Northern Peru and Ecuador

Ok so I don´t have a lot to say about this part of my trip and honestly I´m getting kind of bored writing this. So I´ll do a quick summary. After Machu Pichhu I went back to Cusco for a few hours then took an overnight bus to Lima. Lima was kind of shocking for me because it was the first time I had been in such a developed, huge and westernized city since I left Buenos Aires. Just seeing all the new cars was weird. But I did get to go to Starbucks (I´m bad, I know). Only stayed one night in Lima then did a 18 hour bus ride to the border with Ecuador. Met a really nice Peruvian guy (but who had been living in Europe for the past 15 years) on the bus named Carlos. We helped each other out crossing the border (which is a bit tricky between Peru and Ecuador) and then decided to go to Cuenca together. Cuenca, Ecuador ended up being a small town reminiscent of Sucre, Bolivia. The best part was that there was some sort of festival going on so each evening the main square was filled to the brim with booths of people selling all kinds of sweets and chocolates. I was in heaven!! The street food was good too and on our last night there was a big fireworks show. From there we headed to Quito, Ecuador (the capital). I didn´t like Quito at all. For me it was just a big, dirty and unsafe city that didn´t hold any appeal. Here Carlos met up with a friend and I left the day after I arrived. From Quito I bussed to the Colombian border (in total it takes about 20 hours in bus to cross Ecuador).

Ushuaia pt. 4

Saturday I slept in finally and then just did some shopping in town. Chocolates, gifts, more socks . . . . It’s still strange to me how everything just shuts down on Sundays. Most stores are closed all day and even the restaurants are closed or have much shorter hours. Even in Buenos Aires. Also, in smaller towns shops are usually closed in the afternoon, from about one to four or five. I guess it makes sense since most people are at work during that time but it’s still strange to adjust too.

So ya, besides that all I really did was eat dinner with everyone in the hostel. Siscu cooked paella that was delicious. I got the recipe from him and I’m gonna try it out soon!

Sunday . . . . walked around town with Guillermo and Siscu. Found some really pretty views of the city. In the afternoon some other people from the hostel and I went on a boat tour of the Beagle Channel. It was pretty expensive and really touristy but it was worth it. It took us out to an island from which you have a great view of the city. Then an island with sea lions, an island with these birds that look like penguins but aren’t actually penguins (they could fly). And lastly we went past a lighthouse, which everyone calls the lighthouse at the end of the world even though the most austral lighthouse is actually on Staten Island which is off the coast of Tierra del Fuego.

Olavarría

For Semana Santa (aka Holy Week) I took a mini vacation to the town of Olavarría which is the hometown of Santi and Majo (two people I lived with last semester). It was about a 7 hour bus ride that flew by because Norma (former roommate), Christo (also lived at the Resi last semester) and I slept the whole time. Friday we got a little tour of the town, had fish and rice for dinner and then enjoyed a bit of the night life. For me, Saturday was the best part of the trip. We woke up and around 11 we drove out to Santi's parent's country house. It was about an hour drive through fields and farms and it looked surprisingly like the drive on I-5 when you are north of the grape vine. Just flat fields with occasional houses or clumps of trees. We ate an amazing asado that was mostly carne (i.e. cow meat). Mmmm and my favorite is the choripan! After eating copious amounts of meat we all laid around in the grass outside and napped. The weather was absolutly perfect and it was the most relaxing thing I've done in a long time. When we woke up we enjoyed some mate and fracturas (little pastries with a fruit filling or chocolate drizzeled). Then we explored the camp a bit and saw the horses, mini ponies, sheep, cows, orchards and miles and miles of pastures. By the time we finished the sun was setting and it was absolutely breathtaking. It was a really nice día en el campo. Saturday night we had more yummy home cooking and checked out more of the nightlife.

Sunday we went to Majo's parent's house for lunch. Again we had a delicious asado but with different kinds of meat than the day before and great red wine. I was brave and I tried liver, lamb and something else (I still don't know what it was). Of the three the only thing I didn't like was the liver, ewwww. After lunch we had some ice cream and chocolate eggs (because of course the commercial parts of the holiday exist everywhere . . .). In the afternoon me, Santi, Majo, Norma and Christo all piled into Majo's dad's truck and he drove us back to BsAs. But since it was the end of a long weekend we of course hit a ton of traffic trying to get back into the city. So Majo's dad decided to take a short cut and explore a bit. We ended up driving through probably 25 or 35 miles of country back roads but it worked and we got around what a huge traffic jab that was probably because of an accident.

Overall it was a really great weekend and here are the rest of the pics. I love going home with people and getting a glimpse of family life outside of the city. It is also refreshing to be in a house, with a loving family eating "mom's" delicious home cooking." Jaja. This trip did re-awaken my desire to get out and travel more while I'm here. I spent quite a bit of today planning out some of the trips I want to make and trying to decide when I'm going to go where . . . .

Chau, besos.

Sunday Morning

I think there is a good chance that this is the most unproductive I've ever been. Even when I was in Msvl for two months with absolutely no responsibilities I got more done than I have in the past week or so. And with the holidays I know next week will be more of the same. Ehhh I hate feeling like this but sometimes I just don't know how to get out of it. Hopefully once I have more responsibilities and get into a more regular schedule it will get better.

Oh I did have a big achievement today though! My Señora is out of town for two weeks and when I woke up this afternoon (yes it was past 12) the internet wasn't working. So I fiddled with equipment a bit but still, no internet. So . . . instead of giving up I found the number and called tech support. I talked to the guy and he walked me through what I had to do to fix the connection. I am posting this so obviously I got it to work. Now, the exciting part of all this is that it was all in Spanish! I mean tech support or customer service can be hard and a major pain in the ass in general, but doing it all in your second language (and I don't know computer jargon in Spanish) is hard! So ya, I was very pround of myself.

P.S.
Did you know that hotdogs taste absolutely amazing at 5:30 in the morning??

Classes, Cooking, Conversation

I can't believe its been almost a month already. It is kind of scary, how fast time goes by. Every year just goes by faster than the one before it and everyone tells me that this is the way it will always be. That the older you get the faster time seems to go by. I don't want it to be like that! I want things to pass slowly so I can take everything in and enjoy the little things in each moment.

Ah, anyways . . . things are going well here in BsAs. I changed my schedule around at UBA. I'm now taking History of Argentina and Theory of International Relations. History is a bit boring but I like it because it is giving me a more in depth understanding of things I already know a little about. I've only had one Theory class (I joined the class during 3rd week) but I really really like it so far. The readings are very stimulating and it seems to be quite relevant to my major (go figure from the title and all).

My exciting news: my cooking is improving! I cooked my first real peice of meat the other day. Steak with sauted peppers and onions. Mmmm it was quite yummy if I do say so myself. Even my old standby - pasta - is getting better. I'm figuring out new varieties and new kinds of sauces.

I've also been a little home sick lately too. I think its probably because I was without internet for about two weeks so I haven't really been able to talk to anyone from home. I miss my family so so much. I want them to be here so they can share some of these experiences with me. And I miss all the things I do with my friends from home. I'm sad I'm missing baseball season (but I do get to listen to UOP games online). And I miss my girls in San Diego, especially Dollar Scoop. But, now that I have internet I can start catching up with people I miss and start making arrangements for people to come visit me . . . . yay!

Settling In

I'm all done with UCSD for the year! Last night was quite a roller coaster trying to finish my last final. It was a 10 page research paper and I had everything done except for actually writing the essay, which for the life of me I couldn't do. Briefly, I even contemplated just not doing it . . . but then someone gave my own advise back to me and that motivated me to get going on it. Note to self: don't try to do finals while in another country. Ohh and look what I found . . . http://www.ulinks.com/topuniversities.htm Top 10 in the nation is pretty damn good I must say. Thought UBA started today but really it starts Wednesday for me (today and tomorrow's classes are like section and thus don't happen before the first lecture). Still not completely sure how this system works but I'm learning and adapting.

Went grocery shopping today so now I wont starve! My diet is gonna be a bit restricted for a while. I'm good with fruits, pastas and sauces here and in the U.S. but I'm not too confident with meats. Even in San Diego I pretty much stick to shrimp and chicken (jaja anyone I've lived with who is reading this is laughing right now). Maybe I should get Santi or Nahuel to take me shopping and teach me how to buy and cook more meat. Ehh I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok time to Skype. Besos!