Buenos Aires Day 1

Besides the fact that it’s so much colder than Córdoba, our first day in Buenos Aires was awesome! We pulled up at the bus station a little after 7:30 Saturday morning and took a taxi to our hostel in San Telmo. Rachel had been awesome about doing her research and our hostel was great! We checked in and looked at all of the activities that they offered, signed up for a tour that afternoon, and then headed out to go see the city. We were only about six blocks away from the famous Café Tortoni, so we decided to head there for breakfast. The café was established in 1858 and is the oldest café in South America. It’s very elegant and decorated in an early 1900s style. We ordered café con leches and medialunas and enjoyed the atmosphere. Afterwards we set off for Plaza de Mayo. Just the walk down Avenida de Mayo (the road that connects Casa Rosada and their main congress building) was amazing; all of the old architecture is awesome to look at! Once we got to the plaza it was really exciting to get to see all of the famous and important buildings. I got to see the big white building in real life (which I learned used to be the old Spanish government headquarters and is called the Cabildo) that had been the surface of the big bicentenario light show that I watched on TV the first week I was here. Then, before we went into the plaza, we crossed the street to go into the Catedral Metropolitana, which is the main national cathedral. Of course every inch of the church’s interior was like it’s own piece of art! The ceiling contained hundreds of beautiful paintings and the floor was put together with mosaic tiles that formed little flowers. The cathedral also houses the tomb of General San Martín, so as weird as that kind of is we got to see it. After the cathedral we headed into the plaza. Even though the Madres only march on Thursdays, we got to see the monument that they walk around and see their posters (the Madres are a group of elderly women who lost children during the political unrest in Argentina around the 1970s who now march around a monument in Plaza de Mayo every Thursday in their memory). We then went to get a better view of Casa Rosada (Argentina’s “white house”), and after taking pictures we went closer and found out that we could actually go inside. We went in and looked around and got photo ops with the guards there. We then headed the other direction on Avenida de Mayo to go see the Congress building. After hearing about all of these places it was really cool to think that I was actually there seeing them in real life! Our next tourist destination was Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest road in the world. Although I never counted exactly, it has at least ten lanes going in each direction! We successfully crossed and walked by a few more important buildings, grabbed some empanadas for lunch, and then headed back to Café Tortoni to meet up with our tour group. Since we figured that we could probably conduct most of the general city tour ourselves, we opted for the “Tigre Tour.” This tour took us up to the northern part of the city to the suburb called Tigre where we got to ride a boat on the Paraná River. They told us that the area of town we were in had originally been where wealthy Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) had their summer and weekend homes, but is now inhabited year-round. The area was very nice and had a calm atmosphere. The boat had a nice little café and we all ordered café con leche and enjoyed the laid-back feel after our morning on-the-go. I met a group of three girls who were from New Zealand and we had a lot of fun talking. I told them that I had been to New Zealand a couple of years ago so we talked about their home for a while. Then, since they had been in Buenos Aires for almost a week, we talked about things to do around the city and what had been their favorite. I know that I’m supposed to be practicing my Spanish, but it was still fun to meet new people from a different country! After the boat ride we got off at a different dock and took a train to another small suburb called San Isidro where we stopped at a little artisan market in the train station for half an hour. Then we met back up and took the bus back to the city. At the start of the tour the bus stopped at about a million places to pick people up, but at the end there were only three options of places to get off. Therefore, the three of us girls got the opportunity to figure out the Buenos Aires metro system in order to get back to San Telmo. We had already decided to use it the next morning, so it was good to get familiar with it. It was all very simple and we made it back with no problems. Once back at the hostel we got ready for dinner and then went out to a place recommended in Rachel’s tour book. The food was of course good and we enjoyed each other’s company and practicing ordering in Spanish. After dinner we headed back and hung out downstairs at the hostel for a while and met people from many different countries and compared trips. It was a lot of fun, and overall it couldn’t have been a better day!

Algunas diferencias culturas

Friday was quite a calm, relaxing day. A group of UT students took a weekend trip to Iguazú, and since there was only one plane that they could take they didn’t have much of a choice but to leave on Friday morning. Therefore, after the craziness of my quiz and test on Thursday, classes were rather calm due to the lack of attendance. My 318 class was actually quite interesting; there were only three of us there so we just kind of talked the entire period. Although I just refer to it as “318,” the name of the class is actually Spanish Conversation and Composition with a focus on Latin American culture. Therefore, all of the topics that we talk and write about have to do with the lifestyle surrounding us. Friday we were learning some new vocabulary and Profe Ingrid was trying to explain to us the meaning of the word piropeador, which we finally came to the conclusion translates to “flirty.” The explanation led to a discussion about how Latin men (including those in South and Central America, Spain, and Italy) respond to seeing women in the street; for example, they whistle, make kissing noises, call out compliments, etc. Our professor informed us that the women in these countries consider this a major compliment. She continued this lesson on cultural differences by even saying, “Especially the men who work on construction sites…they’re so polite! Every woman who walks by, even if she’s ugly, they tell her how beautiful she is. Every time I walk by them I hold my head high and smile big.” We then told her that the construction workers in the U.S., seeing as many of them are immigrants from these countries, do the same thing and American women consider it offensive. She was really surprised and said, “No, no, no! They’re so polite!” I found this extremely interesting since this is exactly the kind of thing I’m studying: how a lack of understanding between cultures can cause unnecessary conflicts. So girls, I’m not saying don’t be careful when you are walking on the street, I just thought it was some interesting food for thought that I’d share. Anyways, since my bus for Buenos Aires didn’t leave until late at night I had brought money with me Friday morning and after class I went on a hunt for the wonderful street artist that I had stumbled across the Thursday before. I had been all over downtown the week before, so I couldn’t remember which street he had been set up on; therefore, I had to walk around for a while but I was determined to find him! Finally, from a distance I saw the crowd his work had drawn, and as I walked up I saw that I had for sure found my guy. With his crazy hair and beard and once again dressed in paint-stained clothing, he was working diligently while the crowd looked on. He finished, and as everyone clapped and he set it to the side to dry I asked him if I could look at the other paintings. He said of course, and I sifted through the awesome (what I would consider) spray-paint masterpieces until I found one that I fell in love with. Even though he had already started another painting, when I pulled out my money to pay he dropped everything he was doing and focused all of his attention on me. I got the feeling that although the man provided entertainment for many people every day, not many people were willing to buy any of his work; therefore, what I thought was going to be a two second interaction turned into a fifteen-minute conversation. He asked me where I was from and I gave my usual reply of los Estados Unidos, and then he asked me which state and I replied, “Texas,” (also, for those of you back home, it’s not Tejas…Texas is correct – this was something I kept getting wrong) and he started telling me all about how George Bush’s dad owned oil in Texas. It was kind of an awkward thing to respond to, so I agreed with him but then assured him that most people in Texas do not own oil. It is always interesting that that’s one of the first things people in other countries relate with our state. Then he told me that he used to live in Brazil and he was able to sell his paintings for more, but then he moved to Córdoba, which he called la capital de pobreza (the capital of poverty), and he had to lower his prices. Even though I didn’t really know what to say it was interesting listening to his take on things. Anyways, during the rest of our conversation the man told me about places that I needed to visit near Córdoba and he was very nice. It was a pretty cool experience; although I had to ask him to repeat what he said many times, it was a cool feeling to be able to have a complete conversation with a random vendor on the streets of a foreign city. I headed home with my new treasure and napped and packed for the weekend before dinner, and afterwards I took a taxi to the bus station. There, I met up with Rachel and Lara and we successfully found our bus and headed off for our weekend in Buenos Aires.

¡Vamos, vamos Argentina!

Thursday was crazy-wonderful and completely filled with awesome cultural experiences! The excitement had already started before I even left my house for the university; for those of you who don’t know, Argentina played their second World Cup game against South Korea at 8:30am. I have to say, when it comes to being sports fans Argentineans beat Americans hands down! I have never seen anything like yesterday morning; the entire town shut down for the game! When I left the apartment at 8:30 (Zulema had had the pregame show on since before I woke up) the city was completely dead. Whereas usually when I leave in the mornings the streets are full with cars and the sidewalks are full of people, yesterday the streets and sidewalks resembled a ghost town. When the bus pulled up and I walked on I was once again surprised; I usually fight for standing room, but yesterday I had to decide between at least 15 open seats. I had heard rumors of how things were for the games, but to actually witness and experience it was amazing! I was noting how strange campus was since it was so empty (all of the Argentinean students’ classes had been cancelled) when I walked up to Casa Verde and heard from the direction of downtown a huge eruption of cheers, what sounded like fireworks or canons firing, and horns: Argentina had made a goal! When I got to my classroom upstairs we were all feeling a little sorry for ourselves since the city was shut down and near a state of celebration and we had a quiz and a test to take. However, Profe Miriam walked in, passed out our quizzes, and told us that when we finished we could go to a classroom downstairs and watch the rest of the game! It was really exciting to watch, and a few of us had dressed for the occasion in hats and jerseys and scarves (I was sporting my Messi jersey!) in order to show support for the team that we couldn’t help but adopt as our favorite while we’re here. I unfortunately didn’t get to focus solely on watching the game since I had to prepare for my written exam in my second class, so I am excited that the next game on Tuesday doesn’t start until I’m completely done for the day. Argentina won of course, and my walk home was extremely interesting as well. Córdoba was completely opposite from the last time I had seen it, and people were out and about all over the city to celebrate! I can safely say that 85% of the people, young and old alike, that I passed wore some sort of item in support of their team. Whether it was a jersey, a high school girl incorporating a scarf into her school uniform, or a flag worn as a cape, people found some way to display their support. I passed people with their faces painted, people blowing white and light blue horns in celebration, and others had even set up celebration barbecues randomly in the plazas and along the streets. I can try to explain it as best as I can, but it’s hard to grasp the feeling in the air until you experience it yourself. I was talking last night about how I would assume that American football is our country’s most popular sport, but at the same time I have never seen the level of support that I saw here yesterday! Once I got home I had a couple of hours to work on homework a little bit before leaving for our second tango class. We had had to skip it last week since we were leaving for Salta, but we picked it back up yesterday and have one more class left next week. It was once again really fun, and I’m still very proud of all of the boys for being so invested in learning! We went over the steps that we learned last time and then learned a few new ones, and by the end of the class we were all dancing in circles around the room as the second group showed up. After it was over I walked to Plaza San Martín and met Vicky in front of the cathedral. We had been talking since our first meeting about going to a theater production together, and at the end of our meeting on Wednesday we decided that we didn’t want to wait a whole week to see each other again and it was about time we stopped putting it off! However, I keep leaving her on the weekends so Thursday was our only option. She looked up shows and times and there was only one showing on Thursday, but we decided to just go because we didn’t really care what we saw, we just thought it sounded like fun! The theater that we went to is located on the perimeter of the plaza, and we got there an hour early to get a good spot in line. One of Vicky’s friends from high school who also has taken English courses, Eugenia (pronounced eh-oo-hen-ee-a), met up with us and she was a lot of fun! She was really cute and full of energy, and although the three of us had to wait in line for an hour the time passed quickly because we visited the whole time. We talked about the game that morning, Vicky and Eugenia caught up on life (Eugenia is an architecture major, so they don’t get to see each other as often as they’d like), and they taught me various words and phrases in Spanish related to theater. We were the first ones in line, so when the doors opened we were able to claim front row seats. We knew that the play was put on by a traveling Italian theater company, and while we were waiting for it to start Vicky and Eugenia were reading the program and found out that the whole play was going to be in Italian with a Spanish translation in the background. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a more cultural experience; I got to see and read a play in two languages different from my native one! The play was called “Dissonorata,” and was about a woman and her struggles throughout the earlier part of her life during the years around World War II. The production was very interesting, and only had two men: one played instruments for background music and the other was dressed as an elderly woman and sat in the middle of the stage and recalled moments earlier in “her” life. Since there wasn’t really action and I was going to have to speed-read in Spanish I was a little worried that I wouldn’t understand any of it. However, when it finished I was very proud of myself. I definitely didn’t catch every single word and some of what happened was a little fuzzy, but I totally understood the majority of what happened and was able to follow the entire storyline! Also it was fun because I recognized two of the words that Vicky and Ángel had taught me at lunch the day before. I know this is something that I never would have been able to do before I arrived to Córdoba, and since I sometimes feel like my Spanish is still horrible it’s good to have some things that help me realize that, even though I still have a long ways to go, I am improving. The play ended around 11:00 and Vicky’s boyfriend, Carlos, picked us up and drove me home. He was very nice and after hearing so much about him it was fun to finally get to meet him! I had had a great day and a wonderful evening, and even though I was super tired when I finally got home last night I was so thankful for everything that I got to take part in yesterday.

Highlights of My New, Everyday Argentine Life

Since I arrived back in Córdoba Monday morning my week has been pretty uneventful and has mainly revolved around school. Monday our classes were cancelled since we were all required to go on the trip, and Tuesday was kind of a buzz kill after the excitement of the weekend. Wednesday was a little more eventful; after my classes I met up with Vicky for our weekly lunch. She brought one of her classmates, Ángel, with her because he is studying English as well and wanted to meet me. The three of us had a good time sitting at a café on campus and visiting in a mixture of English and Spanish. It’s hard for me to force myself to speak in Spanish around them since their English is so good, but once I got going it was really fun. It’s interesting because in our classes we are taught the official form of the language. Therefore, sometimes I would say words that were technically correct, but Vicky and Ángel would kind of laugh and then proceed to tell me that nobody actually uses those words and using them makes you sound arrogant. Then they would tell me the more common ones and I would do my best to commit them to memory. At the same time, they would sometimes say words that aren’t very common in English and I would do the same for them. It was a really cool learning experience; I feel like that is exactly what the Speaking Partner program was designed to do! We talked until they had to go to class and the three hours passed by quickly. In times when I am frustrated with my classes, start to miss home, or start to wonder if the money I’m spending is really worth it, it’s moments like Wednesday afternoon that make me remember why I’m here. There is no way that I could have ever had an experience like that in any type of class; I am learning so much more than the technical aspects of the language, and I realized that these daily lessons are going to be the difference between my academic knowledge of Spanish and me actually being able to use it to carry on conversations and get to know people. The whole afternoon was very nice, and after Vicky had to leave I walked back home. I started doing homework and Zulema was getting ready for her Folklore dance class. Usually, because of her class, we just have empanada Wednesdays, but she told me that Hugo was coming over so she started preparing dinner super early. Then, when she left, she put me in charge of finishing everything. I am usually nervous about messing things up when given directions in English; having been given directions in Spanish AND the fact that I had to use a stove that requires being manually lit by a little lighter was nerve wracking beyond belief. But after a minimal amount of difficulties I succeeded, and when Zulema came back everything was almost ready. I’m not really sure how this happened, but somehow everyone was here and ready to eat at the same time, and we had a nice little family dinner set-up of Zulema, Hugo, Sergio, and myself. As it’s usually just Zulema and I at nights, it was really fun to have a crowd and talk about things. After dinner I had to return to work and study for my test and quiz the following day, but it wasn't as bad after the wonderful day filled with great company.

El asado de sus vidas

Sunday morning we were given the opportunity to sleep in, but I got up early and walked to the main plaza to go to mass at the cathedral at 8:00. The walk was so nice; the world seemed so peaceful and quiet that early in the morning, and the only people I passed on the way were cute old women heading the same direction as me. Mass was, of course, gorgeous. Going to church here in Argentina has such a different feeling to it than going to church back home: not necessarily better or worse, just different. The architecture of the churches is awe inspiring, and it takes complete concentration for me to figure out what they are saying. You would assume that that would lead to me paying less attention to what is going on, but the truth is actually the contrary. When I sat in my pew I was the only occupant, but by the time mass started I was situated between a very old woman and man, both of whom were adorable. I’m pretty sure I picked up on what the readings were about, and I was proud of myself because I have started to remember some of the Spanish responses. After mass I walked back to our hotel and hung out in the lobby as everyone began to appear for breakfast. Around 10:00 we loaded the bus and headed for El Bordo de las Lanzas Ranch. The ranch was about thirty minutes outside of Salta, and on the way they told us that it’s one of the oldest ranches in the area. It has been passed down through the family for many generations, and has historically been very successful in its agricultural production. They sometimes host weddings out there and people can pay (an extremely high price) to stay out at the ranch house, but what they do for the UT students every year is a special thing that they only do for us because we’re associated with the university. When we arrived we got off of the bus and Augustine, the son who currently manages the property, told us a brief history of the place. After that we were set free to just hang out all day and do whatever we wanted to. The grounds were beautiful! The Spanish-style ranch house was huge and surrounded by orange trees and gardens and flowers of every color. We all set our things down in one of the bedrooms and the first group of us set off to go ride the horses. The horses were waiting for us in the corral along with a few of the people who worked on the ranch who were dressed in traditional gaucho attire. My horse’s name was Mara and she had a baby who was allowed to come with us and was extremely cute! We rode down a path near some of the sugar cane fields and got to watch them using the machines to harvest it. We then rode to a previously harvested field and got to ride around it for a while. It was so much fun! After we returned to the corral the next group mounted the horses and our group went back to the house to wait for lunch. They were serving drinks so I got a glass of wine and was just sitting on the porch enjoying visiting, looking at the grounds, and trying some fresh sugar cane when Roxana (the program director) asked if a couple of us wanted a tour of the asado (Argentine barbecue). Of course I said yes; I had been hearing about this barbecue since Roxana had visited UT and I had met her in November! She walked us over to where the men were preparing the asado and you can’t believe the quantity of meat they had waiting to be cooked! Roxana pointed out the difference in the style of the Argentine barbecue in comparison to a normal American one. The men had built the fire far to the side of the meat, not underneath it. In order to cook it, once the fire got hot enough she explained that they would use the glowing embers and shovel little quantities at a time underneath the meat. Also, the only seasoning they used was a special type of salt that they showed us. It was extremely course and the granules were very large; apparently, this allows most of it to cook off so that the majority of it is not infused into the meat. Anyways, the whole explanation and “tour” was very interesting, and I kind of couldn’t believe that I enjoyed it so much. After a little more time the empanadas were ready and we all enjoyed our appetizer. Then, finally, after much anticipation it was time for us to experience what we had been told would be “el asado de nuestras vidas” (the barbecue of our lives)! Although I think many of us had been a little skeptical, it only took minutes for us to see what everyone had been talking about. The salad spread alone was one of the most beautifully extensive ones that I’ve ever seen (at least definitely since arriving in Argentina), and the steak was wonderful! Considering that I’m sure that everyone who is reading this knows my eating habits, I am assuming that you understand the weight behind those words. Even more, just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the kitchen maids formed a dessert parade and carried all of the dessert dishes out to the table. I don’t even know what everything was, but it wasn’t flan and it was all outstanding! After the meal I’m pretty sure none of us ever wanted to see food again, and we all enjoyed lazily lounging around in the sun and visiting. After a couple of hours Augustine’s wife rounded everyone up and told us that “the kids were going to put on a dance show.” Not knowing what to expect, we all sat on the porch and waited for the show to begin. I am certain that this was one of the best surprises of the weekend! The “kids” were a group of children who take Folklore dance lessons; although I’m not sure when they arrived or where they came from, they were not only adorable, but amazing dancers! Although Argentina is known for Tango, we were told that it is mainly popular in the regions near Buenos Aires. Folklore is much more common in the area of the country that we were in, and being able to watch the kids was a wonderful cultural experience. After their final dance they came back and it was announced that each was going to choose a partner from the crowd to dance with them. I was one of the fortunate “chosen ones,” and I got to dance with Gustavo who couldn’t have been older than 9 and was super cute! We all had such a fun time dancing with them, and at the end of the one song I think we all would have been game for round two! After the performance we were served meriendas of tea, coffee, and freshly baked banana bread, orange bread, and regular bread. At 6:00 they unfortunately made us put an end to our wonderful day, and we were all forced to say good-bye to the ranch and load the bus to head back to Salta. Once there, we made a quick stop at the hotel to pick up our luggage and then started the long drive back to Córdoba that officially ended our wonderful weekend.

Please Forgive Me Llama Lovers...

Saturday morning we all received our wake-up calls at 7:00 and got on the bus an hour later. We took off in the direction of Pumamarca, a small town further north and in the “state” of Jujuy. I will safely say that the majority of our group slept for most of the two-and-a-half hour drive, and I definitely joined in after reading up a little bit in my friend Rachel’s Buenos Aires travel guide. About twenty minutes outside of Pumamarca, our tour guide, Mercedes, woke us up to start telling us about the landscape. The mountains were pretty, but in a completely different way than the mountains last weekend in Mendoza. The explanation I keep giving people that I’ve talked to is that when you think of Mendoza mountains think more Colorado; when you think of Salta mountains, think more Arizona and New Mexico. Both types are beautiful, but each is a unique type of beautiful. About five minutes outside of the town we stopped to observe and take pictures of the famous Mountains of Painter's Colors. They were so beautiful! Layers of every shade of purple, red, orange, yellow, and green dominated the skyline; I am very glad that Susana had lent me her camera because I don’t think I could ever sufficiently explain with words how pretty these mountains are! After we took pictures we continued on our way into Pumamarca to prepare to go hiking around the mountains near the town. Pumamarca was a very cute little pueblo with little adobe-like buildings lining the few, small streets as well as numerous artisans set up around the main city square offering colorful, handmade blankets, scarves, mate cups, llama and alpaca sweaters, and much more. We browsed a little before setting off, and then followed the guide down a path leading outside of the town. We were able to walk among many of the mountain formations and observe the colorful landmarks from different, and even more magnificent, viewpoints. The landscape was dotted with colorful dirt hills and mountains lining the horizon, as well as huge cacti and desert shrubbery scattered in every direction. Despite the fact that we had been hearing since before we left Texas to prepare for the extreme cold in the mountains near Salta, this fictional freezing weather was non-existent when we were there. All dressed in jeans and long-sleeved shirts, our entire group was burning up while walking around. However, I don’t think we were complaining too much since we are all missing summer weather right now! A little ways into the hike we came across a huge red dirt/rock hill and decided to climb it. After the extremely easy path that we’d been following, the rock gave us a fun challenge as well as a magnificent view once we reached the top! Everyone had a good time on this little unexpected adventure, and we all made sure to have photo shoots before descending back to the ground to join the ones who stayed behind. We continued on and the landscape continued to amaze us. Once we reached Pumamarca again we had a few minutes to shop before hopping back in the bus to drive the half hour to another, even smaller pueblo called Tilcara where they were expecting us for lunch. On the bus Mercedes was talking to us about the significance and importance of the llama to the area of South America that we were in, and she finished her explanation with, “And today you are all going to get to try this animal for lunch!” That is correct everyone…our entire group ate LLAMA for lunch! When we arrived in Tilcara I honestly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by desert. The bus couldn’t fit comfortably in the small, narrow roads of the town so we all unloaded and walked the remaining few blocks to our restaurant. On our way the silence of the town was suddenly broken by a parade of cars continually blasting their horns and waving Argentina flags out of the windows: Argentina had won their first fútbol match of this year’s World Cup! It’s amazing how this sport bonds together the people of this country; even in a remote pueblo where signs of extreme poverty were nearly everywhere you turned, people were going over the top to celebrate their country’s victory. It was a really cool site to witness, and I can’t wait to see the excitement escalate over the next few weeks! Our restaurant was extremely cozy and gave the feeling of being served in someone’s home. The llama was actually very good, but the best part of the meal came just as we were all finishing. A band that consisted of men playing popular indigenous instruments appeared from the kitchen and we all had a private concert within the restaurant! They played instruments such as the guitar, the wind pipes, a huge drum, and a special indigenous type of horn that had to have been at least six feet long but, other than that, is nearly indescribable. The music was great, and I even had a wonderful surprise when they played one of my favorite songs of all time, Imagine by John Lennon. Sadly the performance eventually had to come to an end and we all left the restaurant and headed toward the other end of the town to visit an archaeological sight. We ascended the hill called Pucará, and at the top, among what seemed like a forest of huge cacti, we were able to wander in and among reconstructed Indian dwellings. By the time we arrived back at the bottom of the hill and walked back to the bus we were all quite exhausted, but we had one more stop a little ways down the road before we officially headed back to Salta. It was another place to stop and have a better view of another beautiful mountain range; however, Mercedes warned us before we got there that when we got off of the bus we would be greeted by a group of women and children who would offer us necklaces as a gift along with a slip of paper that had their address. These people live in a cooperative settlement and give every visitor a handmade necklace for free, their only hope being that when the visitors return to wherever they’re from that they’ll return the kindness by using the address to send them something, such as clothes or pencils, to help them out. Mercedes couldn’t have been more correct, and when we stepped off of the bus we were adorned with necklaces made of what looks like yarn and peanuts and each handed a slip of paper with an address scribbled on it. Also, the women and children offered to sell us some of their homemade products from their co-op, including jams, canned fruits and vegetables, and freshly baked bread. After visiting with the people for a while we all got back on the bus and returned to Salta. I fell asleep pretty quickly and was out until the sound of Fabio walking up the stairs and calling out, “Ok chicos, here comes Uncle Fabio with alfajores!” woke me up about twenty minutes outside of the city. Once back we had about an hour to shower and change before meeting back in the lobby to head to the same restaurant we had gone to the night before for dinner. The day before José (our extracurricular program director) had made reservations for those who wanted at a place called La Peña, which is a sort of restaurant/bar where they put on a nightly show. So, after dinner, everyone who had signed up and paid headed over to the other side of Salta to witness some Folklore singing, dancing, and even a ventriloquist! With a lively atmosphere and one drink gratis included in our admission fee, we all enjoyed ourselves for a few hours before heading out to experience the Salta nightlife. When we all finally returned to the hotel for bed there was no denying that it had been a great, memorable day!

Just Say, “Fabio, I Need to Send a Fax”

Thursday night at 9:30 kicked off our weekend adventure to the northwest region of Argentina. This trip was the one organized by the program office, so all forty of the UT students met up at Patio Olmos to board the two-story bus that would soon become a sort of “home away from home” for us for the whole weekend. Once we were all loaded we set off on the eleven-hour trip to Salta. I’m not exactly sure how it all worked, but I think the bus company provided us with a tour guide whose name was Fabio. This man was hilarious, but not because he was trying to be, just because he was somewhat ridiculous. He was a middle-aged man who spoke some English, but he would get words mixed up or say phrases incorrectly. The quote of the trip generated within the first few minutes of the bus ride. Fabio got on the microphone to welcomed us and to explain the rules of the bus. He told us that the bathroom was located on the “bottom” and was only to be used for “the liquids.” Then he proceeded to tell us that if we “needed to do the second” (not number two, the second…) then we needed to tell him so they could pull the bus over somewhere. He told us that we didn’t need to tell him any details, all we had to do was say, “Fabio, I need to send a fax,” and he would find us a place to send the fax and, if necessary, even provide us with paper for that fax. I know this blog entry cannot do this incident any justice and is probably not that funny to most of you reading it; however, believe me when I say that I don’t think any of us on that bus will ever forget that moment! After that Fabio passed out some alfajores (wonderful Argentine cookies that are pretty much made of dulce de leche sandwiched between two cookies), turned on a movie, and the rest of the drive was rather uneventful. We finally arrived at our hotel in Salta around 9:30 to drop off our bags, eat breakfast, and (most importantly) catch as much as we could of the first World Cup game! After breakfast we divided into two groups, Spanish and English, and all set off for a city tour of Salta. The city is very pretty! Being in the northwest it has a rich gaucho (Argentine cowboy) heritage, so in addition to the expected elaborate and beautiful statues and fountains, the main city square had horses lined up with men dressed in traditional gaucho gear for photo opportunities. Furthermore, a big holiday is coming up soon honoring the famous gaucho Güemes, so the plaza was festively decorated and we were able to see a small gaucho parade and a performance by the state (of Salta) military band. Also located in the main plaza was the cathedral that, like nearly all of the churches I’ve seen here, was absolutely gorgeous! The next stop on our tour was another very pretty Catholic church; although it was closed and we didn’t get to go inside, just the exterior of the church was beautiful, and painted a striking red and ornamented with gold details. Our final stop was in front of yet another church, but this one was much more simple. Our guide told us that it was originally built as an ordinary church but, many years ago, was converted into a nunnery. This nunnery is apparently very well known, and a distinct characteristic of it is that once the women go in they never come back out. After hearing this piece of information we were then interested to hear that it has one of the longest waiting lists of girls and women who want to live there! Outside of the nunnery some local artisans had set up blankets displaying their goods, and we had fun looking at all of the items they had for sale before once again getting on the bus. We were running late, so we just drove by the famous Güemes monument and then headed to a town about fifteen minutes outside of Salta for lunch. The place that we ate was beautiful; it was situated right next to a river with a wonderful view of some of the heavily wooded, green foothills of the Andes. After our typical Argentine lunch of beef milanesa, we enjoyed getting to explore and walk along, in, and around the river before it was time to head back into the city. The next stop was back in Salta at the Teleférico, or cable cars, that we were able to ride up to the top of Mt. San Bernardo. The view of Salta from the top of the mountain was amazing! Also, a series of waterfalls and religious monuments had been constructed at the top, and we enjoyed walking around and taking in the views. After about thirty minutes we went back to the base and set off for our last event of the day: the Museo Antroplógico de Alta Montaña, or MAAM. This anthropological museum was really cool! It is located near the cathedral in the main plaza and, although it is quite small, it is home to some really interesting archaeological finds from the mountains near the Salta region. The main exhibit is of some indigenous children that they found within the last ten years or so. I need to check up on my facts, but from what I gathered these kids (two girls and a boy, all under the age of eleven or so) were offered up as a sacrifice on top of a mountain, froze to death, and then were buried. Since they froze, they were pretty much naturally mummified; therefore, when the archaeologists found them somewhat recently, their bodies were more or less still intact. The three of them rotate between MAAM, a museum in Buenos Aires, and internationally to museums around the world. On Saturday we got to see the little boy and it was super cool! He kind of looked like a doll, and it was really weird to think that he was an actual human. After the museum we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, and around 9:00 we headed to the restaurant. It was really nice and we were served lasagna, which was a nice change of pace from the usual hunk of meat with a side of potatoes that we’re all used to expecting. We were warned that we were going to have to be on the bus by 8:00 the next morning, so I heeded the warnings of the program directors and went back to the hotel after dinner and got ready for bed.