Wednesday, October 21, 2009
spring break :)
ladies and gentleman: i am off to peru tomorrow until halloween. it should be a phenominal experience. ill write about my adventures when i get back! besos <3
Saturday, October 17, 2009
my life is hardcore.
Last Thursday, a group of 4 other girls and I left for Pucon via a night bus. Pucon is a city about 9 hours south of Santiago and is made up of several volcanoes. The original plan was to go climb a volcano, but because it was rainy for a good part of the weekend, conditions were not safe. No worries, though, because we found plenty of other crazy activities to get ourselves into. We arrived at around 9AM, and walked around for a little bit looking for a hostel. Once we found ourselves situated, we did a little bit of research for the activities that didn't start super early (a.k.a 7 in the morning), and discoverd a rafting company. But why go rafting, when you can go hydrospeeding? What is hydrospeeding, you ask? Well, first of all, we were told it is a sport illegal in the States, awesome. I wonder why? Because hydrospeeding consists of riding out class 3/4 rapids on a little boat that is more of a boogie board that anything else. Let's talk about one of the most intense experiences of my life: The rapids will flip you over and literally you have to flip yourself back around or else you risk drowning. Wonderful, of course you have full gear on (helmet, wet suit, life jacket...the works). However, the waves were a little too rough at one point and the board wacked me in the face, leaving me with a bloody nose and a busted lip...
those are the little boats we each rested our lives upon :)
the girls!
this was where the rapids started, but they do not give us nearly enough credit!
(sexy, i know)
my friend lena got a nice black eye as her battle wound
this last picture brings me to day 2 of my Pucon experiance. while it was too rainy to go on some of the adventures we had originally planned on, we got a chance to drink wine and relax in some of the hot springs.
chile played columbia in preliminaries for the world cup, and won!! so we HAD to go out and celebrate like everyone else and their mother. it was a crazy night, but not crazy enough to miss out on canyoneering en dia 3. this is another outdoor activity that is similar to hiking on steroids. its more than just hiking, with full gear, you hike, slide down natural rock slides, jump into rivers...
i think we look pretty hardcore haha
sliding down a natural rock slide
my friend brit
chillin on a waterfall
we extended our stay one day longer to rent bikes and tour the town and the surrounding areas. we packed a picnic and the mood was set. ohh, how romantic.
those are the little boats we each rested our lives upon :)
the girls!
this was where the rapids started, but they do not give us nearly enough credit!
(sexy, i know)
my friend lena got a nice black eye as her battle wound
this last picture brings me to day 2 of my Pucon experiance. while it was too rainy to go on some of the adventures we had originally planned on, we got a chance to drink wine and relax in some of the hot springs.
chile played columbia in preliminaries for the world cup, and won!! so we HAD to go out and celebrate like everyone else and their mother. it was a crazy night, but not crazy enough to miss out on canyoneering en dia 3. this is another outdoor activity that is similar to hiking on steroids. its more than just hiking, with full gear, you hike, slide down natural rock slides, jump into rivers...
i think we look pretty hardcore haha
sliding down a natural rock slide
my friend brit
chillin on a waterfall
we extended our stay one day longer to rent bikes and tour the town and the surrounding areas. we packed a picnic and the mood was set. ohh, how romantic.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
and the story continues...
on saturday morning i woke up after sleeping for maybe 4 hours to go shopping. obviously, i headed solo on this trip. eugene's apartment is probably 8ish blocks away from some hardcore boutiques, and all things considered it seems weird i didn't buy any clothes from any of the boutiques. i think i was just so overwhelmed with the whole shopping opportunity environment, however i did snag some cool odd and end pieces at an outdoor market on this little trip around town. oh and i used the bathroom at starbucks: buenos aires. as much as i love all things starbucks and coffee related, i have yet to purchase something from a starbucks down here. weird, i know.
on saturday night, we again got ourselves together and went out for what was supposed to only be dinner at a restaurant for a friend of eugene's who was celebrating his 21st birthday. im not sure what i had in mind, but the night turned out wayy better than expected, and lucky for me, i met about 300 new friends. so we get to this italian restaurant and to my surprise there are about 20 people already sitting there, the majority of them are from england, but there were some chicos from argentina and brazil as well. dinner was great, nothing magical until we ate dessert, which was a traditional argentine dish made by one of the girls and was this awesome cookie/cake mix. we had planned on going back home, but i randomly got along really well with the english girls who insisted we join the party. the first party we went to was certainly fun--the students from the united states were teaching the kids from the other countries classic drinking games. i.e. beer pong, but the second party we went to was crazyyy. this party was in a little apartment, but the girls in charge had hired a dj. there were people all over the place, having a good time, dancing...the normal things. at about 6AM the police showed up and basically were like you need to turn off the music, because it is 6 in the morning. so after that we headed back to the apartment...
on sunday, we went to this HUGE outdoor market called san telmo with literally HUNDREDS of vendors and performers selling everything from food to drinks to jewelry, shoes, everything. it was delightful :)
some street vendors...
tango in the streets (obviously)...
sunday night we just relaxed because i had to catch a flight on monday morning. here is a view of buenos aires from the plane:
on saturday night, we again got ourselves together and went out for what was supposed to only be dinner at a restaurant for a friend of eugene's who was celebrating his 21st birthday. im not sure what i had in mind, but the night turned out wayy better than expected, and lucky for me, i met about 300 new friends. so we get to this italian restaurant and to my surprise there are about 20 people already sitting there, the majority of them are from england, but there were some chicos from argentina and brazil as well. dinner was great, nothing magical until we ate dessert, which was a traditional argentine dish made by one of the girls and was this awesome cookie/cake mix. we had planned on going back home, but i randomly got along really well with the english girls who insisted we join the party. the first party we went to was certainly fun--the students from the united states were teaching the kids from the other countries classic drinking games. i.e. beer pong, but the second party we went to was crazyyy. this party was in a little apartment, but the girls in charge had hired a dj. there were people all over the place, having a good time, dancing...the normal things. at about 6AM the police showed up and basically were like you need to turn off the music, because it is 6 in the morning. so after that we headed back to the apartment...
on sunday, we went to this HUGE outdoor market called san telmo with literally HUNDREDS of vendors and performers selling everything from food to drinks to jewelry, shoes, everything. it was delightful :)
some street vendors...
tango in the streets (obviously)...
sunday night we just relaxed because i had to catch a flight on monday morning. here is a view of buenos aires from the plane:
hey team, im still alive.
as per usual, i have failed to update the world on my life in any sort of real time. what matters is that i am alive, and doing quite well. on october 1st, i flew to buenos aires to meet up with my high school friend, eugene, who is living and studying in the city. needless to say, i don't think it would be surprising if i ended up living in argentina at some point in my life because my weekend was that wonderful.
i got to eugene's apartment on a thursday evening (obviously after i had been up since 6, studying for an exam, taking an exam, then taking a bus to get to the airport), and so after a quick conversation about the trip and non-essential one-overs, we went out to dinner. basically, all you need to know about food in argentina is that it is kick-ass. the restuarant, although quite gringo-directed, gave us champagne immediately after stepping into the place, just to hold us over until we got a table (maybe a 5 minute wait)...always a classy sign that you have made a right decision in your dinner choice. all things considered, we left the restuarant at 2 in the morning, after eating for 4+ hours. wonderful.
on friday, we awoke to picture-perfect spring weather, with clear skies and joy filling the air. the plan was to go do some site-seeing, and while this was accomplished, i think something around 3 naps were integrated into different parts of the day. we took the metro to a different part of the city (santiagos transit dominates the system in buenos aires). the first stop was plaza san martin, and being that it was a friday with wonderful weather, obviously no one wanted to be at work and so they weren't...
after strolling through the plaza, we went over to puerto madero, a beautiful port in the city which was all the more amazing because of the weather :)
there was also randomly a ship from uruguay at the port that was in service for 100 years, but has since retired..as a ship. im not sure how that works, being that i have no experiance with anything boat related, or really fish related. what i did discover though, was i have a secret passion for ships because the little self tour made me so happy <3
eventually, we made our way over to "la casa rosada" which is basically the white house of argentina, but way cuter. (im not 100% sure if that was what they were going for, but they definitely win the prize)
after walking around the city all day, and napping at random plazas, we headed back to the apartment and eventually found the motivation to get dressed to meet up with some friends at a dinner party. it was super fun because the people at the party were from all over the world, and at some point during the night either english, spanish, french or german was being spoken. it inspired me to continue practicing my spanish, and to hopefully learn more languages. following dinner, we left for a club. fun fact: most clubs don't even open in buenos aires until 2 in the morning. repp. another fun fact: argentine men are out of control and grab at you like you are there long lost friend. it is stressful at times. last fun fact: the club played backstreet boys at one point during the night. plus one.
i got to eugene's apartment on a thursday evening (obviously after i had been up since 6, studying for an exam, taking an exam, then taking a bus to get to the airport), and so after a quick conversation about the trip and non-essential one-overs, we went out to dinner. basically, all you need to know about food in argentina is that it is kick-ass. the restuarant, although quite gringo-directed, gave us champagne immediately after stepping into the place, just to hold us over until we got a table (maybe a 5 minute wait)...always a classy sign that you have made a right decision in your dinner choice. all things considered, we left the restuarant at 2 in the morning, after eating for 4+ hours. wonderful.
on friday, we awoke to picture-perfect spring weather, with clear skies and joy filling the air. the plan was to go do some site-seeing, and while this was accomplished, i think something around 3 naps were integrated into different parts of the day. we took the metro to a different part of the city (santiagos transit dominates the system in buenos aires). the first stop was plaza san martin, and being that it was a friday with wonderful weather, obviously no one wanted to be at work and so they weren't...
after strolling through the plaza, we went over to puerto madero, a beautiful port in the city which was all the more amazing because of the weather :)
there was also randomly a ship from uruguay at the port that was in service for 100 years, but has since retired..as a ship. im not sure how that works, being that i have no experiance with anything boat related, or really fish related. what i did discover though, was i have a secret passion for ships because the little self tour made me so happy <3
eventually, we made our way over to "la casa rosada" which is basically the white house of argentina, but way cuter. (im not 100% sure if that was what they were going for, but they definitely win the prize)
after walking around the city all day, and napping at random plazas, we headed back to the apartment and eventually found the motivation to get dressed to meet up with some friends at a dinner party. it was super fun because the people at the party were from all over the world, and at some point during the night either english, spanish, french or german was being spoken. it inspired me to continue practicing my spanish, and to hopefully learn more languages. following dinner, we left for a club. fun fact: most clubs don't even open in buenos aires until 2 in the morning. repp. another fun fact: argentine men are out of control and grab at you like you are there long lost friend. it is stressful at times. last fun fact: the club played backstreet boys at one point during the night. plus one.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
FYI
Just a way too quick summary for a way too incredible weekend: Buenos Aires may or may not be the city of my dreams. I will outline my wonderful weekend once I get my photos uploaded, however I have a speech due tomorrow and a paper to write for Thursday (reasons why I love school in Chile: my speech is about drugs in the Incan and surrouding sub-Andean cultures, my paper is a review/interpretation of the movie City of God. if you have not seen it, you should probably watch it asap).
Thursday night, a group of us are heading to Pucon (a city about 9 hours south of Santiago) to climb a volcano, visit some hot springs..you know, all things I would normally do on a holiday weekend. So when I do update, it's going to be something good.
Besos!
Thursday night, a group of us are heading to Pucon (a city about 9 hours south of Santiago) to climb a volcano, visit some hot springs..you know, all things I would normally do on a holiday weekend. So when I do update, it's going to be something good.
Besos!
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