More Patagonia

. . . .

Well, after the glacier and Calafate, we traveled even farther south and, passing through Chile, made our way down to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. We got there on a rainy, cold night, but when I got outside in the morning, I completely forgave nature for my wet clothes because the city was jsut so incredibly beautiful. The mountains surrounding the city were houge and then these almost ramshackle houses made their way all the way down to the ocean. Just breathtaking.

From Ushuaia, we took a trip to the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego where we saw some landscapes and did some good walking and saw a great live tango band playing at the station of the train to the end of the world.
. ......

After lots of good flan at a ¨tenedor libre¨ in Ushuaia, we started the trip back up to Resistencia.

In Esquel, after driving through some thrilling scenery (mounains, lakes, trees, many things we don´t have in the north) we took a tour of another national park, known for the fact that it has some abroiginal cave paintings. the most notable thing about that day was that the park smelled a lot like home, something I had been missing.

.......chaco.

Quick Update

Don´t have time to continue about Patagonia at the moment because my school´s graduation (Recepción) is tonight!
In tune with much of Argentinian culture, everyone is getting dressed up to go see the 5th year graduates be aknowledged and then spend the night dancing with friend and family.

Also: I have edited my comment ettings so that anyone can post a comment, no blogger account needed :)
Be sure to leave your name!

Lots of love

VIAJE AL SUR!!!!

First off, Happy (late) Thanksgiving!

Secondly, sorry I don´t write more!

And finally, I just recently got back from a fantastic trip the Patagonia, the southern part of Argentina and, in some places, the farthest south you can go without getting on a boat and booking it to Antartica.

Honestly, there is so much to say about this trip, that I don´t think I could right it all down, so I´ll just leave it at some pictures and a few words, and I think you´ll get a feel for how incredible it was.

Our first city, as kids from Resitencia, was Córdoba. We went to the mall, but a few of the exchange girls and I walked around the city and got lunch at a grocery store. It was a great lunch.

After that, we got on the bus and spent a wicked long time driving before we reached Puerto Madryn, which I believe is one of the first ports to be colonized. We took a tour of the city and went out to a point on the bay to see some stunningly blue water and climb on the rocks. The picture really doesn´t do justice to how blue the water was. I´m talking cruise propaganda brochure hottie on the beach blue. Just gorgeous.

We then went and did some whale watching, which I thought was a great time, although all my whale picture look like ocean with a little dark rock in the middle. We saw a mama whale with her baby and they did some jumping and got really close to the boat.

After the whale watching we were hanging out on the beach and aw this kid doing flogger dancing. I havent explained floggers, but a flogger is one who follows a certain style (bright colored skinny jeans, shirts with words in bright colors (often nonsenical), big sneakers and crazy haircuts) and then takes pictures of themselves emo style and puts them up on FOTOLOG, a kind of Argentine Myspace. They also have a funny way of dancing that gets mocked a lot by non floggers, cumbieros, etc.

ANYWAY, this kid was dancing flogger, and then we all were cheering him, because he was really good at it. And then all his friends started cheering, and then we all got in a big circle of exchangers and porteñitos on their class trip and a showed off our sweet flogger moves. And it was great, it was like we were all pals. Laughing and joking and dancing everyone was probably one of the best parts of the trip, becaue it was so spontaneous and fun. As a note, there are no floggers in the picture, just people imitating their sick dance moves.

Then we did ome more driving and stopped to see PENGUINS!! What we saw were Megellan´s Penguins, which I believe are land penguin instead of ice penguins. IT was so weird to ee them doing all their penguniy activiy on a big rocky becah! They really weren´t the popularized idea of penguinhood, but it was a lot of fun to see them walking around, sleeping in their little land-nests, etc.

One really cool thing we saw at the penguin stop was a big bird swoop down and break open a penguin egg, eat it, and fly away. Hopefully the next reneration of penguis builds better nests!

Our next stop was Calafate, a very touristy little city that has gorgeous of the mountains, wonderful cabañas, and was very cold. Calafate had a big draw for tourists because of the outdoorsy stuff it offers, its proximity to one of the biggest lake in the country, el Lago Argentino, and the fact that an hour away is the famous glacier Perito Moreno WHICH WE WENT AND CLIMBED ON.

The glacier was a really big part of the trip. We all got dressed in our borrowed coats and hats and mittens and they drowe us out to the glacier. It was really cold from the viewing point where they first took us, but then we hiked down a ways, took a boat across the lake, hiked to the base of the glacier and then (I, at least) realized that it was really warm for some reaon! What sturck me about the glacier was the fact that it was right in between these two tree covered, green mountains. In retrospect, it makes sene that the glacier stays there through all the seasons, but it was surprising to see such a juxtaposition of ice and vegetation, when, as with the penguins, I was kind of imagining an arctic trek. The glacier was so gorgeous. We went ¨minitrekking¨ on it, which meant we had a guided climb on the ice and it was so beatuiful and unlike anything I´ve even seen.

And then we drank whiskey and ate alfajores on the top! I think it´s a tradition to do that, since some of my schoolmate asked about it when I got back :)

Alright, I´ll write more later about the trip and leave you for now with some more pictures!

xoxo

¡Córdoba!

This past weekend, my family took me on a trip to Córdoba, which was a lot of fun!
My host dad was born in Villa Carlos Paz, a little touristy city outside of Córdoba Capital, and they still have the house there, so that´s where we stayed.
On the first day, after 10 hours in the car, we finally arrived at the house. We spent some time cleaning up, because after some pretty bad flood damage, the brick and plaster walls havea habit of shedding LOTS of dust. Then we passed some time walking around Carlos Paz, which kind of reminded me of Lake George.
We went to Córdoba Capital the next day, which is a really gorgeous city. There is a big man-made (I believe) river that runs down the center of the city, dividing two lalnes of traffic and the effect with the trees and bridges is incredibly beautiful.
In the next two days, we drove out closer to the Sierra mountains to get a good look at them. It was amazing to actually be there seeing them, because to me they were simply enourmous and seemed to go on forever. Every once in a while there would be a little village built into the mountains, tiny and picturesque.
We also visited Villa General Belgrano, another touristy spot famous for the fact that many Germans settled there after the second world war. The whole town center is based on that fact; all the shops and restaurants as decorated in a very traditionally German style and there are little gnome sculptures EVERYWHERE.
So it was a pleasant trip. We spent a lot of time in the car though, which is very different from teh vacations I am used to. I think if I had done something similar in the States, I would have been out of that car and CLIMBING those Sierras, rather than mostly looking out the window. It was so sweet of my family to bring me though, and it was great to get out of the city for a while and see some green.
That said, I was pretty happy to get back to Resistencia. I somehow just love the atmophere here and the people, even just looking out of the window.
Well, I´m off to get ready for a Rotary dinner! More later!

Continued!

Alright, I´m ready to jump back on the blogging horse!!

Well, as I said, I recently got pretty sick. It srated out as a lousy feeling and then became a full blown fever and tomach ache and awfulness and culminated in my fainting in the middle of the night coming back from the bathroom and then being brought to the emergency room.
It was not a good situation, but I did get to go to the hospital, which was kinda fun. The atmosphere there was very differnt from what it is in American hospitals. My view of a hospital is all white and clean, but here the floors were cement and everything that went on seemed fairly off the cuff. We walked in and instead of going to a receptionist to check in, a lady came over to us with a pad of carbon paper where she wrote my family´s name, signed her own and made a note that we had paid the 30 pesos for the visit. That was all that we had to do and then I went right in to see the doctor.
That part was easy and the doctor just told me to drink lots of fluids, but what really isn´t fun about being sick on exchange is that you get to have a lot of downtime. While this may be fun in the states (missing school, watching TV at odd hours) it wasn´t so great for me because it gave me a ton on time to think about home and with that my mom was with me to rub my back and generally know what would make me feel better. I got really down about being on exchange, but the whole experience served to show me that I have to take things in stride here.
I´ve already been here a month and I honestly don´t know where all that time went (an neither do you, dear reader, since I haven´t really been blogging!). There is no tie for self pity, there is only time to enjoy what a beautiful place I´m in and the wonderful family and friends who are here to share it with me. My host mom took brilliant care of my when I was sick. I had to spend a gorgeous day inside, but I could have spent it looking out the window, if I had know what was good for me. even though I got really sick, I feel lucky to be here and THAT´S what I need to concentrate on, instead of thinking about what I´m not doing in the states.
Up Next: El Día del Estudiante

Sickness in the South

I recently got very sick, it was not fun.
I apologize for not writing more, but i Have to write something for Rotary, so TO BE CONTINUED!!! SOON!!

Tango

Tango is probably one of the parts of Argentina that is most associated with the country. A lot of the exchange student I´ve talked to mention it when asked why they chose to come to Argentina. It was also a factor in my putting Argentina on the top of the Rotary list, so I got a little worried when I read in Yasmin´s blog (yasmininpatagonia.blogsopt.com if I remember correctly) that people were telling here that tango is mostly done in Buenos Aires and I was even more worried when my seatmate on the plane mentioned that tango was for tourists and there was a ¨real tango¨that Actual Argentinians dance. I figured that no one would encourage me to find a place to learn to tango!
I was very wrong. Ana Lia of Rotary actually wanted us ALL to take lessons, so with her blessing, I ended up in La Peña, a small building across from Colegio Nacional, at 8 p.m. this past Monday.
When we walked in (Elie, Eugenia and I had taken the bus there) the dance floor was filled with elemenraty school aged kids, partnered up and doing a bang up job on a tango combination. When they finished, we payed the entrance fee (22 pesos for a month of lessons, roughly $7.33) and were introduced to Martín, tango efficionado, and a few other people who were there to dance and instruct.
I wouldn´t call what we did a dance lesson (just learning steps), nor would I call it a contra dance lesson (jumping into a line with some good dancers and figuring it out as you go along) but it was somewhere in between. A lady taught us three basic moves: the Basic, which consists of 8 steps with a turnish part on the 5th that I still need to practice; a six step figure that doesn´t have the trunish part, it reminded me of something that you would see a 50s footprint chart of; and the Ocho, a step turn that the ladies do right after the 5th step of the Basic.
After that, we were sent off to practice the steps and every once in a while one of the 4 male instructors would come by to dance with us. It was a fun way to learn, but tango is really hard for me. As I said, I kept on getting mixed up with how my weight was supposed to be in the 5th step Basic, and most of the time I would get a toe stepped on of get corrected mid dance. It was a little frustrating because contra dance is so easy and so effortless and so fun and because of that I have it in my head that I can dance anything, but there I was, in the arms of a gorgeous Argentinian dancer and I KEPT MESSING UP.
But even so, there was one instrucor who knew how to lead so that I could follow and the couple dances I had with him were just incredible. To compare it to contras, there are some people who know how to move you just right. Those are the few dancers with whom you can do a triple twirl on every turn and, to add to it, you can give them a twirl as well. They´re the ones who you keep dancing with when you´re out at the end of the set because the calls just don´t have enough swinging for the two of you, and even if they´re not your close friends, they´re the people you know you´ll have a dance with every time you see them because you simply love how they move. That was what it was like, and it was absolutely impossible not to feel completely confident and beautiful with this new dance.
So, needless to say, I am looking forward to going back on Thursday and working on that darn 5th step, and maybe learning something to bring back to the Grange halls.

SCHOOL

So many things have been happening lately ¿along with realizing that my exclamation point key comes out like this ª and my parenthases are actually question marks?
Oh well.
Rotary has finally been kicking into action, which was great for me, because it`s given me an oppoutunity to get out of the house and make some friends. I went out for chipas and juice with a girl from Switzerland at a cafe near the park and plaza in the center of Resistencia. I would love to talk about what Switzerland is like, but really we mostly talked about getting used to the city and learning Spanish. Her Spanish was excellent after 6 months of being here, but she said she was pretty fluent after 2, so that gives me some good hope.
That same day we went to a returned student`s house to meet all of the other exchange students... or exchange girls, I should say, because none of the in country exchange students are boys! We had a lot of fun talking about Rotary, and talking about not gaining weight, whích seems unavoidable, but since I don`t know where the scale is in this house, nor the converstaion from pounds to kilos, I have decided not to worry. We also did some of the infamous Rotary pin trading, which was pretty sweet. My only complaint was that the Rotary rep who was there acted like she didn`t think I could speak Spanish, and I have to be honest with you guys, I feel pretty confident in my skills at the moment. I know, I don`t speak WELL, but I know that I can get my point across and I understand most of what goes on around me. But for her point of view, she was probably trying to keep me comfortable, so I try not to worry too much.
There is another girl here from the US! We had to prepare a song to sing at our first Rotary meeting, which is tomorrow, so yesterday all the Resistencia exchange student who were from or had visited the states got together and worked out a song at Ele`s house, Ele being the one from Iowa. It was a lot of fun to hang out with people closer to my age singing and playing music.
When we were done practicing, we all went out to hang out at Saramiento, which is a highway where they play music on Sunday nights and all these kids go and stand around with their motorcycles. But. In Resistencia, all the heavy traffic two lane roads are divided by a big strip of grass and sidewalk where people run and hang out and, in the center of the city, take a gander at the statues that we`re famous for... locally famous.... tour book famous, etc.
BUT. The most exciteing thing that went on recently was MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EN RESISTENCIA, CHACO, ARGENTINA.
IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TIME.
I actually have switched classes so that Içm in with some people I know, and the girl from Iowa. It truned out to be a really good decision because as soon as I walked into the classroom, Bianca`s novio, Nahuel, who knows just about every Beatles song in the book, shouted HANNAH! and made me feel considerably more at home. ALL of the girls in the class came up and introduced themselves, and I regret to say that I only know a few names. People here don`t go `Hi! I`m so and so!` they kind of just say their name in your ear as they give you a kiss kiss on either cheek, so sometimes I`m left without a clue of who I just kissed, but usually it turns out alright, as it did today.
El Colegio Nacional, the highschool that I attend is a big square building of three stories with classroom all around the perimeter and a big open space on the inside. Students stay in the same room all day, although we do change for Italian, and are with the same group of people for all 5 years of their education. THIS IS NOT AMERICAN EDUCATION.
Our first class was Chem, and we basically took notes and did a few problems. This was great for me because I did chem in 10th grade and, thank goodness for Señora, am pretty good at dictated Spanish. I actually wasn`t really planning on studying, but I took notes and everything, because what else do you do in class? Actually, everyone talked the entire period, they moved their desks around, they borrowed notes and looked on with each other and it was wicked loud, but you could tell that everyone was learning. And they were impressed, or at least amused, by the fact that I took notes, especially when they noticed the occasional insertion of no sè, no sè when I missed part of the dictation.
After that, se got a break, and duing the break, everyone is out in the halls talking and going from class to class. People kept asking me questions about everything and some of the boys from Bruno`s party and Bianca`s friends came over to say hi to me, which was nice.
History was less fun because the teacher came in and basically picked on students to start at a point in history and talk from there on. I didn`t understand everything, so I drew some pictures.
In our break after history, Franco and Yago, again ya conocidos, took me around the school and showed my the different levels and the courtyard where they have sports. They also decided to mention which were the good classes and which ones were not so good as we went by.
The next class, Bio, was a complete wreck. Something happened with the teacher and a student I DON`T KNOW WHAT and then the teacher walked out and everyone was talking and then someone came to egt the kid and then someone else came in and got mad at the class and then realized it was the wrong class and as soon as sc´he closed the door EVERYONE started laughing, which just made the whole situation really silly. BUt when the teacher got back, I guess she announced that there would be a test on Tueseday, but since they had just missed class, EVERYONE got into a huge uproar about it, and their was all this shouting going on and hand waving (since most of the kids are Italian by heritage, everyone does the fingertips to thumb hand shaking thing). At the time, I had no idea what was going on. I figured since it was my first day, it didnçt have much to do with me, so I just treated it as a learning experience `Understanding Under Pressure`or something like that.
Our final class was ,usic, can you believe that? I really enjoyed it because it was kind of a history class and they talked about where certain types of music came from and then we all had to use triplet combinations to write a bar of 3-4 and 4-4 time. So that was good.
I have tango class tonight, for the first time, and school tomorrow, so things are going well!!

Hey! I re-found my blog!

Well, I thought I had lost it!!
So, For all of you guys out there in the US or where ever you are, here´s what´s been happening the past few days.
The travel agent finally got my papers in and booked my flight for this past Thursday, which I was a little conflicted about since I wanted to go to the Dawn Dand which was SO CLOSE, but I think it´s a good thing that I got out of the country, since I was really just in limbo there.
The flight went well; there were really no mishaps. Ma and DAddo dropped me off at the airport and there were some tears, but there was a nice man in the customs line who just kept talking and asking me questions and pretty soon my mind was off missing peopele. The flight to DAllas went well and we even got a movie!!
In Dallas, I met up with another exchange student who was a really cool girl. She is actually doing a bi-weekly travel column for here local newspaper from here in Argentina. The flight to Buenos Aires was really long, but I didn´get some sleep in the teeny tiny seat I was assigned. Those political cartoons about air travel really have it right.
Flying in over BS AS was crazy, the city looks huge from teh air and is accentuated by the fact that, other than in the cities, there really aren´t that many small towns. It´s not like in the states where you can see the lights of one city while you´re flying over another. Here, there are just big streches of land with nothing nothing nothing.
We went through customs, which was terrifying for me simply because I worry irrationally sometimes, BUT I was missing a paper that I was supposed to get from the Embassy that the travel agent hadn´t given me! So I had to wait for probably 10 minutes (it felt like longer) while the officials went into the back room and verufied that I was not an international criminal.
We took the bus to Aeroparque, the domestic airport, which was cool because it gave us a chance to see a little of BS AS. From the airport, the city seems to grow out f the ground. First there are fields and lots of horses, then these ramshakle pueblo esque houses with laudry hanging everywhere and lots of color, then more modern looking buildings, churches, bridges, and finally you get to the center of the city and there is gorgeous architecture and statues and, well, everything that you see in the tour books. The flight to Corrienes was fine and when we got to the airport (which is under cunstruction and currently housed in a two room building) Rosana, Bianca and her friend Elen were waiting for me with a big welcome sign.
We drove though Corrientes to their home in Resistencia which is an absolutely beautiful house. What surprised me though, is that the whole ward and house right up to the sidewalk is walled in. They tell me that there are a lot of robbers in the city. Most of the houses on Monteagudo and the surrounding area are outfitted the same way.
The night I got there, I hung ou with Bianca and here friends and played music and talked and then, at about 11 (2300) when Horacio, my host dad, came home, we went out for dinner. I was so tired by that time that they basically ordered for me and I don´t think I contributed to the conversation at all, but the food was delicious and I think my family understood that I was a little out of it.
It´s coustomary here to stay out until all hours, especially on the weekend. on Saturday night, I went with Bianca and BRuno (my host siblings) to a local concert in the city, then Bianca and I came home and went almost directly back out to a party at a friend´s house where there was an excellent guitarist playing. He played tango and bossa nova (with an excellent Brazillian singer accompanying him) and also sang some Guarani, the native language of this area. It was a great time, but we were out until 3 (0300) and I was so tired that I didn´t really appreciate the last hour of music. I just wanted to sleep.
On Sunday morning, the whole family was over for Sunday lunch. There were counsis and aunts and uncles, and I don´t think I remeber everyone´s name. BUT we ate asado, which was absolutely delicious. I also drank mate with the abuela. Mate is a traditional Rio de la Plata/ Rio Panara herbal drink and I would have to say that it is... interesting. But so many peple drink it here, you seee people with the traditional cup and straw with a thermos of hot water under there arm in the street, in the park, in the supermarket.
Also in all the streets are horses. People cart around old lumber and wire and other materials in horse drawn carts and at night they let the horses graze by the side of the road.
Last night was Bruno´s brithday party and my first exposure to younger people other than Bianca´s friends (who are very sweet and inclusive and generally girls). So, those of you who know me might not be surprised to hear that I was a little shy and a less than super outgoing in a room filled with about 20 young men watching futbol. At the moment, I understand what people say and can respond well when they are talking directly at me, or in a small group of people, but a conversation with a lot of people goes right over my head. So it took quite a bit of time for me to walk into the room and sit down, butluckily, when I did, I sat down next to one of the friendliest, most outgoing boys in the room who immediately turned to me pointed to the boy next to him and said, in Spanish ¨Do you have a boyfriend? Because he has a girlfriend, but he thinks you´re prettier¨an announcement that was hailed by said neighbor with shouts of ¨mentiras! mentiras!¨ and general laughter. After that, the boy next to me, who goes by Leche, and a bunch of others spent most of the night trying to teach me new words (Rosana told them to behave themselves) joking around with each other (generally telling me that one or the other was un maricon) and asking questions about music, and the US. It really turned out to be a lot of fun. And, I don´t know if I mentioned this, but Argentinias go to be really late... I was in bed last night at 4:40 and I don´t think all the guests had left yet.
So generally, things are going great here! It´s really a lot of fun :)

T minus... how many days?

Apparently travel agencies don't have to give you an actual date for an international flight. 

We called them today to make sure everything was going as planned and guess what!? Although they had told me that my flight would be this Friday, they actually don't have a ticket for me, nor do they have a date for my departure!

I was kind of annoyed about it. I feel like a popped balloon, actually. All deflated because I was so excited about Friday and now I don't even know when I'm leaving and I hate the fact that I'll have to tell people, oh no, I'm not leaving Friday like I told you and like I told every one else in the WORLD. Ugh. 

There are some good things, I guess:

I'll be able to see more of my friends.

Perhaps I'll be able to go to Greenfield for one last contra dancing hurrah... maybe they'll be delayed until the Dawn Dance!!

I'll be able to finish off Nick's bass. EXCELLENT.

More time to practice sax, so I'm not really out of practice when I get there, as I am now. 

Maybe be able to see the end of Goong, woo Korean dramas! 

More time with the family. 

It's good, I guess. It's alright. It'll be worth it if I make it to Greenfield. 

Road Trip August 2008: Complete

Well, I went on my first ever solo road trip, trekking by ancient Neon from the familiar expanse of the Berkshires and Rt. 7 to the backwoods country of a small but lovable New Hampshire town, to the salty air of a costal Maine port and then back again. 

It was great. I was so happy to see the friends who live up there, to hang out with them, make some new friends, jump in rivers and ponds, hear beautiful music, and generally laugh a lot. But there were some down times as well, namely the sadness of leaving my friends in New Hampshire to drive alone to Maine and then the confusion of getting lost. I sometimes feel that I have a working sense of direction, one that could most likely lead me along the Lake Mansfield detour of town or to Henry's house way out where ever he lives. But I guess my sense of direction gets a little skewed all that way up north, along with my perception of how far I've driven and the combination of those factors made for quite the harrowing ride. But, after a few hours of safe and careful driving (peppered with bouts of self doubt and the abiding wish that I had stayed just a little longer out in Newport) I did make it to Ogonquit, and boy, did it feel great to finally see Michelle's face (and brilliant hair). 

People have been telling me that exchange will have it's ups and downs and I feel like i really experienced some of the craziness of travel. The absolute bliss of being able to spend time with people who I adore so thoroughly was  counteracted by the sadness of having to pick myself up and walk out the door, and then the happiness of being able to spend time with the best of old babysitters. So I figure I'm going to have to live through that a lot in the coming year. Meeting new people, making friends who will live so far away when I finally get back home. I guess that's another thing contra dancing has prepared me for. Good strong friendships that stretch comfortably over so many miles.

I don't know, maybe that's what all of life will be like, planning and driving and visiting and then going back home. But I hope not. Because my leg is tired from holding the gas pedal at a steady 63 (the speed right before the car decides to vibrate violently) and all I really want when I grow up is a life where I can see the people I love every day. 

Oh man. It was such a good couple of days. Great music, walks on the beach, horseback riding, river swimming, pond swimming, dancing, friends, I couldn't have asked for anything better. 

(Although I wouldn't have minded a little more time)

I need to get packing!

12 Days and Counting!

Alright guys, first post in this new blog! Woo!

I'm hoping that all of you who want to know about my exchange trip will find more than enough information here, and perhaps a little entertainment. That's also kind of hoping I'll get out of my exchange, along with some new friends and a different perspective on the world when I get beck home. Listen to this, I'm already talking like I've left, but I'm still here! I'm here for another week and a half! Come visit me if you have a chance!

I'd also like to start a little tradition of writing down some new things I learn in the Spanish language every day. So for today (after my super crash course in the subjunctive): Yo dudo que haya chachkis en la tienda. 

xoxo