Long weekend get-away: Mar del Plata

For the first time in 35 years, the Argentine governments declared Carnival a national holiday- so Argentines had both Monday and Tuesday off. Now I’ve been in Buenos Aires on 3 day weekends and the city pretty much shuts down: stores are closed, the streets are deserted and Amy and I often felt like we were the lone men standing. I imagined that a 4 day weekend would convert BsAs into a ghost town. Since this was my first weekend without Amy, I was thrilled (and un poco relieved) when my friend, Nora, invited me to go to Mar del Plata with her and two other people for the finde largo.

Mardel, as the locals refer to it, is about 4 hours south of Buenos Airies without traffic, but going to Mardel for Carnival is like going to Southampton for 4th of July- you need to add at least 2 more hours to your travel time to account for traffic. Fortunately, in Argentina you are able to ride in nice comfy reclining seats so it makes enduring traffic a little easier. We left for Mardel at 5:30AM and arrived by 12 noon. We were in our bathing suits and ready for the beach by 12:30.

Sitting along the coast.

Nora and I found a great spot on the coast that had beautiful view of the Atlantic ocean and an infinity pool to enjoy! We spent the day relaxing on lounge chairs and sipping on smoothies, I couldn’t have asked for a better day. That night, we met up with our other two friends for dinner; we of course went for asado. The Argentines of the group seemed to be able to sniff out the best asado restaurant in the city. We found a popular steak house and after a short 2 hour wait, we were seated for a delicious asado at 11pm.

A view of the pool from the first day.

The next day we decided to go a beach outside of the city. The beaches there were beautiful. They reminded me exactly of the beaches in the Hamptons: there were kids building sand castles, people playing paddle ball, surfers; I really felt like I was back on Long Island. I also introduced my friends to my favorite beach activity which is combing for sea glass. For me searching for sea glass is almost instinctual, I can remember combing the beach for hours with my Nanny as a kid and for me it is like searching for a treasure- a true simple pleasure in life. By the time we left, my travel companions were combing the beach for sea glass too; I think I may have turned them on to a new pastime. While walking back to our hostel, we saw a crowd outside a restaurant, we figured in must be good so we decided to see how long the wait would be. It was going to be an hour at least, so we put our names down on the list, went back to the hostel to shower and returned just in time to be seated. We couldn’t have planned better! I thinking I am finally figuring out how to work the waiting system down here.

Pablo, me, Jon at the beach!

Day 3 was rainy so we did what we had to do- we took in a movie. El Cisne Negro starring Natalie Portman, it is one the few Oscar nominated films I have seen. I haven’t really been following the movies this year so I had no idea what to expect. I thought the movie was going to be an uplifting story about a ballet dancer, I was way off, I am still having nightmares.

Nora and I enjoying pizza! (Ame, found others who love Roquefort!)

Our last day we went to another pool on the coast and enjoyed are last plate of rabas (fried calamari), we ate many rabas this weekend (apparently the city is known for them). After that we were on our way home, back to Buenos Aires.

Last moments of soaking up the sun!

Mendoza: Vino, vino y más vino!

So it has been a while. We’re here over 8 months and the end of our travelhood is coming to a close. Ame is heading home March 3 and I will be heading back to the states May 19, but not arriving home until June 2, 2011. I will be one year out of NYC to the day and I am looking forward to my homecoming. This week Amy is visiting Iguazu with Courtney, and I am sure they will have some fun stories of their excursion. However, Amy and I took one last trip together after Patagonia with our friend, Alison, from England, who headed home last Wednesday. We called this our último viaje—we took our first trip to Bariloche with Alison, so it was only fitting that we took our last trip with her too.

Well what better last minute get-away than a trip to Argentina’s wine country—Mendoza. The three of us boarded an overnight bus on Tuesday evening and arrived bright and early on Wednesday ready to taste some wines. And while we truly did have good intentions of doing some mild trekking, the weather just did not cooperate with us. While walking towards the park it started to down pour (by down pour, I mean drizzle) so we took that as a sign from a higher power to get a jump start on the wine tasting.

The Vines, an US owned tasting room, opened at 3:00pm, so we arrived promptly at 3:15pm to start tasting some wines. We had a really nice server, Julien, who basically let us taste wines and chat the afternoon away. I think we were there for at least 3 hours and by the time we left, we were all feeling quite happy. We decided to be true tourists and go to an early dinner- 8:30. We went to a really great restaurant called Bistro Alice (or something like that) and we all had delicious meals. Ali and I continued to sample some wine, but Amy was well behaved and decided to hold off until our 9AM tour departure the next day.

Amy and I in the tasting room at The Vines

That’s right; we tasted our first set of wines at 10:30AM or as I like to call it: the breakfast of dignitaries. The tour we went on took us to four boutique vineyards. I liked the first one we went to the best. This is probably because not only did we taste 4 delicious wines, but we also got to taste delicious champagne! It’s sort of hard to top that even though all the other vineyards had great tasting wines too. We ended the tour at a vineyard were you could walk around and taste all the different varieties of grapes right from the vine…well at least that is what Juan our tour guide told us so we all went ahead and sampled under his instruction.

Breakfast at Dante Robino vineyard. Buy a bottle of their wine if you see it! Delicious!


Amy, Alison and Juan getting ready for lunch. Check out all the wine glasses on the table!!

Tasting grapes right off the vine, Alto Vista.

Juan was such a knowledgeable guide and he also turned out to be extremely hospitable and invited our entire group (7 of us) to his house the next day for an asado and a dip in his pool! So not only did we get to hang out by a pool all day we also got to enjoy a delicious traditional argentine BBQ our last day in Mendoza. We literally left from Juan’s right to the bus station. We headed home with full stomachs, new friends, and an overall great último viaje!

Sitting down for our asado at Juan's

And the moral of the story is...

Seven months in Buenos Aires and I am still learning the tricks of the trade. Fortunately, yesterday I learned an important lesson by example and not through personal experience.

The lesson learned: never help a little old man (viejito) into his building unless you are absolutely positive of your exit strategy.

Last night I went to a pub quiz/intercambio and afterwards I was going to meet Amy and Lisa (her friend visiting from NY) at a neighboring bar. I left the pub quiz with a friend, Roger, from Australia- a real character, think Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High- and while we were walking to meet Amy, we heard frantic knocking on a door. When we turned to look, we saw two people trying to get a passerby’s attention. We approached them and they begin to explain in really bad Spanish that they needed help getting out of the building. I told them that I spoke English and they explained that they had helped an old man into the building and on to the elevator and when they went to leave the building they realized that they could not get out without a KEY!! This is extremely common in BsAs, for security reasons, you have to use a key to unlock the door in order to exit. Unfortunately, these two turistas did not know this tidbit of information and they found themselves trapped in the vestibule between two locked doors! It was a guy and a girl from England and the girl seemed to be on the brink of a full blown panic attack. They asked us to ring some bells to see if a neighbor would come down and let them out. Well, without hesitation, Roger begins to ring as many bells as possible in order to solicit some help. However, no one is willing to come down and help these two people leave, because I am sure they all thought this was a complete scam. I have to say, I can sympathize, I don't know if I would be running down to let a stranger in my building, especially one with some strange foreign accent.

Instead, I stopped an Argentine and asked for his help. He rang for the doorman, but of course there was no answer. He then had a very good idea of ringing the bells of those who lived on the first floor so that they would not have to go very far to help the trapped turistas. Well, they didn’t want to help either. The Argentine then went to get a police officer. The policeman came and assessed the situation, but he too realized there was little that could be done. The kind Argentine took off, almost in a light jog, so I decided to follow his lead. I motioned to Roger to let's get going and of course, he had to take a quick snapshot before we too left the scene. (I'll try to have him email it to me for viewing pleasure)

As we were walking away, I asked Roger what he thought the moral of the story was and he looked at me, obviously perplexed by the question, and said: “What? Never help old people into their building.” Exactly. So with that said, I would like to apologize in advance to the viejitos of Buenos Aires, I will not be helping you into your building anytime soon…

P.S. Don’t worry, I walked pass the building this morning and the turistas had been freed.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

I have been following the blizzard in NY and cannot believe I live on the same planet as you. It is 37 degrees here- I've taken to the Celsius system because no one I talk to here (besides Amy) knows Fahrenheit, but I believe it is equivalent to almost 100 degrees. But what makes the heat even worse is the humidity; Amy has had to take two showers a day the past two days because of it. So you can imagine that it has been a tad difficult to get into the Christmas spirit: you can't bake cookies because you don't dare put the oven for fear of heat exhaustion and the smell of evergreen trees in the streets obviously doesn't exist here either. I can honestly say that Christmas crept up without me even realizing it. Fortunately, Amy and I got invited to a potluck Christmas Eve at an Argentine’s apartment, there was tons of food and drinks and we were in great company of people from all over the world. The holiday gathering was donned the moniker “the orphans Christmas party.”

Photo: An impressive non-traditional Christmas tree made out of green cerveza bottles

Christmas is celebrated a little differently down here. For starters, everyone gathers on Christmas Eve, which they refer to as Nochebuena, and have dinner at normal Argentine dinner time, anywhere between 9:30PM- 11PM. At 12 midnight you have a champagne toast and the children promptly open their gifts left for them by Papá Noel. Usually, the night lasts well in to the early morning hours. Christmas day is typically used as a day for catching up on sleep. So Amy and I followed suit. We left the party shortly before 5AM, and por suerte found a cab to take us home, we both slept in the next day, me till 2PM and Amy until slightly before!

Photo: Amy enjoying the fiesta with two Aussies: Allison & Marlo

Photo: Me dancing in the street to a drum parade down defensa with Anabel, another party-goer, cerca 3AM

Since most ex-pats are used to celebrating Christmas, well, on Christmas, we were invited to a roof-top asado (BBQ). Amy's Aunt Ro and fam arrived Christmas day so she obviously skipped out on the asado, but I moseyed my way on over to the asado at around 8PM. The asado was hosted by a New Zealand ex-pat and he made a great spread! Delicious food and the guests brought great desserts! This night I managed to get home by the reasonable hour of 3AM.

We are still smoothing out are plans for NYE, but I am sure it will some more good times.

Photo: Waiting for the Christmas meal to be served

Wishing you all a Happy, Peaceful Año Nuevo!

Guest Blogger: Mama Pat Murphy!

On November 30th Brian and I arrived in EZE airport BsAs for the start of our Argentine vacation and visit with Caitlin. The 11-hour trip was not nearly as bad as we anticipated. We got through immigration and found the driver who would take us to our apartment that did not look as good as it did online and the promised American kitchen did not exist. And yes the Bunsen burner did run out of gas and the rain on the roof sounded like gunshots but it was in a nice area and Caitlin was able to stay with us so all in all it was fine. Our first day consisted of eating lunch, visiting with Caitlin and having dinner. The following day began our series of “forced marches” through the city of Buenos Aires. Caitlin walked us until we could go no further most days! Our first stop was the Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. The cemetery is filled with the beautiful mausoleums of the rich and famous of BA. Caitlin has taken all her visitors to the cemetery and by now it is a little boring for her. She spent her time in the shade while we explored the cemetery.

During the following days we took 3 tours – 2 BA FREE tours that were super. The guides were hilarious and informative. The tours took us many areas of the city; we saw all the major buildings, plazas, the cathedral and neighborhoods. We experienced the protests which occur daily, learned not to be careless and step out in the street without looking (you WILL get run over), and were careful not to step in anything the numerous dogs left behind.

Protest

The bus tour, as Caitlin said, was the worst by far but it did take us to the Boca area that was colorful and interesting.

On our longest march we walked about 8 miles from Congreso to Puerto Madedo, walked an ecological reserve and then walked back to San Telmo! This is the day we managed to find bad beef in Argentina!! And while the meal was not great, we barely cared. We were happy to be sitting down!

Reserva Ecológica

We spent a day in Tigre a 45-minute train ride outside BA. It is part of the river delta area. We took a boat ride along the river, walked the riverfront and visited the art museum. The museum, a former casino, was a beautiful building housing Argentine artists.

We spent Sunday visiting the street markets in San Telmo and Recoleta. In San Telmo we watched Tango dancers demonstrate their moves and I found a Bolivian artist selling great watercolors. I bought 2 small village scenes I am delighted with.

On Monday we boarded a plane and headed for Puerto Igauzu and the Igauzu Falls. The Falls were spectacular. It is hard to imagine the power and grandeur of the many falls that roar out of the rain forest to empty into the river. We took a boat ride up the river to the Falls the first day. It included a truck ride through the jungle. We were surround by the noise of birds, dense vegetation and had our first experience with the friendly butterflies! Not long into the ride one landed on the woman seated in front of me and rode all the way to the river with us!

Approaching the falls from the river was amazing - you heard nothing but the roar of water and felt the spray of the Falls. We got soaked and stayed wet for the rest of the day. It was near 100 degrees and over 100% humidity. It was also the rainy season and the trail through the jungle we hoped to walk and spot túcans among other creatures was to muddy to hike. The park was a great place to visit. It had good trails, a train to take you to some of the furthest points, good restaurants and rest stops. And like the national parks in the States, visitors from everywhere. Our stay in Puerto Igauzu was delightful. It is a very small town with friendly people, easy to walk to and interesting to see after the city of BsAs. We found a great taxi driver, Basileo, who took us to and from the park each day and showed us the “Three Frontiers”, the area where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. On the third day he took us back to the airport where we waited for hours for our delayed flight back to BsAs. Our complimentary lunch from LAN Airlines was a no choice milanesa – breaded steak – which topped this worst meal list by a mile. We arrived back in BsAs in time to pick up Amy and go to dinner. We went to a wonderful restaurant in a truly beautiful building with a great tango band! It was a perfect last supper. The next day – our last – we had our only rain. We did a little site seeing, went to a museum, hugged Caitlin goodbye and headed for the airport. We had had a wonderful trip. Good food. Great sites. Time with Caitlin. Laughs with Amy. Plenty of exercise and stories to tell. The woman who checked us through customs kept looking at my passport and then at me. I was beginning to think I wasn’t going home when she indicated that I looked better then my passport photo. She waved her hand and said Bye Bye Patricia. And with that we were on our way home.

The Murphy's take on BA and Iguazu

Per usual, Murphy's Law ruled and there were some bumps along the road. For example, it’s said that you cannot find a bad piece of steak in Argentina, somehow we did. The "stovetop" (which most would call it was a Bunsen burner, but stovetop has a nicer ring to it) in our apartment ran out of gas on Friday, 2 days before check-out, and apparently you can't add gas over the weekend so no tea or coffee for us. Also, our flight from Iguazu to BA was delayed for 2 hours so we got to know the 2 gate Iguazu airport pretty well. One perk was that we received a complementary meal on LAN airlines for the inconvenience- we all got the milanesa: don’t bother looking at the menu because it’s your only option.

So yes, there were a few bumps, but overall it was a really nice trip. They got to see all the good things Buenos Aires has to offer and by the time they left Argentina they had their share of really good quality Argentine beef. They were able to enjoy a free tango concert at Mílon and saw the tango dancers of the San Telmo Market. Unfortunately, we did sit through a really bad city bus tour. The guide was sweet and gave it a very solid effort, but she gave the tour in both Spanish and English so by the time she'd get around to explaining the point of interest in English, she was out of breath and the it was usually 200 meters behind us. However, a highlight of the tour was that it took us to La Boca, which is always worth a visit. To redeem myself from putting them on that awful time-killer, I took my parents on the two Free BA Tours, both the Aristocratic Tour and the City Tour were great. The guides were knowledgeable and funny. We also visited Tigre outside of BsAs and there we went to the Museo Arte. The museum is housed is the most beautiful building I have seen in Argentina and it is only AR$5 to enter!

The highlight of the trip was Puerto Iguazu which is located in the Northeast of Argentina near the borders of Paraguay and Brazil. We went during rainy season, not on purpose of course, and while there was rain, we lucked out because we had two sunny days in the National Park. I should also mention that the weather was beyond hot- we were all dripping with sweat, it was 112% humidity and close to 100 degrees. Thank goodness our hotel had a pool- we all took advantage of that amenity. The waterfalls were spectacular- they put the Niagara Falls to shame. We took a boat trip underneath the falls, which was a lot of fun and a great way to cool off (you get soaked). We also saw some great wildlife, such as butterflies, birds, coatís and lizards. You literally walk through a jungle to get to the waterfalls and as you walk you see all these different types of creatures flitting and scampering in front of you. Mom was the official butterfly whisperer, every time I turned around there was one sitting on her hand. While we (meaning Mom and I) didn't get to see the grand túcan, Dad caught a glimpse of one on our way to the airport and was even able to use his expansive Spanish vocabulary to describe it-- he asked our driver "¿grande?" and was given an affirmative "¡Si!"

When we got back to Buenos Aires, we obviously arrived a little later than expected due to our layover, so we really only had time for dinner. And while I pushed for the early 8:30PM dinner timeslot, it was Pat who insisted on 9:30PM. I think I turned them into true porteños. Hopefully Pat will write her guest blog spot soon and share some of her photos, but in the meantime below are some shots from Iguazu.

At the Tres Fronteras.

The Falls.

The butterfly whisperer with her friends.



Dad getting soaked in front of the falls.

Día de Acción de Gracias- Buenos Aires Style

Celebrating holidays away from family is always difficult, especially Thanksgiving. It is the one time a year where you are guaranteed a good meal with your family and all you have to do is be thankful. You don't have the pressures of finding the last dyed egg or picking out the perfect sure-to-be-exchanged sweater for your holiday exchange partner. All you need to do is eat! I have to admit, I was sad to think that this year I would miss out on the festivities, since Amy and I did not have any T-day plans as of Tuesday. We were set on treating it like the other porteños- just another ordinary Thursday.

As usual, Amy and I went to yoga on Tuesday; however, instead of our private lesson that we're used to, another girl, Mary from NY, was in the class. Mary had just arrived to Buenos Aires and we got to talking about things to do in the city, etc. Well by the end of class, we had exchanged emails and Amy and I managed to create a surrogate family, which included the 3 of us and the yoga instructor for a Thanksgiving pot-luck dinner. Not too shabby. Amy invited one other girl from the States so in total we were 5.

The list circulated and we all received our assignments. We quickly realized that traditional Thanksgiving Day food was not so easy to come by since we are currently in the midst of a very hot spring season. For example: turkey, not available. We came up with a quick fix and ordered delicious rotisserie chicken from a Peruvian restaurant. (For those NYers reading this, think Pio Pio, and then imagined that it tastes even better!) I signed up to make the dessert, and originally thought that an apple pie would be nice and familiar, but those too are not in season. What fruits are in season? Strawberries and peaches. So I looked up summer fruit recipes and found an easy tart recipe- feel free to use it at your next 4th of July BBQ . I ended up with way too many peaches (who knew that a kilo of peaches equaled 14?) so I made two tarts for five people, this seems about right, no? Amy made mashed potatoes and also a delicious salad.

The tarts!

We decided to have the dinner at Mary's. She has a beautiful apartment in Palermo with great, big open windows looking out to the city. Mary was also kind enough to supply the vino- and boy did she supply, there were more bottles of wine than guests, I think it might have been a 2:1 ratio. And while we drank a good amount there were still 4 bottles left over!

The surrogate family: Amy, Diane, Barbara & Mary

The feast! Includes stuffing by Diane, and sweet potatoes and spinach made by Barbara!

Needless to say, although we were not in the US we were still super gluttonous and had way too much food! And I got to take an entire tart home! So in typical Murphy tradition, I had a piece for breakfast! And I am thinking about having another slice now...yumm! I hope you all had great Thanksgivings with your families and and are suffering from turkey hangovers (Mayen, I know you are).
This year I am thankful because Pat and Bri Bri are coming in less than a week!

Besos!

Good deal!

It’s hard to come up with new and interesting things to write about after being here for so long, especially when you fall into a routine, everything feels so ordinary. However, the truth is living here is very different from living in NYC for a few reasons, the obvious one is it’s a different county with a different culture and language, but the other one is that this is the first time in my life that I have been unemployed for more than 3 months since I graduated from college in 2003. And even when I graduated from college I had a temp job, so this whole not working thing is a lot more challenging than one might think…I find myself constantly thinking about how I can save a peso or two.
I remember during my first few weeks here I met someone who said that you could live here off US$15,000 sans employment without any worries. This person ate out all the time and took cabs everywhere. He suggested I make a spreadsheet to keep track of my finances. I never made the spreadsheet, that’s probably because I didn’t really have the budget that he had and I wasn’t planning on spending above my means- I mean after all, last time I checked they weren't throwing money at social workers. Instead, I chose to take advantage of the low cost of living in Buenos Aires because it is a good place to live on a tight budget.
A ver, for example, last night I worked with a girl down here- I am using the term work loosely- I am helping her with some grants she is working on and also researching other possible funding. I digress, the point I am trying to make is that transportation down here is a steal. I took the subte to her house for a whopping US$0.30; and then for helping her, I got a delicious meal for free! We finished up working around 12am, which meant the subte had been closed for two hours. I was faced with two options, I could take a $5 cab or I could take a $0.30 bus ride. After looking at my nifty Guia-T, I realized I could take a bus that would literally drop me off in front of my apartment. I opted to take the bus and 20 minutes later I was at my door- that is what we call a good deal! For those of you (Mom) worried about me taking a bus so late at night, don’t be, the Argentines are just finishing up dinner so everyone is on the streets heading home. However, I am a little afraid of the buses; I once got eaten by the bus doors and Amy had to pry me out. Fortunately, I was able to escape without injury, but Amy in the midst of her valiant efforts got a huge ass bruise on her arm. However, I have made my peace with the busses and I am vowing to take advantage of them more!
Now, another way that Amy and I save is by eating in. We’re getting a little more daring with our recipes, but we’ve also discovered the joys of the pre-cooked rotisserie chicken and after already having two meals from the chicken, I made a soup! It grossed me out a little bit, because I really had to rip apart that chicken to find the meat, but in the name of saving a buck, I did it. So today, on my free day, I made a bucket-full-I’m talking at least 8 servings- of delicious chicken soup (yes, technically all days are free days so to clarify a free day is when I don’t have a 2 hour Spanish lesson. And yes, I do realize I live a really tough life down here). Now, I am calling it delicious, but I may have used one too many bouillon cubes for the average persons’ likings. See the recipe (which I recommend) was in English, but the directions on the bouillon cubes were not, so I winged it. I also didn’t realize how much meat and flavor comes off the bones after you boil them in the stock- it’s like the chicken re-grows itself, I was a little disturbed. If you do make the recipe he gives a really smart tip about using a colander and a paper-towel, but I would try a coffee filter instead, I think that would work better. For $10 Amy and I will get 4-5 meals each- another good deal!
I am now on the lookout for other good deals, such as free museum days, free art shows, etc. So hopefully I can share some good finds like those soon! Un beso!

Five months and counting!

It's hard to believe it is November already! Tomorrow will be our 5 month anniversary in Bs. As. - the time has truly flown by.
Yesterday, Amy and I ran the 5K- I am sure Ame will give you a debriefing about her first race ever, but she did awesome. It was a huge race over 3,500 runners, so it was a bit tricky to maneuver around the crowds, but we both were able to eventually break away from the pack and find our pace! It’s funny how something like a road race can seem familiar and comforting. The race was just like a NYC Roadrunner Race, accept the cheering was in Spanish instead of English!
So I too have continued on with private Spanish lessons. I meet with a women named, Maria (Spanish One on One: spanish.personal@gmail.com - for those of you looking for a Spanish tutor in Bs. As.), I would certainly recommend her. She meets you were you are and moves at your pace, which is great. I take lessons 8 hours a week, 2 hours a day, I have one day off from lessons. The Spanish is coming along. I can certainly communicate. I understand most of what is said to me, but my responding with any real fluidity is still a struggle. I still have a few months to get to that point, right? Right.
Another great way to practice speaking is through Spanglish (www.spanglishexchange.com). It is sort of like speed dating, but instead of switching bachelors, you switch languages. They have two language exchanges a week and two bilingual pub quizzes per week. Amy and I have done both the pub quiz and the exchange; obviously the language exchange is better for practicing your skills, but the quiz is usually a good time. There are usually some pretty interesting people on your team, but I have been with a few people who were a little too competitive… However, I would still recommend it as a way to meet new people.

Amy and I at a Spanglish language exchange talking with Fede!

In unrelated news, spring has finally arrived. It is nice; we’ve suffered through two winters so it is about time we get to experience some warmer weather. I keep looking at the weather back home and I see that NYC weather is slowing getting colder and then I see that it is getting warmer here. I have to admit, this does make being so far from home a little easier. I am not going to miss NY winters!

Oktoberfest in Argentina!

We were told that the Oktoberfest in Belgrano, Argentina is the next largest Oktoberfest in the world, after Germany, obviously. So Amy and I packed our suitcases once again and headed for the North of Argentina this time for the province, Córdoba. We stayed in a little town called Santa Rosa Calmuchita, it was really tiny, but had a very cute town center and a lake with a lot bridges. So there were not too many touristy things to do besides walk near a really pretty lake and check out the town center that was about five square blocks —and of course go to Oktoberfest in the neighboring town.

Amy and our roommate, Carolina, in front of the river near our hotel.

Me on the Puente Colgante (hanging bridge). It was a little rickety and I was a little scared crossing it!

Amy and I went to Oktoberfest both Saturday and Sunday. We quickly caught out to the customs and we purchased our steins- because you have to BYOS (bring your own stein) and we also bought belts that you were across your shoulders so that your stein can hang at your side. I think this is to help the drunkards keep track of their steins- I have to admit it was pretty useful.

Well Amy and I came on to the scene and thought the best game plan would be to first eat some tasty German food and then partake in the beer festivities. We purchased some delicious kebabs and some ceramic Budweiser medio litre steins filled with beer! After we finished dinner we decided to walk around and taste some of the other beers. While walking around we met many amigos nuevo. We had heard that this was the place for girls with low self esteem to go we can definitely affirm that this is the case. There are way more chicos than chicas and every five steps you take, you are approached by a new group of guys who want to have a conversation… Needless to say, Amy and I got to practice our Spanish. We had a great weekend and made lots of new friend! Photos below!

Amy entering the Parque Cervecero! Let the fun begin!

Amy with our kebabs and steins of beer!

Alex (our friend from Norwega) enjoying a kebab of salchitas!

The stage where we saw many performances of both German and Irish dance. Apparently, they group all drinking cultures together at Oktoberfest.

Operation: For the love of peanut butter...

As we know Amy is missing her peanut butter something terrible...and I too have to admit that peanut butter is a really great snack! It just goes with everything so well. Entonces (so), our mothers were kind enough to send us a package. The package was supposed to contain only peanut butter, but my mom of course wanted to add some extras. So she added some DVDs, magazines and some travel games-- all items greatly appreciated! Thanks to Mom & Cyn (the world's two greatest mamas)!
Sometime last week we received the Correo Argentino slip under our door which directed us to the international pick up place located in Retiro, a two subte train trek away. We had heard rumors that this place was a nightmare, but we were hopeful that these were simply rumors and/or exaggerations. Well, it turns out that people were actually being kind when they described the International Correo Argentino...
Since we were in Bariloche from Thursday afternoon until Tuesday morning, our first real opportunity to pick up the package was yesterday (Wednesday). So after class yesterday we embarked on our mission, operation: for the love of peanut butter (attempts 1 and 2). We walked into the Correo Argentino around 3pm and selected a number as if we were in a busy bakery, then we figured out that we had to wait for our number to appear on the counter on the wall. Well our number was 495 and the counter said that they were currently serving customer 280! So Amy and I looked around in disbelief because this could not possibly be the case, we must have looked royally confused because this very kind women took pity on us and called us over. In Spanish she explained to us that 1. she had been there for two hours and her number was 360-something 2. after your number was called in room one you then had to go to room two and wait for another number to be called and 3. at five o'clock they locked the doors but the people inside the post office could remain there until they received this package (thank you to my teacher, Sonia for reviewing the verb to remain = quedarse earlier in the day). Well, since Amy had a five o'clock skype date with Aunt Lo and Grandma Marcia and we had intercambio at 6:30pm, we decided to leave and come back the next day, especially since they had only called 3 numbers in the past 25 minutes. It was abundantly clear that we would be remaining there until 7:30pm. We said muchisimo gracias to the woman and I handed my 495 to the next sorry sack to walk through the door. Attempt 1 in operation for the love of peanut butter was simply an information gathering session.
Today we walked into the Correo Argentino at around 3:10pm with a little more confidence than yesterday. We selected our number: 151 and we're feeling that this is a much better number than 495. We look up at the counter and it read 35, dread rushed over us. We thought we were going to be there for 1000 years, so Amy got up the courage to ask the kind woman if the number 35 actually meant 135. In Amy's perfect (I use this term loosely) Spanish, she asked if the number was really 135 not 35. The woman in perfect (I use this term literally) English responded "I speak English". She and the kind gentleman with number 149 assured us that they were serving customer 35 not 135. Well, the employees today were working faster than yesterday and the numbers were being called quite rapidly. An hour later, Amy and I were called to the counter. I handed over our package slip and showed her my ID. She said something I didn't catch, but I realized she wanted me to move to the next window; fortunately, Amy did catch what she said and in perfect Spanglish said to me "I have ocho pesos!" So we moved to window number 2 and paid our 8 pesos. I said to the man "esta bien?" and he thankfully gave me the universal A-Ok sign. We were proud to successfully complete the room 1 process.
We moved on to room two. Room two was a large room where 6 digit numbers were being called over a shoddy loudspeaker- it literally sounded like Charlie Brown's mother. So we sat in this room and listened with all our might in hopes of catching our number: 669190. Well an hour or so went by and they started to call a slew of numbers that started with 669 and finally they called our number. We both jumped up at the same time as if we had won the lottery! However, Amy thought that she heard that the number ended in uno not cero. So we sat back down and discussed whether or not it was a 1 or 0. We both really had no clue, but we saw people that we were waiting with in room 1 going to get packages so I figured I would go check to see if the number was called. So I went into the backroom where you retrieve your packages and handed the man my ticket. He took the ticket and started to look for it and then I saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen: our package!!! I literally took the package and started to jog out of the backroom because I could not wait to share the good news with Amy. Two and a half hours later we received our package. We successfully completed our mission!
Moral of this story: please do not send us anything unless it is under 2 kilos (all items over 2 kilos get sent to the dreaded International Correo Argentino). And since no person from the US knows what a kilo is, it's probably just best to stick to writing us long letters letting us know how much you miss us!

Yo todovia te amo Argentina...

Last Wednesday, I got into a little skirmish with the colectivo. Amy and I have been riding the colectivo more and more so we saved our pesos (because the bus only takes coins) and we took it to La Boca. La Boca is a barrio in BA which is known for it's art and brightly colored houses, but it is in a very poor neighborhood and apparently there is a lot of non-violent crime at night. It was an interesting place to visit, but there were SO many tourists that it was hard to enjoy. Every second someone approached you to try and sell you something, so we did not stay too long. We took the colectivo home and when we got to our stop we went to get off. However, I didn't realize the doors opened in, and I literally got stuck behind them. Amy valiantly tried to assist me and during that process she somehow got her own arm caught so I tugged at my foot until I was able to shimmy it out. After a huge spectacle, accompanied by tears and huge laughs, we got off the bus. However, I left my pride behind. I hope to get it back the next time I ride the bus. And don't worry Amy's bruise is almost completely healed and no medical attention was necessary.

La Boca

We left the debacle behind and were looking forward to a nice weekend. Our top plan was to root on Argentina! In true porteña style, Amy and I set our alarm and left for the bar at 10AM. We arrived and Amy quickly got the Argentina flag painted on her face while I waited in line for the beers! The bar was packed with people rooting for Argentina, and lo and behold, there were mucho Alemán in the bar también!! So when Alemania won 4-0, you can imagine the tension in the room. This was not our best moment in BA, we were hoping to root for Argentina until the end. We had to shift gears, so we decided to cheer for South American teams in general and hoped they would have a full showing in the finals. We left the bar after the Argentina match and strolled around San Telmo we stopped for coffee and then headed back to the bar to watch more futbol! (I still can't believe we watched two games in one day). We were pulling for Paraguay, but Espana took the win, 1-0, towards the end of the second half. Our only hope remaining was Uruguay despite the controversy surrounding that game. (Was it cheating or a strategic move? Leave your comments below!) However, while writing this blog, Uruguay lost to Hollandia 2-3. Looks like Sud America is out of the World Cup completely...

Amy and I cheering on ARGENTINA!

Although there was a metaphoric black cloud hanging over Argentina the weather this weekend was really nice- high 60s. We went out for a celebratory meal of burgers & fries for the 4th of July with Simon and Gareth (thanks for representing Estados Unidos with us). We then walked around Palermo and visited some markets in Plaza Armenia and Plaza Serrano, there were a lot of really nice things, especially in Plaza Serrano. We all ended up buying tees from a young designer. After the markets, we visited a graffiti exhibit and then headed home. It was a nice relaxing 4th.

Trying on our new tees from Plaza Serrano!

Also, in this post we want to wish are very good friends, Gareth and Simon buen viaje! We've loved spending time with you and look forward to seeing you again in the future! BA won't be the same without you.

Chau SuperAmigos!