Back in Rosario... from Bariloche

This will now count as my 4th attempt to get back into blogging!! I WILL SUCCED THIS TIME! :)

We (Devin, Nick, and I) Arrived back in Bariloche this morning around 11:30am. It was a 22hr bus ride! It really wasnt that bad though and I would do it TWICE over if it meant I didnt have to get back on that HORRIBLE plane ride from TX to Argentina!

It was just nice to be "home." Funny how this place that felt so strange and awkward two months ago now feels like home! :)I will say being out doors all weekend REALLY made me miss home, but as I rolled my suit case down the "brickish" sidewalks and came inside it was nice to find my just off doing their normal thing. Lucia just got up and was studying in the dinning room, Noel was on the computer in Danilo's room working, Danilo was sun bathing on the roof, and Edgardo was just getting ready to make a trip to the super market.

I unpacked a few things and took a shower. I decided Im going to "protest" and NOT take the bus to school. They raised the bus tickets a few weeks ago and now it is 10.80 pesos for 6 rides. I guess we will see how long this last as it takes me right around an hour to walk to school. It also got me out of eating ravilio for lunch. I was have NEVER really been a fan of it.

While walking I saw a lot of cool things and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS discover new stores or resturants or places to just go and check out some time. I met Anna as she was waiting for her bus too! That was exciting... just that feeling of something/one familiar :)

I was about one or two blocks away from school when I heard what sounded like water hitting the pavement on the road. Now, Im in a city so it pretty loud to begin with so I was surprised I heard it. I looked over to see where it was coming from and as I passed the big dumpster on the side of the road there was an older lady squatting beside it peeing. At first, I just thought it was gross, then it really made me sad. There are NO PUBLIC bathrooms anywhere... for the first month or so I could NEVER figure out why... now I think it is because of this/homeless people. Maybe? It was nothing revelational, this lady peeing on the side of the road, but maybe just a reminder that I was in a huge city in SA? idk...

A block or so later I met Juan, a friend a few of the other ppl on the trip had met. Again it was fun to run into someone familiar :)

Class was good... blah, blah, blah... :)..... After class we, a group of about 6 of us, took the bus to the bus terminal and bought tickets to Iguzau! Iguazu is in the north part of the country and is a group of HUGE waterfalls! Im excited... except that we are leaving thrusday night... and I JUST got back from a 22hour bus ride last weekend. :? haha! Im sure it will be worth it!

After buying tickets, I came home and had some afternoon tea :) Then around 7:45 I went back to the school with Lucia to do some homework and attend the English as a Second Language class. I really LOVE helping in that class. I learn soo much about the English language that native speakers never know! Its kinda CRAZY!

After class (11:30pm) I rode home with Lucia... surprise, she didnt go to class, but instead sat in a resturant and ate peanuts and had a beer with her classmates who skipped too. As Norma would say "Lucia, Lucia" :) Haha! This is just typical lucia... and I LOVE IT :) We had dinner together at 12:00am or so :) Noel sat and talked with us and Danilo came home too a bit later. I just cant get over how wordly my family is... i have to wonder if it is just them or are LOTS of ppl like this? Forinstance, Lucia told me on the way home from school about the french movie she watched this weekend at home. And then at dinner her and Noel were discussing their favorite movies from Korea! Lucia even listed off her TOP THREE favorite directors from Korea!! I have a LONG way to go if I want to be as "worldly" as my family is. :)

Well my friends that is all for now :)
Hasta Manana (unitll tomorrow)

Chile... Day 2

After a day of traveling, and trying to go to a birthday party Kelsey, Sarah, and I ... who I will now refer to as "the ninas"(little girls) were VERY tired!! I hate to admit it but we slept for 12 hours that night!! It was such a good sleep! Finally Lucia woke us up around 12:30ish and told us we were going to leave in about 45mins. Leo and her were going to see a futból game. They were going to drop us off in Vina del Mar so we could check out the city and the beach if we wanted.

First I should explain this... Vina del Mar is the main city... but the following citys are all connected such that you would not know when you were switching cities... from the north its like this. Concon (Leo lives here), Reñca (ren-ya-ka),Viña del Mar, and Valapariso (Val-par-ah-eee-so). Concon and Reña are more residential while Viña is more touristy with a lot of beaches, and Valapariso is touristy with a lot of commerce.

So at 1 we headed out of Concon and Leo and Lucia dropped us off in Viña del Mar... our goals for they day: Eat lunch, visit the beach and small fairs / markets along the beach, and hit up a Starbucks! After they dropped us off we headed down the main street along the beach in search of somewhere to eat.... WE FOUND PIZZA HUT!!! I WAS SOOOOOO EXCITED! :)

This was one of the first of MANY encounterments of feeling like true ninas. The Chile currancy is very confusing... everything costs OVER $1000! We tried to have leo explain it to us so it was easier for us to convert, but apparently we didnt get it....

Here is a picture of the menu... you can just barely make out the prices on it...


We settled on buying a pepperoni pizza and just like in the U.S. they were offering a deal.. mom would have been proud :) The promo was Buy one Large get on for free! We couldn't resist the thought of having Pizza Hut left overs!!




IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!!

Untill we got the bill... :? I dont know if you can see it but the meal was about $14600!! AHHH!! Of course we had an approximation of what this meant, but we really were not QUITE sure...



As it turns out, in the niñas first encounter with Chilean Money we spent about $50 Argentine pesos or about $12-13 US dollars each... i Guess its doesn't seem that expensive but when you consider that we can usually spend $5 US dollars on a meal a day that was a BIT pricey... none the less it was GREAT FOOD! :)

....


If there is one thing in abundance in South America ... its STRAY DOGS!!! While Ill admit I do feel a bit sorry for them at times... i think they are disgusting.. :/ They are just dirty. We left Pizza Hut with a box and headed for the beach...


...the box of hot pizza OF COURSE Attracted a stray dog!! Ugh.. ! :) I tried to convince Kelsey and Sarah not to "lead it on" but they insisted on giving it food... Meanwhile the beach was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!





I ended up taking a lot of pictures of the sea because there were TONS of ships in the "harbor?" I thought it looked like Pirates!!!! I think my best friend from home, "C", would have enjoyed it!

I've only been to California once, and from what I can remember the water was COLD then too... the water in CHILE WAS FREEZING AS WELL! :(



Sarah and I found out we both have sisters! Hers is Older and mine is younger, so we laughed A LOT talking about how when we were together we each seemed to play our respective sisterly roles...
In the above picture Sarah insited she take the picture just as the waves came in so it would "look cooler"... really i think she just did it so she could watch me get wet and yell because the water was soo cold!

Go Newells!!

A few more posts before finishing the Chile Scene...

On Saturday we went to a fútbol game! There are two big teams in Rosario... Central (Booo!) and Newells Old Boys!!! We went to a Newells game!! If there is one thing to know about Argentina its that they love and love to talk about their BEAUTIFUL women, Fútbol and Politics while drinking Maté or Café con Leche and eating Media Lunas :)

Edgardo is a HUGE Newells fan! He told me one day "When the Newells play the world stops!" Haha! Sounds like home when the Hawkeyes wrestle!! When I told my family we were going to a game and that our tickets were really cheap they were VERY worried for me!!

These games are somewhat dangerous!!,... okay they can be VERY dangerous! There are people called Villeros(V-share-ooooos) basically many are in "gang" like things! They dont work, but they have the NICEST things! And they are HUGE HUGE fútbol fans! Many time the villeros are at the games along with OTHER CRAZY fans and it gets dangerous. They told me not to wear any jewerly or my watch. To put nothing in my pockets and to wear old clothes... Clothes Red and BLACK of course (Newells colors) I wouldnt want to step a foot in to the stadium wearing the colors of the opposing team... :/

As we arrived at the staidum I couldnt belive the NUMBER of police there!! :/ Lol!! It was crazy! One police officer even had a shot gun!! lol! There were others who sat in the stands of the visitors with helmets and shields!!

Our tickets were in a VERY safe and tranquilo place and we got to watch all the CRAZY fans across the fútbol field! It looked like one HUGSH moshpit! They had drums ... VERY LOUD drums to sing chants, and everyone was pounding their fists in the air at the same time. There were tons of Banners and Signs of TRUE devotion to the Newells!! Just before the game started from the top of the stadium, where all the CRAZIES sat, they handed down a HUGE HUGE HUGE sign that covered ALL THE PEOPLE sitting there!!

PICTURE HERE..

I won't lie, I know VERY little about Fútbol, but It was soo much fun to be in the atmosphere and watch the game! The Newell's won 3-0! HOORAY!!

Back in Rosario

I know its a bit out of order, but before I finish my Chile Blogging I thought I would share with you what has been happening here since I returned.

While our trip to Chile was WONDERFUL it was nice to be back in Rosario and get back into the swing of things! I had a few days of class and then it was the weekend!!

I just LOVE riding the bus!! Almost everyday I see ppl that remind me of someone from home! I love seeing the old men ride the bus and I can't help but smile when they laugh their old- smokey- grandpa- laugh! It reminds me of the old farmers back home!

On Friday night, Lucia, Norma and I ate dinner together. We had different kinds of empanadas!! Lucia left for a birthday party and Norma and I stayed up untill 1 talking about the sites in Rosario!! I got out my map and she showed me where all the important places were and the history to all the old buildings! It was WONDERFUL!!

I think maybe some of her personal opinion went into this, but as she told me the history of the buildings she mentioned how much rich history there is! ITS SOOOO TRUE!! She told me the sad part is that no one knows about it because of the government. And the more I am here the more I see how unstable and perplexing it is to me... for instance little things like stopping people from blocking the streets during demonstrations is illegal, but it is not stopped. People smoke pot while walking down the street. People are not supposed to set up sleeping areas in the bus station, but there are ppl all over sleeping there...Lucia said that "no one cares" I dont know that it is that no one care... but i think what she kind of meant was that there are bigger things to worry about than the homless who found a warm place to sleep at night. Im not quite sure what these bigger things are...as I see having a home VERY important, but maybe the problem is how do we fix this... how do they enforce all these things? I dont want to bash the Argentine government, that is not what I mean to do by any means, but for me it just seems soo different than home. Maybe its because I am from a small town and Im not used to this...

Any way back to my point about the history of Rosario! There is SOO much history, but it goes unnocited and unknown because there are not enough resources or time to dedicate to restoring these things and letting the information be known. Its very sad. It makes me sad to know that many people back home know little about South America, where there are so many influencial people, eye opening things, and such beautiful landscape. I too am one of these people, but I guess I hope to change that for myself and maybe a few others. :) Need less to say I LOVE ARGENTINA!!! :)

CHILE... Day 1

Well needless to say it has been QUITE some time since my last post on here! I went to Chile for 10 days with Lucia to visit here Boy Leo :) Kelsey Tulon and Sarah Kennedy joined me. After figuring out a few days before we left that I had bought Kelsey and Sarah's tickets for the wrong dates a little vacation was definitely in order! Kelsey and Sarah flew home a day late because of my HUGE mistake... but while they constantly give me a hard time for it they fail to mention their plane tickets were almost $100 dollars less than mine. All in all we had a GREAT time... I think Sarah wishes we were studying in Chile and Not in Argentina, but I love Argentina! We all got pretty close on the trip and I feel like I have def. made new friends.

Sarah and I have to laugh because we both have sisters. Im the oldest and Sarah is the youngest, so we found eachother "playing our Sisterly roles" as we were In Chile :) Haha it was a good time...

So here I go... Im going to try and out line the trip with the photos I took.. I know im going to miss a lot, but here I go...

We left Rosario at 3:00am and of course half way on the trip we made a stop so all the Argentines could stop and get their Cafe and Media Luna fix.
I was thrilled as I watched them ALL eat.. and nothing here is FAST so we knew we had a little while to wait :)

My traveling companions look a bit tired.


We made it to BA just intime to watch the sun come up!
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We made it to the airport and found our door! This is a picture from the plane of the Argentine country. While it looks JUST like Iowa I found my self marveling at Iowa's straight roads and square mile by square mile lay out.


Pictures dont do ANY justice but Flying over the Andes was BEAUTIFUL!! It was also really neat because as I could see the land rising as we got closer to the Mountians but there was a VERY distinct line were the actual Andes created the boarder between Argentina and Chile...



We finally made it to SANTIAGO! And found our way through the deserted Airport.. not many ppl are traveling because of the earthquake and much of the air port was underconstruction. In just this short time I could tell Sarah's VERY distinct lingo was and has worn off on me. After a day of traveling we were all VERY "angsty" (a mix between Angry and Fiesty)

Sarah and I shared my suit case so we didnt have soo much Luggage but as Sarah drug it down here appartment stairs one of the wheels broke...thats what we think hapened this just made our TRAVELS even more interesting!! LOL!! Luckly we were able to hook my suit case to Kelseys but together they were VERY heavy!!

After the Airport we found a bus that took us to another bus station called "Parhajito" or "little bird" :) (just like i call Breanne). Our suit case troubles became even funnier as we were all VERY tried trying to drag these TWO HUGE suitcases through Parhajito which seemed to consist of ONLY stairs!! At one point, and I laugh every time I think of it, We had completely blocked off a set a stairs as we tried to carry the suit cases down them. Sara was at the bottom and kelsey dropped the top half of it as I stood watching this "quilbo". Every one was giving us dirty looks as the worn out travelers were at eachothers throats trying to find our way in a foreign country! AHHH! soo funny now!

So we finally made it to Viña del Mar where Lucia met us just as we got off the bus!

We took a taxi to the bus stop and then bored the bus, luggage and all and Headed for Leo's house!!
The bus drove right along the Sea! It was soo beautiful! HOWEVER!! The roads are sooo curvy and if I thought the Bus drivers in Rosario were crazy.. they hold no candle to the Bus drivers in Chile!! We cruzed around those curves as if there was no tomorrow, not to mention passing ppl on such tight turns!! IT WAS CRAZY and i felt a bit sick after wards.... only to find that after we got off the bus we had to walk up what sarah called "Pikes Peak" It was soo steep and was at least 6 blocks long!! So we FINALLY made it home!!

It was Leo's birthday the day we arrived so after he got home from work we all got dressed and headed to his Mothers house where we me his family!!
We had a little birthday party for him! We sat out side, and they made the mistake of putting potatoe chips in front of US!! AHH!! We(Kelsey, Sarah, and I) couldnt help ourselves as we had almost forgotten the taste of the beautiful chips and we ate all of them!! :) In Chile they call supper "Once" like the number 11.. instead of "Cena" We asked Leo why they call it once and he told us there are lots of myths of as to why.. one is that it was code when the workers wanted to take lunch but didnt want to jefe/ boss to know. They use once because the actually word for dinner was 11 letters long....

For once, the Chileans dont eat very much... they drink tea and not coffee like in Argentina. Once usually consists of a few small sandwiches and tea. ... and some papafritas(chips!) :) It was different but I enjoyed the change!

We all sang happy birthday after once,



but we(Kelsey, Sarah, and I) were sooooooooo full from once and ALL the chips that we COULD NOT have cake! It was about 12:30 or so when they passed out the cake... We were SOOO TIRED!! Lucia and Leo could see this and offered to bring us home! So nice of them.... This is when and where we acquired the nickname "the niñas" / little girls. Leo and Lucia were going to return after they brought us home. We felt like their children... and to make it worse as we left the TRUE niños were playing out front while the 19-21 year olds were calling it a night!! To top off our new self given name ... we all sat in the back of the car as Leo and Lucia sat in the front and had an "Adult converstaion" haha! But it was nice to be home and in a comfy bed!!

CHILE!!

We successfully MADE IT TO CHILE!! :) I love it here! It was soo beautiful flying over the moutians, and the dive from Sanitago to Viña del Mar was even better! There were vineyards all over and driving down the mountain towards the sea and the city was GREAT!! :)

Its about 5:30... am here, and Sarah, Kelsey and I have made an escape upstairs. We are just sitting here chatting listening to the Chilean's sing "Te Vas, Te Vas, Te Vas, Te Vas" and other reggie songs, and the occasional glass break.... apparently going out here is EXACTLY the SAME as in ARGENTINA!! :) They start the night around 10:00 or 11:00 go untill 5 or 6 am...! We have an amazing view from our room, so maybe we will get to see the sun come up!! :)

We call ourselves "the ninas" / the children. HAHA!! We just cant take these late nights, and last night we left the family birthday party at 12:00am. The real little kids were playing out front while the 19-21 year olds/ "the ninas" were calling it a night. :)

Sarah met a fun friend ;) HAHA, Miguel is his name, and he is a hoot! He told her when he met her yesterday he could tell by her eyes that she liked to dance. :) Of course Kelsey and I, insisted on her dancing... it was a joyus time and is the reason we escaped upstairs :)HAHA!


We also meet a girl named Jessica from CANADA!! :) She was staying with on of Leo's friends, and came to the party with the friend! It was fun to talk to someone in English! She is 29 years old and had set a goal to travel to 30 countries by the time she was 30! Chile was her 30th country!! :) I loved hearing all her stories, and she really makes me want to find a way to keep traveling after school!

Well... Ill upload somemore pics and write more Chilean later :) Chau!

CENA/ Supper!

Hola!

I just completed making DINNER HERE!! :) The cheesy potatoes and Meatloaf are cooking in the oven as we speak!! But I will say cooking is a bit different here, but I think grandma would be proud ... if it all turns out alright... that did it all by scratch!


I seem to forget how tiny items make our lives sooo much simpler! For instance... peelers to take the skin off of potatoes...my family doesnt have one. I had to cut off the skin with a steak knife! Also they did not have hash-brown potatoes, so after peeling the potatoes, I had to cut them up in hashbrown like pieces! Needless to say, all of that took me a good 45 mins! :) It was good though because it gave lucia and I a little time to talk as I cut potatoes and she made dessert. :)

Camblles Soup(Sp?) doesn't exist here either, so I made the cream of chicken soup from a little package. The cheddar cheese had to be grated, which was pretty normal.

They dont have a temperature "thing" on the oven so we just had to guess... :/ lol!

They all said it smells "rico" which translates to tasty / delicious / yummy / good .... tons of things really. You can use rico and linda/o for just about anything that is good. :)
We never drink milk, that seems to be reserved for café. Instead we usually drink juice or water, and Edgardo drink beer or wine. But I think we are all even drinking beer for this joyous occasion! :)

We shall see how it goes...