The past two weeks, I have been slapped in the face by the “study” portion of this study abroad. We returned from spring break at the mid-point of our program, which entailed a huge load of work to be dumped onto our schedules. With the ton of reading, tests and papers, I haven’t been able to find the time or want to sit down and write just for fun! All my free time has been focused upon enjoying my last few weeks in Buenos Aires. I have found, too, that whenever I write in long lengths of English, my Spanish sucks for at least a day or two after. I can’t imagine how much harder it would be, but I kind of wish all of my classes were in Spanish so I would be able to practice and learn more. Despite all this work and my on and off frustration with spanish, Buenos Aires has been treating me awesome these past couple of weeks and I have completely fallen in love with this city. All I can think about is how to stay!
Monday October 27, 2008
It is unreal how fast time has moved these past few weeks. Since I have returned from spring break last month, I have been fully soaked from head to toe with school work and activities. I feel as if I returned to Buenos Aires in the beginning of October, and then got sling-shot to the end of the month! Now here I am, Monday October 27, 2008, my last week in Buenos Aires.
To catch everyone up, here is what has been going on:
September 25-28
On Thursday night, September 25, with some friends from my program, I took a seventeen hour bus ride overnight from Buenos Aires CP (Capital Federal) to las Cataratas de Iguazu. One of the seven world wonders, las Cataratas are a chain of 275 waterfalls in one the largest falls system in the world. I was so stoked! The bus ride was impressive, too. Nicer than most of the American planes I have taken, I was shocked to find out that we were fed dinner, snacks, champagne, breakfast and a little lunch before we got off the bus. Theseat reclined far back into beds and there were huge windows and movies to keep your attention. We arrived Friday morning in the little town of Puerto Iguazú around noon. From what I had been watching during the early morning ride on the bus, I knew I was finally going to enjoy some beautiful South American greenery. As I stepped out of the bus, I immediately felt the humid climate and the warm sun relax my muscles and heat my skin. “Finally,” I thought, “tropic climate!”
We stayed in a Hostelling International that was far beyond my expectations for a hostel. It appeared more like a resort. The main building that housed the reception, kitchen, bar, pool tables, cafeteria, a massage room and some of the bunks and bathrooms, was shaped like a v with arms that stretched around an outdoor pool, an outdoor tiki bar, and a social pavilion, all of which was landscaped with palm trees, real grass, sand and an bunch of exotic greens. Around the main building were little cabins for other dorms and a rad little cluster of trees for the back yard. All of us immediately got high from the vitamin D we were getting from our first real encounter with the sun since we arrived in Argentina (taking Southern Californians out of their summer to Buenos Aires during the end of winter is like putting reptiles in a freezer). We celebrated the euphoria with champagne in the pool and then followed a tour through the jungle that included a zip line, a short scale of a hill, a short hike a lesson on survival in the jungle with trap building demonstrations (during which he warned us about the most poisonous snake in that area of the jungle, which of course we later ran into. . .), and a rad boat ride along the Iguazú River that also exists as a border between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. It was my first time swimming in a border. It was a little “touristy,” but so beautiful and a great intro to the jungle. At night, we all got ready for the party boat along the Iguazú River. Of course it was a blast, meeting people from everywhere and partying on this huge yacht that rode along the river in the pitch black of night. I met a girl from Spain and I guy from England that I spent most of the night hanging out with. As I stood at the very tip of boat, I tried to block out the light and loud hip hop blasting from the boat to see the river and the jungle that was overflowing onto it. I could see the dark grey river narrow as it zig-zagged westward, with the plush black silhouettes of the trees border its edge, while at the same time hearing all of the chirps and hums of the nighttime creatures. When I saw the glow of the white moon reflecting from the river, I rememberd that I had completely forgot where I was: the Southern Hemisphere. I finally could see the night sky of the Southern Hemisphere, a foreign picture to me. I hadn’t seen any stars in Buenos Aires because of all the light pollution and never had the chance to look for the Southern Cross (equivalent to the North Star for us Northern Hemisphere residents) or other constellations in the nighttime sky layout down here. I enjoyed the view with a new god friend Veronica and continued dancing until too late, once again!
de pathways, cameras and guards everywhere, along with tourists in fanny packs, sunglasses and bucket hats roaming around with expensive technology to capture the experience. There is always room to be critical (which I am learning to control for those of you who know me well), but of course it was still a great opportunity to appreciate nature, its creations and to see people trying to conserve it as its popularity grows. When we first entered the park on the Argentine side, it was also a little emotional to see local natives selling handmade crafts and playing music for money. They seemed pretty poor, and I was holding my $800 camera, and had just finished champagne by the pool again that morning. It wasn't a humanity crisis or anything, but a very awkward juxtaposition of lifestyles from two different sides of the world. I asked some children if I could take a picture of them and they all lined up perfectly and began playing a song perfectly in harmony. I felt a little strange, like I was exploiting the kids and they were okay with it, so long as I gave them money. It was their show that they did for everyone. It made me question a lot about where I want my life to go, and made me feel terrible about my photography hobby. I love pictures, especially travel style documentation of cultures. But, are they exploitative? I hope to never use them in such a way.
September 29-October 6
Hostel Portunhol, Floripa
Florianopolis was the next stop. Called “Floripa” by the islands residents, it is located in southern 
Brazil off the coast of the continental part of the state of Santa Catarina. This is also described in the blog I wrote on October 6, but in short, it was heaven. The island is small and local. The culture is rather authentic, especially during the time we went which was off season, with a strong almost everyone only speaking Portuguese, forcing us to learn it. The produce was luscious and fresh, and tasted real and raw. We had fresh açaí almost everyday, we made smoothies from pineapples, kiwis, coconut milk, and enjoyed sugarcane juice that seemed to be super popular. Fresh was the theme: fresh salt water air, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh pastries, a fresh feeling as we hiked through the tropics of the hills that rolled around the island, fresh experiences on the beach and while driving through the island, and fresh rain pouring from a few thunderstorms that passed over us. It was Ryan Robinson, Jessie, Kari and myself for a week. We became super close in this time and spent a lot of time cooking in the hostel and trying to enjoy the island life. We got a couple of gorgeous days, and a few cloudy ones, along with two days of thunderstorms. There was always something to keep us occupied, from coffee in local cafes, the beach, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, playing soccer, renting a car and exploring the island and part of continental Brasil, making huge dinners, going on wild goose-hunt chases caused by misleading information given to us by the two stoner Chileans that owned Hostel Portunhol (clever name that mixed portuguese and español) or just speaking our crappy Portuguese and enjoying the awesome views of “Floripa.” I connected the most with a chick from my program named Angelli. We seem to have similar ideas and personalities for traveling. It was nice to have partner in everything, such as waking up earlier and enjoying the beach, hiking and we usually had congruent appetites for everything. For being twenty years old, I am definitely impressed with her maturity.
Angelli Robison, next American Super Model
Coming back to Buenos Aires was surreal. We were gone for 12 days, almost two weeks! It felt like I was coming home again. I felt comfortable knowing I was coming back to shower and bed of my host mothers apartment. By the time we returned, the winter was gone and spring was here! The first official day was September 23, and the sun finally appeared in the following weeks. This city is completely different with sunlight. All of a sudden your focus leaves the dog shit on the side walk, the dead trees, the shades of gray and clouds that hover over everything, and mean cool air that forces you to wear all the clothes you have! Now I find myself in shorts, smiling, seeing everyone else smiling, noticing more beautiful people and tall gorgeous women that I never noticed before (maybe because its warm enough to wear mini-skirts now?), and all the greeeeeeen around Buenos Aires! Now there are a million trees in bloom; the parks are suddenly bright green and welcoming with ponds and friendly soft grass. I am definitely very content to be back and have found a new love for Buenos Aires.
Random Subte music, 1 reason why I love this city.
Look for my last weeks in Buenos Aires tomorrow. . . .
1 comment:
Everybody is surprised to see how comfortable bus trips are in Argentina. Since the priced difference between bus and plane tickets, most of the people take the bus to the Fallsbecause it is not that bad, in fact, it is better than many flights! I remember when I travelled to Argentina, I had been staying in different Buenos Aires apartments for weeks and, although I loved the city, I wanted to see what else there was in the country and I relized there was so much more. I also took a bus to go to the falls and I had a terrific time. There were other young tourists in the bus so we spend half of the trip singing and talking and eating!
Lindsay
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