HOLA FOLKS!
yesterday, Marina and I decided to do another hike to laguna de los tres, which the guide books described as a pretty lake at Mount Fitz Roy, so I expected , you know, a lake at the foot of mount fitz roy. WRONG !!! WE CLIMBED TO THE FRIGGEN TOP. Or as top as you can go without using ice picks and harnesses. It was four hours there, the last hour being completely vertical. I thought I was going to die, it was probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life. but, it was worth it, when we got to the top, we were surrounded by snow and ice (yeah, thats how high we climbed, to ice, we were little dots at the top of the snowcovered mountains). people were crying on the way up it was so hard. but we kept on trekking and made it! once to the top, we admired the crazy cool mountain peak and frozen lake, ate our rice, lentil and hot dog concoction (we are roughin´it ), took some cool pics, put a rock on top of the rock pyramid that everyone adds to when they make it to the top, caught our breath and were on our way to the 4 hour descent and return to El Chalten. Marina and I were nottttt expecting any hike or climb of that level, and are pretty dang impressed with ourselves. As is everyone else that asks us if we made it or not. The people at the hiking equiptment store were like ´´¿en serio? ¿¿¿llegaron???¨ and the people that work at our hostel had to double check a few times because they didnt believe it either. when we FINALLY made it back to town (limping the last hour or so) we treated ourselves to la waffleria where we got hot chocolate and the best meal of our lives, waffles smothered in fruits and cinnamon and dulce etc etc.
so chea it was a long, fun, rewarding, somewhat miserable day.
today we are taking a break from hiking. times up! peace.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
vale la pena
6 minutes left in the locoturio before im charged another $3 pesos so im making this short and sweet. ill elaborate when i ahve more time!
we left BsAs early saturday morning and flew to el calafate, we explored the town and el lago argentina beneath the mountains, it looked liek a picture from a water bottle. yesterday, saturday, we went to el parque nacional glacieres to see el perito moreno, a glacier here is a picture http://www.google.com.ar/imgres?q=glacier+perrito+moreno&um=1&hl=es&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:es-AR:official&biw=1360&bih=604&tbm=isch&tbnid=MRkO0Y0-7i9d2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.happytellus.com/perito-moreno-glacier/argentina/spanish&docid=HbekdcqsJflXlM&imgurl=http://www.happytellus.com/img/perito-moreno-glacier/perito-moreno-glacier_26.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=b0i4TrmqLcfPgAelh9mlBA&zoom=1 . THAT looked liek a picture from a water bottle. we walked around the park through the marked paths ( it was breathtaking, literally, from lots and lots of stairs) and watched the immense body of ice. i say "watched" because it was like the glacier was alive, moving and making noise. we found one spot where we sat and watched ice break off, it was so cool and so loud. last night we took a 3 hour bus to el chalten, the hiking capitol of argentina. we found a $35 peso hostel (roughly 8 dollars a night) sitting in the tiny mountain town of el chalten.. we met some uruguayans, marina had a heated discussion with them about politics, of which i know/care nothing about so i kept my mouth shut most of the time. it was freeeezing last night, but today it was awesome. we woke up around 10 (the latest i plan to sleep for the rest of the trip), walked 100 yards from our hostel and started hiking. within 20 minutes we were frolicking through the trail singing sound of music, because thats what it looked like around us. huge green mountains with even bigger snowcapped ones behind it. so pretty. i felt like we walked through a bunch of different locations because we walked every type of terrain from gravel, to steep hills, to forests and fields. it was awesome. we ended our hike at laguna torre which is beneath some pretty awesome mountains, here is a link to a picture http://www.guiadecabanias.com/el-chalten/paseos-excursiones/laguna-torre.html .. when we got there we laid in the sun by the lake and rested for about an hour before returning on our hike back to el chalten. tomorrow we are doing an even longer hike, about 10 hours, to el fitz roy. goooogle dat.
ok times up! ill update later. peace peeeepz.
we left BsAs early saturday morning and flew to el calafate, we explored the town and el lago argentina beneath the mountains, it looked liek a picture from a water bottle. yesterday, saturday, we went to el parque nacional glacieres to see el perito moreno, a glacier here is a picture http://www.google.com.ar/imgres?q=glacier+perrito+moreno&um=1&hl=es&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:es-AR:official&biw=1360&bih=604&tbm=isch&tbnid=MRkO0Y0-7i9d2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.happytellus.com/perito-moreno-glacier/argentina/spanish&docid=HbekdcqsJflXlM&imgurl=http://www.happytellus.com/img/perito-moreno-glacier/perito-moreno-glacier_26.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=b0i4TrmqLcfPgAelh9mlBA&zoom=1 . THAT looked liek a picture from a water bottle. we walked around the park through the marked paths ( it was breathtaking, literally, from lots and lots of stairs) and watched the immense body of ice. i say "watched" because it was like the glacier was alive, moving and making noise. we found one spot where we sat and watched ice break off, it was so cool and so loud. last night we took a 3 hour bus to el chalten, the hiking capitol of argentina. we found a $35 peso hostel (roughly 8 dollars a night) sitting in the tiny mountain town of el chalten.. we met some uruguayans, marina had a heated discussion with them about politics, of which i know/care nothing about so i kept my mouth shut most of the time. it was freeeezing last night, but today it was awesome. we woke up around 10 (the latest i plan to sleep for the rest of the trip), walked 100 yards from our hostel and started hiking. within 20 minutes we were frolicking through the trail singing sound of music, because thats what it looked like around us. huge green mountains with even bigger snowcapped ones behind it. so pretty. i felt like we walked through a bunch of different locations because we walked every type of terrain from gravel, to steep hills, to forests and fields. it was awesome. we ended our hike at laguna torre which is beneath some pretty awesome mountains, here is a link to a picture http://www.guiadecabanias.com/el-chalten/paseos-excursiones/laguna-torre.html .. when we got there we laid in the sun by the lake and rested for about an hour before returning on our hike back to el chalten. tomorrow we are doing an even longer hike, about 10 hours, to el fitz roy. goooogle dat.
ok times up! ill update later. peace peeeepz.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
En Serio? Gettin' Saltay in Salta.
Since this past weekend was a long one, we didn’t have classes on Monday because it was a holiday (Feria); we took advantage of it and went on a trip. Seth, Shannon and Sam (The Nebraskans) and I went on an adventure to Jujuy and Salta, which are the most Northwestern provinces of Argentina, bordering Chile and Bolivia and are beautifully set amongst the Andes. Before embarking on the 24hour bus ride, we obviously wanted to drink heavily before in order to pass out on the bus, which we decided to skimp on and get the “semi-cama” option (the cheapest). So, we each got a liter of Quilmes in the bus terminal and before we knew it were on our way. The long bus-ride wasn’t too bad, we brought along three bottles of wine, string to make bracelets, and plenty of (awful) movies were shown.
24 hours later we were in the beautiful pueblo of San Salvador de Jujuy. We literally didn’t plan anything for the trip besides the fact we wanted to go to Jujuy, so we got off, found a hostel in our guide book and hoped there was room. Success! We were welcomed, got our own room with four bunks and a deal for some tours the next couple of days. We ventured out to explore Jujuy that night, went to one restaurant for some empanadas and beer and then onto another for an excessive amount of delicious food. When I say excessive, I mean WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. Sam and I feed off of our mutual food addictions and provoke each other to eat a lot. A lot. We stumbled back to the hostel after dinner, at 90 degree angles, moaning and groaning from discomfort all the way until we found our beds, passed out and got a good night’s sleep before our 7 AM departure for adventure. We woke up, had some breakfast and were on our way in our tour van, it was just us and four other older Argentines from Cordoba. First, we went to see el “cerro de siete colores” (the hill of seven colors) and seven colors did it have. It looked like one of those sand projects you make with all the different colors of sand on top of each other, ya knowww? After that we went to the Salinas grandes, which was awesome. We had to do a lot of driving up windy mountain roads where we thought we were going to die and fall off the cliff, but periodically got out for photo ops and then the mountains opened up into a huge flat plain of white. It was blinding and so weird looking with the mountains surrounding. And yes, I tasted the salt. I love salt. It was great.
After those adventures we headed back to Jujuy to the hostel and decided we wanted to cook dinner. We made basically eggplant parmesan; it was impressive and delicious, along with a lot of wine and a lot of beer. We ended up trying to talk to a group of highschoolers and dancing like fools amongst ourselves after we think their professor told them to stay away from us crazies and just generally were being American Idiots. It was fun.
We eventually passed out and woke up in time for our next big adventure. “we saw Arizona red on Sunday and Monday we were out to see Colorado green”. The tour man took us up more windy mountain roads through this time the plush green Andes. We got out and explored different lakes and spots and eventually ditched him when we found a little river. We basked on the rocks surrounding and in the river like lizards and swam and laid and swam. It was my favorite day in all of my time here in Argentina. Then we tried to hike around the mountains for a bit before realizing they were too steep and not too hikeable, so we found a restaurant, aka a family’s porch and had the most delicious empanadas, humita, and milenesa sandwiches in the fresh air. Best. Day. Ever. Especially since all I had been wanting to do was swim and that we did.
We caught a bus back to the hostel and decided we were done with Jujuy and caught another bus to Salta. Our stay in Salta was short-lived but certainly very fun. The hostel was awesome. And huge. And had a pool. And it served us dinner (WHO DOES THAT?!). We sat at dinner with a few Irish guys who were travelling for a year. They were cool and one had to me Matt Damon’s rugby playing friend. Maybe because Matt Damon always plays Irish people or something idk but it was weird. Then I was sitting at the table and saw my Norwegian friend Kine’s, who I go to school with in BsAs, boyfriend I had met a few times named Lars. He actually was in our room in the hostel. Small world. 15 liters of beer later we were quite the spectacle and making foreign friends from all over. We tried to stay up until the 6 AM breakfast but couldn’t make it. Its funny how we always manage to be quite the spectacle. I think its honestly because we don’t seem to give a hoot about what any other of the people think. And why should we? How many other times will we be where we are doing what we are doing? And when would we ever see these people again? I do not mean this in a cocky way at all, but people always seem to attract to us because we are so obviously having such a good, carefree fun time, and welcome all others to join, it’s the best way to meet a lot of people.
We woke up in time for breakfast but it was all gone, much to our dismay. We decided to explore a little bit of Salta before heading back to the BsAs. When I say little bit I mean we literally walked to the bus station bought our tickets, decided we were tired and had seen enough of the town, and hopped on the bus back to home. This time, we splurged for the “Cama” bus which was really like big comfy lazy boys, that served food. It was much more comfortable and I think I slept the entire time.
The trip was expensive but it was my favorite couple of days so far. I saw the most beautiful and diverse things I have ever seen and hung out with some awesome peeps.
Oh guess what, my lovely friend Katherine lent me her camera for the weekend since mine was stolen a few weeks back. I took literally hundreds of photos. And guess what. It was stolen from my backpack on the trip home. Just my luck. Now I’m down 2 cameras and won’t be able to buy one for myself for my big trip at the end. Bummer. But the trip was so awesome I am trying not to dwell on it and it was definitely worth it.
24 hours later we were in the beautiful pueblo of San Salvador de Jujuy. We literally didn’t plan anything for the trip besides the fact we wanted to go to Jujuy, so we got off, found a hostel in our guide book and hoped there was room. Success! We were welcomed, got our own room with four bunks and a deal for some tours the next couple of days. We ventured out to explore Jujuy that night, went to one restaurant for some empanadas and beer and then onto another for an excessive amount of delicious food. When I say excessive, I mean WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. Sam and I feed off of our mutual food addictions and provoke each other to eat a lot. A lot. We stumbled back to the hostel after dinner, at 90 degree angles, moaning and groaning from discomfort all the way until we found our beds, passed out and got a good night’s sleep before our 7 AM departure for adventure. We woke up, had some breakfast and were on our way in our tour van, it was just us and four other older Argentines from Cordoba. First, we went to see el “cerro de siete colores” (the hill of seven colors) and seven colors did it have. It looked like one of those sand projects you make with all the different colors of sand on top of each other, ya knowww? After that we went to the Salinas grandes, which was awesome. We had to do a lot of driving up windy mountain roads where we thought we were going to die and fall off the cliff, but periodically got out for photo ops and then the mountains opened up into a huge flat plain of white. It was blinding and so weird looking with the mountains surrounding. And yes, I tasted the salt. I love salt. It was great.
After those adventures we headed back to Jujuy to the hostel and decided we wanted to cook dinner. We made basically eggplant parmesan; it was impressive and delicious, along with a lot of wine and a lot of beer. We ended up trying to talk to a group of highschoolers and dancing like fools amongst ourselves after we think their professor told them to stay away from us crazies and just generally were being American Idiots. It was fun.
We eventually passed out and woke up in time for our next big adventure. “we saw Arizona red on Sunday and Monday we were out to see Colorado green”. The tour man took us up more windy mountain roads through this time the plush green Andes. We got out and explored different lakes and spots and eventually ditched him when we found a little river. We basked on the rocks surrounding and in the river like lizards and swam and laid and swam. It was my favorite day in all of my time here in Argentina. Then we tried to hike around the mountains for a bit before realizing they were too steep and not too hikeable, so we found a restaurant, aka a family’s porch and had the most delicious empanadas, humita, and milenesa sandwiches in the fresh air. Best. Day. Ever. Especially since all I had been wanting to do was swim and that we did.
We caught a bus back to the hostel and decided we were done with Jujuy and caught another bus to Salta. Our stay in Salta was short-lived but certainly very fun. The hostel was awesome. And huge. And had a pool. And it served us dinner (WHO DOES THAT?!). We sat at dinner with a few Irish guys who were travelling for a year. They were cool and one had to me Matt Damon’s rugby playing friend. Maybe because Matt Damon always plays Irish people or something idk but it was weird. Then I was sitting at the table and saw my Norwegian friend Kine’s, who I go to school with in BsAs, boyfriend I had met a few times named Lars. He actually was in our room in the hostel. Small world. 15 liters of beer later we were quite the spectacle and making foreign friends from all over. We tried to stay up until the 6 AM breakfast but couldn’t make it. Its funny how we always manage to be quite the spectacle. I think its honestly because we don’t seem to give a hoot about what any other of the people think. And why should we? How many other times will we be where we are doing what we are doing? And when would we ever see these people again? I do not mean this in a cocky way at all, but people always seem to attract to us because we are so obviously having such a good, carefree fun time, and welcome all others to join, it’s the best way to meet a lot of people.
We woke up in time for breakfast but it was all gone, much to our dismay. We decided to explore a little bit of Salta before heading back to the BsAs. When I say little bit I mean we literally walked to the bus station bought our tickets, decided we were tired and had seen enough of the town, and hopped on the bus back to home. This time, we splurged for the “Cama” bus which was really like big comfy lazy boys, that served food. It was much more comfortable and I think I slept the entire time.
The trip was expensive but it was my favorite couple of days so far. I saw the most beautiful and diverse things I have ever seen and hung out with some awesome peeps.
Oh guess what, my lovely friend Katherine lent me her camera for the weekend since mine was stolen a few weeks back. I took literally hundreds of photos. And guess what. It was stolen from my backpack on the trip home. Just my luck. Now I’m down 2 cameras and won’t be able to buy one for myself for my big trip at the end. Bummer. But the trip was so awesome I am trying not to dwell on it and it was definitely worth it.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Today I saw an old man tearing down and ripping off all of the porn shop fliers posted all over bus stops, im talking like hundreds of them. It was cute and reassuring. The other day Katherine and I were on a run and we got catcalled at like normal “ah que linda, Hermosa, mi amor” etc. etc., but then they tacked on that we were really lucky we were together. That was threatening and not reassuring nor cute.
This past weekend I went to Tigre(a cute little tourist town on the river) with Emma and Ansley. It was an hour train ride from BsAs, the trip there and back cost about a whopping .75 cents or something like that (big $penda$). When we got there we naturally set out for food and went to this cute rowing club for lunch. It was a beaaautiful day so we sat at a table in the grass and absked in the sunshine and drank some wine and ate some food. Then we caught a big catamaran boat that went down river for about an hour total and checked out the banks of tigre and all the cute river houses that you have to take a boat to get to. It was awesome. After the boat ride we walked around somemore, bought a dozen churros (filled with dulce de leche, of course, I had 6 I think) and headed towards the fair/market and shopped and browsed. I got a headband and a cool ring. Why do I have such an obsession with headbands? It’s a mystery but I just love ‘em. Oh we also went into the ever depressing casino looking for an atm. I think it was the first casino ive ever been in? and it did not spark an interest for gambling for me.
Sunday, I went to mass with my roommate, Juliana, who is from Northern Argentina. I was expecting a huge ornately decorated cathedral but it was nothing special (the church itself). It had the bare minimum as far as paintings and color and stuff, it wasn’t very warm. I don’t think they are all like that here though, I have made it a point to find a cathedral and go to a mass there just to see some hard core latin American catholics. I could barely understand the priest though because the PA system was really muffled and he talked super fast, he lectured about how people shop too much for no reason.
Monday I went to the National Post Office to pick up my package from my parents (finally! Only took a month). I got there at 1 expecting to be out of there in 20 minutes with a system similar to that of the USPS, boy was I wrong. First, I had to get in line to get a number. Then once I got the number, I had to wait an hour for my number to be called. Mind you, some cute old man gave me an earlier number that he had for some reason so I cut about an hour off there. Then, once called I had to give them my slip and then get another slip with another number and go to a room filled with atleast 200 people and wait for that number to be called. After about an hour it finally was called and I got to go to the back and wait in another line to pick up my package. I finally got out of the post office around 4:30 and proceeded to devour all of the reeses my parents packed, it was definitely worth it. I saw one computer in the whole place, it reminded me that I am in fact in a 2nd world country (I think that’s what this is? Haah) the lack of technology here never seizes to amaze me.
This weekend I am going to Salta with Sam, Seth, and Shannon. My friends from Nebraska. Salta is in the North in the Andes mountains and is supposed to be beautiful (“lindisimo”) and HOT! Can’t wait!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
spring in my step
OH!
I almost forgot to mention. You know how I said that noone wears color here and it was semi depressing because of that?
Well thank gawd spring is here. It was WEIRD. Yesterday (the first day of spring "feliz dia") was like a different world. there was color everywhere. and people were smiling. and wearing belly shirts and cool colorful genie pants that I intend to buy when I find the right pair and wear and get made fun of at home.
and everyone was in the park, like everyone. It was just a happier, more colorful, warmer place, and I cant wait for it to keep goin''''
because today was like zap back to winter and dark depressing stuff because the weather is bipolar here too just like home. But tomorrow maybe it will be springy again! One can hope.
broken computer broken life
Hihihi.
So, the UL UK game went well. We went to this "american sports pub" and I felt like I was in America. Seriously, when I heard random (the minority) speaking Spanish I was like huh? Everyone spoke English and there were tons of TVs playing Football (the American kind)! Except, they freaking wouldn't show the UL UK game. Needless to say, I was angry. They said they had to keep the TV that could show ESPNU on some Floyd Maywhether fight because one of the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was coming to watch it there. So I was mad, but also really excited to potentially see one of the RHCP up close and personal. I didn't but thats ok, because instead I met Larry O'Bannon. While I was wearing my UL shirt, we made friends because Louisvillians always do don't they?
They next night we went and saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers in person. Best concert EVER! Even if I was super far away and could have used binoculars to see the stage. I didn't care. After a failed attempt at getting our way to el campo, which is like the floor, by a scary mean aggressive argentine, we settled with our balcony seats and certainly enjoyed it.
I could have cried, but surprisingly didn't, at how exciting it was.
We didn't have class yesterday because it was "feliz primavera" dia y la dia estudiantes, basically a day off for the city to celebrate being students and the first day of spring. Which was BEAUTIFUL! It was almost too hot, we wandered around our favorite park and found a huge concert of first a jazz-jam band type group then a reggae group- it was cool to see it all in Spanish.
So all of my lack of work in the school department is about to kick my butt. I have a ton of work to do, including a take home exam that was assigned monday, due this monday, of 7 pages minimum about obscure Argentine historical things (obviously in Spanish) but get this-- SINGLE SPACED. killllmenowkthxbi.
so yeah I have that as well as some other tests and papers due next weekend...funstufffff.. its times like these I miss cLuB mOnRoe! or for those of you that dont attend loyno, our prestigious (#5 in the country to be exact) library at Loyola.
I also miss all my siiStAz at loyno. shout outs to you guys and goodluck at recruitment- as much as it sucks sometimes, i miss it. yep i MISS IT, and know you all will do superduper.
oh also, my dinosaur computer decided to break again. i dont know how. im thinking the maid must have knocked it or something, but its falling apart, which contributed to my panic attack earlier (along with financial aid stuff, thats always a kicker). it won't shut and after dissecting it, hoping I could rig it John Gray status, i determined it is missing a key part that holds it together and is involved in the opening and shutting. So I will just have to keep it open until I can pass the problem along to my good ol' daddio.. (like you all care about my tech. problems, I was just posting it here in hopes that my dad would read this and prepare to fix stuff)..
speaking of parents, HI! ID LIKE TO TALK TO YOU GUYS SOME TIME. I feel like our roles are reversed, aren't the parents the ones who are always trying to get ahold of the kids???
okeydokey. enough procrastinating-
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