Yesterday I took another little trip to the sierras with Brooke and a friend of hers, Guille. This time we knew where we were going, and exactly what we wanted to do. :) We took another little bus to a town called Alta Gracia. The trip on the bus was warm adn beautiful, and we spent it drinking mate, and in good conversation. When we got to Alta Gracia we wondered along the little river that ran through town, and through the hilly streets lined with cute houses. The place was big enough to be an actual place, but small enough so that it was well maintained, the streets clean, and lots of beautiful trees planted everywhere. The houses all had beautiful gardens with colorful flowers in them too. the air was calm, and it felt wonderful to be out of the loud, smelly, dirty streets of Cordoba.
Those of you who know a bit about Che might know that he had quite a problem with asthma. Well, when che was justa baby he was brought to Alta Gracia to live till he was 17 years old, because of the dry climate, and fresh air of the place. Today, the house where he had lived has become a museum about him, and about that time in his life too, and that is exactly where we went. I had no clue that this place existed, that he had lived so close, in fact, later I found out that he had lived in Cordoba too! He left from there on one of his many trips across latin America. The museum was really cool. The house was an old cement block, typical argentinean villa, with tile floors, and a large porch out front. Each room was different parts of his life with photos, letters, and artifacts from the time. For example, they had the original bike that he traveled through Argentina with. They also had a motorcycle that was the exact same model and from the exact same time as "la poderosa II." All in all the museum was very interesting, abnd I got lost in reading some of the letters he sent to his kids, they were interesting. I also read some of hids friends accounts on growing up with "Ernestito," and I had to smile when I read them becasue it reminded me little of my house. "There was never any real order in the house, poeple did as they pleased,... but everybody was content with what they did, and the house ran. People could always show up unanounced, and many timed it was more than just family around the dinner table." Oh, and here is something that I found out that made me laugh: che grew up playing golf. When I left the place, i looked at the huge pine trees in the front yard and wondered to myself how many times little che had climbed them.
We wondered back into town and went to go look at the old jesuit church and "estancia." It was a really cool old building, with a bunch of old furniture from a long long time ago. I think the coolest thing I saw was a water filter that they used back in the day which was this huge peice of soapstone that waes hollowed out on top over an even bigger clay pot! They put water in the soap stone and it would slowly drip through the stone clean and into the big clay pot ready to use! Aftter that we took a seat in park at the center of town adn watched the ducks on the little lake as we drnak terere and ate pastaries. When it got dark, we headed back to the bus station and went home. it was quite a nice day, and it was lucky that we hadent gone one day earlier, because it had rained and rained and rained.
I am off to my foklore class now, my last one! I will try to upload pictures of the trip tomorrow.
chau!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Adventure in the Sierras
When I met Brooke at the bus station i was already an hour and half late... we were supposed to meet at the main bus station at 10:30 that morning. I was pushing twelve when we finally left. Our plan was to spend the day in a small town in the sierras called Ascochinga. First off we left and didnt tell anyone where we were going.. Second we didnt even know where it was or how far it was, only that it was still in the province (which is like saying that it was somewhere in Colorado, okay like somewhere in Northern Colorado) and third, we had no idea what we were going to do when we got there. We didnt have a map, we just had our bathing suits (we heard there was a river) camera and some money. We had no food, nothing. Anyways it had all the makings to be a disaster, but it turned out to be a wonderful little adventure! When we go to ascochinga the bus driver left us off right at the bridge that went over ther river. There was no building in sight, no one except this tortilla vendor, who sat at the entrance to the raod that went down to the river, which in itslef was a little strange becasue I have only seen tortillas here once, and they were way different than what we are used to. Well there had been all these helpful ppl on the bus telling us where we should go, so we found our way down this road that lead to the river. We got to this place where there were all these little kioskos (stores) and some scattered houses. They were across the street from the bank of the river, which was all camgrounds, scattered with grills for making asados. It is pretty late in summer here, so the place was basically deserted, as most people are heading back to work. At first we saw no one, it looked like a little ghost town. The only sighn of ppl was that there were two horses tied to a tree, all saddled up and ready to be ridden. We walked over to the horses, and petted them, their owner was nowhere in sight. "Lets find the owners to these horses and ask him if we can go for a ride!" Brooke told me.
"Are you crazy?" I asked, "ya we are just going to ask some random stanger if we can rent his horses for a while and come back, haha"
"No im serious! they do it all the time here!" she answered. And thats exactly what we did. We walked down the street, and slowly we started to see people. We stoped at the first kiosko to see who owned the horses. The shirtless owner who attended us told us we were looking for Cookie. So off we went asking every person we saw if they knew where Cookie was. We found Cookie, an old guy with a baseball hat on, a few teeth missing, up the road at a little kiosko. We asked him about the horses, and he was so willing to let us use them, that it almost seemed as if he was expecting us. So, we mounted the horses, and then brooke and I explored the dirt roads that crisscrossed the mountain, alone, on our two big horses. It was sooo fun, such a random experience. We got the top of the mountain, and looked out over all the Sierras, dotted with different colored houses, everything green form the much needed rain we had been having the last couple days.
Back down by the river we dismounted the horses payed, and thanked Cookie. After we took his photo next to the horse he asked us if we were coming back sometime, looking longingly at the picture we had just taken... I hope i can go back sometime to give him his picture sometime.
I changed into my bathing suit in an old abbandoned shed, and then we went down to the river. They had built a dam and there was a nice pool of water above it that people were swimming in. Brooke and I refreshed ourselves, washing all the swaet and horse smell off, and enjoying the beuaty of the river. After about an hour Brooke and I got out and dried off.
Where we were was about half a mile down hill from the rest of the town, so we figured we would walk back to town and look for something to eat. When we finally got into town there was nothing open because of siesta. We found a kiosko and bought some criollos, and dulce de leche (which is the equivilent to argentina of what nutella is to Germany, and peanut butter to the states... its awesome!) and caught the next bus to another bigger town called jesus maria.
Jesus Maria was about half an hour away, and we got there late in the afternoon, when the sun was starting to throw long shadows. We wondered around town looking for the center, until we finally asked somebody where it was. Turns out Jesus Maria is divided by train tracks, and the center was on the other side of them, only there was a train sitting there at the moment... The end was a distance down the track, and I wondered what the locals did when this happened. Brooke wanted to hop over the trian, inbetween the bright blue and red cars, but I said no. Since we are both so very stuborn, she said she was going to do it and went. I started walking along the length of the train as I watched a man and his little boy aproaching the train. Then man helped his little son up onto the platform at the end of the car and then looked back and saw me watching him. He motioned me over, and offered me a hand. Well, if thats how the locals did it... I felt strangely exhilirated when I grabbed his hand, and pulled myself up onto the train, wondering what it would be like to sit there for a while, watching the landscape swish by, the wind blowing my hair out of my face.
I hoped down from the train, and saw Brooke waiting for me a few cars down. We went to the center of town, and sat on a little bench eating our criollos and dulce de leche. The train had left when we went to cross the tracks, and I wished I had seen it leave, I wished I knew where it had went. Back at the bus station we bought two bus tickets back to Cordoba, our eyes beggining to droop with the suns ever-lengthaning shadows, and we took our seats on the little bus.
A dark storm had snuck upon us as Brooke and I woke up entering Cordoba. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. The streets were wet and the river was a swollen ribbon of coffee colored water, the little amount or rain not nearly enough to clean the city of 3 months worth of collecting grime. We were crossing the railroad tracks when I looked up again, and there was the end of the train I had climbed over, the same colorful cars standing out against the drab grey sky of the city...
"Are you crazy?" I asked, "ya we are just going to ask some random stanger if we can rent his horses for a while and come back, haha"
"No im serious! they do it all the time here!" she answered. And thats exactly what we did. We walked down the street, and slowly we started to see people. We stoped at the first kiosko to see who owned the horses. The shirtless owner who attended us told us we were looking for Cookie. So off we went asking every person we saw if they knew where Cookie was. We found Cookie, an old guy with a baseball hat on, a few teeth missing, up the road at a little kiosko. We asked him about the horses, and he was so willing to let us use them, that it almost seemed as if he was expecting us. So, we mounted the horses, and then brooke and I explored the dirt roads that crisscrossed the mountain, alone, on our two big horses. It was sooo fun, such a random experience. We got the top of the mountain, and looked out over all the Sierras, dotted with different colored houses, everything green form the much needed rain we had been having the last couple days.
Back down by the river we dismounted the horses payed, and thanked Cookie. After we took his photo next to the horse he asked us if we were coming back sometime, looking longingly at the picture we had just taken... I hope i can go back sometime to give him his picture sometime.
I changed into my bathing suit in an old abbandoned shed, and then we went down to the river. They had built a dam and there was a nice pool of water above it that people were swimming in. Brooke and I refreshed ourselves, washing all the swaet and horse smell off, and enjoying the beuaty of the river. After about an hour Brooke and I got out and dried off.
Where we were was about half a mile down hill from the rest of the town, so we figured we would walk back to town and look for something to eat. When we finally got into town there was nothing open because of siesta. We found a kiosko and bought some criollos, and dulce de leche (which is the equivilent to argentina of what nutella is to Germany, and peanut butter to the states... its awesome!) and caught the next bus to another bigger town called jesus maria.
Jesus Maria was about half an hour away, and we got there late in the afternoon, when the sun was starting to throw long shadows. We wondered around town looking for the center, until we finally asked somebody where it was. Turns out Jesus Maria is divided by train tracks, and the center was on the other side of them, only there was a train sitting there at the moment... The end was a distance down the track, and I wondered what the locals did when this happened. Brooke wanted to hop over the trian, inbetween the bright blue and red cars, but I said no. Since we are both so very stuborn, she said she was going to do it and went. I started walking along the length of the train as I watched a man and his little boy aproaching the train. Then man helped his little son up onto the platform at the end of the car and then looked back and saw me watching him. He motioned me over, and offered me a hand. Well, if thats how the locals did it... I felt strangely exhilirated when I grabbed his hand, and pulled myself up onto the train, wondering what it would be like to sit there for a while, watching the landscape swish by, the wind blowing my hair out of my face.
I hoped down from the train, and saw Brooke waiting for me a few cars down. We went to the center of town, and sat on a little bench eating our criollos and dulce de leche. The train had left when we went to cross the tracks, and I wished I had seen it leave, I wished I knew where it had went. Back at the bus station we bought two bus tickets back to Cordoba, our eyes beggining to droop with the suns ever-lengthaning shadows, and we took our seats on the little bus.
A dark storm had snuck upon us as Brooke and I woke up entering Cordoba. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. The streets were wet and the river was a swollen ribbon of coffee colored water, the little amount or rain not nearly enough to clean the city of 3 months worth of collecting grime. We were crossing the railroad tracks when I looked up again, and there was the end of the train I had climbed over, the same colorful cars standing out against the drab grey sky of the city...
Friday, February 19, 2010
Yesterday I acompanied my cousin Simon ona buissness trip he had to make to a town near the Sierras called Jesus Maria. He just had to go drop some papers off, but I wanted to come along for the ride into the country, and im glad I did! I got to see a little more of rural Argentina. We took a back road that went through two little towns, and by a whole bunch or huge feilds and open space. It was another one of those gray sky mornings, a little fresh, perfect for traveling. The feilds all looked a little bit different though, they all had patches of wild growth in them, and it made for a lot more interesting landscape, as if the earth had missed a few spots when she had to surrender her long green hair. At one point, I saw a little colum of smoke billowing out of the ditch next to the road. I commented to Simon that this reminded me a lot of Honduras, when people would just bunch up their trash by the side of the road adn then burn it. He told me there used to be a lot more of that, but then the province came under a heavy drought, and many large, large fires were started. He also explained that burning like that then had become illegal in the province of Cordoba, but said that people still did it to be able to develope land. He went on to explain the Earth's weird hair cut: people who buy land out in the country, in a place that is not meant for developement and want to develope it, often burn the land "accidentaly" and only then are they able to turn it into feilds and such. You see, there are laws against cutting down all the veggitation on your property, but there are no laws about recultivating the land after there has been a fire. The little patches of wild growth in the feilds are the peices of what it originaly looked like in order to say that they didnt cut down the veggitation. Those are the places the fire had "missed." Thought that was kind of interesting!
When we almost got into Jesus Maria we drove the a little town that had the anual salame festival. Its proabably the most beautiful town I have seen since I got here. The "main street" of the town was the road we came in on, adn for about two miles it was lined with trees. Oh but these werent just any trees, these were huge trees, all of their trunks too big for me to wrap my arms around and touch my hands together! Their branches streched high above the the road, and fromed a green tunnel, the branches of the trees from opposite sides of the street forming one huge upsidedown V. It was sooper cool! I could only imagine what that spectacle looked like in fall! I had to get up early to go on this ride, but it was deffinatrly worth it! :)
When we almost got into Jesus Maria we drove the a little town that had the anual salame festival. Its proabably the most beautiful town I have seen since I got here. The "main street" of the town was the road we came in on, adn for about two miles it was lined with trees. Oh but these werent just any trees, these were huge trees, all of their trunks too big for me to wrap my arms around and touch my hands together! Their branches streched high above the the road, and fromed a green tunnel, the branches of the trees from opposite sides of the street forming one huge upsidedown V. It was sooper cool! I could only imagine what that spectacle looked like in fall! I had to get up early to go on this ride, but it was deffinatrly worth it! :)
Monday, February 15, 2010
Hey everybody! So this last week was another busy week, on thursday I started Foklore classes, which is a traditional dance of Argentina. There are many dances of Foklore, but they all use the same moves only in differnt orders and to a little different beats. The class went really well! I learned "el gato" dance and "la chacarela." The steps are very simple, but put together with the music, and when a lot of people do it together, the dance is quite impressive. My teacher talks a lot, but she knows a lot about Foklore so I am learning from her. Another plus to dancing foklore: I get to dance bearfoot! haha.
On friday night we went to a Carnaval festival, which is a holiday (im still not exactly sure what it is, but I aasked and they said it was to dress up) that used to be celebrated a lot more in Argentina, but now is celebrated less, and more in smaller towns than in the city. Well after a 45 minute ride to the little town on Unquillo at 11 at night standing in crowded lurching bus, we got off the bus ready for carnaval. The first thing I saw when we got off the bus was a huge asado next to the road, over an open fire. There were about ten different kinds of meats layed out grilling, I knew then I was in rural Argentina.
We got to the entrance of the festival, and payed to get in. It was a whole long street that was blocked off. As soon as we set foot through the gates I felt something wet land on my arm. I looked down and it was covered in white foam... I took a second to really look around me, and I realized that the whole street was covered with foam, and there where poeple spraying eachother everywhere with this foam-in-a-can stuff (it kind of reminded me of silly string). We bought a couple of cans, and fought our way through the crowd to the end of the street where there were a whole bunch of people selling their crafts. After we had seen all the crafts, we left the safe heaven of the artists space and dove back into the mass of foam sprayers. Then the most random, short parade I have ever witnessed came down the street. First there was a pupet float, whith a huge pupet on it, behind came some drummers, a group of boys drmming Murga music. Then came the Murga float with the murga dancers and more drummers.
Murga is a type of brazilian dance that is danced to a fast beat of drums. It is really quite cool to watch. The other day I was talking with somebody, and we were talking about tango. The lady I was talking with comented that she didnt like the Tango, she said it was too melancholy, in fact, she said that the whole culture of Argentina was more melancholy than the rest of south and central america. She mentioned that Argentina needed a little of Brazil's "alegria," happiness. I had to think of this when I saw the murga dancers in the street. They were quick, agile, and barely on the ground. The festival was indeed very lively, and differnent, and now that I think about it, it had very little to do with any kind of traditional Argentinean dance.
After the murga dancers came the mots random of all the floats: the Mexico float, complete with a huge paper mache dude in a sombrero, stalks of fake corn, and a giant bottle of tequila made out of an old bike rim, siran-wrap, and tape. I still have no idea where this came from, but now I at least know what the Argentineans think of when they think of Mexico. Then the attention was on the main stage as a couple of local Cordoban rock bands palyed. I thought that was about it when out of nowhere we were all rushing back to the street to get a look at the parade of "feather girls" that was coming down the street. Basically it was a parade of about 30 girls, one aftert the other with almost nothig on but these imresive headresses and fans of feathers, in all different colors, and arranged in all different shapes! It was pretty funny, they danced down the street in their little high heels, some of them accompanied by men dressed up in glittery outfits with crowns on, and let people walk up to them and take pictures with them.
Finally at around three in the morning all sticky from the foam we walked back to the little tiny bus station and got back on the crowded lurchy bus back to Cordoba. Talk about a cultural experience! :)
On friday night we went to a Carnaval festival, which is a holiday (im still not exactly sure what it is, but I aasked and they said it was to dress up) that used to be celebrated a lot more in Argentina, but now is celebrated less, and more in smaller towns than in the city. Well after a 45 minute ride to the little town on Unquillo at 11 at night standing in crowded lurching bus, we got off the bus ready for carnaval. The first thing I saw when we got off the bus was a huge asado next to the road, over an open fire. There were about ten different kinds of meats layed out grilling, I knew then I was in rural Argentina.
We got to the entrance of the festival, and payed to get in. It was a whole long street that was blocked off. As soon as we set foot through the gates I felt something wet land on my arm. I looked down and it was covered in white foam... I took a second to really look around me, and I realized that the whole street was covered with foam, and there where poeple spraying eachother everywhere with this foam-in-a-can stuff (it kind of reminded me of silly string). We bought a couple of cans, and fought our way through the crowd to the end of the street where there were a whole bunch of people selling their crafts. After we had seen all the crafts, we left the safe heaven of the artists space and dove back into the mass of foam sprayers. Then the most random, short parade I have ever witnessed came down the street. First there was a pupet float, whith a huge pupet on it, behind came some drummers, a group of boys drmming Murga music. Then came the Murga float with the murga dancers and more drummers.
Murga is a type of brazilian dance that is danced to a fast beat of drums. It is really quite cool to watch. The other day I was talking with somebody, and we were talking about tango. The lady I was talking with comented that she didnt like the Tango, she said it was too melancholy, in fact, she said that the whole culture of Argentina was more melancholy than the rest of south and central america. She mentioned that Argentina needed a little of Brazil's "alegria," happiness. I had to think of this when I saw the murga dancers in the street. They were quick, agile, and barely on the ground. The festival was indeed very lively, and differnent, and now that I think about it, it had very little to do with any kind of traditional Argentinean dance.
After the murga dancers came the mots random of all the floats: the Mexico float, complete with a huge paper mache dude in a sombrero, stalks of fake corn, and a giant bottle of tequila made out of an old bike rim, siran-wrap, and tape. I still have no idea where this came from, but now I at least know what the Argentineans think of when they think of Mexico. Then the attention was on the main stage as a couple of local Cordoban rock bands palyed. I thought that was about it when out of nowhere we were all rushing back to the street to get a look at the parade of "feather girls" that was coming down the street. Basically it was a parade of about 30 girls, one aftert the other with almost nothig on but these imresive headresses and fans of feathers, in all different colors, and arranged in all different shapes! It was pretty funny, they danced down the street in their little high heels, some of them accompanied by men dressed up in glittery outfits with crowns on, and let people walk up to them and take pictures with them.
Finally at around three in the morning all sticky from the foam we walked back to the little tiny bus station and got back on the crowded lurchy bus back to Cordoba. Talk about a cultural experience! :)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Weekend in Calos Paz
Whew so I haven´t written for a while and I am sorry for that!!! Last Monday my friend that I made here from Germany, Lena, came back to town from her trip to Chile, so we went to the airport to pick her up. Since she has been back Brooke and I have been busy doing stuff with her. Last Wednesday we took her to dance class with us as well. Also, Brooke just switched families last Thursday and is now not staying close to me. Its fine though as I have adopted her old host family as my family, and we still meet up with eachother all the time downtown.
It has been unberably hot here again as well, so we wanted to get out of the city for the weekend. Unfortunately, since Brooke had just switched families she couldnt come with us. Brooke´s old host family has a condo the town of Carlos Paz which is where I went sailing last time. We left friday after noon, the sky had finally started to cloud over as we drove on the interstate. It had rained the night before so the drive was a beautiful green drive through the hills of the sierras. When we got to Carloz paz we met up with a friend of my cousin Rebbe, who came with us, and went to the ¨Club Nautico de Cirdoba¨ which is the sailing club that her family belongs to located at the edge of the resevoir in Carlos Paz. The weather was wonderful; overcast, a little foggy, cool, the kind of weather that makes everything look green. We were about to sit down for a mate at the edge of the lake when a friend Fer, the one who had the sail boat, asked us if we wanted to go out. Why not? Soon we were on the boat out in the middle of the lake cruising around. The sky was a marvelous composition on dark and light clouds, and off in teh distance we saw a dark storm forming slowly over the mountains. The cool breeze put everybody in a reaxed mood, and we spent the time on the boat talking, and taking pictures, drinking Mate, and eating pasteries. It was proabably my favorite part of the weekend. So i have to be a little cheesey here, but honestly I was so happy to be there, I alsmost couldn´t believe how lucky I was, that I was able to have this experience, and meet these cool people. Fer and Simon taught us how to steer the boat a little, and so for time I became the captain. Something about how the lake wasn´t crowded eaither was so nice, usually there is so much boat traffic. Soon we had made it to the end of the resevoir where the water leaves under a dam. We saw the dam, and then tured around and started to head back to the club. By then the storm over the mountains started to come closer, and the clouds in the sky were darkening, but still all was calm, the winds just right, and we cruised on into the darkness as the sun behind the clouds sunk. Bieng on a boat at night is one of the coolest things ever!!! Especially from there because we got to watch all the lights in the city come on, and soon there was a mirror image of it in the black water before us. Finally we came to the club and had to lower the sails for the day. I felt like I was floesting when I climed form the boat onto the dock, and i knew that I would never forget that experience.
That night we were taken out dancing. after sailing we had a nice dinner all together at the condo, and then just hung out listened to music, and wrote in our journals for a while. Fianlly, at three in the morning we left the house to go dancing... we didnt get home until 5 30!
The next day we went sailing again, and then it was warm enough to go swimming. I also rhode a jet ski for the first time! Some friends who had one happened to be on the lake, and we took turns riding on the back. It was a lot of fun, but I still woudn´t ever buy a jet ski, and I still don´t like how loud they are.
After sailing we went to a little town called Alta Gracia where every year they have a festival of all the different diaspora groups of Cordoba. Each place has a stand that they serve traditional food out of and play traditional music. All the stands form one huge circle. I swear, I never though that so many people coul dfit in one place!! there were so many people! And any line you stood in there was a least a half an hour wait. We walked around and saw the food at each stand, adn then went to go look for a table. We ended up sitting at the Armenian stand, right next to their musicians and eating delicious meal. Differnt people from the crowd would come up and sing, and then anybody who wanted could come up and do the traditinal dances. I was impressed because the kids who were playing the music were all my age or younger, and a lot of the younger generation were the ones dancing. Finally, around two in the morning we left and drove back to the condo in Carlos Paz. We came home yesterday, and went to see Brooke downtown. I think this week will be a little more mellow, a lot of swimming, and dancing.
I hope all is well at home! I will try to upload some of the pictures of this weekend soon.
It has been unberably hot here again as well, so we wanted to get out of the city for the weekend. Unfortunately, since Brooke had just switched families she couldnt come with us. Brooke´s old host family has a condo the town of Carlos Paz which is where I went sailing last time. We left friday after noon, the sky had finally started to cloud over as we drove on the interstate. It had rained the night before so the drive was a beautiful green drive through the hills of the sierras. When we got to Carloz paz we met up with a friend of my cousin Rebbe, who came with us, and went to the ¨Club Nautico de Cirdoba¨ which is the sailing club that her family belongs to located at the edge of the resevoir in Carlos Paz. The weather was wonderful; overcast, a little foggy, cool, the kind of weather that makes everything look green. We were about to sit down for a mate at the edge of the lake when a friend Fer, the one who had the sail boat, asked us if we wanted to go out. Why not? Soon we were on the boat out in the middle of the lake cruising around. The sky was a marvelous composition on dark and light clouds, and off in teh distance we saw a dark storm forming slowly over the mountains. The cool breeze put everybody in a reaxed mood, and we spent the time on the boat talking, and taking pictures, drinking Mate, and eating pasteries. It was proabably my favorite part of the weekend. So i have to be a little cheesey here, but honestly I was so happy to be there, I alsmost couldn´t believe how lucky I was, that I was able to have this experience, and meet these cool people. Fer and Simon taught us how to steer the boat a little, and so for time I became the captain. Something about how the lake wasn´t crowded eaither was so nice, usually there is so much boat traffic. Soon we had made it to the end of the resevoir where the water leaves under a dam. We saw the dam, and then tured around and started to head back to the club. By then the storm over the mountains started to come closer, and the clouds in the sky were darkening, but still all was calm, the winds just right, and we cruised on into the darkness as the sun behind the clouds sunk. Bieng on a boat at night is one of the coolest things ever!!! Especially from there because we got to watch all the lights in the city come on, and soon there was a mirror image of it in the black water before us. Finally we came to the club and had to lower the sails for the day. I felt like I was floesting when I climed form the boat onto the dock, and i knew that I would never forget that experience.
That night we were taken out dancing. after sailing we had a nice dinner all together at the condo, and then just hung out listened to music, and wrote in our journals for a while. Fianlly, at three in the morning we left the house to go dancing... we didnt get home until 5 30!
The next day we went sailing again, and then it was warm enough to go swimming. I also rhode a jet ski for the first time! Some friends who had one happened to be on the lake, and we took turns riding on the back. It was a lot of fun, but I still woudn´t ever buy a jet ski, and I still don´t like how loud they are.
After sailing we went to a little town called Alta Gracia where every year they have a festival of all the different diaspora groups of Cordoba. Each place has a stand that they serve traditional food out of and play traditional music. All the stands form one huge circle. I swear, I never though that so many people coul dfit in one place!! there were so many people! And any line you stood in there was a least a half an hour wait. We walked around and saw the food at each stand, adn then went to go look for a table. We ended up sitting at the Armenian stand, right next to their musicians and eating delicious meal. Differnt people from the crowd would come up and sing, and then anybody who wanted could come up and do the traditinal dances. I was impressed because the kids who were playing the music were all my age or younger, and a lot of the younger generation were the ones dancing. Finally, around two in the morning we left and drove back to the condo in Carlos Paz. We came home yesterday, and went to see Brooke downtown. I think this week will be a little more mellow, a lot of swimming, and dancing.
I hope all is well at home! I will try to upload some of the pictures of this weekend soon.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The past few days have been all about making new friends and spending time with the ones I have already made. On Sunday, when I last wrote I spent the day with my adopted family beside the pool. We ate a delicious huge lunch out on the patio, all of us in our bathing suits, grandma included, and then just relaxed. Later that I evening I returned to my house, and thought that I would turn in relatively early for once, when I got a call for an invitation to eat fideo, pasta. Half an hour later I was picked up by Simon and Brooke, and we drove across town to his sailing friend’s house. Guille is his name, and he cooked some delicious homemade pastas for us. We sat for a couple hours and enjoyed the delicious meal with his wife and sister and their super active one year old daughter. The house was small and cozy, and the magnets on the fridge from all over the world inspired good conversation about travel. We left the house around midnight, and little Catarina was still awake and active. I smiled to myself, thinking how “go with the flow” they seemed.
On Wednesday I ventured downtown early before my tango lesson to go meet Brooke and a friend George to go see a movie around three. It was so hot that when I got to the place where we were supposed to meet my face was red, I mean RED, and I was sweating like crazy. Unfortunately, when I got there the lights were out so we weren’t able to see a movie. Here in Cordoba because of the continuous heat they have been having they have to cut the lights in different barrios every day for a couple hours at a time as a result of too many people using too much energy. That means that sometimes all the shops down town and everywhere don’t have lights. It’s a pretty big inconvenience to live with, but I think its kind of funny sometimes, walking around somewhere that doesn’t have light. For example, that day I went to Grido, which is the ice cream chain here that they have about every two blocks here, and sat in the dark eating ice cream for a couple of hours talking till we had to go to dance class.
It has been too hot here (today it’s supposed to get up to 39 degrees Celsius) to go many places during the day, so again, I have spent much time at the Armenian club, swimming in the pool and drinking mate. It is nice to meet so many people, and the more I go, the less shy I become, and am able to talk to them better. I love how spontaneous asados are! Last night we were all drinking mate and playing cards at the club when one person mentioned something about eating, and then the idea of an asado came up. Soon there was somebody buying the meat, somebody buying the veggies, somebody preparing the grill, everybody doing something small to contribute to the asado. In the end there were about 20 of us all gathered around a bunch of put together tables, passing around the various types of salads, breads, and meats. I felt so comfortable and welcomed there with this huge group of people, passing the time talking and laughing, they all are very willing to explain different parts of their culture to me, and ask me questions about mine. After it’s all over everybody helps clean up (there are almost never left overs) and then its time to say good bye. That takes a while though; considering you have to kiss each person on the cheek every time you say hello or goodbye. That’s probably one of my favorites out of the beautiful culture of Argentina.
Here I have left you with some pictures of my trip, the first two are of when I went to Carlos Paz, the third one is of hanging out down town, the fourth of tango lessons, and the last one of my asado last night. Hope you enjoy!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
I have been away from home for almost two weeks now, and I am slowly learning to manuver myself around the city. Cordoba reminds me a lot of Denver, it is about the same size, has about the same amount of public transportation. So, since I know my way around Denver pretty well, I figure I will be able to learn my way around Cordoba. I bought a map of the city the other day, and always orientate myself on it when I venture into a part of the city I am unfamiliar with. As of now I have learned most of my neighborhood, and know how to get downtown, and to my dance classes.
Yes, you read correctly, I have started taking Tango lessons! I actually started taking them last Wednesday but haven't been able to get to a computer until yesterday. So yesterday I went to my second lesson with Brooke. The first time we went we met all of our instructors who were very welcoming, and learned how to walk, just a slow, rythmic walk that is the base of the Tango. We had only been dancing in the little old room with a cracked mirror for a little while when the instructors decided that the poor little celing fan couldnt fight off the opresing heat, and moved us out to the courtyard. There we danced the rest of our lesson, trying to master our ochos, a tango move. After the lesson Brooke and I navigated ourselves back to through the center and caught the bus back to her house, where we ate empanadas with her family around midnight. This is really normal here, to eat this late, and today with my dance lesson I realized that It is mostly because the heat here is so bad during the day, that no one wants to do anything at all until later in the day when it has cooled.
The next couple of days after that I spent at the Armenian club, which Brooke's family is a part of, in their swimming pool. Everyday somebody brings mate to the club, and then, always around 6 in the evening you see various people gathered around a few of the many picnic tables, getting ready to drink a mate. Somebody supplies the mate, and somebody else will pitch to buy the criollos, which are the costomary little breads that acompany mate. Then everybody enjoys a nice mate, passing it around, and talks with one another. I really enjoy this "tea time" as it has given me the opportunity to really meet a lot of new people.
Yesterday I went to my second tango lesson, and we didnt even bother trying to be in that little room, and went straight to the courtyard. This time we really worked on our ochos, and on combining them with a basic 8 step. At first we just practiced alone, and "on the wall," but then, as we have been towards the end of every class, we had to dance with one another. By the time class ended, each girl had to dance with each guy there was to dance with at least once. I thought this was a good way to learn because it really gave us the feel of actually dancing, and not just practicing steps. It was aslo very difficult, but good to see, how not everyone dances the same, and when you begin to dance with someone, how you have to learn how they dance quickly. Dance classes are a lot of fun, and I'm always excited for my next one!
The palce were I take my dance classes is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cordoba, and each weekend they have kind of like a farmers market, but with arts and crafts thing going on that spans throughout the neighborhood, and lasts until late into the evening. It is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!!! All the shops and galleries around are then opened and there are crowds and crowds of people. It reminds me a lot of first friday, only it is every weekend. After my dance class we meet up with another cousin of Brooke's family, and wondered around the "paseo'' as they call it.
Today is Sunday, and here it is a day when the center is closed, and everybody stays around their neighborhood, and relaxes. I think I will be swimming again since it is so hot...
Hope everyone at home is well, and its not too cold there!
PS. I will try to upload some photos of my trip later today.
Yes, you read correctly, I have started taking Tango lessons! I actually started taking them last Wednesday but haven't been able to get to a computer until yesterday. So yesterday I went to my second lesson with Brooke. The first time we went we met all of our instructors who were very welcoming, and learned how to walk, just a slow, rythmic walk that is the base of the Tango. We had only been dancing in the little old room with a cracked mirror for a little while when the instructors decided that the poor little celing fan couldnt fight off the opresing heat, and moved us out to the courtyard. There we danced the rest of our lesson, trying to master our ochos, a tango move. After the lesson Brooke and I navigated ourselves back to through the center and caught the bus back to her house, where we ate empanadas with her family around midnight. This is really normal here, to eat this late, and today with my dance lesson I realized that It is mostly because the heat here is so bad during the day, that no one wants to do anything at all until later in the day when it has cooled.
The next couple of days after that I spent at the Armenian club, which Brooke's family is a part of, in their swimming pool. Everyday somebody brings mate to the club, and then, always around 6 in the evening you see various people gathered around a few of the many picnic tables, getting ready to drink a mate. Somebody supplies the mate, and somebody else will pitch to buy the criollos, which are the costomary little breads that acompany mate. Then everybody enjoys a nice mate, passing it around, and talks with one another. I really enjoy this "tea time" as it has given me the opportunity to really meet a lot of new people.
Yesterday I went to my second tango lesson, and we didnt even bother trying to be in that little room, and went straight to the courtyard. This time we really worked on our ochos, and on combining them with a basic 8 step. At first we just practiced alone, and "on the wall," but then, as we have been towards the end of every class, we had to dance with one another. By the time class ended, each girl had to dance with each guy there was to dance with at least once. I thought this was a good way to learn because it really gave us the feel of actually dancing, and not just practicing steps. It was aslo very difficult, but good to see, how not everyone dances the same, and when you begin to dance with someone, how you have to learn how they dance quickly. Dance classes are a lot of fun, and I'm always excited for my next one!
The palce were I take my dance classes is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cordoba, and each weekend they have kind of like a farmers market, but with arts and crafts thing going on that spans throughout the neighborhood, and lasts until late into the evening. It is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!!! All the shops and galleries around are then opened and there are crowds and crowds of people. It reminds me a lot of first friday, only it is every weekend. After my dance class we meet up with another cousin of Brooke's family, and wondered around the "paseo'' as they call it.
Today is Sunday, and here it is a day when the center is closed, and everybody stays around their neighborhood, and relaxes. I think I will be swimming again since it is so hot...
Hope everyone at home is well, and its not too cold there!
PS. I will try to upload some photos of my trip later today.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The past couple of days have been wonderful! On thursday I got to go out to the Sierras, which are the mountains north of Cordoba, and go to this beautiful place called Carlos Paz. Carloz Paz is a town that borders a huge resevoir, and the town is a pupular vacacion spot, and celebrity destination (I saw one!!!!), kind of like Colorados Aspen. The beaches are the stereotypical celecbrity beaches witha whole bunch of girls out sunbathing in skimpy bikinis, and a whole lot of shirtless tan boys playing football... American football. It was pretty funny. Brookes family is part of this sailing club in Carloz Paz, and they have a friend who has a sailboat, so, low and behold, I got to go sailing!!!! It was proabably one of the best things I have gotten to do since Ive been here. We got up to Carloz Paz around three, and stayed out on the water until the sun set. The middle of the lake was sort of a sancutary to get away from all the people, and the noise, and made it easy to forget about everything else. There were 7 of us all together on the boat (me, Brooke, Lena, Brookes host brother, and three of his friends), and most of the time we spent talking, swimming, sun bathing, and just plain relaxing. It was fun to swin beside the boat, and I got to do a couple dives off the side. Sailing was a such an awesome new experience! I hope to go again while Im here.
Right now I am at my friend Augus house who I met on thursday evening, she is a cousin of the family that Brooke is staying with, and lives right next door. I have come over here to hang out everyday since then. She has a pool in her backyard, and outdoor speakers that we always listen to music on, and dance. We also watch movies from a nifty projector outside that displays on this huge wall above the pool, and it is just like being in a movie theatre!! The other night us kids all made dinner together (noodles with Pesto, garlic bread, and chocolate cake for dessert) and then watched Juno outside. Each house here has a place for an Asado, which the equivilent of an American BBQ, so we always eat outside on the Asado Patio.
Today I am going into town to go check out the Passeo de Artes, which is the place where I am going to be taking dance classes. There is also a crafts fair there every weekend. Auguss mom is going to be giving us a ride soon, and I have to go help clean up the room.
Hope everyone is well, and I will write again soon.
Right now I am at my friend Augus house who I met on thursday evening, she is a cousin of the family that Brooke is staying with, and lives right next door. I have come over here to hang out everyday since then. She has a pool in her backyard, and outdoor speakers that we always listen to music on, and dance. We also watch movies from a nifty projector outside that displays on this huge wall above the pool, and it is just like being in a movie theatre!! The other night us kids all made dinner together (noodles with Pesto, garlic bread, and chocolate cake for dessert) and then watched Juno outside. Each house here has a place for an Asado, which the equivilent of an American BBQ, so we always eat outside on the Asado Patio.
Today I am going into town to go check out the Passeo de Artes, which is the place where I am going to be taking dance classes. There is also a crafts fair there every weekend. Auguss mom is going to be giving us a ride soon, and I have to go help clean up the room.
Hope everyone is well, and I will write again soon.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Hey Everyone!
I made it here safley after my loooong journey. When I got to Cordoba, the city that I am staying in, Brooke and her friend Lena (who in German), and Brooke´s host brother picked me up. Although I had not slept the last 24 hours, they still made me go out with them! :) We went to the Armenian club, which is more like a community center that is open all the time to the Armenians, since we live in the Armenian part of town.
The this moprning I woke up at around 10, and drank tea, nad then headed downtown with Lena and Brooke on the trolley. The city is really cool, it had a lot of european influence, and we saw some churches that were REALLY amazing. We also went to this art museum that was really interesting. It was in an old mansion, and the architecture of it really added to the whole experience. After this we went out to eat at a little restaurant and sat and talked for a long long time.
Argentina is really a beautiful place, it is very green here, since it has rained recently, and FLAT! I never realized how mountainous Colorado really was till I came here. The whole 10 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Cordoba I didn´t see a single hill. I know there are mountains further north, but this far I have seen none. Argentina is also really cool for me, because I feel like it is the merganence of what I remember of Germany, and what I remember of Honduras, which have always been complete opposite in my mind.
Well I am having a wonderful time and am off to go eat some ice cream!
Hope to hear from some of you too.
-Maria
PS. Someone needs to print this off and let my grandparents read this! hint hint: dad :)
I made it here safley after my loooong journey. When I got to Cordoba, the city that I am staying in, Brooke and her friend Lena (who in German), and Brooke´s host brother picked me up. Although I had not slept the last 24 hours, they still made me go out with them! :) We went to the Armenian club, which is more like a community center that is open all the time to the Armenians, since we live in the Armenian part of town.
The this moprning I woke up at around 10, and drank tea, nad then headed downtown with Lena and Brooke on the trolley. The city is really cool, it had a lot of european influence, and we saw some churches that were REALLY amazing. We also went to this art museum that was really interesting. It was in an old mansion, and the architecture of it really added to the whole experience. After this we went out to eat at a little restaurant and sat and talked for a long long time.
Argentina is really a beautiful place, it is very green here, since it has rained recently, and FLAT! I never realized how mountainous Colorado really was till I came here. The whole 10 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Cordoba I didn´t see a single hill. I know there are mountains further north, but this far I have seen none. Argentina is also really cool for me, because I feel like it is the merganence of what I remember of Germany, and what I remember of Honduras, which have always been complete opposite in my mind.
Well I am having a wonderful time and am off to go eat some ice cream!
Hope to hear from some of you too.
-Maria
PS. Someone needs to print this off and let my grandparents read this! hint hint: dad :)
Friday, January 8, 2010
Introduction: Welcome!
On Monday I will be heading to DIA on my way to spend two splendid months in Argentina doing my Senior project. For those of you who don't know, a senior project is a requirement at my school to graduate, and it is a project that each student must design and do for themselves, about anything they want basically. I have always been interested in dance, but have never really done much with it, and so, for my senior project I decided it was time to learn how. My best friend Brooke is in Argentina, and since I am also interested in traveling, I thought why not combine the two? In the end my denior project is to go to Argentina for two months, learn as much about the Argentinean dance culture as I can, and then bring some elements of it back to PS1 in form of a dance workshop.
I have set up this blog as a way to inform every one at home about how my trip is going. My goal is to post on it at least twice a week while I am there. This way, people can always come here to see how I am doing, and I won't have to e-mail twelve million people sepperately. :) I hope that this blog may also inspire future students who may, or may not be so excited by their projects, and to inspire those who have the urge to travel in there bones, but have not yet found the confidence and courage to take flight. If I pulled it together, so can you!!
I will gladly read any questions or comments you leave me, I want to hear from everyone too. Thank you for reading, and if I don't see you before I leave, see you in a couple of months!!
Things im excited for:
1 Seeing Brooke
2 Dancing
3 Getting out of this dreadful cold!!
PS. My spelling might not be the best...
I have set up this blog as a way to inform every one at home about how my trip is going. My goal is to post on it at least twice a week while I am there. This way, people can always come here to see how I am doing, and I won't have to e-mail twelve million people sepperately. :) I hope that this blog may also inspire future students who may, or may not be so excited by their projects, and to inspire those who have the urge to travel in there bones, but have not yet found the confidence and courage to take flight. If I pulled it together, so can you!!
I will gladly read any questions or comments you leave me, I want to hear from everyone too. Thank you for reading, and if I don't see you before I leave, see you in a couple of months!!
Things im excited for:
1 Seeing Brooke
2 Dancing
3 Getting out of this dreadful cold!!
PS. My spelling might not be the best...
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