Superviaje Update 2: Bolivia!

Boy do I have some stories for you...

Heading North
Day 6 (Friday):
     We knew the journey from Salta to Bolivia was going to be an interesting one, but good grief. Friday takes the cake for being the absolute worst day so far (and hopefully for the rest of the trip!). Let's start at the top.
     We booked a tour with a company that does a loop through little towns north of Salta. We didn't want to head five hours north only to come back to Salta though, so we did half the tour and hopped off in Humahuaca. This half of the day went swimmingly. We left our hostel in Salta at 7:30am, stopped in Purmamarca and... a park whose name I don't remember, and then to Humahuaca! Pretty views of mountains and valleys, cool artisan fairs--we even saw our first llama! (Oh, and we had chicken-fried llama for lunch, and it was delicious). We caught a bus from Humahuaca to La Quiaca, the border town on the Argentine side (you can't buy any trips straight into Bolivia).
     We arrived in La Quiaca around 6:30pm, and here's where the fun begins. I'm just going to give you a bullet point rundown of the first 12 hours in Bolivia so you can understand the insanity. Keep in mind that this is all occurring accompanied with splitting altitude-induced headaches. Yay. 

• Man at Bolivian customs won't take hardly any of our dollars to pay for visas, because they have minor minor tears on the edges (sorry our money is made of PAPER). Commence going through large amounts of cash in public which makes me all sorts of nervous. Miraculously, we have enough pristine bills and are allowed through.
• Walk a mile ish to Villazón (Bolivian side of the border), pass both a marching band and a large recorder recital. Doesn't help with the headaches.
• Purchase the last seats on the last bus out of town. There are no straight trips to Uyuni (where we wanted to go), but don't worry, says the lady, you just change buses in Potosí. 
• Before getting on the bus, I look for a bathroom. You must pay to enter, and there are neither toilet seats nor toilet paper. There is a sign that read "Por favor, eche agua." ... Throw water? I think. Where? Why? Turns out many toilets in Bolivia don't flush, and there are large drums of water in the bathroom with milk jugs in them. After using the loo, you must rinse the toilet with a few jugs of water. It is just as messy and gross as it sounds. Bienvenidos a Bolivia, I think.
• We arrive right on time for our bus at 8pm. ...and then sit at the cold bus terminal for two hours until the bus arrives. At this point I start wondering if I will ever make it back to America.
• If you look at a map, you will see that the ride from Villazón to Potosí is entirely through the mountains. So imagine seven hours on a bus with no heating and windows that don't close completely (and thus rattle incessantly and let the wind in) through bumpy mountain roads. Also, the driver blared his music for the first three hours. Sydney and I were wrapped like burritos with the thin fleece blankets we'd stolen off another bus, with hats gloves and all but still froze through to the bone. Most miserable ride of my entire life.
• We arrive in Potosí at 5am, sore, exhausted, and dazed. Ask the driver about the other bus... he says oh yes go inside the terminal and ask the company office. We do, to find that the office is closed and will not open for three hours. The terminal is colder than a tomb. We're pretty sure we got gypped. 
• Sydney and I cry uncle, decide Bolivia is not for us and that we didn't need to see the salt flats in Uyuni that much anyway. We find a map of hostels/hotels and a taxi driver who drives us into town and waits while we Mary-and-Joseph style knock on doors asking if there is any room in the inn. We find a hotel that promises us heating, wifi, and hot showers, and collapse on the bed around 6:30am--just as the sun is rising--with moans of "I hate Bolivia." And thus concludes the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Purmamarca, Argentina

Potosí

Day 7 (Saturday): 

     It's amazing what a hot shower, some good iced tea, and pretty views can do to one's mood, and by Saturday afternoon we were feeling a bit less hatred towards Bolivia. After waking up around noon, priority number one was ensuring bus tickets out of town, so we headed to the bus terminal. We wandered around the central area of Potosí, visited the plaza, and stumbled across a good place to eat lunch. Potosí is built into the hills and has some killer views. It has skinny windy streets lined with two story buildings, and everything looked covered in a layer of dust. It is not a tourist town in the slightest--we counted only two other people who looked North American/European! We've also taken to not-so-fondly referring to Potosí as Potonó.

     We headed out from Potosí around 9pm--overjoyed to be on a bus with heating and comfy seats! 

Side note:     One thing I didn't expect about Bolivia (as strange as it may sound) is that it would be so incredibly Bolivian! Just as foreigners expect all Texans to wear hats and ride horses, I expected that the image I had in my mind of Bolivia was exaggerated. It was not. The people on the streets--the women in particular--look straight off the Discovery Channel. The women seem to have an unspoken uniform: big knee-length layered skirt, tights, sweater or shawl, hair in two long braids, and a satchel made from bright striped cloth on their backs carrying either wares or a baby. Oh and hats. Bolivians love hats. The women wore either wide-brimmed straw hats or these smaller top hat looking things that seemed to defy gravity--how do they stay on?? 

La Paz 

Day 8 (Sunday):

     We arrived in La Paz at dark-thirty, and had to nap on the floor of the hostel until our rooms were ready. The hostel in La Paz was CRAZY! It held at least 200 people and was beautifully furnished--chandeliers, gold furnishings, huge mirrors, tiled floors. It had a fully equipped bar and to my knowledge threw themed parties every night. 

     Sunday was our La Paz tour day, so we wandered around different parts of town until it got dark. We visited a few plazas and saw some pretty churches. We also went to a huge cemetery on the far side of town, which made us get out of the touristy section and into the real La Paz. The streets of La Paz are... busy. There are women sitting on blankets lining both sides of the streets selling more fruits, nuts, spices, vegetables, and baked goods than you can imagine--some of the foods I'd never seen before in my life! There were also piles of fish just laying out in the sun--doesn't quite seem healthy to me! The bus system in La Paz is really more of small 9-15 passenger vans with their destinations on posters in the front window. Some of them even have boys hanging out the side window yelling where they're going and for how much. And I thought the buses in Buenos Aires were difficult! There was a marching band (we saw a marching band every day we were in Bolivia...) adding to the noise and bustle. We also passed through the Witch Market which had, among other things, dead dried baby llamas hanging from their stalls. We walked through there reaaal quick. 

     On the way home we passed a street show--some comedian talking into a mic to a huge crowd--and we had not stopped for ten seconds before they spotted us and involved us in the show. They asked our names, where we were from (we said Canada, just to be safe), and made good-natured jokes about tourists and gringos. So funny! 

     As someone who is anemic and thus doesn't have enough oxygen in her blood to begin with, Bolivia was rough on me. And after living at sea level for five months then climbing 12,000 ft, I felt all kinds of bad by the time we got to La Paz. (I actually started giving my heart encouraging pep-talks.) I went to bed early and slept for 12 hours that night! 

Day 9 (Monday):

     The strawberry French toast and smoothies we had for breakfast were hands-down the best meal so far (good breakfast food is hard to come by!). A guy in the hostel had told us about a café a few blocks away, and the breakfast on Monday marked meal number three at Alexander's Coffee. Yes. We went to La Paz and ate at the same not-Bolivian restaurant for every single meal. I'm gonna blame it on the al-al-al-al-al-altitude (sickness). 

     After breakfast we wandered over to a park that supposedly had good views, and it did not disappoint. La Paz is nestled in a valley, meaning anywhere you turn the city continues up into the mountains around you. When we left La Paz we drove up into the mountains, and the view looking down on the entire city was indescribable--with the snow-capped peaks providing a backdrop. La Paz is stunning from a distance, but up close and personal... honestly it just reminded me of an area in Buenos Aires called Once--an uglier part of town that you try to avoid if at all possible. 

     We decided that we should visit Lake Titicaca (the highest lake in the world, situated between Bolivia and Peru) while we were so close, so we hopped on a bus Monday afternoon for Copacabana. The trip took about four hours and involved a ferry ride across a straight, and we arrived in the tiny little lakeshore town just before sunset. The rolly walk of shame is even more shameful uphill, but we finally arrived to our hotel, winded but there. We had a romantic candlelit pizza dinner in a local restaurant and turned in early.

Copacabana 

Day 10 (Tuesday):

     We got up bright and early for the boat ride across the lake to la Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). We sat atop the boat for the two hour ride and my, what a view! I could not believe how blue the water was, and the surrounding islands were so pretty. We were surrounded by Brazilians, Germans, and Frenchmen on the boat (I'm not sure why but there are a TON of French people in Bolivia...), so for the two hour ride we did one of our favorite things and didn't speak English. Sydney and I both happen to know "Ubby Dubby", a silly made-up language kinda like Pig Latin that merely mixes up English but is quite difficult to understand. We often prefer to speak that, with the occasionally Spanish thrown in, solely to confuse people. Have to amuse yourself somehow, right? 

     Once on the island we followed a hiking trail around its north side. There were sheep, baby sheep, pigs, baby pigs, and burros. And the panoramic views were never ending! We spent most the afternoon in the sun (and I have a pink face now to prove it), and then had lunch with two Chilean guys we'd met on the bus from La Paz. And by had lunch with I mean sat there while they ate lunch because we had one (1) boliviano to our name (approximately 15 cents). We made it back to Copacabana with enough time to send a few messages to the fam, then head for the bus station again! 

     I am currently writing this from the last (LAST!!) overnight bus ride of the trip! We're headed to Cusco, and should make it into town before the sun rises. We gave Bolivia an enthusiastic goodbye at the border--I'm sure Bolivia is a lovely place but by our experience we just were not won over. We are beyond excited though, because we're staying in Cusco for five straight nights. FIVE NIGHTS! The longest we've stay somewhere so far has been two! 

Fun fact 1: As of an hour ago, I have officially been to fourteen countries. A-WHOOP!

Fun fact 2: One week from tonight I'll be getting on a plane to the good ol' US of A! No puedo creerlo!!

Superviaje Update 1: Córdoba and Salta

Hello from Salta! Here's some stories and a few pictures from the trip so far... Once I get home and have computer access I'll dump the rest on here, but you'll have to use your imagination for now!

Córdoba
Day 1 (Sunday):
     We arrived in Córdoba around 9am, and commenced what we call the "rolly walk of shame" to the hostel, 14 blocks away. (Neither Sydney nor I had backpacking backpacks, so we were forced to bring our rolly carry-on suitcases on the trip instead. Not as cool. When we get in a new town we have to roll our way to the hostel and we just look even more out-of-place and feel like idiots. Thus, rolly walk of shame.) They weren't quite ready for us so we played ukulele and taught one of the workers, Carlos, the cup song until they said we could shower.
     My friend Maxi invited us for lunch with his family, so we went to their apartment for homemade noodles and discussed Argentina, the States, politics, and anything else you can think of. They were so welcoming and we had the most wonderful time--and we were so relieved that the Cordoban accent isn't as hard to understand as we'd heard!
     We went to an artesian fair, and then to church with Maxi's family that night. Afterward we returned the meal favor, and made a chocolate chip pancake feast for Maxi and a couple other guys in the hostel (from New Zealand and Switzerland). Pancakes + peanut butter + dulce de leche + syrup = sugar COMA! They enjoyed the "panqueques americanos."
     Córdoba was a lot colder than I'd anticipated... My priority was to buy gloves, and we spent a lot of time next to the heaters in the hostel. Luckily there were plenty of blankets!

Day 2 (Monday):
     Monday was city tour day and goodness gracious, I am pretty positive we walked more than 100 blocks that day! (Sydney had to be bribed with Toddys cookies to continue for the last little bit...). Maxi served as an excellent tour guide of the city--we saw a ton of churches, parks, plaza, old buildings. Córdoba is such a pretty city! We ate lunch at a typical argentine restaurant, and had an afternoon snack of cotton candy (of course). We were so exhausted by the end of the day--we came home, made dinner, and crashed!

Villa General Belgrano
Day 3 (Tuesday):
     About two hours outside of Córdoba is a little town called Villa General Belgrano. We hopped on a bus Tuesday morning... But when we got off we started laughing once we realized that we knew zero to nothing about this town, and only came because someone sometime mentioned it was cool. I couldn't have pointed to where we were on a map, but hey, that's how adventures work right? The town is made to look like a German village (it was founded before WWII, don't worry it's not full of Nazi descendents...), and is adorable! Unfortunately it was freezing and windy, so our activity options were limited. We went on a tour of a small beer factory, sampled some artesenal beers, and otherwise just wandered around or found a fire to drink some hot chocolate by. I met an argentine man who said he'd been to Dallas on business, and went to the Stockyards and Joe T. Garcia's while he was there. Small world! Oh, and Villa General Belgrano hosts the world's third largest Oktoberfest every October, after Berlin and a place in Brasil. Random, no?
     We bused back to Córdoba, ate dinner in the bus terminal, changed clothes, and got right back on a bus for a night trip to Salta!

Salta
Day 4 (Wednesday):
     After the rolly walk of shame to hostel number two, we were informed that they had no record of our reservation and had no room for us. (Despite having sent me a confirmation email for our reservation...). Also they had no power and supposedly neither did the entire city. Not good news for someone in critical need of a shower. We ate breakfast in hostel number one while the owner tried to find us somewhere else to stay, and sitting in the kitchen was a man Sydney knew from her choir back in Buenos Aires! Small world, once again. We finally transferred to our new hostel, which had heaters and warm showers--which is really all you can hope for.
     We headed out for the day, wandered around Salta for a bit, and decided to hike up the thousand something steps to the top of Cerro San Bernardo. Sydney went enthusiastically, I went begrudgingly, but the view from the top was incredible. There were zero clouds in the sky and you could see the whole city--which is a lot bigger than I'd expected! Salta sits amidst the mountains, and as pretty as it is now I can only imagine how pretty it'd be come summertime!
     We had merienda in a cafe on the plaza, and then finished up our pancake mix for dinner. The hostel was a lively place last night--one of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting the other travelers! By my count we had Sweden, France, Canada, Spain, Chile, and other parts of Argentina represented. We ending up going out for some drinks and a few games of pool/foosball. It was such a great crowd and a wonderful night!

Day 5 (Thursday):
     Sydney and I are a good traveling pair because usually if one of us is feeling lazy the other one is rearing to go. Unfortunately that was not the case today, and our lethargy coincided. We deemed today a rest and recup day--well we kinda had to after we woke up around 11 and didn't leave the hostel till 2! Perezosas! We've had a calm day, eating outside, enjoying the pretty weather, reading, and updating our blogs :) that's another thing that's great about planning your own trip... You get to do what you want, and if that means nothing, then nothing it is!

Trying to get out of bed but the force is TOO STRONG.

     Tomorrow we head north toward Bolivia and begin the hazy/vague part of our trip, where plans are less clear and we'll probably have to fly by the seat of our pants for most of it. Assuming we make it there, the next time you hear from me should be from Bolivia! :) So long, Argentina!

No llores por mi, Argentina. Mi alma está contigo.

Do you hear that noise? The sound of panicking? You probably don't, as it is almost entirely drowned out by the deafening roar of denial.



I remember the exact feeling in my stomach, when the plane left the ground and I thought to myself: "Welp. Here goes nothing." I had no idea what to expect; no idea what I'd see, what I'd do, the people I'd meet, the things I'd experience, or how I'd feel on the other side. 

Here I am on the other side and... I'm just not quite sure how nearly five months have slipped by me so fast. I can say with assurance that choosing to spend an entire semester five-thousand miles from home is one of the best decisions I've ever made. I love this country. I love this city. I love this culture and these people. 

I know I'm not the same person I was when I got on that plane at DFW on March 1, but I couldn't tell you how. I am beyond excited to come back to Texas for a lot of reasons, but as Nelson Mandela said, "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways that you yourself have changed." I can't wait to find out just that.

How long was I here? Long enough for this foreign world to no longer seem foreign. I feel at home. I can name every subway stop in order and tell you which sides the doors open on. I know the waiters of my favorite restaurants and the owners of the quiscos on my street by name. I know just about every Starbucks in the city. I no longer squint in confusion at Argentine slang (cien mangos? por qué tantos mangos?). I can give driving directions to the other side of town, and can practically smell the closest place with free wifi. I finally have this crazy city down, and now it's time to say goodbye. 

Things I Will Miss:

• Spanish. Spanish from everyone, everywhere, all the time. I have always thought Spanish to be a gorgeous language, and love the way it feels on your tongue. Argentine Spanish, however, es otra cosa. I will greatly miss being constantly surrounded by the “¿Todo bien? Todo tranqui?” and “¿Qué sé yo?” and “Pero qué te pasa, boludo?” and “Che, ‘cuchame” and “Claaaaro, claro… ahh mira vos!”
• Sweaters. Dogs in cable-knitting, grandpas in sweater vests, cute boys in cardigans...
• Argentines. I can't explain it, I can't put my finger on it, but there's something so incredibly argentine about the Argentines and I absolutely adore it. 
• Dulce de leche, milka chocolate, kinder chocolate, gelato.
• Cheap steak. Cheap wine. Cheap taxis. (An “expensive” taxi ride is anything over $6 here.)
• Convenience of city life. Everything is within two blocks. 
• Toddys. Like Chips Ahoy, if Chips Ahoys were sprinkled with dreams, dipped in miracles, and then soaked in love.
• People watching on public transit. College Station just doesn't quite offer the same variety of individuals as the streets of Buenos Aires. 
• Walking everywhere. Thirty blocks in a day is nothing, and, I'm quite fond of walking...
• Being a novelty. In America if I roll out of bed and stumble to the grocery store looking a hot mess, no men on the street yell after me "belleza de oro!" (golden beauty) just because of my hair. :[ Self-confidence is gonna plummet, I tell ya
• Curly-headed blonde blue-eyed Spanish-speaking babies in smocks. There is nothing better. Nothing.
• People who don't speak English. It's just so much more endearing, and more challenging. They're a bit harder to come by in the States.
• Tea parties. Every time you order tea (which is nearly daily for me), it usually comes in a baby teapot with your own treats and entirely to many tiny dishes.
• Kissing on the cheek. Not gonna lie, it took some getting used to. But now, I have to remind myself that it's not normal in the US to kiss every (yes EVERY) person in the room on the cheek when you walk in. All Americans do is shake hands or wave at new acquaintances.. that seems so cold! 
• Argentine boys. Full disclosure: I fall in love just about every time I leave my house. And they all have names like Alejandro, Julián, Felipe, Sebastián, Beto, Emiliano,  Santiago. It's like straight out of a Mary Kate & Ashley movie, y mi corazón derrite diariamente...
• Cool looking keys. Old elevators. Balconies with a view.
• Pretty architecture. Pretty dogs. Pretty people.
• The weather. I’m not going to enjoy jumping straight into 100 degree summer days… not when I’ve been chillin’ here in sweater weather land. (Cue The Neighbourhood).

Things I Will Not Miss:

• Calculating my net worth every time I leave the house. “Okay this watch plus my laptop plus my smartphone plus whatever cash I have oh and my aggie ring which means if I got mugged I’d be out…”
• The constant feeling of mild confusion. It’s going to be a strange and wonderful sensation to be in a place where I have a decent idea of what’s going on 95% of the time.
• Uneven sidewalks and dog poop everywhere.
• Drat-tails and drullets. You didn't think rat-tails or mullets could get much worse, did you? That's because the "Let's dread-lock them!" idea hasn't hit the US yet. THANK GOODNESS. 
• Inconvenience of city life. Adding on an hour anywhere you go is a necessity. Because what if the subte isn’t running? What if there’s a protest and traffic isn’t moving? What if the bus drivers are on strike?
• The nightlife schedule. Here, I will leave the house after 1am for a night out. Here, I answer the question “Did you stay out all night?” with “No, I got back around 6am.” Here, when I leave a party at 4:30 I am the first one to head home. It’s exhausting and really messes up a sleep schedule.
• Inefficiency. Yeah one waitress seems enough for these fifteen tables. Yeah two bartenders should do the trick for this group of two-hundred. No, no need for lines. No no, no rush. 

Things I Will Welcome with Open Arms:

• Bella. I love that Bean and have been needing some quality Bean-time for approximately 4.5 months now.
• Beverly. When you have a car you don't have to wait for a bus or anything you can just drive STRAIGHT THERE. 
• Piano. Sometimes I wonder if I can actually still read music… that piano and I are going to have a lot of quality time together when I get back. Some Rachmaninoff, a bit of Chopin, and then banging the keys and singing Spanish ballads at the top of my lungs till mom yells at me to stop.
• Free water. You guys, if you haven’t stopped to thank our Founding Fathers that water is free and not-gross in the US, please do so at this moment.
• Salads, sweet tea, food with flavor, margaritas, waffles.
• Bed. My own bed with its huge fluffy down comforter. 
• The ability to hang out with friends at my own house. (We’re not supposed to have guests over to our host-families houses, which means a lot of time in cafés, and hangouts on the roof)
• Dr Pepper Cowboys from Fuego. Biggest craving since I've been here!
• Credit cards. I have all but completely lost the concept that in America you can use your debit card if you don’t have cash and it is the same thing
• Culture norms that I understand. Cultural barriers are not a joke, people. I learned early-on to pass most situations through Claudia, my Colombian-American friend, who serves as our cultural-interpretor. I'm finally getting the hang of it, and have learned the differences in Colombians and Argentines, and in Porteños and ones from provincia. It's been a struggle though and I am looking forward to being in a country where we all speak the same (unspoken) language.
• 3G. If you're lost you just pull out your phone and look up directions, you don't have to carry a map or look up buses in advance or anything! If you're wondering something--anything!--you can look it up right then and there! And most importantly, you can snapchat and vine from anywhere!
• A kitchen. Where I can bake cookies and pies and stuff.
• Efficiency. Order. Organization. 
• Most of all, my sweet family and all my wonderful friends. It's been one heck of an adventure but I am at a hug deficit and am looking to rectify that as soon as possible. :)

I would say that I've had the time of my life here, but I hope that's not true. I hope that this is just one of many adventures I'll experience in my life. I've gotten a taste of the world, a taste of adventure, and I'm afraid now I will not be able to stop.

I won't say goodbye, only "until next time." 

I'm leaving a piece of my heart here, and I'll be back for it one day.

Hasta luego, entonces, Buenos Aires!

Último día

     A&M has a tradition called Elephant Walk, where all the seniors get together before graduating and revisit all their favorite and important places on campus. Sydney and I decided to do a Buenos Aires Elephant Walk on our last day in town.

     We had tea at our favorite tea house with Claudia before she left, we went up on the roof and sang, we went to the huge parks on Libertador for choripan and cotton candy. We visited la Casa Rosada and the Obelisk one more time. We went to Café Tortorni one last time for submarinos, and there was a line of people waiting all the way down the block (today is National Friend Day)! Luckily our friend Matías was working and he let us skip the line--and treated us to our merienda! :) Lastly we went for dulce de leche milkshakes at our favorite restaurant. And the weather today was gorgeous! It's as if Buenos Aires knew it was our last day and wanted us to remember her fondly :) 

     T-3 hours til we head out. May the adventures begin!

Puerto Madero by night.

     My Aunt Sandy came to visit me for five days just at the end of classes! We had a blast tooling around Buenos Aires. We didn't quite hit the level of activities I packed into my parents' schedule when they were here, but we managed to see some new things! We went to La Boca, an art museum, did some shopping at the Sunday fairs, had plenty of tea, and just had a general porteño good time :] 

     I took my last final while Aunt Sandy was here, and got an A! I have officially successfully finished my study abroad semester. What a great feeling! 

     We're currently sitting in my apartment waiting for the driver to come pick her up for the airport! She's taking back a whole suitcase of my things to the States (isn't she the BEST?)--I'm about to say goodbye to my computer as I'll be left with only the things I'm taking on my trip North! 

     I won't have a way to upload pictures from my camera, but I'll try to upload a few from my iPad to keep you updated along the way of our journey. My countdown says 2 days 5 hours--where did the time go?? I'm about to become a whirlwind of emotions as the sadness of leaving Buenos Aires starts to hit the excitement of our next trip... So much things happening at once!!

Love you all and see you stateside in three weeks!!

Love,

Abby

Oh the joys of public transpo.

Polka dot exhibit at the Museum of Latin American art.

El Ateneo

HAPPY JULIO!

     Turns out, the Fourth of July in not-America is just sad. I don't think I'd ever truly appreciated how American we all become for this holiday until I walked down the street in Buenos Aires and there were no red-white-and-blue, no flags, no fireworks, no lavish displays of patriotism. I mean, obviously. But my heart was just aching for some good old-fashioned American fun: with star-shaped glassed and Uncle Sam hats, hot dogs, desserts involving blueberries and strawberries, guns, and roman-candle related injuries.
     I asked in a few stores where to find fireworks and they just shook their heads sadly and said "Not sure... it's not really the season for them..." :[ Not the season?? It's the Fourth of JULY! Don't worry, as evidenced above, I managed to find me some sparklers in this city and celebrate appropriately--with a little bit of pyrotechnics.

Some days Sydney and I match exactly on accident. 

     Now, usually I try to avoid going out in public with large groups of obnoxious yelling Americans, but when you're in a foreign country on the Fourth of July, it seems to me like the only thing you CAN do! I went on a "Freedom Crawl," or a pub crawl with two to three hundred of my closest American friends. We had a blast... singing every American song we could think of at the top of our lungs (which turned out to be a lot...). But ultimately I ended up making friends with some of the few Argentines there, naturally. You can't expect too much from me.

   

These girls are wonderful. 

And these kids are something else.

     While skyping with my brother a few days ago he declared, "You're not deserving of the word adult." And while my first thought was "Rude." my second thought was "Absolutely." I realize that some people my age are married, or planning a wedding or looking for big-kid jobs and me...? If I get up before noon these days I call it a successful day. I have nothing to do for school, no job... I don't even have to cook for myself or do my own laundry! The toughest decision I make in a day is which of several music venues I want to go to that night. So no, I am 21 years old, but please don't confuse me for an adult. I plan on being an adult sometime later on, but I figure I have the rest of my life for that nonsense and for now I'm soaking up this wonderful, carefree, and--in a word--fun period of my life while I can :] I don't deserve it, not in the slightest, but I've got some awesome parents to thank for it and I am incredibly grateful for the experience while it lasts. I'll conquer adulthood later, if I must.

Mutantly long arm......

     Last night I went to another fantastic music venue, Vuela El Pez, with my friend Tomás. The band was INCREDIBLE! They had eight members, and a variety of instruments to include a flute and an electric violin. SO much talent! They were... rock meets cumbia meets electro-ska with a little bit of rap sometimes and I absolutely loved it. Five of the members looked like they could be siblings (turns out they are... so I essentially saw the argentine von Trapps).  My favorite part, however, was when I saw a woman standing by the wall dancing and singing along to every single word of their songs. I realized she was the thirty-year-older spitting image of the girl singing on stage. Just the supportive mom, going crazy at her kids' rock show :]  

El Plan de la Mariposa

xxx
Un besote

Música, milagros, meriendas, y más.

     It took me nearly four months, but I finally found the Argentine equivalent of Revolutions. La Casa del Arbol (The Treehouse) is a little venue that hosts all kinds of artsy events--live bands, poetry, movies, workshops, and artists. Two weeks ago I went with a few friends for an evening of music. There was a Beatles tribute band (whose English was SO close--it was extremely endearing), and a phenomenal group of girls with a folksy vibe and excellent four-part harmonies. They did an acoustic rendition of Pumped Up Kicks, sang in Spanish to the flippy-cup-beat-thing, and my heart completely melted and pooled around my ankles when they started singing "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid--in Spanish, harmony filled, and with an excellent cajón beat. (I was in such admiration that I even refrained from providing the accompanying seagull "wah WAH wahhhhh" that the song demands)

     I went back Sunday night for poetry night. I've been looking for a slam poetry venue since I got here and finally got to see some in action! Let me tell you--poetry is beautiful in any situation, but poetry in Spanish is just something else. After the poets they had "open stage" and a band formed to play any songs they could think of... which turned out to be ones from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nirvana, The Beatles, and Sublime. Good people, great music, fantastic atmosphere. I'm kicking myself to have only discovered this place a few weeks before leaving! I plan on making the most of it though--tomorrow Sydney and I are going to a percussion workshop :] 

     I took my first real Argentine final (the other two were from the program for foreigners)! Let me tell you. The process itself was hilarious. I'm using the word hilarious because there comes a point where you can't get any more frustrated or confused, all you can do is laugh at the madness of the situation. An hour before the final I didn't know when the test started, where it was going to be, whether it was oral or written, or even really what it covered. The level of disorganization is baffling, but even more amazing is how it doesn't seem to concern anyone but the American students... I guess mass chaos is just the norm here. The test finally happened (it was oral--one on one with the professor), and I ended up receiving a 10 out of 10. That transfers to a 10 for the semester, which also confuses me, because I distinctly remember getting a 6 (that's a B- here, not a D!) on the midterm so... I don't see the math in there but I'm definitely not complaining! So A+ for International Marketing with locals! Considering I was struggling just to understand the prof at the beginning of the semester, I'm pretty proud of that. :]

 Sydney and I had been very much neglecting our quest to visit every single Café Notable in Buenos Aires, so today we visited a record-setting SEVEN bars in one afternoon! Don't worry, we pace ourselves. We've now gone to 26 Bares Notables... which is barely over a third :/ womp womp. We're gonna have to put the pedal to the metal if this is going to happen before we leave! (Okay maybe we'll have to just aim for 50...)

The "medium" pitcher of sangria that was not medium, and mmm chocolate mousse

Guys. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. I LOVE the Fourth of July. I'm not quite sure how to celebrate it in not-America, but I sure plan on finding out. I just learned how to say "sparklers" in Spanish though so I already have that going for me.
We're also going to the Bolivian consolate to get visas because heyyy our trip is coming up soon!

You know those days when you're walking outside and the sky looks especially blue and you've got your favorite song playing in your headphones and it just seems like everything in the world is going right?
Yeah. I'm having one of those semesters.

<3


Oh and PS: Sydney made a short video of our piercing day, and check it outtt I figured out how to embed youtube videos so here it is :]

LA VISITA DE LOS PAPIS!

Tea shop, Chinatown, and view from the Evita balcony.

     Well, I walked them until their legs gave out and then I put them on the subway, and when the subway closed I put them on a bus. :]

     Mom and Dad visited for eight days and I welcomed them with a big hug, and a full packed Argentine agenda. I spent the week as the tour guide, activity planner, and translator—and what fun we had! Steak restaurants, museums, a graffiti tour, a tango show, fairs, lots of shopping, lots of tea, lots of dulce de leche--and I even threw in another country! We took a day trip across the river to Colonia, Uruguay. 

Found the jewelry street--all closed.
Because why would they be open at noon on a Saturday?

     The first day I gave Dad a map of the city and Mom a 6-liter jug of water, so they both adjusted just fine. It was so funny for me to see Buenos Aires through my parents eyes, now that I've spent nearly four months here and am completely used to everything... Mom was nervous all the time and hated all the graffiti; Dad couldn’t stop laughing at the reckless driving practices and the abounding lack of logic apparent in so many things here. I had to teach them that the answer to any question starting with "why don't they just..." is usually answered with "because that would make sense."

Sitting on the glass in the lighthouse atop Palacio Barolo--probably not up to US safety codes.  

Dulce de leche yummys at Feria de Mataderos. 

     In retrospect I should have pushed them into the language deep end and forced them to learn more while they were here; they were spoiled by me talking to everyone for them! Dad conquered "un agua sin gas" (uncarbonated water), and was happy to be able to apply in real life one of the few Spanish phrases he knows: "uno más cerveza por favor" (one more beer please).  I made the mistake of telling Mom how latinos call each other "gordo" (fat) as a term of endearment, and now she only greets me with "Hola gordita!" :[

El Ateneo bookstore. 

     I made sure to teach them all the words they might encounter on bathroom doors, "señores/señoras, caballeros/damas, hombres/mujers"(misters/misses, gentlemen/ladies, men/women), only to have the next bathroom they went to read "reyes/reinas" (kings/queens). Of course!

Clad in our snazzy new leather jackets from a shop in Recoleta!

    My parents' 27th anniversary happened while they were here, so we went out to a nice dinner in Puerto Madero. The restaurant brought them champagne and tiramisu, and we returned to the hotel to find more champagne from the hotel staff!

Ferry ride to Uruguay

     They got to share in the frustrations of city/foreign living with me, like the necessity of cash, subpar service everywhere, always needing a bathroom, lack of dataplans, and public transportation (we only got nearly-stranded in a shady area outside the city once....)

     Mom said when she gets home she's going to drive around in her car aimlessly and buy random things with her credit card, just because she can. And then go to Cracker Barrel. I was not amused.

Tour of La Casa Rosada (the Argentine equivalent of the white house.)

Mom was happy to leave the graffiti and noise of Buenos Aires for a day in quiet Colonia across the river. It was nice to be able to see the sky! :] 

Self-timer means multiple pictures. I warned them about poses but... no. Look what I have to work with!

     I was incandescently happy to be able to spend a week with my parents and show them my strange little world here. I am one lucky girl to have such great parents who will fly so far to come see me. They spoil me too much!

     I've got a good two months til school starts up at A&M, which seems like a long time until you realize that is:
  --3 weeks left in Buenos Aires (what how??)
  --2.5 weeks traveling through South America (WHOOP)
  --9 days at home, then move into my house in College Station!
Time is going to FLY! I've got a list of things to do before I leave here (like recording a music video perhaps? stay tuned) so these next few weeks will keep me busy.

Thanks for stopping by!
Love always. <3

Pinnacle of Classiness.

Good friends, red wine, and a quite impressive jazz band.
Just a regular Thursday night in Buenos Aires--we decided to try out a jazz club in Palermo. Turned out to be an intimate venue, sitting about 30-40 people, with an incredibly talented quartet: piano, trumpet, tenor sax, and stand-up bass. There were no other non-Argentines in sight, which is when you know you've done a good job finding a place :]
Sitting in the dimly lit second-story club, wine in hand, listening to the sax man wail on stage, soaking in Buenos Aires, I realized: I'm not sure I've ever felt so classy in my entire life.

After the show Claudia and I--through a series of events--ended up walking over 3 miles in search of tacos, only to find none and have to settle for 2am shawarma instead.

Such a great night.
I love this city.

A benchmark, and thoughts on fluency.

     Before I came to Buenos Aires I watched one of the more famous Argentine films, El secreto de sus ojos, with the intention of helping my ears get more used to the accent.  I was unable to find a version with subtitles in either language and was forced to rely on my ears alone. El secreto de sus ojos is not an easy movie, it's an intense crime drama with lots of police jargon, thrown at you in the fast slang-ridden Argentine-accented Spanish and.. needless to say, when I watched it in February I was suddenly very discouraged and overwhelmed by how little of it I'd been able to understand.

     It's easy to feel as if my Spanish hasn't greatly improved since I got here, as change happens slowly over time and you don't notice it from day to day. Additionally, I've come to realize that the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know, and the thus the stupider you feel. I am no longer pleased that I can express myself; I am frustrated that I cannot express myself well. I get frustrated when I don't know the word for "bulky," even though I could give you a dozen that mean "big, large, wide, huge, intrusive, clumsy." But I've made myself take note recently of all the words, phrases, or concepts that I hadn't yet mastered four months ago, and have to admit that maybe I've learned something here.

     My goal is and has been for awhile "to be fluent." But when my friends from back home ask me if I'm fluent yet, I realize that the concept of "fluency" is a lot more ambiguous than I had previously thought. My immediate reaction is "ha! no." because I know just how much I have left to learn, and I know I am far from expressing myself as well as a native speaker. But taking a step back, I guess it depends on how you define fluent. I've taken essay tests on marketing without using a dictionary. I've gone on dates with boys who don't speak English. I don't plan out my Spanish presentations word-for-word anymore; I write some bullet points and improvise. I've been the only English-speaker at social gatherings and had a great time. And any sort of anxiety related to Spanish in any situation is pretty much disappeared. Do I feel ready to give a report on the evening news? No. But I feel as if I could confidently go into a job interview in Spanish and not make a fool of myself. I don't know if I will ever get to a point where I consider myself straight-up fluent, but I'd like to. I know it's a long process, but here I am, in the process.

     I had to watch El secreto de sus ojos for my cinema class and almost started laughing tonight when I realized I understood at least 85% of what was said at all times. It seems so simple too! I'm not sure how I couldn't do it four months ago. What a fantastic feeling.

Buenas noches,
Abby

Translation: agglutinated. Stop Spanish. Just stop. 

P.S. I get continually frustrated too by the number of words I underline in a text, only to look them up and find I don't know them in English either. How can they expect that from us? Like lustro--what is a lustrum? (A period of five years). And polivalencia? It means multifacetedness. That's not even a word in English. Or, the very very specific. Like escardador--a man who weeds cornfields. Yes, let me add that to my knowledge bank.