Dos chicos Guarani... with a side of piojos por favor

Sunday was another early morning with free breakfast (yum) and armored safari looking trucks ready to take us into the jungle. We visited a Guarani village where families share one roomed houses with dirt floors and everyone has the same birthday. Our tour guide’s name meant “man” in Guarani, but he went by Eduardo for documentation purposes. Kids go to elementary school in the village and once they’re of age, they make the trek to Iguazu for high school.




Typical Guarani living

Eduardo showed several hand made animal traps. There were a few close calls...


After a short tour through the jungle we listened to the Guarani kids play and sing a song.



At the end of our visit we were brought to a cluster of booths where artisans laid out their crafts. It was nothing like the jewelry or art that we saw in San Telmo or La Boca, where artisans can afford expensive materials to create their products. Everything the Guarani used to make their crafts came straight from the jungle.

Flor and I couldn’t resist picking up a few of the musician. Be wary when doing this in foreign countries: the cute little kids may come with unwanted critters.



Picking out some souvenirs (shout out Ryan)

If there’s one thing it is...IT’S IGUAZÚ!

Sabado 5/5/10

Today happened. That’s all we could keep saying when we left Iguazu Falls National Park on Saturday.

We rolled up to the park after a delicious breakfast buffet (boo-fet as they pronounce it here) at the hotel. It was my third breakfast in Argentina since I usually sleep through it at the Res.

We piled in the bus and headed to Iguazú falls. On the way our tour guide (who liked to repeat everything five times in both Spanish and English) showed us a picture from 2005 when the cataratas had gone completely dry.

Once we finally saw the falls, the impact of that picture set in. In guarani language "Iguazú" means "great waters". An understatement. I have never been to Niagra falls, but according to friends and Eleanor Roosevelt, Niagra aint got nothin on Iguazú. We walked past perfectly calm waters, but as we neared the falls we could not only hear, but feel roaring of the falls, similar to the sensation of the sonic boom when the space shuttle reenters the atmosphere. There were over 270 cataratas in the national park, all of which I saw were accompanied by a rainbow.

Towards the end of the day we had the option of taking a speed boat trip INTO the falls. An offer which I happily accepted. What Coqui, our tour guide from ISA, told us is that the boat drivers gages the duration of the voyage according to the enthusiasm of the passengers. So after one dunk into the pounding waters of Iguazu falls, and feeling like I had been at Wet n’ Wild with my clothes our group started a chant of “otra vez, otra vez!” Despite some dirty looks from people who apparently didn’t realize what they had signed up for, we drove straight into the falls two more times.*

On our way home we stopped at the river that divides Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. You can see all three countries at the same time.

*We bought the video of the ride and am working on getting it online!

Are we there yet?

Viernes 4/6/10

I was woken up Friday morning by the bus attendant putting a plate of 5 pieces of bread on my lap for breakfast. We broke up the drive to Iguazu by making a few stops along the way. We left the double decker bus and met up with the group of other International Study Abroad students on a smaller. There were about 40 of us, all americans, hailing from everywhere from New York to Texas.

The first stop was at las Ruinas de San Ignacio. This was a completely different side of Argentina than what I was used to. No city, no smog, no pavement. The ruins date back to the 1600s.


Las Ruinas de San Ignacio

From the ruins we headed to La Chacra. La Chacra was like more of an expensive ranch than a farm. We had FRIED empanadas to start. Fresh orange juice, salad and yucca (I have been vegatable deprived for the last 3 weeks) and tons of delicious steak.

After dinner we hiked past fields of mate plants and to the factory where they dry and chop the mate leaves to prepare them for drinking. I tried mate once again and finished my cup like a true Argentine.

From there, it was back on the bus for another 5 hours (long enough to watch Avatar with Spanish subtitles). We arrived at hotel around 20:00. It was a very nice hotel. I was just happy that we had toilet paper.

Longest bus ride EVER

Jueves 3/6/10

Flor, Casas and I left for Iguazu Falls on Thursday night. It’s northwest of Buenos Aires and meant a 17 HOUR BUS RIDE. It was the nicest bus I have ever set foot on though. Flor and I were seated on the second floor of the bus at the very front. We rode over night, so at about 20:00 they closed to curtains for “seguridad.” I guess a double decker bus full of tourists is an easy target.

At 21:00 they brought us our meal. One hot plate, and one cold plate. Bus food is substantially more disgusting then airplane food. After dinner we leaned our seats back (they were basically beds and more comfortable than what we’re used to in the Res) and waited for the movie to start.



Bus food.



Attempting to cut our jamon crudo with former plastic forks.

In anticipation of my Buenos Aires trip I watched a bunch of foreign films Nueve Reinas (Argentina), La Cienega (Argentina), Guantanamera (Cuba), Bitter Sugar (Cuba) and El Secreto de sus Ojos (Argentina). I even watched Que Tan Lejos (Ecuador) on the plane over to Argentina to start my spanish immersion.

So, I was expecting a Spanish movie on the bus. What do they put on? Step Brothers. Still wanting to expand my Spanish vocab, I attempted to read the subtitles but gave up when I realized that they weren’t translating things like “I'm going to take a pillowcase, and fill it full of bars of soap, and beat the shit out of you” or “I tea-bagged your drum set” literally. Attempting to fall asleep in the next few hours was like trying to fall asleep while riding the Back to the Future ride at Universal. If the screen was broken.

Baila Morenaaaa

A tip for Bs As night life: As much as you want to practice your Spanish in Argentina, the best way to get into clubs for a cheaper price is pretending you have no idea what the bouncer is saying. So play up you accent, unless you think your persuasive skills are fluent enough in Spanish (they might be). That and knowing people. We have managed to get into Pacha for cheaper, Asia de Cuba for free and skipped a huge line of screaming people and walked straight into Rumi. It was awesome.

I don’t know if it’s in the water, in their blood or encoded in their DNA but EVERY Argentine knows how to dance. From president Kirchner dancing at the bicentennial celebration to punk rock looking kids with faces full of piercings, everyone I have seen so far in Argentina seems to have been born with rhythm. Boys seem to enjoy dancing face to face with girls here. They even know real dance steps (no offense to my American boys).



New fashion trend. I plan to spread it to the states...

What I do know for sure is that I have danced to Hanson, Spice Girls and the Backstreet in many a Buenos Aires boliche until 7 in the morning. I can die happy.

Comida-not-so-tipica

Empanadas y cafe con leche, antes

A good friend once told me that he had never seen me turn down food. Luckily for me, (thanks to my non discriminatory tastes buds) even if I don’t understand exactly what it is that I’m ordering, there is a very good chance that I will be in love with it...




Empanadas y cafe con leche, despues


...That's what I though until I tried my first parrilla. Buenos Aires dining is known for parrilla, what I thought was basically a wide array of delicous barbecued meat. But when I sliced into what I assumed was a tasty chorizo sausage, the piece of meat deflated revealing it’s true identity: morcilla. A sausage shell full of cow blood and fat. Along with that came chinchullines (small intestines) and mojellas (other nasty organs). What I expected was going to be the finest cuts of meats, turned out to be random cow organs. Yum.



Parrilla!

I pride myself in being a daring eater. I'll try any food that is non life threatening at least once. As for this type of parrilla, I think once will be enough. Although they do say that blood sausage takes an acquired taste.

I'm running away and joining the Argentine circus.

Learning how to do "telas" with some acrobats in Bosque Palermo. They don't perform, just practice for fun.