I give up....

Well, guys.... obviously blogging isn't my thing. I tried, but since it has been 2 months since my last blog update, I think I might call it quits. I appreciate those 'loyal followers' (mostly KC and Kim) who also blog and understand how nice it is to receive comments and feel like you're writing for someone. Unfortunately for me, it feels more like a chore or a homework assignment, so if you would like to see or hear more about my adventures, let me know and I'd be glad to tell you. The fact is, I'd rather talk to people (or even send e-mails) personally rather than the generic update that I did a terrible job at keeping up with, and that possibly only 2 people were reading. Maybe someday I'll give blogging another shot. For now, Hasta Luego!!

FINALLY part 3 of my Patagonia Adventure

I'm going to keep this one short, because after all it has been so long since I was in Patagonia. My third leg of the trip was to the city of Ushuaia, which is proud to be the southern most CITY in the world. It was pretty, but I couldn't see Antarctica from there, and the truth is it looked quite a bit like other cities. It was cute, and mountainy and touristy, and I did get the chance to do some beautiful hiking, and got to know a lot of other travelers.

Here's a funny little anecdote about the possibilities of what one can encounter while traveling in South America.

On the morning that I was leaving Chile, I got up bright and early to get on the bus because the trip from Puerto Natales to Ushuaia was supposed to be about 14 hours, and included taking a ferry to get to the southern tip of Argentina. Look at a map sometime, it is a mess down there! I got on my bus at about 6:45 that morning, to be ready to leave by 7. The seats on the bus quickly filled up (this is a long distance bus, where everyone sits, not like a city bus), but then men just kept loading on and sneaking the bus driver's assistant (?) money. They had quite the little business going on. After the aisle was packed with men (probably on their way to work or something), we were off! My ticket said that my transfer would be at 8:30 am, but I didn't recognize the name of the "bus-station" where I would be transferring. During the next couple of hours, the aisle emptied, and the men were dropped off on the side of the road here and there. At about 9 am, the assistant (the same one with the pocket full of pesos from his under the table business) went around and looked at everyone's tickets. He looked at mine, and told me that we would be getting off soon. He said 20 minutes and we'll be "there". 20 minutes (and more) passed, and there was no bus station (or a sign for that matter) and I was becoming a little worried that I had missed my connection. He passed through again, and said, okay we're almost there, so all I could do is trust him. After some more time passed (by this time I completely lost track of how much time), we stopped on the side of the highway, and he informed us that if we were going to Ushuaia, we needed to get off here. There were about 5 of us who got off the bus, then he pulled our bags out from underneath the bus, and basically threw them on the side of the road. For a few seconds I felt a complete panic come over me, but then another bus pulled up to the shoulder of the road, told us to load up our bags, we got on the bus that was already full of old german travelers, and 12 hours later we were in Ushuaia.

When our bus drove off the ferry, I saw this sign and thought-- wow, welcome back to Argentina!!

Once I arrived in Ushuaia it was far more welcoming. It was a little kitschy in the city, and I tried to take advantage of some photo ops.

And this one too....

Here's a Patagonia store in the REAL Patagonia. I giggled.

But I also saw some really beautiful sights. My lovely friend Jenae was supposed to go on the trip with me, but things didn't work out, and she told me to please go up to the top floor of a very high building and take a photo of "the end of the world". There weren't really any tall buildings, so instead I hiked 3 hours up a mountain, and here it is. This is what the end of the world looks like....

At the bottom of the photo, you can see the whole city of Ushuaia, and if you look reeeaaallly hard, maybe you can see Antarctica in the distance. Or maybe just imagine that it is way out there somewhere!

Recapping Patagonia pt. 2

After just a couple of days in El Calafate, I decided to move forward with my journey. With no plans or schedule, I just went to the bus station and bought a ticket to a city that seemed to be in the direction of "the end of the world". After some hours on a bus, and another passport stamp, I made it to Puerto Natales, Chile. In the actual city, there was not much to do. On the afternoon that I arrived, I walked through the nice little town which seemed based entirely around trekking the nearby mountains/national park called Torres del Paine, which means towers of the blue (paine is an indigenous word, not spanish). The one thing I did do, was follow the advise of a local woman, who told me where I could have the best sandwich in the town. Now, I didn't try any other sandwiches in the Puerto Natales, but there is no doubt in my mind that this was THE BEST!!

Not only was the sandwich amazing (beef, caramelized onions, a fried egg, and A LOT of avocado), but it was also served Chilean hot sauce (there his a huge lack of anything spicy in Argentina) and also a wonderfully dark beer (most of the beer in Argentina is similar to something really terrible, like bud light). This may have been the most heavenly meal I have eaten since leaving the U.S.!

I had an evening in a quiet hostel, then got up bright and early to head out to the Torres de Paine national park. I went with a tour group because the park is so large and spread out, I wanted to see as much as possible in a short time.

My entire day was filled with incredible views and the most stunning blue and green waters I've ever seen.

After a long day in the sun and wind, I returned to the town, where I ate another one of those incredible sandwiches, explored the little town a bit more, then called it a night. I had plans to leave bright and early the next morning to my next destination-- Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world.

Back in BA-- recapping my trip to Patagonia pt. 1

After quite a vacation from my blog, I'm back, and also back in Buenos Aires. I will do my best to catch up on some missed blogging time. Here goes!!

In December, I took a trip alone to the southern tip of Argentina and Chile. I flew to Calafate, Argentina, then bussed to Puerto Natales, Chile, then bussed and ferried to Ushuaia, Argentina (the southern most city in the world). I saw a lot of breathtaking landscapes, met many other travelers, and had a great time.

In Calafate, the main attraction is the Perrito Moreno Glacier. I enjoyed a picnic lunch, and walked around taking photos of beautiful views, as I listened to what sounded like roaring thunder as pieces of the glacier were breaking off and falling into the frozen waters.

Later, a large group of travelers loaded into a boat, took a trip to the other side of the glacier, put crampons on our shoes, and trekked across the Perrito Moreno.

I was especially excited because there were two groups on my tour, an english speaking group of at least 50 people and a spanish speaking group of about 15 people, and I got to take a much nicer, intimate, spanish trek over the glacier. After a couple of hours on the glacier, we approached a table with rocks glasses, filled them up with glacier ice, and drank whiskey (which I can't stand, but I tried to play along a bit).

After my glacier trek, I went back to the house where I was staying and hung out with other backpackers a fews locals. We made dinner, had lots of laughs, and played some riveting games of UNO.

Well there are the highlights from the first leg of my journey. Next, Puerto Natales, Chile! I'll wait to put that on the next post. As advised by KC (who is a far better blogger than me-- even with an infant) I'm going to try and make more blogs, even if they are shorter. We'll see how that works!

Breaking News.

This past month has been a big one. Buenos Aires had a world theatre festival, I've started finishing up classes for the semester, I went to Mendoza (Wine Country) for the weekend, summer has finally arrived, and I've decided to study in Buenos Aires for another semester. That last one sort of snuck up on you, didn't it? It snuck up on me too! I'll get to that.

First- Mendoza. Last weekend I took a 14 hour bus ride (alone) to the city of Mendoza. My lovely friend Jenae (who you might recognize from other south of the border adventures such as El Salvador) is currently studying in Mendoza, so I went to visit her and stay with her host family. I had a great weekend visiting with Jenae, meeting her silly friends and host family, seeing a bit of the city, and of course a wine tour. Mendoza is much smaller than Buenos Aires, much cleaner, and much dryer, however, it is still definitely a city! There is the hustle and bustle of the city, but also some beautiful landscapes to go along with it. Another huge difference between the two cities is the Siesta. In Buenos Aires, the siesta really is not part of the daily life. I mean people take naps here and there, just like they might in the U.S., but in Mendoza, the town SHUTS DOWN every day during siesta. Around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, the streets turn into a ghost town. All the shops and restaurants close, and everyone goes home to have lunch and take a nice long nap. That is something I could get used to!

On Saturday, a few of us girls got up, took a bus out of the city of Mendoza, and went on our wine tour. This was not any old wine tour... we did it on bicycles. Now "tour" is an interesting way to describe this, because in reality we rented some bikes, got a map, and went on our merry way going somewhere between 10 and 15 kilometers total. We stopped at a couple of bodegas (wineries), toured the sites and tasted some wines. We also visited an olive oil factory, which wasn't incredibly interesting, but we did get to sample some delicious bread and oil, with other tasty treats like sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Don't worry, we didn't drink too much on the tours, I mean after all we knew that we had a couple of miles to bike home. The real tricky part of the ride home was riding with the bottles of wine that we bought at the bodegas, but we managed. The day was beautiful, the company was great, and the wine was tasty!

I had a wonderful and relaxing weekend away from Buenos Aires, ending with an excruciatingly long bus ride home. I usually take buses through the night, so I'm on the bus for a bit, I go to sleep, and then when I wake up the next morning I'm practically to my destination. Unfortunately, this was not possible, and I took the bus during the day, and I was also lucky enough to be on a bus that made so many stops that the ride home was over 18-hours. I'll remember not to do that again!

Right before I went to Mendoza, I had spoken to several people about how my Argentine adventure is already more than halfway over, and I'm continually sharing with people how much I truly adore this city. I said several times, I would love to stay longer, but it just isn't possible. Then I got to thinking.... of course it is possible! Living in another country is an incredible experience, and once I'm out of school, it won't be so easy to just pick and move my life across the world. So, I sent out a couple of e-mails to my university, and to my study abroad program, then made a couple of calls, and voila! I'm staying in Buenos Aires for another semester. Life is very different here, and it took some time to adjust to the every day activities and challenges that I'm faced with. Now I feel comfortable, I understand the city, and have even managed to make some friends. I can study, and learn, and really live here without feeling like I'm adjusting. I have time to dig deep, and really explore the place and the people, and I CAN'T WAIT.

The middle of December is the end of the school year here, so we are approaching summer vacation. I will have a couple of months off, so I will still be back in the U.S. for the holidays, then I will return for a little bit of break here, and start back up again with a fresh load of classes, and remain until July. If you thought about coming to visit, but never made it, you've got another chance!

I almost forgot to elaborate on the theatre festival. It was 2 weeks of shows all over Buenos Aires from all over the world. I saw something like 10 shows. I would have seen more, but one was cancelled, I didn't make it in time for another, and I went to the wrong place for another-- I didn't realize that the theatre was on Sarmiento Avenue, and I went to Sarmiento Street-- that was a dirty trick! Among the shows I saw, my favorite, called Hotel Splendid was a play written in English by and American Playwright about 4 Japanese women during World War II, translated in to Korean, and performed in Korean with Spanish subtitles. That sounds like a lot, but it was so incredibly well done, and so beautiful. I was so blown away by the show, that I came back to my apartment, Googled the play for more information, stumble across the playwright's website, and sent her an e-mail telling her just how wonderful it was. She was delighted to get feedback about it because with all those translations-- from English to Korean and then to Spanish, she was worried about the performance. I assured her that it was still incredible. She was so delighted with our contact that she even offered to mail me some of her other plays, so I can read them. As part of the festival, I also applied and was one of 10 people to be accepted to a lighting workshop given by a lighting designer from Prague. It was only one day, but it was an interesting a really great experience. I learned some things, got to play around a little, and even met a few students from Buenos Aires who are as interested in lighting design as I am.

So this month has been jam-packed! I look forward to sharing many more recaps of many more jam-packed months! Chau, for now!

Another month goes by....

Originally, I had planned to blog more often than once a month, but it seems that my life in Buenos Aires has been such that once a month is all I can manage. I'll try and do better, I really will.

Since last time, my life has continued on just the same. I've done lots of reading, and I can finally really feel my spanish improving. When I do find myself with some free time (or time when I should be doing homework, or maybe blogging) I go on a website and study spanish grammar. I've probably learned most of it once already, but it was so many years ago when I started at DU that I have forgotten a ton. I'm still taking my tango lessons, and swing dancing, but I have taken a little break with that because I got sick. The weather here still isn't great every day, but soon enough the cold days will be over!

This past weekend, I took a trip out of town with few friends, to the province of Córdoba, which is about a 10 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires. We went to see the city, but most importantly, we went to Oktoberfest in Villa General Belgrano. We had a lot of fun, and of course drank plenty of beer. I'm sure that it was nothing like the real Oktoberfest, but still, great times were had by all.

The next morning, we got up BRIGHT AND EARLY (even after all that beer) to get on a bus for another 2 hours to go paragliding. After a ton of miscommunications with the guy that was supposed to take us, we found out that it was too windy to go. We were a little bummed because the city of La Cumbre is where the world cup of paragliding is held (whatever that means) it sounded pretty neat, and we definitely had our hopes up. Since we went all the was to La Cumbre, we decided to find another adventure to pass our time, and went horseback riding through the mountains for nearly 3 hours. When I say through the mountains, I really mean mountains. Our horses were climbing, and our 12-year-old guide Santiago had to tell us to lean all the way forward, and put our feet back so we didn't fall of the horses. It was beautiful and a little terrifying all at the same time. I didn't take many photos because most of the time I had one hand on the reins and the other hand was holding on for dear life. Everyone made it out alive, with only some mind sunburns to show, and eventually we made it back to Buenos Aires.

This week is another exciting week for me because it is the start of a world theatre festival. Because of my class schedule, I have only seen one show so far, but I have tickets for plenty more! Tomorrow, I'm going to see 2 more. One from Buenos Aires, and one from Mozambique. In the coming week, I will see one from Belgium, a couple from Uruguay, Korea, France, Mexico and more. I'm excited to see the shows, and also to discover more theatres around town. When I went to the first show, I picked up some flyers for future shows, so maybe I can find my way back there again. After I see some more shows, I'll update my blog again (maybe before another month has passed).

Well, I think that's about all the new news I have. Plus, I have some more reading I would like to get done tonight. I'll write back soon!

It's been a while.....

So it has been a while since my last blog.... a month to be exact. So, here I am trying to catch up a little. Shortly after my last post, I went to Iguazú Falls, the largest waterfalls in the world. I started a blog post about that, but got busy with school, and life and all that, and I never finished the post. I'll get back to that later, and post some more photos. Here's one, just to give you a little take of the beauty of it. I went for the weekend and it was a lot of fun. Again, let's save that for the next blog.

Since then, school has really got going. I'm taking 6 classes, but only have class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Sounds perfect, but I have so much class during the day, that much of my time on Monday and Friday (and Saturday and Sunday too) must be spend reading. Once I get more accustomed to my schedule and reading in Spanish, etc, I will have more free time again. My six classes are the following: History of Tango, Spanish (which includes a TON of reading, and also studying Argentine Theatre a bit), Argentine Literature (also a ton of reading), Clown (yes exactly what it sounds like. I'm learning how to be a clown), figure drawing (drawing from a live model in class, and other stuff at home), and a theatrical painting class. The spanish class is with other students from the US studying abroad with the same program that I am on. The Tango class is with other foreign students, including a couple Brazilians, a German, a girl from Finland, one from Sweden, and a few others from the US. The other four classes are with Argentines, in a normal Argentine University. My classes are a good mix of lots of reading, but also a bunch of fun art. I only needed to take four classes, but I don't really have outside class work for Clown and Painting, so they are just for fun, without overloading me anymore. I'll have all sorts of fun art projects to bring home, and show and tell!

I've also started swing dancing here. There are not a ton of people that dance here (nothing like in Denver), but it seems like a great group of people, and a great way to make friends. I've gone dancing a few times, and was going to go to a class, but alas, my homework won that battle, and I stayed in. I shall continue to dance here, and I plan on getting back into it again when I get I get back to Denver.

I also take a weekly Tango class. I went to go register for it, and said it was full, and then I said please very nicely, and they let me it. Maybe they felt bad for the foreign girl, and let me in. That's fine with me! It is a lot of fun. There are way more women in the class than men, so a bunch of old men that already know how to dance really well come in, and dance with us, so we all have partners. That's especially fun! Sometimes it can be tricky when two people are dancing together, and both are struggling. When both people are new, and the dance isn't going well, sometimes it is hard to know if you are doing something wrong, or the person you are with. No matter what, it is still tons of fun!

After nearly two months here, living Judith, I FINALLY have some photos. She stays

around the house in her jammies or her curlers a lot, and I wouldn't dare take a photo of

her like that. She was all done up one night, and I asked her we could take photos, and she had to go put some lipstick one, and fix her hair first.

She also asked that I didn't get her feet in the photo because she wasn't wearing the right shoes. Or course I obliged! She's a classy lady! Beba, her best friend, was over too, so I set my camera up and took a photo of the three of us. I know Beba isn't looking at the camera, but she did that on purpose. I'm not sure why, but in all of the pictures I took, she posed looking away from the camera. This picture also displays (poorly) my new haircut. It is still longer than it seems in this photo. Those are just some of the layers that you see. I also got bangs, but they're just the kind that go to the side. Nothing too different, but now my hair is healthier and more lively. When my hair dries after the shower it looks curlier because of all the layers.

Judith is dressed so fancy in this photo because she bought that new blouse for a special event, and she was trying it on to show us. Her husband (who died in the late 80s) was one of the most famous comics in Argentina-- El Negro Olmedo-- Google him sometime if you're interested. There are even some sites in English.

Judith's son, Marcelo, wrote a book about El Negro, and this week was a big party celebrating the book, and El Negro. There was even a big article in the current issue Argentina's People Magazine (Gente) which has photos of El Negro, Marcelo, and Judith! I bought the magazine yesterday! I think it will be a neat thing to bring home and show everyone. Nearly every day for the past couple of weeks, Judith's son has been on either the radio, or TV doing some sort of interview, and when I'm home I watch them with Judith. It is very interesting, but also very emotional for Judith. It has been a really unique experience for me! Here is a photo of judith, and her cousin(?) on the night of the event. They got ready at our house, and even had a lady come and do their makeup.