El Carnival del Pais

El Carnival

The following blog is a summary of an event I attended about 3 weeks ago but I recently have been traveling a lot and haven’t the time to write about it. So in the upcoming days you will see blogs from some of my most recent adventures including paragliding, rafting, wine tasting and trekking in Glacier National Park so stay tuned!!

Once a year, in almost every Latin American country there comes a time to celebrate the cultura and traditions of the region, in a festival know as “El Carnival”. The most notorious of these occur in Rio de Janeiro and is considered to be the largest festival in the world. Though I would have loved to attend El Carnival in Brazil my finances would not allow me to do so. I have attended a carnival before in Mexico so I already knew that it was event that I needed to attend. Approximately three hours south of Buenos Aires in a town called Gualeguaychu there is a festival called “El Carnival del Pais” and many people had told me it was a must see if you’re in Argentina.

We assembled a team of about 5 of us and headed to the bus terminal around 7 o’clock to purchase tickets. The tickets cost about 30 dollars US roundtrip in a bus. We bought our tickets and after searching the massive transit center of Retiro we finally located our vessel. We boarded the bus full of ambition and curiosity. As we headed south, the city slowly faded away and I got a sense of relief to be finally getting away from the daily hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires. It took us about three hours with a couple stops to pick up other passengers along the way but overall time passed by quickly. We eventually arrived in the bus terminal at around 11 or 12 at night. We walked into a little store to ask about directions and one of the employees told my friend it was near the monolith or “monolito”, the funny part here is my gringo buddy Troy proceeded to translate this as “Mono litro” which means “Monkey with a liter” and the ladies in the store began laughing and making jokes about the stupidity of the American, a humorous way to begin our journey. After getting directions we began to walk down the road with the few possessions we brought. We had a general idea of where to go but the lights and sounds of this massive event pretty much led the way for us. As we got closer the grand stands came into view lining a long path where the famous parade that occurs at every Carnival would take place.

After buying our tickets we walked up the steps to the highest point in the stands and joined a group of Argentines who were anxiously awaiting the beginning of the festivities. After about a half hour, the music blasted out of the speakers and the parade began. This parade was like nothing I have ever seen. Words cannot describe how amazing it was. There were women and men, short and tall, fat and skinny wearing lavish costumes constructed from items such as Peacock feathers and Technicolor cloth. They were so incredibly intricate. Every 5 or 10 minutes another float would pass by, each one with its own little mini-theme and people in extravagant matching costumes to accompany it. I will post a link to the pictures at the end of this blog where you can get a better idea of what I am talking about. My favorite float was probably 50 feet high and on the top had a giant revolving rubix cube type contraption. Each side was a different face but the face had 3 parts to it. The eyes and nose were of famous world leaders such as Obama and HU Jin Tao, the fore heads were of different characters such as the ninja turtles and the mouths were cartoons and animals. At one point I saw Obama with the mouth of SpongeBob it was very entertaining. But anyways, this parade continued for at least 3 more hours with the same song playing the entire time. You may be saying “Isn’t that a little monotonous” but really it wasn’t, the crowd gained energy as time passed and the parade just kept getting more lavish and outrageous. At one point our Argentine neighbors started a chant inspired by us repeating the words “Estados  Unidos! Estados Unidos!” We eventually began our own chant of “Argentina! Argentina!” and at the end of them one man screamed “Argentina y Estados Unidos…Juntos!!!”(Argentina and USA… Together!!!). It was quite empowering and before it was all over we exchanged emails and facebook. Eventually, the parade concluded and people began to leave. When the show ended I was down below getting a drink and for the next thirty minutes I was separated from my friends lost in the massive crowd. At one point while walking around I heard someone scream from behind me “Adaaaaammmm!” I turned around to see a girl I had lived next door to in the dorms at ASU with her arms in the air. I probably hadn’t seen her in nearly 2 years and somehow she still happened to pick me out of the crowd. This world truly is a small place. We chatted for awhile and eventually parted ways just in time for me to randomly run into my friends leaving the stadium.

So now it’s about 4 in the morning but we’re just not ready for the night to end, so we hail a cab and head to the downtown area where all the restaurants, bars and clubs are. You would think ok it’s been a long night so people are probably heading home. False! The streets were packed with people and it seemed as if it was all just beginning. We struck up a conversation with some locals and conversed about the area, the festival, Argentina in general and exchanged emails. At this point most of my friends were tired but it was only 6 in the morning and our bus didn’t leave till 10. All but one left to the bus station to see if there was an earlier bus but I wanted to aprovechar (look it up its my favorite verb) the moment so me and my buddy Troy decided to stay behind. We ate some breakfast and people watched for awhile as the city began to slow down. The river lines the entire city and was extremely full due to recent down pours so we walked over to its edge and watched the sun rise. We saw some local Argentines who were hanging out playing guitar, so we joined them and sang some classics (the man really liked to play the Beatles and Led Zeppelin which was completely fine with me). We hung out for about an hour when my friend Troy looked down and realized his bag was gone. Someone had stolen it from him and it was sitting directly in front of him. I asked around for about 30 minutes and one man told me he knew where the bag was I just had to give him 100 dollars US and he would go get it. We wouldn’t have cared except it had Troy’s camera in it with all of the pictures from the night. I asked the man to let us see the bag and then we would pay him but he couldn’t provide and we quickly realized he had no clue where it was. We walked away and Troy was upset but he quickly got over it for he was just thankful of our experiences up to that point. He said “it’s just a camera… you can’t obsess over the material things”. Even though I had all of my things I was a little more distraught over the fact that someone had robbed us. We quickly let it go and grabbed a cab to head back towards the bus station. I crawled into the bus exhausted from the night and quickly fell asleep, not waking until we reached Buenos Aires.  It was about 1 p.m. when we got back and as we headed down into the Subway I was in a complete daze from the ridiculous night we had just experienced. As soon as I reached my apartment I checked to make sure Daniel had made it back and as I assumed he was fast asleep. I quickly slammed into my bed and in less than 5 minutes drifted off into a deep slumber. Check out some of my photos and videos at: http://mysouthamericanjourney.shutterfly.com

This adventure made me realize how important it is to venture outside the city, and as you will see in my upcoming posts that is exactly what I did.

Thanks for Reading

Chau! Till next time

-Senor Newmano

The Rain Falls, The Streets Flood and The Journey Continues…

Well right when I thought there wasnt much more this adventure could do to surprise me, the skies spoke with a vengeance…

Every day in this amazing country is a great day and even the most laid back relaxing days are something to go home and tell Ma about. I’m finally understanding what makes this city truly unique. Every major city in the world has clubs and parties that carry on throughout the night, every city has amazing  monuments that seem to freeze important historical events in time. But very few cities can do what Buenos Aires does. There isnt one day that goes by that is remotely similar to the one before and even if I lived here for the next 20 years of my life (dont worry I’m not…yet) I feel like monotony would be quite a rare sensation.

I know it has been a while since my last blog, this is because it’s just so hard for me to sit here and reflect on my stories in such a way that I feel completely satisfied with the image my words create. Although I realize there is nothing better than the actual experience itself I will just have to settle for whats next best.

Monday is usually a day I associate with the beginning of a new week and more often than not a week of long and boring days spent in class. Although the class did conform to my predetermined assumptions of a usual Monday, the night that would follow would be one of the craziest I’ve had thus far. It all began around 7 o’clock. Every Monday there is an event that takes place near downtown Buenos Aires that is called la bomba tiempo (the time bomb) that involves 2 to 3 hours of extravagant drum sessions performed in front of almost a thousand people. I had heard amazing things about this event but we had yet to have the opportunity to experience it. We left our apartment about 7 o’clock, transferring between two different subway lines over the course of about an hour. On the first subway a man attempted to carry out a sly pickpocket on me but I caught him in the act. I reached down my side and caught the tips of his fingers just entering into my pockets (which contained my camera and 100 pesos) and immediately he pulled away and acted like nothing had happened. To prevent escalating the situation, I simply stared at him with a stern look and waited as he slowly walked away from me.   After exiting the subway we walked for about 15 minutes until the sounds of beating drums slowly began to develop. After finding the venue we waited in line for about 20 minutes to enter. It was quite an amazing scene as a variety of vendors walked up and down the line carrying baskets of empanadas, sandwiches and assorted drinks. I wasn’t very hungry but if I had been I could’ve indulged in quite the meal for about 2 dollars. Anyways after waiting in line we finally reached the entrance. We paid a small ticket price of about 20 pesos (5 dollars) and made our way towards the sounds of rhythm. The scene that unfolded was pretty amazing, there were about 1000 people all concentrated in a sort of outdoor warehouse all moving and grooving to the tribal composition of sounds. We infiltrated the crowd slowly making our way through the hoard of people toward where our friends were supposed to be located. After finding them we turned our attention towards the stage and were instantly enveloped in the performance we were witnessing. The show consisted of about 10 to 15 people in a semi circle, each with their own variety of a drum or some sort of percussion instrument (maracas for ex.). The director was located at the front and it was very interesting to watch how the movements of his hands controlled the beats we felt and the sounds we heard. The show continued for about 2 hours and at times they would incorporate bass guitars and trumpets with different kinds of electronically created effects. The show was amazing, the musicians had such a dynamic ability to control the mood of the crowd, diverting between slow soft rhythms and faster paced beats. Eventually the show ended followed by a chant from the crowd of “Ole… ole ole ole ole, ole, ole!” I assumed this was the Argentine version of an encore so I joined in until the band reappeared on stage. They played for about another 30 minutes before promptly thanking the crowd and concluding. Even as we walked away from the stage I still felt the power of the rhythms. As we made it towards the exit we noticed a frenzy concentrated where the warehouse opened up to the outside. As we got closer we noticed a torrential downpour taking place and about one foot of water located between the people and the exit. After about 10 minutes of discussion we made the radical decision to just make a run for the subway stop. We took off running hopping between miniature lakes of, at times, nearly 2 feet of water. It was about a 10 minute sprint to the subway and as we ran through the streets the people around us began to yell and chant as if we were an ancient tribe preparing to confront our enemy. It was a very epic and powerful experience. We eventually reached the subway and ran down the steps to wait for our train. There were hundreds of people concentrated down there all of which were soaking wet, dirty, partially clothed and yet extremely content. We waited for the subway wondering if it would ever come considering it was supposed to close in 30 minutes. Eventually it arrived and we packed into the small train eventually giving up our seats to some of the more elderly passengers. We arrived at our stop and transferred over to the area where we were supposed to catch our next train. After about 10 minutes a voice came over the loud speaker “Atencion! el subte ahora esta cerrado” meaning the subway is now closed. Now what to do, we were about a 2 hour walk from home and had recently been avoiding taking taxis for financial purposes. As we surfaced from the subway tunnel a large 200 foot obelisk came into view highlighted by bright white lights. We were now in the heart of Buenos Aires and the rain showed no signs of stopping. We discussed and decided we would go to the nearest McDonalds ( I know how American of us) to wait for the rain to stop. We ordered some Mcpollo (pronounced Mcpoisho) sandwiches and dulce de leche sundaes (so good!!) and for the next 15 minutes forgot about our situation entirely. After some good ol’ American grub we hailed a taxi out front and headed towards home. At this point in the story you may be thinking “Wow! What a night” but the ridiculous part is the adventure was only beginning.

We hailed a taxi and once inside attempted to talk with the man driving us. He must have been almost 90 years old and could hardly hear a word, so at first I was skeptic about his ability to drive in the wet conditions. When he drove, I could definitely tell he had been doing this for a long time and wasn’t so worried. After about 30 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic he told us that we would have to get out due to the main road being completely flooded. We got out and quickly realized we were about an hour away at a brisk walk from being home. We began to walk up the street as the water slowly got deeper and deeper. At some points throughout the walk the water was 2 feet deep as we walked directly down the middle of the road swerving around 6 car pile ups and nearly floating vehicles. With every bus that pushed through the water we would get hit with another wave. It was something surreal, 2 feet of water, waves off of buses, homeless people trying to salvage their things and then the 4 Americans wading down the middle of the street. We came upon a news reporter in full suit and tie with his camera man just interviewing people in the middle of this temporary river. I attempted to get interviewed but I don’t think they wanted to broadcast my broken American Spanish. After about a half hour, we came upon a part that was particularly deeper. The police had tied a rope directly down the middle of the street between to light poles and we had to hold onto it as we crossed. They looked at us and all they had to say, with grins on their faces was, “Bienvenidos a Argentina!” The process of navigating the river cabildo (the street we live on) carried on for about an hour or more and eventually we reached our home, soaking wet from head to toe with an amazing story of what felt like at times “survival of the fittest”.

When I read over this blog I’m still in disbelief that all this happened to me in one night, but if anything I under-exaggerated the situation.  Coming soon is photo and video footage of this entire night!!!

Also this past weekend I took a 3 hour bus ride south of Buenos Aires to the city of Gualeguaychú for the national Carnival a 5 hour parade and all night extravaganza. I will be posting the blog about this crazy weekend as soon as possible. In addition, this weekend I will be heading 13 hours west to Mendoza for the harvest festival. Some of the activities include bicycle tours of vineyards, whitewater rafting, and riding zip lines.

Thanks for Reading!!!!

Con Amor,

Señor Newmano

Una Cultura de Pasión

To start off, I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department but its so hard to find the time to sit down and figure out how to put my experiences into words that can fully do them justice. But… I will try my hardest. It is nearly impossible for me to explain the complexities and details that make every day so amazing, to truly understand this culture and the passion that is felt on a daily basis you simply just have to come see for yourself. I understand this post is long but if you have the time please read all the way through, But I digress…

Last time I left off I had just gotten a small taste of what every barrio had to offer,nearly 5 days later the experiences are piling up.

First of all I would like to say I am very proud of our ability to integrate into this culture. On multiple ocasions I have been confronted by Argentines looking for directions around the city and just general information. They always seem to be so surprised when I tell them I’m not from Buenos Aires. Me and my buddy Daniel have made a point to not speak any English on the street and to be honest I speak very little English aside from my few skype sessions every night.

What makes this city amazing is not the city itself, the amount of shops, parks, clubs, bars etc. but instead the people their hobbies, personalities and general passion for life itself. Every day is a new day, a day of survival, a day of cultura, and a day of passion. From the acceptance of public display of affection to the feeling of authenticity while interacting with nearly every person here, there is no word that describes this city and culture better than PASSION! From random people at bars, to the security guard of our apartment to the street vendors with there incredible art, everyone seems content with what they have instead of dwelling upon what they dont. I have made a new friend or or aquaintance (which always seems like a new friend) nearly every day and I couldnt be happier with how things are developing. My Argentine grandmother is extremely caring and genuine and every day we learn something new about eachothers past experiences and thoughts on life. I have about 5 hours of spanish class 5 days a week from 930 to 230 but honestly my classes have taught me very little I didnt already know. To anyone who wants to learn a language, forget the redundant and boring classes of the academia world, as my buddy Daniel says “Take It To The Streets”! that is where the language is truly encoded. But dont get me wrong I’m very thankful for the foundation that my classe have given me but eventually you reach a plateau that can only be diminished through complete immersion.

As much as I would love to write everything that I have noticed and experienced, I would have to sit in front of this computer continuosly typing and not out on the street experiencing Buenos Aires. Instead I am going to give a small synopsis of all the things that have stood out so far…

Crazy and interesting foods and drinks; mucho empanadas, cafe con leche, mate, milanesa, alflajores! (cokies with dulce de leche inside) they love meat here. My house mother has also prepared us some interesting meals for example. hardboiled egg+green olives+ pate (liverwurst), mayonaise (demasiado), onions, all wrapped in a sponge cake like textured wrapped made from pineapples. She also serves us melon with ham on top. Its a little wierd but who am I too judge. Lots of fried food and for this reason we joined a gym right across the street which is pretty nice.

We attended my host mom Martha’s art class. Our entire house is coverd in beautiful and extravagant paintings. We showed up at the adress she gave us to find a little studio probably around 20 x 20 feet. It was just her and the teacher and we were instantly greeted with fresh cups of mate. While indulging in this Argentine staple we were each given a clipboard, paper, pencils and oil crayons. She then instructed us on how to create modern art. We stayed for probably 2 hours just enjoying good conversation, mate and being creative. An amazing experience! excited to return every week to work on my masterpiece!

We have already made ourselves comfortable with a very unique local bar. It’s called “La pena de Colorado” (a little ironic) and is always a great experience. This bar is nothing extravagant but the atmosphere is always incredible. The first night we were the only one’s there and with every hour that passed another argentine showed up with there own visceral form of creative expression, whether it be a piano, guitar, a voice, or a table to bang on. They proceeded to play for the next 2 or 3 hours. The 2nd night there a group of canadian students showed up. One took his place at the piano and instantly inspired other musicians in the room to surface. Eventually there were about 30 of us singing together songs such as “Contry Roads”-John Denver ”Time of your life”- Green Day and “Imagine” John Lennon all of which were a representation of what we were all feeling.

The next we spent exploring the natural beauty the city has to offer. We walked by the golf course of which I hope to play (see pictures), spent an hour observing a colony of ants proceed to deflower a tree. Amazing random occurences of art, we then encounter a lake full of geese and children fishing with bamboo poles catching fish and storing them in water bottles that were cut in half and filled with water. After walking around the lake we stumble upon a forest covered by clovers and mushrooms and local portenos playing soccer (I will be joing them soon). After realizing this would be our future spot to come drink mate and read, we headed back to our house for dinner…

The same night after an interesting dinner, we headed out to meet some friends at the bar”. The night was fun going from place to place, though we did more observing of just the overall atmosphere rather than staying at one place. We somehow ended up not walking back till 7:30 in the morning which is actually very typical in this culture. On our walk back, we encountered a beautiful church. We sat down in front of it for about 10 minutes as the sun rose and suddenly we could here the rain falling before it arrived. As the rain poured a man approaches us from near the church with his friend, shouting “memorias” and proceeding to take many videos and photos with us. He tells us he is a psychiatrist from Rosario and begins to shout “I dont believe in god!” He then tells us that because he knows the power of the mind that is why he doesnt believe fate. Daniel mentioned “Rayuela” a famous novel by Cortazar which means hopscotch and the man started hopping around. I talked to his friend from Paraguay and learned some important information about traveling S. America (will be very useful in May and June). Finally the other man said “I dont believe in god, I am god, and I believe in myself”. We then parted ways and took the subway back home.

On sunday we traveled to San Telmo. On sundays a giant market surfaces. Incredible unique art and handmade clothing were just some of the things that lined the 10-15 city blocks this thriving maket covers. These vendors put so much effort and passion into the creation and sale of these items. So much is reliant on there ability to produce something more unique than the stand next to it. I will definately return here soon.

Last night consisted of just a typical American experience watching the superbowl but it was a good time nonetheless.

For those of you who have made it this far Thank You! for sticking with me. Look forward to a trip to calafate (one of the last remaining glaciers), Cordoba (a beautiful mountainous region in the North), and Mendoza (which is currently in the midst of the harvest season, full of wineries and breweries.)

Dont forget to check out my pictures by clicking on one of them on the right and if your interested subscribe to my blog to recieve emails when I release new blogs.

 Buenos Dias from Buenos Aires

48 Barrios: Un Ciudad!

Like many cities across the US, Buenos Aires is made up of many different barrios or neighborhoods, 48 to be exact. Just to put that into perspective for you New York has 5 burroughs! Now having alot of neighborhoods may not sound like something that determines how dynamic a city is, but what makes this city amazing is the distinct set of characteristics that defines each barrio.

On my third day in Argentina we woke up bright and early (10 a.m.). After consuming the typical Argentine breakfast of toast, fruit, cereal and cafe con leche, we starrted off on our walk toward orientation. Orientation was quite boring and basically consisted of reviewing everything we could possibly need to get by on safely on a daily basis. They tried to scare us with stories of robberies and attacks on past students but overall I wassn’t concerned. After all I did live in a city consisting of one of the largest concentrations in the world of Arabs (Cairo) as an American Jew with relatively no problems. After our orientation we had a lunch consisting of like 5 different kinds of empanadas (so goood!) and then loaded onto buses for a guided tour of the city. We drove through many barrios learning about the dynamics of the area and how it developed. We stopped in an amazing neighborhood called Recoleta. We got off the bus and after walking past a couple booths of Artisans with things such as homemade kaleidascopes and musical instruments we entered one of the largest cemetaries in Buenos Aires. If the enormous tree guardian the entrance and 9000 mausoleums wasnt enough to create a very odd sensation, the sky slowly became grey and it began to steadily drizzle. We walked around the cemetary for probably 20 minutes making sure to not wonder to far off the path considering if you get lost there and dont get out past business hours, they shut the gate and you spend the night with some quite “interesting” company.

The next place we visited is one of the most important and controverial areas in Buenos Aires. The Plaza de Mayo (or as an argentine would say plasha de masho) is where some of the most essential government deparments reside. From one side you can see the capital building and from the other “La casa rosa” a symbol of peace and the official seat of the president and executive branch of Argentina. This plaza is also where a substantial amount of protests occur for example the abuelas de la plaza mayo protest the kidnapping and murder of childern by the government that happened in the 1970′s.

After learning about the history of this Plaza we headed over to another Barrio called San Telmo. This was one of the most entertaining that we visited and consisted of many different restaurants, street performers, and artisans. The atmosphere of San Telmo was so enticing as the sounds of flamenco guitar, and the presence of some very unique street acts filled up nearly 4 blocks of cobblestone streets. We wandered around the marketplace for some time listening to music and drooling over the many typical barbeque style restaurants and wine bars, I will definately return to this energetic market in the future.

Next it was on to La Boca, an enchanting yet poor neighborhood located near one of the many ports on the coast of the city. The barrio is full of brilliantly colored houses and the most random street performers (if you can even call them that) I have ever seen. We walked down a weaving path through small and poor neighborhoods untill we reached the poluted edge of the rio de plata. The best description of this barrio I could possibly come up with is a direct quote fro me amigo Daniel “Its as if all the buildings are colored so brightly to cover up the despair that exists in this impoverished area.”
 

Our final stop was Puerto Madero. This is the newest barrio in Buenos Aires. It is located directly on the coast and is one of the most rapidly developing areas. We didnt really get do to much here except walk across the rotating bridge which is located next to a magnificent wooden boat in front of the skyline. This is a much more modern area and I assume in the near future we will probably come down here for a nice steak dinner.

We were finally donw with the city tour, but my person tour of the city is only beginning. Today we got a little sampler plate de Buenos Aires and I am definately inspired to investigate each barrio more in depth. Me and Daniel are planning to choose one barrio every week and go to a different part of the barrio every day of the week.

The public transportation in this city is  amazing the subte ( subway cost around 80 cents) and there over 150 different bus lines that travel across the city. There is also a newly added train system. All of these modes of transportation are going be useful tools in our quest to discover everything Buenos Aires has to offer!!!

(Dont forget to check out all the pics and some awesome videos I took on this day by clicking on one of the thumbnails on the right hand side and going to my flickr account)

A City of Many Colors

Well finally I’m here, Buenos Aires. I’ve only been here for two days and can honestly say I could see myself spending a significant amount of my life in this city…

I arrived in the EZE airport at around 10:30. I was a little dissoriented by the excess amount of sleep I got on the plane paired along with attempting to contemplate where I was. I kept thinking to my self ” Im in South America, and I’m here for the next 5 months”. It’s a hard thing to fathom at first. Anyway after making through the vast lines of customs and paying the incredibly convenient recently required entry fee of 130 USD, I made my way to the salida of the airport and when the doors opened I felt the intense humidity nearly immediately. After pacing up and down the sidewalk trying to find the proper transportation I finally located the recomended bus called Manuel Tienda Leon. I watched as we passed through a very rural area and eventually fell asleep. when I awoke I took a small van into al centro hoping my buddy Daniel was still at the Hostel I was originally supposed to stay at. I asked the man who worked in the lobby if he had seen Daniel and said he had left for a walk about 20 minutes ago. i went next door and indulged in my first empanada filled with muzzarella and jamo and accompanied it with a nice Quilmex (local Argentine beer). After I payed all 3 dollars for my meal I noticed Daniel reading a noticia at a nearby table. Finally! we had been reunited and the trip could truly begin.

We called up our Argentine grandmother and tol her we would be coming over soon. After about a 30 minute drive and an intense interview session with the taxi driver (it seems these guys are the most knowledgeble) we arrived at what we thought was the block our future home was located on. We walked up down with all our suitcases and could not find the adress, great! our first day here and were already lost. We eventually recruited some random ladies and soon had a search party hunting for the mysterious adress. After about 10 minutes of complete confusion one of the ladies asked us the street name. We told her Vire del pino just to find out that we were three blocks off. We eventually found the adress and were greeted at a glss door by a funny looking Argentine security guard. The majority of apartments in Buenos Aires are laid out so that you ring a bell at the door and then a security guard opens it. It was comforting to know we would be living in the nice residential and fairly safe Barrio (neighborhood) of Belgrano. After 5 minutes spent trying to understand the double acordion style door system for the elevator we were on our way up towards our new home. We knocked on the door and were greeted by a cute little lady around the age of 75. We exchanged kisses on the cheek (the standard greeting in Argentina with men and women) and entered the cute and quaint apartamento. She showed us to our rooms which were decent size and instantly gave me a very warm welcoming feeling. I had my own bathroom and bidet (woohoo) though at first I wasnt quite familiar with it and when I pressed a button the water shot me in the face. Guess you have to learn somehow. Anyway me and Daniel settled into our rooms and joined our host Granny, Martha Rio and her friend for empanadas de carne. I could already tell this lady was very much culnarily inclined. The entire house was covered in beatiful colorful oil paintings. We asked her where she bought them and she told us she made them. I was amazed by this smalled sweet ladies hidden ability to produce such works of art. Increible!

Eventually around 7 w went to the office of our program with our host granny and had a short orientation on rules and how to be safe. It was quite boring and mostly common sense, but I could tell the majority of the girls in our program lacked it so I guess it was beneficial. When it was all over we talked amonst the other people on our program and it was clearly apparent who we would be spending the most time with throughout the semster. We returned to our abuelitas house and ate a peculiar but delicious dinner followed by home made Flan. I Love Latin Cuisine!!! Me and Daniel eventually settled into our rooms and discussed the endless possibilities at our fingertrips. We ventured out onto the bustling street around 1 a.m. in search of a small cafe or restaurant. Its amazing how the city never sleeps, the streets were just as full as if were 9 p.m. Eventually we came to sit in front of a small place in the usual coke themed plastic chairs and split a liter of Stella Artois. It was now clearly evident, this experience would be the trip of a lifetime!!!

Let the games begin!!!

Throughout my life I have had many experiences that tend to unfold in a completely different manner than I had planned… my journey to South America is surely not an exception. It all began in phoenix with a 45 minute delay in the departure to Denver International… at this point I already know I’m screwed considering my layover in Denver was exactly 45 minutes. Reflecting upon my stupidity, I arrive in DIA with a broken phone and accept the fact that this may take a turn for the worse.

After being told I would have to spend the following week in D.C. in order to eventually reach Buenos Aires I began to feel like I would never make it, and with my good amigo Daniel already gone on the plane I was supposed to be on I had no one to share the sense of dispair I was feeling.  After about an hour of work, the United airlines rep explained to me that she had gotten me on the the plane to BA the following day so I would have to spend just the night in D.C.

Finally I arrived in D.C. and thankfully was picked up by my good friend Mike at 1 a.m. at Dulles airport. I spent the night in Suburbia U.S.A. in Rockville, MD.

It was quite ironic yet meaningful that my journey to the capital of Argentina would begin with the departure from the capitol of my native country. I spent the day exploring the monuments of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington while reflecting upon the major accomplishments  throughout the history of our nation that occurred on the very soil I was standing upon. After a very ”patriotic experience” and many hours spent venturing through the displays of the smithsonian I indulged in my very first authentic crab cake experience at a local  restaurant in downtown Rockville.

Eventually it was time to take off to the gateway to my South American Experience aka Dulles airport. After intense security screening including my own private pat down session I finally made my way onto the plane and took my seat next to the peculiar looking asian and thankfully realized there would not be any stereotypical airplane banter due to the lack of a common language between us. I sat down in my falsely advertised to be comftorable chair, layed my head against the window, and quickly drifted away into enchanting dreams of the infinite adventures to come… Next stop BUENOS AIRES!!!