes, matés, sinks, toys, foods, books, etc. We had to look hard to find fruit but it was there in the end. 

Finally, I want to share a funny story from an asado I attended with all of my host family's family and friends, again outside of the city. There were blood sausages (which I didn't like), choripan (chorizo on bread, just as it sounds, which I love), lots of beef and a whole pig. I didn't get a picture of the roasted pig unfortunately, but there were hairs on the pigskin on my plate!! Anyways, I asked my host uncle for more meat and he tells me that this is a Peronist asado because there's always lots of food where Peronists are concerned. Now I don't know the family's political affiliations but it sounded like he was implying that anti-peronists don't eat a lot. They must not be Jews.

The giant fireplace that fed all 50 of us:

It's finally fall,
Rachel

Buenos Aires Sidewalks

"Cuidado de la caca," my host mom tells me everytime we step outside, "watch out for the poop." She's talking about the dog poop that is all over the streets and sidewalks of Buenos Aires. If you're not careful you'll step in it; I learned the hard way. I've been realizing during the past two and half weeks that I've been here how stimulating walking through a city can be. I've been walking so much more than I ever have. Usually I walk to and from "school" (quotation marks because it's my school building but classes haven't started yet) and that's a half an hour each way, and then I do more walking as well. At the end of any given day, my feet are tired and swollen. 

On any given walk through the city, I feel like I'm on sensory overload. I've been in other cities before but I've really never felt like this, that there's so much going on around me, it's hard to take it all in. The first thing that I noticed was the smells. For instance, there's a certain corner on my walk to school that always smells like pee. As I pass by produce shops I smell ripe and overripe fruits. One night I thought I smelled noodles and butter and that was all I wanted to eat. And of course the ubiquitous bakeries leave their scent as well. My favorite scent, though, comes from the parillas, the steakhouses. It's like the grease, which in the states would be frowned up and avoided, becomes a perfume. I would easily wear asado perfume here. 

But back to the sidewalks. Each block has its own set of stores: the bakery, the kiosk, the family grocery store, the produce store, the garage, the laundramat and the internet cafe. And the people one the sidewalks are notable too. Look down and you see the women in either strappy sandals or heels. Look up, and everyone has piercings on their faces and the men have odd hair styles. People can drink on the street; there's no open container law. People can also pee on the street; there's nothing against public urination here either. 

Buenos Aires is known as a city that doesn't sleep, and already I find this to be so true. Even after taking into consideration the clubs that stay open until dawn, there's constant traffic on the streets, people talking and babies crying (there are so many babies) in their houses, and dogs barking. 

I'm getting to know these streets better. I no longer need to look at my "guia T" to figure out in which dirrection I need to go on the subway. I know where the bus stops are for the buses that I take. I recognize the man on the corner of Avenida de Independencia selling roses. I can't say that Buenos Aires feels like home because being in a city is still so different, but I'm getting by. 

Here are some pictures from my walk home: 

This is a typical fruit and vegetable market. 

Rincón, my road. 

There's graffiti all over the city, but Ana (or Anita in this case) gets a lot of love. "I love you Anita."

Even in a neighborhood not known for its architecture or French influence, the buildings still have a European flair. 

My house! The door on the left is mine. All of the doors have some sort of gate in front of them. 

An affinity for alliterations, 

Rachel

Who goes to class?

Apparently not me. I just got home from an epic fracaso (fail) in which I had written down the wrong address to attend at class at University of Buenos Aires that I'm not even going to take, spent 40 minutes getting there only to learn by way of a locked door that I hadn't read my email well enough. I proceeded to get more lost on my way home. From start to finish I was out of the house for 2 hours, the duration of my class, so it's kind of like I went.

But actually: Classes started this week. Some of them. I have a real class at UBA-Latin American Literature of the 20th century-on Monday and Thursday nights, except that doesn't start until March 28th. So yesterday I had my first class about community service. I think it will be interesting but being the first day of class all we did was introduce ourselves. Yesterday afternoon I was supposed to have my Spanish class-Argentine Fiction-but that class doesn't start for another week or so. I DO have class tomorrow-"Cuestiones Culturales"-for three hours, and then my LA Lit class which won't be meeting. My mom and dad are quite happy they're paying for my "education" right now. Except that I'm learning so much outside of the classroom that my time here is already invaluable. Aaawwww.

In other news, I've booked my flight for Santiago, Chile to visit Laura, my roommate of freshman, sophomore and next year. I'm going in the beginning of April, and I snagged a sick deal on my plane ticket. More importantly, we're going to the Lollapalooza music festival and then we're running a 10k together in the Santiago Marathon!

And in just slightly less exciting news, I've finally developped a taste and stomach for maté, the traditional tea of Argentina. It's bitter but used in social situations so the other day when I was handed the maté (also the name for the container) by a host-family-friend, I couldn't say no. It has caffeine but is better for you than coffee, so now I want it all the time. However, I think it's kind of like alcohol in that if you drink it alone you have problems.

This is mate. I didn't take this picture:

Finally: I can't believe I'm saying this but I feel like I'm eating too much sugar. Aside from tons and tons of meat, the second most popular food here seems to be anything sweet, like pastries, ice cream, cookies, candies, DULCE DE LECHE...you get it. And so of course I love it. Except that I'm eating a lot of it and recently I've been getting lightheaded in the evenings, I think from all the sugar. So I'm going to try for a few days to abstain from cookies, cakes, ice creams and other treats. I'll probably forget tomorrow morning and just completely fail, but if I succeed I think I'll be feeling much better.

10 pages is so much reading,
Rachel

A Break from Buenos Aires

One of the reasons that I haven't posted on my blog for so long is because we had a long weekend, and my friends and I went away. 5 hours to the south are some beach towns, and my friends and I ended up, somehow, at Villa Gesell. We stayed at a hostel--7 of us in one room, albeit with a private bathroom--which was 5 blocks from the beach and 3 blocks from the main avenida. We wanted to relax, eat empanadas and get tan, and we succeeded.

The beach was really nice, and although there were lots of people on it due to the perfect weather it was still great. I read two books on my Kindle (thanks parents!) and got some sun. And by some sun, I mean that I tried to be very diligent with my sunscreen but I underestimated the power of the sun. My legs burned very badly and I'm pretty embarrassed about it. However, one of my friends snapped a picture of my tan/burn line, and it's also pretty impressive:

Here are some friends tanning on the beach, a view of the beach and a beached sea lion that we found:

On Saturday night, after dinner and hanging out at the hostel we decided to stay up to watch the sunrise. This was good idea #1 of the trip. We went out to a bar at 4 AM because that's what you do in Argentina. This bar, Keep On, was empty when we went the night before at midnight, but this early in the morning it was almost packed. We left around 5 and got to the beach around 5:30, and sat and watched the sunrise at 6:40. We went to bed at 7 AM. Of course, my camera died before we actually saw the sun but other friends got great pictures. I think this one is also pretty fantastic: 

My favorite part of the trip, however, was the last day when we ended up playing soccer on the beach with some Argentine guys. This was good idea #2. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't play sports with balls, but as I sat shivering on the beach, I figured this would be fun. I ended up saving a bunch of goals and making a few, and it was so fun to meet these guys. Of course we talked in Spanish. After the game ended, they invited us to meet them at a bar later that night. Which meant 2 AM. We got drinks and danced until 5 AM when we had to leave to head back to the hostel to catch our bus back to the city. That was the second all-nighter we pulled IN A ROW. I was exhausted and slept on the bus and basically as soon as I got back to my house for the rest of the afternoon. The good news? These guys all live in Bs As as well so we're planning to meet up with them for dinner at one of their houses. Top row: Walter, Ivan, Anna, Jeremy, Forlan, Jenna, Kara, Makeda. Bottom row: Daniel, me, Gerónimo. 

Still peeling a week later, 

Rachel

Some "Monumental" Places in Bs As

For only having been in Buenos Aires for two weeks, I'm pretty proud of how much I've accomplished here. Ive been to most of the important barrios and seen many important monuments and buildings and institutions.

Of course, no time in Bs As would be complete without a trip to a milonga, a tango dance hall. With the FLACSO program, we went to one of the most famous milongas in the city, called La Viruta. We had a tango lesson, in which I participated but since I'd gotten lost on my way there, my feet were too tired to dance the whole night. My favorite part though, was the short tango show that the real dancers put on. The ambiance was exactly as I had imagined (sensual red lighting), but the dance moves were much more intricate. Tango is a really cool dance.

I also took a brief trip into Recoleta. This neighborhood, which lies at the northeast of the city, is known for its money and French-style architecture. The buildings I saw here were what I'd imagined all of Bs As to look like. Obviously most buildings are normal or industrial and not ornate with wrought iron gates, but in Recoleta this actually seems to be the case. There is so much in Recoleta that I have yet to see--the cemetary with Evita's tomb comes to mind--but I did get a good sampling. 

Just a typical apartment building in Recoleta--glamourous and chic, no big deal:

Here's the Teatro Colón. It was actually quite hard to get a picture that captures how awesome (in the true sense of the word) it is. I'm going back to a tour inside, and also to see a ballet or opera hopefully! When my friend Kara and I arrived, they were packing up from filming something in the square. We think a commercial. It turns out that the first Monday I was here I ended up in this same place by accident, completely obvlivious to where I was, they were filming a commercial.

I have also ventured to the Catholic Church in the Plaza de Mayo one afternoon after I was unexpectedly done early at FLACSO. From the outside the cathedral is pretty modest, just a square building on the corner with an unassuming dome on top. But inside, it looks like this: 

I have a whole check list of places I want to visit during my time here (too soon for a bucket list, right?) so there will be lots more photos to come!

Update: the heat has finally broken, the rain has come, and I'm not sweating as I sit here writing like I usually am. It's only in the 70s today, and my host dad says that autumn is definitely on its way. I find that funny. I'm still working on my tan so autumn can wait a little longer. 

Camera in hand, 

Rachel

I am SO sorry

Dear everyone,
Colby recently changed settings on its gmail account that didn't let me access my blog to post. I finally got everything figured out tonight, so very soon I will be posting many pictures and stories. Again, sorry for all of you who were waiting for my blog updates; now they're on their way!
Rachel