cerveza and freakz

What’s a year abroad without an Oktoberfest weekend?!?  I mean, Villa General Belgrano IS the Munich of South America…

Side note: I have found out that it is indeed possible go from my house in Belgrano to the bus in Retiro in less than thirty minutes, even while stopping for some chori.  A little risqué perhaps, but definitely doable.

We got to VGB around 8am on Friday morning, a little groggy and disoriented after the 12-hour bus ride.  Once we were all together, we got on a bus to Los Reartes.  After unknowingly missing our stop, we were dropped off literally in the middle of nowhere, unsure as to where we were actually headed.  After a long, sleepy walk in the cordobés heat, we managed to make our way to Cabañas Dali Luma, complete with a parrilla and pileta.  We settled in, showered, and changed, and were on our way back to VGB. 

Is this not the most ultimate hitchhiking car?

Buses are few, so we resorted to the standard Latin American form of transportation: hacer dedo.  (Yes, I can finally cross that off my bucket list!) Santiago and José de Mendoza managed to shove five of us in the back seat of their 1980’s sedan, even though the weight of all of us resulted in the back bumper dragging on the ground.  Sorry, dudes.  After having lunch in VGB and seeing that the Oktoberfest activities hadn’t started yet, we got loaded up on asado essentials and headed back to Dali Luma.  We spent the rest of the beautiful day by the pool, saving up our energy for that night’s asado.

Four sliced fingers later, our asado was ready.  It was an asado completo, with a full ensalada, chori y bife.  I guess I was a little too excited to eat my chori, because I spent the rest of the night with excruciating heartburn.

The cabañas were right on the Río Los Reartes, so we spent that hot Saturday morning and early afternoon chilling by the river, getting ready for the locura of Oktoberfest al cordobés. 

VGB is a very interesting place, a lot like Epcot’s Munich.  After getting our steins, we went around to all of the stands, fully absorbing the pedo argentino.  There were plenty of crazy people dressed up wearing wigs made of questionable materials, dancing to weird German music, taking steins to the face.  After many hours immersing us into the so-called German culture, we headed back to Dali Luma for a late night asado.  Luckily, this round of chori nomming was heartburn free, and I was sure to make up for the chori I was not able to eat the night before! 

After a lot of indecisiveness on Sunday morning, we decided to spend the day in the city of Córdoba.  It was a long walk along the river, to the main street, then up the main street until we came across the bus stop.  We knew it would be a while before the bus would come, so we figured we might as well get comfortable.  There just happened to be an ice cream parlor across the street from the bus stop, so we loaded up on the best ice cream that I’ve had in Argentina.  (Which is saying a lot, since the ice cream in Argentina is AMAZING.)  What was even better about this ice cream was that a medium cone was only 12 pesos…take that Freddo!  We spent a solid two hours sitting on the side of the road, basically looking like vagos, waiting for the bus.  We got to Córdoba around 4pm, found lunch, and wandered around the city for the rest of the afternoon. There are lots of college students in Córdoba, with both Argentine and extranjeros, so it’s a very young city.  But it’s also a very small city and we did not need more than a half-day there.  I’m definitely glad I came to Buenos Aires to study; I can see myself getting bored in little Córdoba.

But I mean, there is nothing like the energía porteña.

We went to La Zete for dinner, a delicious Middle Eastern restaurant.   It was a pretty early dinner…for Argentine standards…around 8pm.)  The food was amazing, but unfortunately I had to dip out early to catch a bus that would get me back to BA in time for my 8am class…rough.

This weekend, I'm off to Montevideo with Lidi!  Not sure what to expect, other than ridiculousness and (possibly too much) pedo.

Chau,
audgentina.

bolichori

Good news: I managed to find a tourist bus to get me back to La Paz, so no hitchhiking/donkey riding for me! (Hitchhiking IS on my South America bucket list, but I guess that will have to wait for Patagonia.)

It was so nice to not be on a bondi lleno de bolitas stankin’ up the place. I was a bit nervous crossing the lake in San Pedro de Tiquina, as the little boats just didn’t seem strong enough to carry such a large vehicle. But alas we made it, after waiting for forty minutes with bolichori all around us. We arrived in La Paz around 5:30pm on Saturday afternoon and got right to mercado wandering and pirated DVD scouting. La Paz, on top of being 3,200 meters above sea level, is also an incredibly hilly city, so you can imagine our exhaustion after walking around for three hours. We came back to a delicious meal of SPICY chicken (yes, spiciness actually exists in Bolivia!), arroz, and “fried potatoes,” according to the menu. (Also known as French fries…I love broken English translations.)

The sights in the actual city of La Paz are rather limited, so Sunday was devoted to lots of salteñas and more mercado browsing.  Taking advantage of the boliviano-dollar exchange rate was beyond epic.  Sunday night, dinner at the hostel was bolichori…obviously I went for seconds.  So good.

All in all, Bolivia was amazing.  Ten days was by no means enough time, so I definitely want to go back soon.  Uyuni, Potosí, and the Amazon are on my Bolivia part two checklist.  Being back in BA has been great though, lots of parciales so I have been rather busy.  Today I got my first Argentine haircut!  I was beyond nervous going into it, but they did an amazing job!  It feels amazing having my hair short again.

I am about to walk out the door to head to the bus station.  This weekend I’m going with Jenny and some of her UBA friends to Villa General Belgrano, in the provincia of Córdoba, for some Argentine Oktoberfest!  I am beyond excited, but also a little nervous to see how all of this goes down.  Details to follow.

Chau,

audgentina.

la oscuridad

They say that los ciegos have heightened senses due to the brain’s ability to overcome losses of certain areas of stimuli…or something like that.

Last night, Cassie, Devon, Erika, and I went to see “A Ciegas con Luz,” un espectáculo musical gourmet en total oscuridad. None of us had ever been to such a show, so we had no idea what to expect. I, for one, did not think that we would be in a completely (and absolutely) dark room. There must be low lights o algo así…so I thought. Nope. Upon arriving at the theater, we were guided by the mozos/actores through a mysterious, pitch-black space. We were immersed in an area without any electricity, and we were forced to see reality from another dimension. Inferring from the sounds and smells, I imagined the mysterious space to be an elaborate, ritzy room, with a fountain area in the middle, columns to the side, and plants all around. The mozos guided us to our table, manos sobre sus hombros, where a plate lleno de comida (and lots of vino!) awaited us. (To facilitate our eating-in-the-dark, much of the food was put on skewers.) We had absolutely no idea what we were eating, but everything was so flavorful! There was a torta-thing, a skewer of carne, a bruchetta-like thing, and a caprese skewer. The postre was a chocolate cake…with a fruity topping…covered in chocolate…on a skewer! How they managed to do that is beyond me. I’m not going to lie, I felt pretty barbaric eating with no utensils, but was thankful for the oscuridad so no one could see me double-fisting my comida…

What makes El Teatro Ciego special is that many of the actors in the company are actually blind or with vision-impairments. Not only does the darkness facilitate the development of each individual’s senses, but it also promotes empathy among the members of the audience, erasing the differences between people that are perceived through sight.

While we were eating, the show was going on around us. Their stage was the same mysterious, dark place where we were sitting an eating. How the actors managed to move around without bumping into anybody is beyond me. We felt like we were right in the middle of the stage, getting splashed on, smelling fresh flowers and herb scents, hearing a train’s whistle right next to us, and smelling the burning gasoline of a motorcycle driving right by our table. During many parts of the show, I honestly forgot that it was pitch-black, because I was so focused on the fusion of the flavors and the sounds and smells around me that I didn’t even need to see what was around me. The room we were in truly felt elaborate, so you can imagine our dismay and bewilderment when the lights were turned on and we were in an ordinary dining room!

I am in love with this city.

Chau,
audgentina.

¿existe la naturaleza en la ciudad?

In an effort to break-in my hiking boots pre-Bariloche, I decided to take a stroll through the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur yesterday. I ended up walking close to 10 km throughout this fresh and natural ambiance. Situated on the coast in Puerto Madero, it spreads along the Río de la Plata, where many people were sun tanning, picnicking and enjoying the allegedly fresco day we were having (mind you: it was 68ºF). It was pretty wild to see all these trails, as well as a wide variety of trees and birds, while in the backdrop I could still see the BA skyline. In a city of 10 million people, it is still possibly to escape from the polluted commotion and escape to a fresh place of tranquility.

Off to Bariloche tomorrow, be back the 25th!

Chau,
audgentina.

justicia, verdad y malbec

Banging pots and pans, carrying signs and posters with pictures of their missing loved ones, shouting: ¡Que aparezcan con vida nuestros hijos! Every day until the end of the Dirty War, women known as Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo gathered in the place of the same name, begging that their children be returned, safe and unharmed, from the mysterious detention centers scattered all throughout Argentina. It is now 35 years later, and they have not given up. Every Thursday at 4PM, Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo continue their protest. Being a Spanish/Political Science/Latin American Studies major, it’s safe to say that I’ve done my fair share of research on the Dirty War and the Madres. (Actually, anyone who knows me at all will tell you that I take every research opportunity to approach a different angle of the Dirty War in Argentina. Weird interest, I know.) But today was THE day to go. March 24 is a national holiday in Argentina, commemorating those disappeared during the Dirty War in the 1970s-80s.

Abbie, Paloma and I met up early this afternoon and began our Día Nacional de la Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia (what a mouthful!) by touring La Casa Rosada. La Casa Rosada essentially is the same thing as the White House, except for that it solely consists of government offices; the president lives in a separate house. It's free to enter La Casa Rosada and you can get a tour of the whole building, including the presidential offices where you can also sign a guest book. (I wrote ¡Viva la Argentina!...I wonder if Cristina will actually read it.)

We then plopped ourselves down in the Plaza de Mayo where thousands of people had gathered to celebrate today’s national holiday. Commemorating 35 years since the last golpe militar, people from ALL kinds of organizations—not just the Madres—gathered to protest for justicia, verdad, and igualidad. We had packed a picnic of tostadas integrales, jamón crudo, uvas, and Malbec (of course. I love being abroad in a wine country!). Soaking in the energy of the march was an indescribable experience. More and more people kept filing in from Avenida 9 de Julio; easily fifteen thousand marchers. We had some entertaining interactions with vendors and beggars, but it made for an all-around incredible afternoon.

After the march, we continued walking down Avenida 9 de Julio, against the traffic of the marchers so we were able see more of the partaking groups. From socialists to students to H.I.J.O.S., the diversity of the participants astounded me. We made our way to the Obelisco, a historic icon of Buenos Aires (which I shamefully had not gone to visit until today). There were marchers all throughout Avenida 9 de Julio, and it seemed like forever before the marchers began to dwindle down.

I came back from the march actually high on LIFE (and some Malbec). Such an incredible and eye-opening experience. As for now, I’m headed off to Córdoba for the weekend!



Chau,
audgentina.