Monday, July 27, 2009
Dont cry for me Argentina
Well this is it! I fly out of here in 4 hours. For my last night I stayed in with all the Roadies. It was really fun actually. Most people go out, staying up til the sun rises. But staying in allowed me to really hang out with my friends that have made this trip amazing. I have had an incredible time, and hope to come back someday. I hope my blog has allowed you to see a little of what Argentina has to offer. I highly recommend it to everybody. See you all soon!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Mas Vino, mas amigos, mas actividades
I do not really know where to start with this blog. I feel as though these past four days had about 2 weeks worth of experiences in them. A (somewhat) short summary.
Wed. Night- There was a stressful start at the omnibus station: turns out that the day before independence day is the like traveling during thanksgiving... and with a group of 16 looking for the right bus loading station 5 minutes before it was leaving was enough to give anyone gray hairs. We filled most of the top of the bus... except there were 5 Argentines, and I felt very sorry for them, because they were subjected to the party bus mentality of 16 young adults. Most of us brought another bottle of wine for the ride, just in the spirit of the trip to wine country. Destination: Mendoza.Thursday: Booking 16 peoples activities and hostel rooms at the same time was a headache waiting to happen. But we were able to divide up into smaller groups and things went so well after that.I was kind of physically and mentally tired from the 15 hour bus ride, so 5 of us just explored the city.
It is so different from Buenos Aires: there were huge parks that were filled with people doing all types of things (futbol, volleyball, frisbee, markets ect). It is a very beautiful town.I met so many people on this trip to: Belen (Argentine), Mark (Australian), Josey (French/Dutch), Roberta (Italian), Chip (Californian), Kevin (Texan). The list goes on, but lets just say that after all the different conversations we had about life, traveling, cultures ect. I really felt that I was removed from the shell of ethnocentrism that is so prevelant in our country. As the Argentine put it, we think we are the belly button of the world. It was very interesting to hear her opinion about out country, and her country, we talked about 4 or 5 hours. It turns out her father owns an architecture firm in Cordoba, with 10 architects and about 100 employees....and she does the interviewing...A longer trip next summer?
Friday: One of the girls traveling with us knew the owner of Argentina's Adventures, so we had a hookup for the day. It was an hour ride into the Andes mountains. The scenery was beautiful. The first activity of the day really woke us right up: White water rafting. Ive never been before, it was amazing! We saw a lama and the condor (king of the mountains). After the rafting we had a nice hot shower, then back to action. We hiked to various locations and went ziplining through the amazing scenery. It was pretty surreal that I was flying through the air over a lake in the Andes. It was all so affordable, for the whole day it only cost $60! Im still blown away by the price of things. That night the hostel put together a dinner for about 50 people. It cost $6 and was an all you can eat BBQ, and all you can drink tequilla...
The group of 16 was hectic again of course, but I split into a smaller group of 6. We had lunch at one of the wineries and while we waited we did some wine tasting. and some more wine tasting. Lets just say that riding the bikes to the other wineries was a little harder. I bought a 2004 bottle of a special Malbec that I can age up to 12 years. It will be nice to have a bottle on reserve for a special occation. It was nearing sunset and Mr. Hugo was nice enough to come and check all our air pressure AND called a police export for our safety. That night was very chill-had the long talk with the Argentine about architecture in Cordoba.
Sunday: Our bus didnt leave until 6pm. So what better to do then find a nice sunny field, drink wine and play some frisbee. Seriously we had an amazing group of people and a very relaxing time. Getting to the bus on time was a little hectic, but we managed.
Internship: I have kind of given up on actually building houses, but I am helping with their graphic designs and marketing of the NPO. I get to see pictures of all the amazing things they do, and design different handouts. So I am somewhat exposed to the things they do. I just wish that I could have built with them...Heres a picture of the bricks we moved the other weekend. I kept my shirt on so the camera was not blinded by my pasty white skin.
I only have 8 days left. But a lot of people in the Road house are leaving at the end of the month. Itll be sad, after this weekend I feel like Ive known some of them for years. Itll be nice to have people to call up if I ever travel.
Im ready to head home actually. This next week will mostly be spent going to all the places in BA that ive been meaning to since I got here. Sorry I have not posted as often as I would have liked, but I hope you have all enjoyed it.
Wed. Night- There was a stressful start at the omnibus station: turns out that the day before independence day is the like traveling during thanksgiving... and with a group of 16 looking for the right bus loading station 5 minutes before it was leaving was enough to give anyone gray hairs. We filled most of the top of the bus... except there were 5 Argentines, and I felt very sorry for them, because they were subjected to the party bus mentality of 16 young adults. Most of us brought another bottle of wine for the ride, just in the spirit of the trip to wine country. Destination: Mendoza.Thursday: Booking 16 peoples activities and hostel rooms at the same time was a headache waiting to happen. But we were able to divide up into smaller groups and things went so well after that.I was kind of physically and mentally tired from the 15 hour bus ride, so 5 of us just explored the city.
It is so different from Buenos Aires: there were huge parks that were filled with people doing all types of things (futbol, volleyball, frisbee, markets ect). It is a very beautiful town.I met so many people on this trip to: Belen (Argentine), Mark (Australian), Josey (French/Dutch), Roberta (Italian), Chip (Californian), Kevin (Texan). The list goes on, but lets just say that after all the different conversations we had about life, traveling, cultures ect. I really felt that I was removed from the shell of ethnocentrism that is so prevelant in our country. As the Argentine put it, we think we are the belly button of the world. It was very interesting to hear her opinion about out country, and her country, we talked about 4 or 5 hours. It turns out her father owns an architecture firm in Cordoba, with 10 architects and about 100 employees....and she does the interviewing...A longer trip next summer?Friday: One of the girls traveling with us knew the owner of Argentina's Adventures, so we had a hookup for the day. It was an hour ride into the Andes mountains. The scenery was beautiful. The first activity of the day really woke us right up: White water rafting. Ive never been before, it was amazing! We saw a lama and the condor (king of the mountains). After the rafting we had a nice hot shower, then back to action. We hiked to various locations and went ziplining through the amazing scenery. It was pretty surreal that I was flying through the air over a lake in the Andes. It was all so affordable, for the whole day it only cost $60! Im still blown away by the price of things. That night the hostel put together a dinner for about 50 people. It cost $6 and was an all you can eat BBQ, and all you can drink tequilla...
Saturday: It was pretty unfortunate that the all you can drink tequila was the day before our wine tasting, but we managed to wake up in a timely manner. We took a bus to Mr. Hugo's, the nicest and happiest guy Ive ever met. He runs a bike business for the wine tours. Unfortunatly, Sarah, a girl from Harvard, never learned how to ride a bike...Everyone didnt want to deal with her and left right away. I felt bad and tried to teach her how to ride...Failed. Luckily for her, they had a tandum bike, which was a struggle because she still couldnt balance that well.
The group of 16 was hectic again of course, but I split into a smaller group of 6. We had lunch at one of the wineries and while we waited we did some wine tasting. and some more wine tasting. Lets just say that riding the bikes to the other wineries was a little harder. I bought a 2004 bottle of a special Malbec that I can age up to 12 years. It will be nice to have a bottle on reserve for a special occation. It was nearing sunset and Mr. Hugo was nice enough to come and check all our air pressure AND called a police export for our safety. That night was very chill-had the long talk with the Argentine about architecture in Cordoba.
Sunday: Our bus didnt leave until 6pm. So what better to do then find a nice sunny field, drink wine and play some frisbee. Seriously we had an amazing group of people and a very relaxing time. Getting to the bus on time was a little hectic, but we managed.
Internship: I have kind of given up on actually building houses, but I am helping with their graphic designs and marketing of the NPO. I get to see pictures of all the amazing things they do, and design different handouts. So I am somewhat exposed to the things they do. I just wish that I could have built with them...Heres a picture of the bricks we moved the other weekend. I kept my shirt on so the camera was not blinded by my pasty white skin.
I only have 8 days left. But a lot of people in the Road house are leaving at the end of the month. Itll be sad, after this weekend I feel like Ive known some of them for years. Itll be nice to have people to call up if I ever travel.
Im ready to head home actually. This next week will mostly be spent going to all the places in BA that ive been meaning to since I got here. Sorry I have not posted as often as I would have liked, but I hope you have all enjoyed it.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Tourist or Experiencing Culture?
Well I have been busy this past week! I finished up my spanish classes this Friday (written and oral, passed them both!). I thought I deserved a little something to celebrate, so a 16 hour bus ride was in order. Now this may sound like a pretty terrible experience, but, let me tell you, these buses make first class airline seats a joke. These seats were pretty much lazyboys, that could recline until you were completely horizontal.
Add the fact that we got cafe (with chocolate covered cookies), a complete dinner (wine included), a nightcap (champagne or a nice glass of whisky), a breakfast and 5 movies, I'd say that it was worth the whole $110 round trip price.
Now where would I travel to that takes 16 hours in a bus? Iguazu falls, thats where. Check out the facebook album for pictures. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen, and if you anywhere near the area, you must go. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world (on one of the lists) . (for more info)The biggest attraction is called devils throat, and puts Niagara falls to shame. Its amazing that the must water can be falling all the time...Crazy water cycle. We hiked the whole day, getting different views of all 275 waterfalls...I could stop taking pictures. The wildlife was pretty cool too. Its a subtropical rainforest, and was very humid, but not to hot. The soil was red because of the high iron content. The most interesting wild life we saw was a crazy animal called a coati (looks like a cross between a racoon and an ant eater). They act like racoons, but with less fear of people. Example: it jumped up on our table and stole half of my friends sandwhich. Apart from that, there were pretty butterflies, and pretty colorful birds.
That night we went to a nice parilla(steakhouse) in town and ate amazing steak, drank about a bottle of malbec each, and had various appetizers, all for about $15 us dollars. I never was a red wine drinker before, but now its all I drink. We stayed at a hostel for $10, that had a billiard pool table and a swimming pool.
The next day we woke up at 7:30 to start our jungle adventure. After some small money issues, we were on our way to a very action packed day (maybe should not have opened that other bottle of wine...). It started with a 30 minute ride in an openair tour bus to the zipline/hiking trial. The road (if you could call it that) was very bumpy and wet from the rain the night before. The guide had us fill out a form with our names and passport numbers to give to the military, which im sure they could not read because we had to write it while we were driving through a mine field they called a road. As we passed the "military", which consisted of two teenagers holding rifles, I began to wonder if the forms we filled were actually volunteering us for military service.
The hike was informative, and the ziplining was exhilarating. After we hiked some more and repelled down a cliff. With every mosquito bite I got, I thought, was that one carrying yellow fever?
On the way back, we passed through by the local people's village. The tour guide explained to us that they spoke a mix between spanish and an indiginous language. they live off the land, and their houses were made out of mud, rocks, and a thatched roof.
As the other people of the tour bus all took out their cameras and pointed it at the few houses in the fields, I caught the gaze of a young man standing in a door way. I looked in his eyes and saw what I took to be contempt. It really made me reconsider what I was doing in this foreign country. I am playing the role of a tourist, taking a picture of this alien environment to show friends and family back home, saying look what I have seen. I wish there was a way for me to get off of this tour bus and experience what I am seeing on a different level.
This past weekend I was given that chance. Saturday I went north of the city, about a 40 min car ride, to a smaller town. When I heard I was going to the plan techos brick factory, I pictured a warehouse with big machinery and a lot of workers. It turns out it was a half empty 30 by 60 foot dirt lot, with a make shift pavilion that covered the bricks that were made.
I spent the next 4 hours helping the 6 people who work at the factory move anything of value onto a semi truck. 2 of them were guys my age, whose house was built by plan techos. I ended up working with George, a 21 year old who was also a boxer. I actually did alright communicating. We started by talking about music. 50cent, akon, and eminem were the americans that they idolized, he even had a D12 tatoo on his arm (eminems band). It was kind of humorous what they were influenced by from america: i doubt eminem knows he has a fanbase in a small town north or Buenos Aires.
After we loaded about 500 cmu blocks, we drove to the new "brick factory". I met Georges family and introduced myself as a student from michigan who is striving to be an architect and wants to build houses with them. the one guy who spoke english told me that they all loved me and wanted me to take my picture with them (the girls were the ones he was referring too). It was a really fulfilling day, I felt like I had actually done something constructive with my time.
Next post: my trip to Uruguay and Mendoza. That is if I survive the skydiving :p Love and miss you all.
Dave
Add the fact that we got cafe (with chocolate covered cookies), a complete dinner (wine included), a nightcap (champagne or a nice glass of whisky), a breakfast and 5 movies, I'd say that it was worth the whole $110 round trip price.
Now where would I travel to that takes 16 hours in a bus? Iguazu falls, thats where. Check out the facebook album for pictures. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen, and if you anywhere near the area, you must go. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world (on one of the lists) . (for more info)The biggest attraction is called devils throat, and puts Niagara falls to shame. Its amazing that the must water can be falling all the time...Crazy water cycle. We hiked the whole day, getting different views of all 275 waterfalls...I could stop taking pictures. The wildlife was pretty cool too. Its a subtropical rainforest, and was very humid, but not to hot. The soil was red because of the high iron content. The most interesting wild life we saw was a crazy animal called a coati (looks like a cross between a racoon and an ant eater). They act like racoons, but with less fear of people. Example: it jumped up on our table and stole half of my friends sandwhich. Apart from that, there were pretty butterflies, and pretty colorful birds.
That night we went to a nice parilla(steakhouse) in town and ate amazing steak, drank about a bottle of malbec each, and had various appetizers, all for about $15 us dollars. I never was a red wine drinker before, but now its all I drink. We stayed at a hostel for $10, that had a billiard pool table and a swimming pool.
The next day we woke up at 7:30 to start our jungle adventure. After some small money issues, we were on our way to a very action packed day (maybe should not have opened that other bottle of wine...). It started with a 30 minute ride in an openair tour bus to the zipline/hiking trial. The road (if you could call it that) was very bumpy and wet from the rain the night before. The guide had us fill out a form with our names and passport numbers to give to the military, which im sure they could not read because we had to write it while we were driving through a mine field they called a road. As we passed the "military", which consisted of two teenagers holding rifles, I began to wonder if the forms we filled were actually volunteering us for military service.
The hike was informative, and the ziplining was exhilarating. After we hiked some more and repelled down a cliff. With every mosquito bite I got, I thought, was that one carrying yellow fever?
On the way back, we passed through by the local people's village. The tour guide explained to us that they spoke a mix between spanish and an indiginous language. they live off the land, and their houses were made out of mud, rocks, and a thatched roof.
As the other people of the tour bus all took out their cameras and pointed it at the few houses in the fields, I caught the gaze of a young man standing in a door way. I looked in his eyes and saw what I took to be contempt. It really made me reconsider what I was doing in this foreign country. I am playing the role of a tourist, taking a picture of this alien environment to show friends and family back home, saying look what I have seen. I wish there was a way for me to get off of this tour bus and experience what I am seeing on a different level.
This past weekend I was given that chance. Saturday I went north of the city, about a 40 min car ride, to a smaller town. When I heard I was going to the plan techos brick factory, I pictured a warehouse with big machinery and a lot of workers. It turns out it was a half empty 30 by 60 foot dirt lot, with a make shift pavilion that covered the bricks that were made.
I spent the next 4 hours helping the 6 people who work at the factory move anything of value onto a semi truck. 2 of them were guys my age, whose house was built by plan techos. I ended up working with George, a 21 year old who was also a boxer. I actually did alright communicating. We started by talking about music. 50cent, akon, and eminem were the americans that they idolized, he even had a D12 tatoo on his arm (eminems band). It was kind of humorous what they were influenced by from america: i doubt eminem knows he has a fanbase in a small town north or Buenos Aires.
After we loaded about 500 cmu blocks, we drove to the new "brick factory". I met Georges family and introduced myself as a student from michigan who is striving to be an architect and wants to build houses with them. the one guy who spoke english told me that they all loved me and wanted me to take my picture with them (the girls were the ones he was referring too). It was a really fulfilling day, I felt like I had actually done something constructive with my time.
Next post: my trip to Uruguay and Mendoza. That is if I survive the skydiving :p Love and miss you all.
Dave
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