Buenos Aires to Sucre

On Friday I left Buenos Aires to begin my travels. I took a bus from BsAs to the border with Bolivia. It was a 26 hour trip but it was not bad at all. It was interesting to see the variety of views throughout northern Argentina, from flat lands to what looked like jungle coverd mountians. That part was quite beautiful. Sometimes I seem to forget how many diferent kinds of landscapes are contained within the country. Arrived in La Quiaca (Argentine side) on Saturday afternoon, where I walked across and did all the paperwork and payments to enter Bolivia. Villazon (on the Bolivian side) looked like Tijuana to me, I guess lots of border towns have a run down look to them. Got a bite to eat and then got on a bus from there to Sucre. It was a 12 hour trip on a small bus or large van full of about 40 people. It was cold, cramped and unbelievable bumpy ride. Everyone told me that busses in Bolivia are and experience but I really had no idea. Most of it was on windy dirt roads that went up and down the mountians. After surviving that I feel like any sort of trip will be not so bad. Arrived in Sucre around dawn and had some trouble getting into a hostel but another group of travelers helped me out and I got to sleep from dawn til about noon in Sucre.

Ushuaia pt. 1

On Wednesday I flew down here to Ushuaia. My first day was traquilo, just walked around the main part of town and the canal. Being only 1000km from Antarctica and the beginning of winter it is obviously quite cold down here, usually right around freezing. Anyways, I found lots of sports stores, which were surprisingly inexpensive. I gave in and finally bought a pair of trekking shoes. Completely water resistant and insulated, they ended up being a perfect purchase since there is no way I could have done anything I’ve done here in just my Converse. Plus I imagine they will come in handy over the next few weeks. Wednesday night my lack of sleep from the past two days finally caught up with me and I passed out at like 9pm.

Ushuaia pt. 5

Monday was a holiday so again everything was closed down. I tried to walk around the upper part of the city but it didn’t go to well because I hurt my knee the other day. I think it was Saturday night when I was walking to the bar I slipped on some ice on the sidewalk. Anyways, now my knee is all swollen and it hurts to bend it. So I just spent the day hanging out at the hostel. Caught my flight that night and got back to the city by Tuesday morning.

All in all it was a great trip. The city itself was beautiful and relaxing, though I could have done everything I wanted to do in about 3 days (versus staying for 6). I think the glacier was my favorite excursion. Also, the people were amazing. It was incredible to see how people from different cultures, languages and ages can come together and learn from each other. I guess that’s the other thing I feel like I took away from this trip, more knowledge (and recipes!).

SEE ALL MY PHOTOS HERE.

This was my first time really traveling alone and it has made me sooo sooo excited to start the rest of my travels!

Change of plans . . .

Once again, I´ve decided to change around all my plans! I love that I can re-adjust my life and be impuslive in a way that lets me do what makes me happiest. Ok maybe impulsive isn´t the right word. I´m not one to make decisions without thinking them through and weighing all the pros and cons. Honestly it makes me very happy to be reminded how much control I have over my life and I´m glad that I don´t have things that hold me back or prevent me from doing exactly what I want. Ahh to be young and without major responsibilites. Jaja.

Anyways, the new plan is to stop classes, travel earlier and go back to the states earlier. On Wednesday I head to Ushuaia (no more El Calafate). On Monday night I´ll fly back to Buenos Aires and then start traveling on Thursday or Friday. I´ll start my 5 week travel-by-bus through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. I´m trying to find some sort of flight back but I might have to bus back as well (ahhh I don´t want to do 3-5 days on a bus). I will get back to Buenos Aires by the 8th of July and the next day my mom comes. Two weeks with her in the city and a trip to Bariloche then I´ll fly back to the states the 20th or 22nd of July. A few days in Msvl then down to San Diego by August 2nd so I can start summer school.

I´m really happy with this choice to change things around and oohhhh I can´t wait to start traveling!

Tests and Travels

I'm officially done with my first round of midterms. I had a theory midterm last week and then my history midterm on Tuesday. Both went ok but I'm not sure how they will be graded (I'm hoping for 7's because if I get 7's or higher on all my midterms I won't have to take finals).

This was also a big week for flight purchases. I booked a flight for my momma to come visit me for 2 weeks in July! I am so very excited for this and last night I even had a dream about her being here to visit. Thinking about someone coming to visit me has made me realize how much I'm going to have to explain. There are many aspects of la vida cotidiana (everyday life) that I am accustomed to that I forget are completely different from life in Cali. Like the people selling things on the subte and busses, cat-calls, the importance of monedas (coins), toilets . . . things that were strange to me when I first arrived but now are just a normal part of life. Besides just being able so see and visit with my mom, I'm excited for someone from home to be able to share this part of my life with me. Living here in BsAs has affected me so much and I am glad to have the opportunity for someone from my other life to come here and understand it.

The other big flight purchase was a flight to El Calafate and Ushuaia. On the 20th of May I'm flying to El Calafate which is in southern Argentina near the Andean mountian range. I'll probably spend a day or two there seeing glaciers and parks. Then I'll take a 12-14 hour bus to Ushuaia (with one stop along the way). Ushuaia is the most southern city in the world! - Note: Buenos Aires is more south than South Africa - And I'll likely spend about 4 days in Ushuaia! Ahh I'm sooo excited for this. There probably won't be enough snow for snowboarding but I'm still looking forward to doing things like tours, boat rides, seeing national parks etc.

I've also started looking into a trip to Brazil for late June and I've been thinking about trying to make it to Colombia in August . . . its just a thought and would depend on when I start traveling, how much I like Chile, when I fly back to the U.S. . . . .

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.