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!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
ohh mendoza.
This past weekend I took a little trip to Mendoza, Argentina, which is on the west side of the country. Without a doubt, I am going to categorize this weekend as perfect. On Friday, after classes let out four other girls and I headed over to the bus station and prepared for a magical weekend.
(From left to right: Anna-from Iowa, Me, Lena-from Washington, Jackie-from Southern Cal, and Evita-from Italy)
The bus ride is about 5 hours of driving, but because of customs it can take 6-8, depending on traffic. On Friday, our bus left at 2, and I think we got into Mendoza at 10ish (but keep in mind that there is a zone change in time). We met up with some other friends at a hostel, then proceeded to go to the coolest bar/club ever because we didn't get home until 7:30 in the morning. Right on time to eat our free breakfast at the hostel. After napping for a few hours, we took charge of the day by renting bikes and going on a wine tour. Our first stop was at this little chocolate/olive oil store that had crazy good food for free. I tried Absynth. It was absolutely the worst drink I have ever had, and all things considered I would probably try it again. Then the actually wine drinking began. We biked 6km down the road to my first vineyard. After a short explanation of the different wines, we got to drinking...
...and indulged in a DANK afternoon lunch...
the wine-tasting crew:
By the time we were finished with all of our drinks, we weren't in any shape to be biking around town so the owner of the bike-renting place (he was SUPER cute, the business is run out of his house :) and his wife/daughter/cat/dog are all hanging out. It was wonderful) picked us up, and we proceeded to drink more wine at their house with the other tourists who had gone biking that day. We were exhausted by Saturday night, so after dinner we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep <3 because on Sunday, we woke up and went white water rafting.
Obviously, Mendoza gets five days of rain on average per year, and we happened to choose to go rafting on the one day it snows. I couldn't feel my fingers, or my toes, and yet I will forever be a raft lover.
We were supposed to go zip-lining, but because of the snow, we couldn't:( That's okay though because after heading back into town, we went to this great outdoor market with cool, local vendors who rep-ed us for rafting in the snow. We ended our trip with a cute family meal...
(From left to right: Anna-from Iowa, Me, Lena-from Washington, Jackie-from Southern Cal, and Evita-from Italy)
The bus ride is about 5 hours of driving, but because of customs it can take 6-8, depending on traffic. On Friday, our bus left at 2, and I think we got into Mendoza at 10ish (but keep in mind that there is a zone change in time). We met up with some other friends at a hostel, then proceeded to go to the coolest bar/club ever because we didn't get home until 7:30 in the morning. Right on time to eat our free breakfast at the hostel. After napping for a few hours, we took charge of the day by renting bikes and going on a wine tour. Our first stop was at this little chocolate/olive oil store that had crazy good food for free. I tried Absynth. It was absolutely the worst drink I have ever had, and all things considered I would probably try it again. Then the actually wine drinking began. We biked 6km down the road to my first vineyard. After a short explanation of the different wines, we got to drinking...
...and indulged in a DANK afternoon lunch...
the wine-tasting crew:
By the time we were finished with all of our drinks, we weren't in any shape to be biking around town so the owner of the bike-renting place (he was SUPER cute, the business is run out of his house :) and his wife/daughter/cat/dog are all hanging out. It was wonderful) picked us up, and we proceeded to drink more wine at their house with the other tourists who had gone biking that day. We were exhausted by Saturday night, so after dinner we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep <3 because on Sunday, we woke up and went white water rafting.
Obviously, Mendoza gets five days of rain on average per year, and we happened to choose to go rafting on the one day it snows. I couldn't feel my fingers, or my toes, and yet I will forever be a raft lover.
We were supposed to go zip-lining, but because of the snow, we couldn't:( That's okay though because after heading back into town, we went to this great outdoor market with cool, local vendors who rep-ed us for rafting in the snow. We ended our trip with a cute family meal...
Sunday, September 20, 2009
feliz dieciocho!
This weekend marked the 199th year of independence in Chile, and thus there was a huge celebration. And by huge, I mean I cannot really think of a holiday to compare it to in the United States. We did not have classes on Friday, so Thursday evening I went downtown to La Moneda in front of the President's offices to enjoy the second biggest concert I have ever been to (the biggest one was def. the free concert on the Mall for the Inauguration. Reppp Garth Brooks and Beyonce). This concert definitely held it's own; the music ranged from the traditional Cueca music in Chile, to futbol chants to what I think was Chilean rap, but I am not 100% sure because it was one of the strangest performances I have ever seen. What I really liked about the entire situation was the representation of the Chilean people. I realize this sounds dumb, but it was cool to be around people our age, as well as families with young kids and the older adults. Everyone was having a good time and strangely enough, I think everyone knew all of the songs. At midnight there were fireworks <3
After the concert, a few of us went over to a friends house, but not before stopping at a liquor store whose owner randomly gave us shots of Chicha on the house. Chicha (I hope I am spelling this right...) is an alcoholic beverage that is more or less just a seasonal drink to celebrate Independence day, think in terms of eggnog during our winter season.
On Saturday, my host mom Maria and I headed over to a barbecue at her ex-husband's family's house (I know it seems weird, but they are all still on good terms). It was especially endearing when I arrived at the house and got the warm welcoming of "The Gringa is here." Bueno. But, I am getting used to being called a Gringa. Besides the point, the family was so nice to me and lunch lasted for well over 3 hours. It obviously consisted of some good wine, fresh veggies and empanadas (which I have yet to get sick of).
Today, I went to a fonda in the indie sector of town. Fondas are more or less festivals here that consist of a wide range of things to do: vendors selling all sorts of odd and end pieces, dancing, live music, food..you get the picture. This fonda happened to be a completely vegan one where after eating all meat-free foods, everyone played Bingo. It was magical. Afterwards, I met up with Maria to go to the movies. I don't know what I had expected, but the majority of the movies here are from the United States, so they are still in English but have Spanish subtitles. We watched "New in the City" or "New City" (I don't know the title in the US because they try to translate it down here, but it always ends up being different. For example, the movie "Hangover" is called "Que paso anoche" which means what happened last night.) Anyways, the movie has a relatively large part concerning the dessert of tapioca, but because people don't eat tapioca down here about half way through the movie my host mom questioned what it was and I gladly explained it to her.
For dinner tonight, I know this sounds terrible, but I ate a hot dog with cut up tomatoes, avocado, and mayonnaise. Lunchin, I know, but they are called "Italianos" down here and everyone reps them so hard so I thought I should at least try it. In reality, it wasn't terrible...to get an idea, here is a picture of what a Completo Italiano looks like, but imagine mine with double of all the toppings.
After the concert, a few of us went over to a friends house, but not before stopping at a liquor store whose owner randomly gave us shots of Chicha on the house. Chicha (I hope I am spelling this right...) is an alcoholic beverage that is more or less just a seasonal drink to celebrate Independence day, think in terms of eggnog during our winter season.
On Saturday, my host mom Maria and I headed over to a barbecue at her ex-husband's family's house (I know it seems weird, but they are all still on good terms). It was especially endearing when I arrived at the house and got the warm welcoming of "The Gringa is here." Bueno. But, I am getting used to being called a Gringa. Besides the point, the family was so nice to me and lunch lasted for well over 3 hours. It obviously consisted of some good wine, fresh veggies and empanadas (which I have yet to get sick of).
Today, I went to a fonda in the indie sector of town. Fondas are more or less festivals here that consist of a wide range of things to do: vendors selling all sorts of odd and end pieces, dancing, live music, food..you get the picture. This fonda happened to be a completely vegan one where after eating all meat-free foods, everyone played Bingo. It was magical. Afterwards, I met up with Maria to go to the movies. I don't know what I had expected, but the majority of the movies here are from the United States, so they are still in English but have Spanish subtitles. We watched "New in the City" or "New City" (I don't know the title in the US because they try to translate it down here, but it always ends up being different. For example, the movie "Hangover" is called "Que paso anoche" which means what happened last night.) Anyways, the movie has a relatively large part concerning the dessert of tapioca, but because people don't eat tapioca down here about half way through the movie my host mom questioned what it was and I gladly explained it to her.
For dinner tonight, I know this sounds terrible, but I ate a hot dog with cut up tomatoes, avocado, and mayonnaise. Lunchin, I know, but they are called "Italianos" down here and everyone reps them so hard so I thought I should at least try it. In reality, it wasn't terrible...to get an idea, here is a picture of what a Completo Italiano looks like, but imagine mine with double of all the toppings.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
finally...
the last stop on our mini adventure was valparaiso. we took a bus from isla negra, which was somewhat stressful because there were about 8 of us who had ordered fresh empanadas and obviously the bus came before they were finished cooking :( but the trip ended well, as valpo is my favorite place in chile thus far. the city is all hills, and the streets are covered with creative artwork and bright colors. we went to a discoteca until 5ish in the morning, and had rented a room in a super cute hostel which was the cherry on top. i'm looking forward to going there again, and enjoying a stay at the beach in the future!
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