Mate and Meat Markets

Hola! Argentina is better than ever, I'm really starting to love it here Last weekend, I went to Cordoba with a group of students, which is a little bigger than Rosario and the second largest city in Argentina. It is 5 hours west of Rosario, and let me tell you, the country between the two is like driving through Nebraska. Once we got there, however, it was a lot of fun, and it was good to get out of Rosario for awhile.

We arrived by bus around 10:00 PM, just in time for dinner. We checked into our hotel, which was really nice, and found a cafe. With the help of a local, we found a nice little diner that provided pretty good food for a very reasonable price. After eating, we returned to the hotel and drank some mate. We stayed up until 2:30 just talking.

The next morning, the boys decided to take a bus to Alta Gracia, which is a town outside of Cordoba and nestled along the sierras. Getting a bus ticket involved an interesting adventure. The tourism center told us where to get the bus station was. We walked to the address and saw the buses in the platforms. We entered the building and found a meat market. It was very, very odd. There were no booths to buy tickets or anything, just cow tongues hanging in display windows. Well it turns out that the boleteria (the ticket booth) was actually in the basement of a meat market -- very odd indeed!

Once we finally got our tickets to go (which cost only 7 pesos) we hopped the next bus and got to Alta Gracia without incident. First we went to check out the Jesuit Mission there, but it was closed until 5:00 PM. That was kind of weird, considering it is a tourist attraction, haha. So we did some shopping in a Gaucho shop, and JP found a mate to buy.

After grabbing a pizza, we went to the Che Museum, which is actually the house where he grew up in. It was pretty cool, but I'm not that into Che. I'm not going to go into the whole story, so if you don't know who he is you can look him up on Wikipedia. From there, we returned to Cordoba.

We went out to eat at a really nice cafe on the rooftop of a building. The restaurant was located across from a local market where there were tons of booths of artisan goods. I bought a leather bracelet, and got some really good ideas for souvenirs. But anyways, the cafe was really, really good. I had some bacon-wrapped loins, a stuffed pepper, and some very good wine (Thanks to JP). It was absolutely delicious. We walked back to the hotel, and on our way through San Martin Plaza, we found a group of people who were ballroom dancing. It was very cool, and it kind of made me want to take some dance lessons.

Our last day, we went to Villa Carlos Paz, which I'm sure is a very cool place, but I didn't have the best of times there. Carlos Paz is kind of like Alta Gracia in that it is nestled along the foothills. We took a chairlift to the top of one of the sierras, and it was pretty cool. We also rode on an aerotren that wasn't so cool, haha. The views were awesome, but we had to leave as soon as we got up there because they were closing. So we rode down and found something to eat. I had chicken suprema, which is normally delicious, but mine was raw. I should have just went to Pancho Villa (hot dog stand). Dinner was much better. We went to Betos for some good quality steak. Mine was delicious and the wine was to die for.

I have now been to Cordoba, Buenos Aires, and Rosario, and I must say that they all have very different vibes. Buenos Aires is like the NYC of Argentina. It's a huge city, and it feels like it. It's an international city. Rosario is much smaller, and the people here live differently. It has more of a "midwest" feel. The people are down to earth and genuine (at least this is what I have experienced), and life isn't so fast. Cordoba was sort of a mix between these two. It is much older than Rosario, the cathedrals were awesome. The people of Cordoba are even more laid back than the people of Rosario. I really, really liked Cordoba, but Rosario is my home away from home.

Daily Routines and other Tidbits

So I've been in Argentina a month and I haven't been doing a very good job of blogging. :( I'm sorry, from now on I will try to update once a week. I'm finally getting into a daily routine so I'll make it a habit!! Speaking of routines, I thought I would share with what a normal day is like in Argentina. During the week, I don't get out of bed until 9 or 10 in the morning. School usually starts around 10:30, depending on the day. After my morning class, we have a couple of hours to get some lunch. A group of 4 or 5 of us usually go to a cafe for a bite to eat. There are tons and tons of cafes down here, with both inside and outside seating. Obviously, it depends on where you go, but most cafes are really reasonable. I can get a coca, a sandwich and fries, or half of a pizza for about 20 pesos ($US 5). The pop isn't free, it usually costs around 6 pesos. The cafe scene is really popular down here. A lot of people just get a beer or some wine, and just sit and socialize for a couple of hours. Life here is way more laid back. After lunch I head back to school for my afternoon class. I finish at 4:20, and the rest of the day is for whatever. Sometimes a group will hit up a cafe for a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and some medialunas (basically a croissant). Other times we will go to some place and have some mate, which is a very popular drink in Argentina. It's like tea but stronger, and the method of drinking it is different (I'll have a blog post on that). My family doesn't get home until 9:00 or later. In Argentina, we don't have supper until 10 pm. The food here is very good, but has less flavor. Spicy food is basically non-existent. If it's a week night, I usually go to bed by midnight. If I am going out, that is another story. Usually a social occasion doesn't start until 10:30. It's very common for a group of friends to get together and drink a couple of drinks. After that, they go out. I experienced my first boliche a couple of days ago. We didn't go until 3 in the morning. They open at 2, but no one is there that early. There were thousands of people there. I have never experienced anything like it. We left the boliche at 4, and just kind of walked around the city. I didn't get home until 5:30. This is considered a normal night out in Argentina. It definitely takes some getting used to. Next blog....mate!!!!

Buenos Aires

I just got back from BA a couple of days ago. It was a pretty good trip and I experienced a lot of firsts. It was my first time being in a city as large as BA, first time staying at a hostel, perhaps the second time of riding in a taxi, and the second time taking the subway. BA is a very neat city. I met people from Germany, Brazil, Paraguay, Norway, and New Zealand. Most people were really nice, others were not. We lived along one of the popular shopping districs in BA, where no cars were allowed to drive. We were about two blocks from the obelisk, and maybe four blocks from the casa rosada (the pink house which is equivalent to our white house). There are so many cafes that you can stop to eat and visit with your friends! It's really cool. We saw many sights and sounds of the city, recoletta, congresso, cafe tortini, etc. The food in BA is very good but more expensive than Rosario. I ate a lot of pizza with coca in glass bottles!! The last day we were there is when the earthquake (terramoto) hit Concepcion, Chile. I think the death count is up to 700 now. For a while it was very scary because they said that buildings were shaking in Buenos Aires. I may have felt an aftershark at the cemetary. I put my hand on a grave and it was shaking. I was a little feaked out and didn't know what it was until I heard the news. I am now back in Rosario and started school today. I am in the intermediate group, which is probably a good thing since it's been two and a half years since I've used my Spanish. It is starting to come back to me and the people are getting a little easier to understand. I am maybe experiencing a little culture shock, but not very much. I am adjusting to life here pretty well. That is all I have for now. Chau.

Walking along Cordoba and the Parana

Hola! I have been in Argentina for four or five days and am having a very good time. The first day was pretty rough, but each day since seems to be getting a little better. Yesterday the group went to Cordoba Street to walk around a shopping district with tons of little shops and cafes. We then walked down towards the Parana River where there are numerous parks and the National Flag Monument. The Argentine flag was created in Rosario, something that the people here hold much pride in. The monument is pretty cool, I will post a picture of it. I returned home and had an afternoon snack with my host mom. The snack consisted of cafe con leche (coffee with milk), tostados toast), galletas (cookies), and dulce de leche (similar to caramel, but better). Then I went for another walk with my host mom. We walked through the many parks along the river. There were thousands of people running, walking, playing sports, and grilling. Overall, I am having a very good time in Rosario. It is definitely different than the United States, and I have plenty more to write about!

Hello all!

I am leaving for Argentina tomorrow and have decided to try blogging. I am so excited for this experience! I am ready to be immersed in a culture completely different than my own. I will have a post later this week describing my first experiences in Argentina!!!!!!