La Vida Errabunda

Within two days, it was a perfect contrast of city and country life in Argentina. On Sunday, my family and I enjoyed a few of the many ferias around the city. Shopping, eating, and enjoying the summer weather (thought it's supposedly fall). A city day meant a trip to the Recoleta Cemetery, just a few blocks from my apartment. My family didn't understand why I insisted we go, until they saw the beauty of the place that holds thousands of the wealthiest Argentinian's bodies. Wyatt even enjoyed it for a while I also wanted to my family to see Eva Duarte-Peron's final resting place. Perhaps the most famous women from Argentina ever, the country still has a love affair with her, as the fresh flowers, rosaries, and prays showed on her small mausoleum. Eva's tomb Dinner meant one thing: la carne . It was time my parents experienced the legendairy (yes, that is a pun) meat. For any tourist, a necessary stop is La Cabrera. After ordering th...

Everyone says it's a must go. I never expected to have reverse culture shock in Buenos Aires. Almost everyone at La Bomba de Tiempo, a drum show, was speaking English. Eighty percent were American and most of them students like ourselves. Ashley and I were out of our element; where were we? It certainly didn't feel like Argentina. But when the drummers came out, and the people around us melted away. The show happens every Monday and is an absolute blast. The music is upbeat, invigorating, and easy to dance to. The guest performer was a new-age mix of Chilean and Mexican music. I could describe it as drug music, though that might be unfair to the band. It was still good, just much less energetic, more sit and ponder life. Ashley and I were getting down in the crowd, practicing our Bolivian dance moves. We were wrapped up in the drumming excitement and hitting every beat.   Great entertainment, a decent crowd, but most of all a typical Porteño exper...

Donde estoy? Porque Bolivia? Que es la fecha? Where am I? Why Bolivia? What day is it? These thoughts swirled through my head early Sunday morning. Oh right, my 21st birthday. In a third world country. In the middle of nowhere. A town with no wifi. Certainly not conventional, but it ended up being one of the best days of my study abroad experience. Starting with a traditional Bolivian breakfast of bread, coffee, and milk, my lovely roommates surprised me with white chocolate m&ms! Oh the joy! Notice GIANT water (less than 1 USD) A Tupiza tourist staple is montar los caballos horseback riding, less than 15 USD with tip for three hours. After walking to the edge of town, we met our 15 year-old tour guide for an exhilarating few hours. I have always ridden Western, not English saddles. English are much more difficult to ride (there is no horn), but that is Bolivians ride. After getting settled, my speckled horse and I were really getting along. I was seeing amazing sce...

Last Wednesday, I proclaimed my hatred for the bus system in Buenos Aires and for the Guia-T the bus guide. On our (Ray, Ashley, and myself) first day at our internship, we caught the 39, just like our bus guide said. It was supposed to drop us one block from our internship on Uriarte in Palermo. After riding for a bit, I noticed we weren't going the direction we were supposed to. We kept waiting for it to turn. But it never did. It turned about 10 blocks too late, and then turned again, but away from Uriarte. By the time we realized it wasn't going to go east, we got off and realized we had to walk around 11 blocks. In 85 degree heat. I ended up with 5 blisters and we had a nice layer of sweat by the time we arrived. My internship assignments have switched around a bit, so I am starting at Con 24 InfoNews, a 24 hour news site. I'll be editing videos and writing for the website. It's in a great area of Buenos Aires, and it was a nice first day. Everyone is very f...

The Saturday Market. The Farmer's Market. An Artisan Fair. To the average person, this sounds not fun. Maybe every once in a while, but not often. I, however, have an obsession with them. I "ooo" and "aaahhh" and eat as many samples as possible. I smell the fresh flowers, enjoy a local snack, and enjoy the artsy vendors. Buenos Aires is all about las ferias the fairs. There are many all over the city on the weekend, but the biggest and best is in San Telmo. On Sunday, we journeyed south to the barrio to soak up the sights and booths. It's supposed to have the best art and antique shopping in the city. We saw plenty of antiques and some rings bought from forever 21 and being passed off as antique. We walked around Plaza Dorrego and then up a street, when we realized the fair went on for eight blocks. Hungry and hot, we unfortunately bought lunch at a lonely planet reviewed and recommend restaurant. The worst meal so far, literally crap on o...

1. Flies on the food At the grocery, the onions and potatoes are swarming with flies. Nobody bats an eye. I really want to buy ciertos cebollas y papas para cocinar some onions and potatoes to cook, but I cannot bring myself to do so. It's just disgusting on a level I can't overcome.  2. Shoving people on bus Me toca a mi, te toca a ti Mmy turn, your turn doesn't exist on the bus. I was waiting for a seat for a good 10 minutes- everybody saw me standing by the seats. As the women got up to leave the bus, i moved out of the way to let her buy, and as I stepped away, some other women jumped into the seat, obviously jumping in front of me. This happened twice! Really? 3. Un espectaculo gratis  There was a free show on the train to Tigre was quite interesting. There was a family in the seats across the aisle from us. The toddler (around 18 months to two years) was sitting on mommy's lap. He was eating this chocolate and had it all over his face. After finishing tha...

My clothes were stuck to my skin. My glasses were slipping on my nose. My jacket radiated heat. I felt my dark shorts absorbing every bit of sunlight they could. I looked up into the sky- it was bluer than ever. The few clouds were definitely harmless. The weather had lied to us once again. It was supposed to thunder and lightening all day. Hence the rain jacket tucked under my arm. What was supposed to keep me dry was now just making me sweatier. The crowds of people around didn't help. But big surprise, we had traveled out to Barrio Chino in Belgrano, the outer western edge of the city. After a successful subway trip, we found ourselves in a large crowd of people with lots of red lanterns. The street in Barrio Chino We shoved our way through the crowds, determined to find some delicious comida de china Chinese food and peruse the grocery stores, full of imported items. Lai Lai, was fria compared to the scorching heat. The food was delicious and quality (not H...

After one week in Argentina, we are getting over "culture shock." Here is a list of the top moments that caused us to laugh, raise our eyebrows, or walk fast away. 1. Digging for gold Apparently picking your nose in public in Argentina is socially acceptable. We keep seeing really attractive Argentinians with their finger up their nose. They even do the "roll-flick" in public. No matter what, I will always burst out laughing at them. 2. Los Huevos y La Leche The eggs at the supermarket are NOT refrigerated. Some of the milk is, some of it isn't. Apparently the milk not refrigerated comes from powder; they sell a ton of powdered milk here. So if you want the real stuff, go to refrigerated section and pay twice the price. 3. Weird Cat Women Walking to dinner the other night, we saw a presumably normal looking women with a doctors mask on, talking to a cat through a fence. There is a large number of stray cats here, but talking to one definitely takes the...

Aren't cities supposed to stink? Be full of smog, smoke, and dirt? I walked down Libertad in Recoleta, and was surrounded by the sweetest smell. It was a combination of flowers, new, and summer. I was floating (or perhaps that was just the jet lag causing me to float). I had an espresso, walked through a street fair, and window shopped. All my favorite things in just one afternoon. Sightseeing in the Recoleta Cemetery Sunset view of the city from rooftop terrace The fashion? Impeccible. The women? All look the same- dark, long hair. The men? Friendlier than the women. Our apartment has an entrance like the Ritz. The apartment buildings in this area are too posh for words. Not surprisingly, there are many coiffed older women in the neighborhood. Also, professional dog walkers. View from balcony But alas, it's not completely perfect. That espresso cost three dollars. I'm still figuring out where to buy hangers. And we are pretty sure our apartment hasn...