aprender a ser una porteña
Monday, December 2, 2013
ΣΚ in BA
They stayed for 5 days and did a lot of touristy things around the city. We planned on getting dinner then going out their last night in the city. I told Hannah, Emily, Georgia and Erin to meet Chloe, Sam and I at Guido's which is an awesome Italian restaurant. I googled it quickly to email the address to Emily because they have very limited communication. They can only really use email on the boat and Wifi when they find it around the city.
I figured out the buses to take and went on my way. As I was waiting for the 118, Chloe texted me on my Argentine phone asking the address. Oh, Chloe, I thought. She is never prepared! So I sent her the address. She called me a minute later right when I got on the bus saying that's definitely not the address. I LOOKED UP AND TOLD MY OTHER FRIENDS THE WRONG GUIDO'S! I had no idea of the directions or where this place was and I couldn't even contact my Elon friends to tell them it was the wrong restaurant!
So I asked the bus driver and he said just to get off at the next stop and walk a few blocks toward Libertador. Damn it. So I did. I stopped at 3 kioskos (two of which gave me wrong directions) but 10 blocks or so later I found the restaurant! Chloe and Sam were sitting down and I quick grabbed Sam's iPhone (because I forgot my Droid) logged onto the wifi and messaged Emily to tell her the right address, praying she had wifi.
Right after I sent her the message, there they were! They went to the other Guido's, which was more of a cafe/bar type place and they said they didn't have any reservations. The bar told them that this Guido's (luckily only a few blocks away) had reservations and this was probably the place. So they came to the real Guido's and asked for a reservation for "Shelly" but there wasn't one (Sam actually made the reservation). So they walked back to the wrong Guido's and the workers started getting mad reassuring them that it was the wrong place. Then they came back to the right Guido's and the host figured that there was only one other group of Americans so it was probably what they were looking for. We were lucky!
So we had awesome pasta and wine and headed to my friend Dieuwke's apartment for a pregame. Ale and Juan Pablo showed up as well! The girls were super exhausted from all of their traveling so they decided to go home when we headed out for the boliche.
How fun it was to have them in my wonderful city! They're now traveling around Brazil then Cuba!
Let me tell you about the most fun night of my life
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Patagonia: El Chalten
Friday, November 1, 2013
Patagonia: Calafate
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tango tango
So with my extensive dance experience (lolz not really) I obviously signed up for tango night with IES.
A bunch of chicas meet at IES and we went to Milonga en La Catedral del Tango. A milonga has a few different meanings:
1. It's a type of tango music
2. It's a type of tango dance
3. It's a tango dance party
My favorite definition, though, is tango dance party. Obviously!
Milongas originated in Buenos Aires.
During a milonga, three to five songs are played in a row followed by a short musical break to give dancers a chance to find new partners. Dancers who attend milongas are called milongueros or milongueras.
The term milonga also refers to a distinct style of tango. Milonga is a faster-paced and less complex form of tango. Milonga can also refer to a musical genre.
We took a bus there from IES to the Milonga in Villa Crespo and automatically went to the bar and got a few bottles of wine :) We needed to loosen up before our tango class!
In our class there were a lots of people on the dance floor of a dimly lot club and we learned simple, fundamental steps while rotating partners every few minutes.
It was so hard for me to allow my partners to lead 100% because in my dance experience I'm in total control of my body. But in tango, you have to let your body go and have your partner put it where it needs to go.
I danced with tons of partners from experienced to beginners, Brazilians to porteños, old to young, creepy pony trail to suave cuts. I was enjoying the diversity.
After the class you were able to dance around, changing partners during the breaks like I said above.
I had a great time but my back started hurting after a while from keeping the posture. It's very similar to ballet posture which made it not as bad because I was used to it.
I have to say, though, I definitely mastered the 8 step plus some... click here to check it out!
The IES group left but a handful of us stayed a bit longer to drink wine and dance. We all had such a great time and I can't wait to take more classes. Maybe samba next? Who knows :)
PS. The old people were freaking adorable. My husband better be down for some tango when we're 70.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Las Cataratas de Iguazu
Yes, 17 hours.
We bought a bus ticket from BA to Iguazu, packed up our supplies, and Jessie, Lean and I headed out on Thursday afternoon after class. The bus ride really wasn't bad. However, our bus was about 45 minutes late which worried us a little because usually the long distance buses are on time.
We met a girl from New York named Ola who is traveling around South America for a month. She got fired from her job, her boyfriend broke up with her and she got evicted from her apartment... all in less than a month!!!
So what did she do? She applied and go unemployment, booked a plane ticket and started traveling. Side note -- Ola knows maybe 5 words in Spanish. That's it!! That's a brave girl right there if you ask me.
Finally our bus came and we got on board. For this trip I only had two backpacks... on on my front and one on my back. Suitcases are too difficult to carry around when traveling like I do here.
We had dinner, a cold and hot meal with wine... lots of wine. The steward was kind of coming on to us... asking if, ya know, he could marry us and all. Instead of marriage, I just asked for tons of wine.
I slept pretty well but you can only sleep so well with cama (bed)... which isn't exactly a bed but more like an awesome recliner.
We arrived to Iguazu around noon. We got some milanesa for lunch then went to Tres Fronteras which is a viewpoint from Argentina where both Brazil and Paraguay are visible. We went right at sunset which was the most beautiful time to go!
We got snacks and food for Saturday's hike through the Iguazu park.
The park was amazing!!!! We took a cab, which our hostel booked for us, to the park. It was only 50 pesos each (Ola, Leah, Jessie and me).
Iguazu is also often compared with Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into about 275 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world.
Iguazu currently has the second-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara, with an average rate of 61,660 cu ft.
First we took a boat down the river and we got so close to the waterfalls that we were soaked! Luckily we wore our bathing suits! They gave us big waterproof bags to put our things in during the ride. We didn't go directly under the falls because that would have definitely crushed us with the power of the water. We got damn close though.
Long story short: Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!"(which, at 165 feet, the Niagara falls are a third shorter).
The park was amazing -- one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.
To get to Devil's Throat, we had to take a free in-park train up and walk along a massive bridge over the a large source of the waterfalls.
The power from the falls was actually a bit scary. I couldn't imagine someone ever surviving a jump from Devil's Throat. The force was magnificent.
Instead of taking the train back down the falls, we took an ecological tour down the river. However, right when we got on the boat it started to rain... lame. There were three French guys on the boat with us all working in Brazil. They were good company for the ride.
We all had life vests and the guys and I also had ponchos. Leah made a funny saying that the Frenchies looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame... LOLZ. Jokes on jokes.
Well, our backpacks, everything inside our backpacks and our sneakers got soaked... but we saw some awesome wildlife! We saw toucans (one I named Toucan Dan) and a monkey!
It was a great, great day :)
That night we went to a nice restaurant and got some free Brazillian drinks called Caipirinhas. They kinda tasted like Pisco Sours (the Peruvian national drink). Tons of lime in em! We all ordered all different things like fish, steak, gnocci, salad and rice and vegetables. Soo yummy!
That night we all sat outside and enjoyed (a lot) of fernet and cokes and wine... even yummier! Paul, a guy from France that we met, Misha, a guy from Montreal, Ola, and other people from IES that stayed in the same hostel as us all hung out outside drinking and having fun.
Paul was traveling around then ran out of money in Iguazu so he decided to volunteer at the hostel for 40 pesos a day... aka nothing. He knew some English but not much. He seemed super into me but I wasn't into it. He was cute... but that's about it. Steven is better :)
We got pretty drunk then most of us went to bed, it was just Ola, Paul, Misha, Mindee and me left so we took a walk around town... the town was literally deserted from elections that day. We had a whole dog pack following us though. They were awesome and so friendly.
Then we got back to the hostel and decided to jump in the pool... and play Marco Polo (ironic because we were staying in the Marco Polo hostel). It was a great time but it was so late so Mindee and I headed to bed.
The next day we were going to go to the animal reserve but we thought hanging out in the pool and drinking fernet and coke and beer sounded better... and that's exactly what we did. An Australian and two Argentines joined us which was fun.
Then our bus was at 3pm. We got back to BA around 8:30 and I showed up just in time for my 9am Spanish class... go me...
Iguazu was amazing... next weekend is my last traveling weekend and I'm heading to Calafate! Studying abroad is seriously the coolest thing ever :)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Weekend in and around Buenos Aires
Friday I had work and a makeup class until 6, traveled to the other side of the city to the apartment, and started drinking wine. It was great!! Sheridan, Sam, Mindee and probably some other girls came over for a pasta and salad dinner and wine.
Having this apartment is actually so nice. We can have people over at our homestays but it's very, very rare. And we usually only have people stop by briefly. But this apartment is in the center of Palermo SoHo, the coolest, hippest part of Buenos Aires with tons of bars and restaurants. We can have people over whenever we want. We don't have to spend a fortune on a bar to hang out. And if we don't feel like going out, we don't have to and we can still hang at the apartment. Whenever I'm too tired to go out, it means a night alone for me. But I didn't go to any bars late this weekend but I was still always surrounded by friends in the apartment drinking wine and watching movies.
Basically, I wish I had this apartment for the rest of my stay here. It'd be pretty sick.
However, Mommom is leaving tomorrow evening, and I'm gonna have to go back to my homestay... I guess I'm a bit bitter about it. My host mom is cool and is a great cook but it sucks being alone all the time at home. It was so nice to be able to invite people over without feeling scowled.
Sorry, back to my awesome weekend.
The girls went out Friday night after our dinner, wine and Dirty Dancing: Havanna Nights sesh. I was exhausted from the week so I just went to bed.
Saturday we got up, had an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs with rice, yogurt and granola, toast and tea. Then we found out there was going to be a big club rugby playoff match between Hindu and Sic in San Isidro... I've always wanted to go to a rugby game!!!
So we got ready and met Sam, Sheridan, Chloe, Jessie, Jenna and Juan P at the Retiro train station to take the train into the suburb of San Isidro.
The trains are weird here because you don't actually pay for them. I didn't even see a place to pay for the train! You just get on and off at your stop... I don't mind free transportation.
We walked a few blocks... Mommom practically crawled half of the way but not to worry, we got there.
The game cost AR$60 and it was awesome!! It was such a good match and I got to finally learn about the sport.
Oh yeah, and a guy ripped his shorts and had to change 'em. Not complaining. I had fun taking pictures objectifying men. Sorry not sorry.
That night we had another wine and girls night-- having our own apartment in Palermo SoHo, the collest part of BA, really had its perks. We walked around a few blocks until we found a restaurant we liked.
We found one and all sat down and automatically ordered 3 bottles of the house wine. All of a sudden, I looked up at the TV and it looked like the stadium we went to that day for rugby and the jerseys were also similar. All of a sudden, Jessie's face popped up on the TV!! We were all on TV and we didn't even know we were filmed!!
Sunday was a day for Buenos Aires Ciudad. We all got up and went to Magdalena's Party for the best brunch in Buenos Aires. We had omlettes and breakfast burritos with Mimosas and Bloody Marys! We sat outside on the patio and had a great time.