HooHoo-ee

it seems i have been getting out of the city so often over the weekends that ive barely been writing about what im doing normally! Last weekend I went with th program to Salta and Jujuy (see above alliteration) with t he program. they split us up into two groups--half of us went to jujuy and the other half went to the province of córdoba and next weekend we switch. the trip was absolutely incredible. it is very far away (see visual), so we took a plane which was about an hour and a half trip. despite the fact that our flight was delayed 4 hours, we got there safe and sound, stayed in salta for a night, and went to jujuy the next day. we stayed in these cabins that were essentially rectangular little buildings with two separate rooms. The first thing we did, after wating a deeeeeeelicious lunch of tamales and the best chicken ever, we saw this reconstructed incan village built and maintained by the history department of the university of buenos aires. was interesting, albeit a little boring, but there were these enormous saguaro cacti everywhere that were just beautiful. also, we saw llamas, which makes any trip worth it. that night we just kind of chilled out, all very tired and the next day we went on a short hike and then they took us to a small town called humahuaca. there was a really cool artisans market, as well as an amazing cemetery and man, what a view. let me just put it out there that utah has nothing on argentina. these mountains literally looked like they had been colored with crayola crayons. bright purple, bright yellow, green, red...some of them had horizontal stripes of color across them. amazing. it was also cool because its kind of the off season there so we saw hardly any other tourists, which believe me when youre already traveling in a group of 70 is a blessing. i tried the native staple munchie of coca leaves, which the (mostly indigenous) locals chew like gum. its really not that exciting, not that i wanted it to be. it really just tastes like leaves, but they say its good for altitude sickness so we all had some. the third day was my favorite--we took a spectaular three-hour drive through the mountains, which were golden and contrasted with the brightest blue sky i have ever seen in my life. there were lots of formations too--lots of mesas, canyons, etc. amazing. anyways, we go through the mountains to Las Salinas Grandes- the biggest salt flats in the world. at first i was not expecting much--oooh a lot of whiteness. but oh. my. goodness. it was so amazing. miles and miles of flat white land in every direction, and the salt had formed hexagonal formations across the whole surface. they kind of just gave us an hour of free time there, because i mean, how do you take a tour of or do an activity on the salt flats, so i took a long walk on my own, which was great because it would be practically impossible to get lost. just look for the only non-white thing or mountain on the horizon. anywho, then my friend anna and i did a photo shoot on the salt flats, which went a little something like "ooh now lets take some of the two of us with the self-timer" "ooh lets pretend we are stranded in the desert for weeks," "ooh, lets go into fetal position in the hexagons." you know, the usual think you do on the salt flats. the thing you dont realize is that the salt hurts! the whole ground is like a field of tiny knives because the salt is pretty much rock hard. fetal position, it turned out, is not the most comfortable salt-field pose, take my word for it.
after that we went to another little town and had lunch and took a beautiful hike and went to the little flea market there. and THEN night fell upon the andes. we had a big dinner at the hotel, complete with an andean band! it was so great! they were all wearing these big ponchos and some of them had the little bowler hats like in bolivia. instruments included pan flutes, mini-guitars (not ukuleles but mini guitars), drums, and this huge horn thing similar to the ones in the ricola commercials. intense. they kept swinging the hors over our heads--they were like 9 feet long. so great. we danced our little patooties off and then left the next morning for the airport in town. on the bus ride, which took like an hour and a half, like 7 or 8 of us started playing the game mafia...oh man. FIVE HOURS of playing later, as we finally boarded the plane, we decided that mafia may have overstayed its welcome.
it was such a great trip--i am also obsessed with the staff of the program, even more than i was before. the whole thing was just so relaxing, and it was really nice to get closer to some people with whom i hadnt had a chance to get to know yet. im very excited for cordoba.

three days in paradise

So last weekend i went with a friend to Iguazú Falls, a series of gigantic waterfalls all the way in the north of the country, right on the border of both brazil and paraguay. i had made tentative plans with two people to go this weekend, because we wanted a weekend in ba before heading on the program trips next weekend, but both flaked out on me when it came time to actually buy tickets and make reservations. i was seriously considering going alone, as i didnt want to wait until after the program trips, since by that time it would be unbearably hot and humid, but at the last minute this girl i really like who goes to georgetown but didnt come to bariloche agreed to tag along. we made our reservations for a bus that left thursday night and arrived friday afternoon (it is a 16 hour bus ride) and then that left iguazu sunday afternoon and arrived monday morning in ba, so neither of us would miss any classes. now, thursday night i have a class from 4 to 7, and our bus was leaving at 8:45, which really was plenty of time considering i had already packed. but you know, after class i just HAD to stay around and talk for a few minutes and then the night was so warm so i walked home, and then i had to peel and cut the carrots i had bought for us as a snack...long story short, i left my house at 8:00 when it takes 40 minutes to get there by public transport. a smart person would have taken a cab which would take maybe half the time, but to be honest it didnt even occur to me. to make a long story short, picture me running at 8:41 through the sketchy market outside the bus station with my huge backpackers' backpack that had both my and brooks' stuff in it. at 8:42 i come flying around the corner of the ticket booth, where brooks was pretty much already making plans to stay in ba for the weekend, and we made the bus with two minutes to spare. whew. i have to say though, it made the victory of arrival that much sweeter.
anyways, we arrived in puerto iguazú at around 1 on friday and took the bus to our hostel. let me just say that the hostel was nicer than many hotels i have stayed in. it used to be a casino and they converted it into a hostel so there was this huge beautiful pool out in front and the inside was absolutely pristine, with huge windows everywhere and an entire floor as a common area- very conducive to hanging out and meeting people. by the time we had checked in and changed and were ready to go it was like 2 so we decided not to go into the park that day, but rather to go to this lookout poing called tres fronteras ("three borders") which was esentially a cliff from which you could look across the intersecting rivers and see brazil and paraguay. it was very beautiful, and really just cool--you can see the falls from brazil as well as argentina and it would have been great to be able to view them from there as well, but we werent about to pay $100 for a brazilian visa to see the falls for a day. anyways, at tres fronteras we started talking to this guy from our hostel from cambridge, england named john and then the three of us went into town and sat at an outdoor cafe and just hung out for a while. as we were sitting, we also started talking to these three australians that were also staying in our hostel--it was just cool to meet people from all over the world and just hang out. then john and brooks and i went to dinner and played cards for the rest of the night at the hostel. so fun.
the next day brooks and i failed in our attempt to get an early start and got to the park at around 11, which turned out to not be so bad because it was right between the morning and midday rush of tourists. we essentially did all the trails there were--becuase it is all cliffs and waterfalls, pretty much all the trails are simple catwalks that just wind around the cliffs offering different views of the falls. i wish that you could all just see in my minds eye what it looked like--absolutely awesome. the sheer force and volume of the water is such a powerful reminder of how insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things, not to mention the fact that the weather was absolutely perfect (I was wearing sandals and shorts) and the place is a tropical paradise. the constant mist from the waterfalls creates rainbows everywhere and there were incredible butterflies everywhere you looked. needless to say, it was extremely green and lush and the smell in the air was just flowers and freshness--so amazing. as we walked the trails, it seems at every moment that you are getting the most amazing view of the falls and then you walk five more feet and it just gets better. what was really cool about it too was the variety of tourists there. because the walks are so unstrenuous, it is extremely accessible--several of the walks are even wheelchair accessible. what this meant was that in addition to all the backpackers and travelers my age, there were a ton of families with little kids, senior citizen groups, and everything in between. even though this may be the best time to go weather-wise, it is not the peak season so it wasnt that crowded and even though it was touristy, you didnt get the feeling that everyone was trying to sell you something ALL the time.
so as you can see on this maps layout, we did the upper and lower circuits first (blue and yellow), which offered great views of the falls as a whole. then after that walked a trail that is not actually on this map but would be if the map extended more to the right. that trail was so great because even though it didnt lead to the main falls, it was pretty much devoid of any other sightseers so we had the place to ourselves, and it ended in this beautiful (albeit tiny compared to the falls) waterfall with a large surrounding pool. brooks and i had heard about it before and had brought our bathingsuits, but the two people we were hiking with that were also from the program just swam in their underwear--it was so amazing. the water was, of course, FREEZING, but absolutely refreshing, as we were so hot from walking all day. we swam for probably less than an hour and then sat on the rocks to dry out for a little before heading back. man there was something about swimming there though--putting my hair under the waterfall and floating on my back so that all i could see was the blue sky and falling water...priceless.
the two people we were with, of which i was not the biggest fan but whatever, were staying for longer than me and brooks so they went back to the hostel while brooks and i took the train in the park to the garganta del diablo (devils throat), the location of which you can see on the map in pink. we got on the last train there at like 4ish--the sun was jsut starting to sink a little and after a full day of all that amazing sightseeing we thought it would just be another cool fall. im telling you though, seeing that literally brought tears to my eyes. i will post the pictures up asap so you can sort of see what i mean, but no picture could ever really capture how incredible it is. it was so huge and so powerful that when you looked down you couldnt even see the river, which was completely obscured by the mist that rose almost 50 feet in the air. the light at the time was absolutely perfect and because it was the end of the day there were maybe 15 or 20 other people there...the perfect end to a perfect day.
then at night the hostel had a parilla (argentine version of a barbeque), and for 20 pesos (about 6 or 7 dollars) we had an all you can eat buffet including all the different meats and unlimited caiperiñas, this brazilian cocktail that is deeelicious. also, there was like a show with these two brazilian dancers wearing carnaval costumes ie sparkly bra and thong and huge feathered headdress that led all these dances. included in the 20 pesos was also transportation, entrance and a welcome drink at a club in town. i ended up only staying for like an hour, maybe a little more, because i was so tired, but considering that we left the hostel to go out at almost two, i think i did pretty well.
the next day brooks and i got up, packed our stuff and headed to the park, where we made a beeline for the boat tours that take you out and under the falls. let me just say that going under those waterfalls was nothing less than euphoric. it was absolutely unbelievable, definitely the perfect sendout from iguazú. after that we spent about half an hour on this little island in the middle of the river before heading back to the hostel to shower and then to the bus.
the bus ride home was wonderful, as brooks had insisted that we upgrade from the cama ejecutivo to the tutto letto super cama for 25 more pesos, since the seats recline completely flat. i was griping about it but then we got on the bus and let me tell you, it was almost as amazing as the falls. ok not quite but definitely marvelous. something very weird happened, though. we had been on the road about an hour when we stopped at this checkpoint at which neither brooks nor i remembered stopping on the way there. anyway, this army checkpoint guy in a uniform comes on the bus and asks to see everyones passports, which we happily obliged. then another guard comes on with a dog, which i can only assume was a drug/bomb-sniffing dog and goes up and down the aisles. we were sitting in the second to last row and there was only one guy behind us, and the guard holds up this black duffel bag sitting on the floor next to the seat behind us and asks whose it is...we had no idea, the guy behind us insisted it wasnt his...the next thing we knew, the guy behind us is asked to get off the bus and they took all his luggage out of the compartment. it was bizarre- he was coming from iguazú, this tiny town where the only thing to do is the falls and he had four huge suitcases on wheels, and was traveling alone. anyways, they searched all his bags outside the bus (brooks and i got neck cramps from straining to watch), then packed them all up, put them back on the bus, the guy got back in his seat and away we go. very strange. very very strange. welcome to latin america.
all in all, i think it was my favorite trip of all the ones i have been on. it was so nice to be in nature, out of the city, but also to be in the company of someone i could talk to and trust. i really like that brooks is so different from me--a business major at georgetown, preppy mcprepperson, because despite that we do have a lot in common and she is very smart and open-minded. it can be refreshing to have friends that are different from the people you normally hang out with. anyway, i will get the pictures up asap; iguazú is definitely something you should all see once in your life. it will blow you away.

To see my photos of Iguazú, click on the link below:
Iguazú Falls

land of the free, home of the che

okok so i know it was more than two weeks ago at this point but i have to write about my trip to rosario. rosario is a city about four hours away from buenos aires (see left), and we went there because we had a three-day weekend but didnt want to travel too far. i went with three girls from the program (read: american), and we booked our bus tickets and hostel only a day or two before we left. the thing was that there was only one hostel in the city with room left because of the fact that it was a three-day weekend. anyways, after an uneventful bus ride we get to the hostel only to discover that old reliable hostelworld.com was down and they had not recieved any of the reservations from the past week. as a result, they were already overbooked by six people because of the same situation, and had dug up mattresses for them to sleep on the floor. the people at the hostel were extremely apologetic and called every hostel and cheap hotel in the city to try to find somewhere, but everything was completely full with the exception of a four-star hotel. they gave us the option of sleeping on the floor for three dollars the first night and said that we would have beds the second night because people were leaving. so we had a quick huddle and decided we were young and adventurous enough to sleep on the floor of a hostel for one night, BUT before we make any decisions the hostel people told us that there were 31 boys staying in the hostel and three girls. they were like look, we feel really bad and youre more than welcome to stay here but there are all these boys that are smelly and loud and will bother and annoy you like you wouldnt believe so its up to you. at that point we had decided to just make the best of it and resist breathing in the odor for as long as we could. we split up and me and my friend dena went for a walk through the city and to the small art museum while the other two girls hung out at the hostel. by the time we got back, the other girls had already gone out so dena and i went to dinner and back to the hostel and spent some quality time with our 6781627641786 new roommates.the plan was to drink a little and go out at like 2:30 (which believe me isnt that late here) but dena and i had a leetle too much cheap wine and were in "bed" ie on the floor with army blankets by like 3. the boys were all loud and drunk and annoying though so we moved to the living room to sleep and i had the pleasure of spending the night on a wicker couch with cushions. not exactly the lap of luxury but for three dollars it was a roof over my head.
the next day we walked around some more--rosario is home to argentina's first flag and there is like a shrine built for it with this huge tower and plaza. i forgot to mention that joining the four of us was this crazy tall venezuelan guy named carlo who had all kinds of shells and knicknacks in his dreadlocks and made a living by selling these tiny whistles made out of straws. so random. anywho we saw the view from the tower and the other two girls went on a boat tour in the river that runs along the city, but it was raining so dena and i passed and went to lunch where we ate the most delicious paella in the history of the world. not exaggerating. it was amazing. we walked around and went to this cultural center and then went to the planetarium which was so relaxing and fun. the reason for this entry's title is that che guevara was born in rosario and they dont let you forget it for a second. there are pictures of him evvvvvverywhere and it was all the guy could talk about at the cultural center. what's funny is that che guevara lived in so many places throughout argentina and south america that every town or city has that pride, but as the cultural center guy said, he was only born in one place. haha or jaja as they say here.
after the planetarium we bought food to make pasta and salad back at the hostel and then cooked for ourselves and by ourselves i mean the four of us and every male inhabitant of the hostel that smelled food and came to reap the fruits of our labor. i mean really, what could we have expected. we went out that night but not till too late and then the next day went for a long walk to the river, which was beautiful because it was the first sunny day there. there was a really cool flea market where i bought earrings for four pesos (like $1.30). because it was a holiday the whole park along the river was full of families and people playing soccer and kites flying and fishermen catching trout in the river. so great. after that we just got ourselves to the bus station and went home. it was very nice--a lot like buenos aires but mini and not so intense, perfect for a weekend away. what was also cool is that we met so many people from BA and also other foreigners studying here that we had a whole new group of people to hang out with when we got back which was so fun, expecially because they were from europe as opposed to the us. i was glad to come back to BA though--there is nothing like being packed on that subway like sardines in a can with the whole day ahead of you.

also, here is the link to my photos!! the album is both bariloche and rosario...and some miscellaneous stuff thrown in as well, just to keep you on your toes.
click this sentence to view my photos!