La Vida Errabunda

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...

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...

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...