Life in Argentina

This post is beyond late. Beyond beyond. I apologize to those of you who were reading this blog to stay updated as to what happened in Argentina. I didn’t realize that people actually read this! So first off, I want to say thank you to my readers!

Now that I’m back, I also have to say thanks to my professors, Juan and Belén. Juan y Belén: es principalmente debido a que dos que mi amor y agradecimiento para el español y la cultura argentina ha crecido. Muchas gracias! No voy a olvidar nuestra divertida y relajada de 3 semanas. He aprendido mucho, y tenía un tiempo increíble. Voy a extrañar los dos!

Belén Jr: Simplemente ponga, te extraño!! mucho! Eres un increíble abajo, a otra tierra que me hace querer volver a Mar del Plata todo el tiempo! Yo soy una especie de celos que María (Sneha) ya ha skyped contigo un mil millones de veces, así que ten cuidado que voy a estar que bombardear con mensajes de vídeo antes de tiempo (sin duda con María de jajaja por supuesto). Por supuesto que me ayudó a hablar español mucho mejor, le tomó el tiempo para asegurarnos de que teníamos el tiempo de nuestras vidas, y tuvimos un momento de diversión Sneha molestar (espero que esté leyendo esto!) En cualquier caso, te extraño, y usted siempre tendrá un lugar en mi corazón!

I miss hearing Spanish so much. It’s very weird and awkward to hear English now 24/7. I want to go back to Argentina one day, because I love its ambience, I love the people, and I love the country. Here’s to Argentina! Un brindis a la Argentina!

I will have a few more closing posts to detail the exciting events that occurred in Argentina and while travelling back to the U.S. A sneak peak: We welcomed the morning sun on the beach, went to see a foot ball game, Panic!At the Disco, went to a nice beach, bought alfajores!, flew over the Andes and saw the sun set over Chile, and now, I’m back in the dreary snow of New York. Oh Argentina, cómo te extraño tanto!

Internet again was spotty this week, and classes take out a huge chunk of my time, hence my very tardy blog entry 🙁

Classes!
Classes finally started this week, and my expectations were beyond met, my fears somewhat erased and my responsibilities defined. I was placed into a spanish level class with other average, if not better, speakers, so it will be a challenge ( and is sort of) to keep up in class, but I am definitely learning a lot everyday. In class, we have projects every week to better immerse ourselves in spanish and into the Mar del Plata area, so that we don’t miss anything cultural while in class. For the first week’s project, we compared salsa in the classroom with salsa in a salsera ( a salsa club). I mean come on, isn’t that the best project ever to do- to go to a salsa class only for 6 pesos ( that’s less than $3 for an hour’s worth of a class!) and then go to a salsa club?!?!

Learning turns in the salsa class!

Yummmy food!
After about a week here in Argentina, I have finally had a great asado. It cost me about 50 pesos, or $13 american dollars for a great barbecue spread of chicken, veal, sausage, pork and beef. I’m still full from it, and I had it two days ago!

Talking about great food, I have also gone to this chain restaurant called Manolo. It has amazingggggggg churros ( better than the ones I normally get at Costco or anywhere else in the U.S) ( get the ones with dulce de leche), and great hot chocolate ( so much more thicker, less milk and hands down beats the hot watery “chocolates” from NY). We’ve gone there three times so far at least this week alone, so it will be off hold for a while, but sadly it isnt in the U.S except in Miami alone, so we’re trying to figure out the best balance to getting the most of Manolo’s as possible.

But this week was also a mix of bad food as well. We went to a restaurant for lunch one day hoping to get some good meat, but ended up with bad service and sad stomachs. But we did end up learning one important word : pecho/pechuga de pollo is chicken breast,which is something we almost order all the time.

Yesterday, we finally made a shopping trip to Guemes, and saw some great finds, but there really aren’t enough hours in the day, and so we will be returning soon to make better and more purchases:)

Now onto bowling and the rest of the week!

Today, we went to the Catderal de San Pedro for a few minutes to pray, as it was a Sunday, and we weren’t able to go to church yesterday on New Years. It’s a famous local Catholic Cathedral, known for its French Chandelier, beautiful stained glass, and English Tiles.

The French chandelier in the Catedral. There is scaffolding blocking it because I assume the church is being renovated or something when I had initially visited it.

The exterior of the Catedral de San Pedro

We then wandered along the mall/strip of stores close by, enjoying a bit of amazing ice cream.

The mall/strip of stores between the beaches and the cathderal.

We also finally went to the casino, as directed by our program director, in order to get our tourist information. I’m quite happy that I saw that they sell postcards in the tourist information center for only a peso, because I need postcards to send out, and I only bought 2 for 3 pesos each.

Afterwards, we took a really crowded bus ( first time on a bus in Mar del Plata/Argentina ever) to the port area. Passing by the rest of Mar del Plata was a real eye opener to the opulence, beauty and serenity of the town, even during its peak busy tourist season.

When we got to the port, we wandered for a bit around the area until we saw colorful boats ( which are the type of boats featured in many post cards from Mar del Plata), and actually saw some sealions!

A pretty boat at the Port

Boats at the Port

We even went a little ATVing, only for 25 pesos each.

Finally, we came back to the hotel to drop off our little shopping goodies, ate at a cafe in the strip, went water shopping, and came back.

Tomorrow’s the first day of classes. I am right now very excited, yet also sort of nervous, because it will be 6 credits in 16 days. Whatever happens, I know I will try to make the best of it!

Yesterday’s Events

Yesterday, after waking up from our slight slumber after the New Year’s Party, we ate breakfast ( ugh the sweetness and lack of substance is really killing me!) and chilled in the room, because we realized it would be the only day that we would have to relax before classes started. It was well and good that we stayed in the room for most of the day, because the city was almost completely closed. And when I mean closed, I mean closed. We left our rooms around 4ish to get our lunch ( since we ate breakfast at around 10:30am) and it took us almost a full hour to find a place open that had something to eat. We thought at first that the lack of open stores might be due to New Years, but then realized it might be a combination of both the holiday and the fact that it was siesta time. We finally had the sense to venture to the joints around the beach, as we realized that they would most probably be open to cater to the New Year’s day beach goers. And we finally found a cafe to eat at, but were disappointed at how slow the food came, and how it instantaneously became cold, as the wind was terrible and extremely strong.

Why Would I want to eat a Pancho??

One good thing of going to the cafe (called MisioMar) was that we finally learned what “pancho”, the food item, not a poncho, meant in english, because we were deeply perplexed as to why many restaurants would sell ponchos with food. After taking about 15 minutes to try to figure out amongst ourselves what it could possibly mean, we asked the waitress, and she coolly told us it was a hotdog. Word of the day learned, check.

And I really think that’s the wonderful thing about being in Argentina. Even though I am not taking the Spanish classes yet, I am still learning a lot of Spanish- about the same amount of Spanish I would have learned in high school in a month. Having to speak to natives to buy food, ask for directions and such really gives a speaking experience that beats what I got thus far while in school. I had at first been skeptical as to whether or not I would remember the spanish that I learned in high school to survive here in Argentina, but I am proving that fact wrong every day. Of course, my spanish still sucks very much so. Every time I open my mouth to ask a native something, they start to laugh and ask me where I’m from. I don;t mind, because I do know I sound pretty funny. But the foreign sound of my spanglish to the natives is equivalent to how foreign sounding the Argentine spanish is to me. Here, their “ll” doesn’t sound like a ye/je but a che, and it gets very very confusing sometimes when trying to figure out things.

When Are People Awake in Mar del Plata?!?
By now, you might be wondering why is the title of my blog “When Are People Awake in this Town??” Earlier, I explained how its very difficult to find open food establishments around 4pm-5pm, or anything for that matter. Mar del Plata is like a ghost town, which is mind boggling because its a summer retreat and popular destination for many Argentines themselves. Well, we figured out that Argentines pretty much come out much later at night, almost in droves. You might not see them out during their siesta time of course ( which I’m assuming is at 4ish pm), but you will see them around 11pm onwards, till the sun rises I bet.

Yesterday’s/today’s New Year’s celebration was quite epic to say the least. It was the first time I had ever celebrated New Year’s without my family, so it was sort of sad in the back of my head. But enjoying it with friends and wonderful Argentines out on in a Restaurant on a beach pier with perfect sweeping views of Mar del Plata and most importantly the fireworks made this New Years a very memorable and happy occasion. The food was impeccable ( lots of appetizers, salami and ham cooked inside of our chicken entree was interesting to eat), and the music was great to dance to. Not only was there spanish and american/english pop, but also “classics” ( depending on your definition I would suppose) such as “I Will Survive”, “Y.M.C.A”, that really brought together the older patrons, ourselves, the younger patrons, and even the waiters.

Happy 2011 once again!

El Resaurante- Where we Celebrated New Years. Tons of appetizers, great champagne, amazing people, great dancing, and celebrating with friends made this New Year's celebration a memorable one.

Mar del Plata at night

New Year's Party!

I wasnt able to add all my La Boca pictures, amongst others, so here they are. Happy browsing, and again feel free to comment 🙂

We left Buenos aires via the biggest most comfiest bus ever at around 9pmish local time. Argentines know how to travel bus wise. Better than airplanes, for real. Had so much leg room, DOUBLE DECKER!!, and had airplane lighting, etc. It took a whopping 6 hours to get from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata. Right now, in retrospect, it was so worth it. The weather here is simply gorgeous. It can get very windy and chilly in the shade and at night, but the warmth of the sun and the beaches are quite amazing. Anyways, we got here around 2am in the morning. Jane and I luckily got a bigger room, with a better shower in which I can actually move around in. No A.C, but since its a bit cooler here than in Buenos Aires, its no problem. We were finally able to sleep around 4am, after unpacking and settling in.

It seems like I will never get any proper sleep while in Argentina- I’ve always been either traveling, or having to wake up extremely early to get things accomplished. Today, I woke up around 9am to shower and to get ready in time for the breakfast served at the hotel.( We have to pay and buy every meal from out other than the breakfast provided by the hotel). Breakfasts here are very light and very very VERY sweet. There basically is just sugared sweets, such as glazed croissants, weird wafers, slices of ham, and if you are lucky enough, a very small bowl of cereal. Coffee here is a must, and I must say its very delicious and soon becoming a staple of my diet here. The coffee served at the Liberty hotel in Buenos Aires was much more delicious than the coffee served here. Thankfully I picked up a banana along the way back up to the room- it was essentially the main portion of my breakfast. I’m scared I’ll one day die of hunger here because of how light breakfasts are here, and how lunch is hours afterwards. We’ll see what happens.

Afterwards, we ventured out to the beach, only a few blocks away. Again, Lonely Planet was correct in saying how Mar del Plata beaches get very veryyy crowded. As this is the Christmas break, and summer down here in the southern hemisphere, Argentines commonly flock to Mar del Plata and other coastal beach towns/cities to enjoy the sun and sand. It was quite amazing how we were able to park our beach towels and claim a bit of little real estate down there. I was overjoyed to be able to soak in the sun ( not so happy that I irrevocably turned a few shades darker) and feel the warm sand and cool water beneath my toes. The best prescribed medicine to that horrible winter blizzard the northeaster US seaboard suffered last Sunday.

We had lunch afterwards at what seemed to be a cute outdoor beach restaurant ( it turned to be almost deadly as the umbrella shades covering another table flew and almost impaled a few in the group). I had a hamburger with the best tasting beef patty ever. I normally hate eating hamburgers, but this was very delectable. Its really depressing though to know that I’m spending quite a lot of money in Argentina on food alone. Argh. oh well.

After lunch, we ventured a bit around in the city, and finally found a supermarket. Bought essential soap, fruits, bread and ham to supplement our thinning wallets and light breakfasts. Oh yeah, I also bought milk ( I can’t believe I have gone three days, THREEEEEE DAYS, without a cold tall glass of milk).

Now, its onto getting ready to ringing in the new year. I wish you all a Happy 2011!!!

Right before going to the Tango show, some of us wanted to go to the bank. Went to use an ATM, and my dad had warned me at home how foreign ATMs swallow your card until you finish your transaction. I was totally ready for that, but then it literally ate it. I never got it out, never got my money. I was so scared, but then realized that there are other ways to get money. It was a headache to have to talk to the guards to see what I could do because they really had no way to help. I didn’t even do the talking- Christina did, and I am so thankful she helped me out with it. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel ( we were already a bit late) and we (mainly Christina) asked the front desk if I could use the phone to make an international call for free because of the emergency and they were very helpful and willing to accommodate. The hospitality and friendliness of Argentines is very true. Seeing it in action has made me really appreciate what I read in the Lonely Planet’s Argentina Guide Book, because so far, everything they have written in there has helped me fill in voids that I missed because of the little time I had here, and has also supplemented what I have seen here, and has given me heads up to what to expect ( look at the next post about the buses). ( Go to http://www.lonelyplanet.com/argentina to learn more about Argentina).

Going to La Boca
We then hurried to take a taxi to the tango show in La Boca. We got there a few minutes late, but no worries. The building the show was in was nestled inside the extremely colorful neighborhood ( again, something Lonely Planet mentioned, and really came to life when I saw it with my own eyes) . Christina, Jaya and I shared a taxi ( we were going to try to be local and take a bus there, but after the ATM fiasco, split the taxi and ended up paying about 20 pesos, or $5.50 for a 15minute-ish ride.) We had to walk through many cute little outdoor cafes, and quite a few store owners were trying to convince us to watch their show, despite us saying we were going to another show. The town itself is quite geared towards tourists, but its European colorful vibe is something I am quite thankful I was able to enjoy while in Buenos Aires.

The main intersection in La Boca barrio, the most colorful neighborhood in Buenos Aires

The Tango Show
Inside the building, while waiting for the show, we were served pretty ok empanadas con carne.I got my first Argentine steak while in the country while the dancers danced some sensual and great tango routines. Instead of eating the steak with steak sauce, we had it with a sauce called chimmichurra (or something like that). Icecream afterwards was quite yummy, but not as good as the one I had at El Palacio. The show had many tango numbers and one or two other traditional dance numbers. It was a great way to get a taste of the culture, and has made me really want to take the tango classes that they will offer at the university later on.

Souvenir Shopping and Exploring La Boca
After the show, we went souvenir shopping and explored the many stores and sights in el barrio ( the neighborhood). Words really cannot begin to fully explain the beauty and intrigue of the town, so here are some pictures.

I bought a few magnets and leather goods, and also bought this special drinking gourd called Mate with the herb yerba. I don’t know much of it at all ( the only reason I know about it is because of the guide book and watching one of the world cup teams pass something like it during the world cup), but that was the closest thing to an ethnic vibe I could get infused in a souvenir item.

Hello my blog readers! This post is beyond late, but I am finally in Argentina!!! I had initially written this blog entry and a few of the following entries in Microsoft Word, because Internet sucked. A lot. Internet at the Buenos Aires hotel was spotty, allowing me and many others to only access Gmail, Google, and Youtube. We had to live without Facebook ( sometimes our primary method of communication with our family and friends) for a few days, but it was an awesome experience. Which is so annoying because this is how the group communicates. Makes you think- how did people survive in the 1980s?

Anyways, forgive me if I mix up past tense with present tense- I’m injecting the post I had written on Microsoft Word with memories hehe 🙂 And its going to be long, so I’ll add titles or something so you dont have to schlep through the whole entry:D

Arriving at Buenos Aires and Getting to the Hotel

It feels like a dream, still foggy and unreal, but yes indeedy, I have landed and roamed Buenos Aires.

We arrived on Wednesday to the Ezezia airport , which is sort of on the outskirts of greater Buenos Aires ( sort of like JFK from Manhattan) at around 12ishpm, after departing from JFK nonstop at around 1am. The taxi ride from the airport to the hotel was interesting. Our driver was amicable, didn’t bother us, he knew we were Americans and laughed but didn’t gip us. He whistled as he whisked Christina and I to our hotel. Only about once or twice did I feel like I was about to die ( according to the Lonely Planet’s Guide to Argentina, Buenos Aires drivers are crazy drivers- Jane and Jaya almost died with their crazy taxi driver. You’ll see me refer to and often agree/disagree with the Lonely Planet along the way. It was the guide book I dissected while in New York, to get a better feel for Argentina).Our taxi driver was about to crash into the median twice on the highway, but I heard that this is better than other drivers here , who love to swerve in and out of traffic. And I thought that taxis in New York were crazy…

Our hotel in Buenos Aires was in a prime location, located next to the widest avenue in the world- 9 de Julio. Jane and I are rooming together, and we’re lucky that the A.C works pretty well ( We room together in both Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata). We just cranked it up and left it on ever since we got here, so we have a nice oasis of cool. The shower for the bathroom is extremely small, barely any space to stand. Since the heat is oppressive, almost muggy, the coolness of the hotel room was welcome. But even so was the heat, especially after that horrendous winter blizzard we were unfortunately unable to escape.

Walking Around Buenos Aires ( lunch, dinner, sights)

Around the hotel, there is a McDonalds and Burger King at almost every corner, almost like seeing a Starbucks every where in Manhattan. My first reaction to seeing the Burger King was WOAH thats a nice restaurant. So glitzy, so upscale- every American fast food lover’s dream ( especially my brother’s haha). After unpacking and settling down, we all ( Jane, Jaya, Christina and I, as well as Ankuri and Brian) ended up eating a very late lunch at around 6 pm at El Palacio de la Pizza. I had a mozzarella slice ( ehh) and vanilla icecream (YUM). I heard the empanadas were really good.

Afterwards, we walked around as much as we could around the city. Along the way, we saw a protest ready with lined and armed riot police and crowd control. Also walked through a ton of outdoor malls sort of, but didn’t feel like buying anything ( although I had heard it was better to buy souvenirs in Buenos Aires, rather than Mar del Plata)

All of us walked through 9 de Julio, the widest avenue on Earth. Eh no biggie. Saw an obelisk and a Christmas tree. Thought it was cute. But then later on, while walking to dinner at night time, it was pretty gorgeous. They really know how to light things up around here.

A hard to miss christmas tree at an intersection/ pedestrian plaza in 9 de Julio, the world's widest Avenue. It is quite wide, and difficult to cross.

For dinner, had an overpriced, not delicious dinner at a parilla(steakhouse- I think thats the spelling in Spanish) . Wasn’t able to eat steak because I wasn’t in the mood, so I ended up eating a hungara- a gnocchi with bits of steak in a weird sauce. I ended up shelling out about 70 pesos for it. Our waiter was at first very nice, more than willing to take out a stain in my friend’s pants . But then almost turned viscious when trying to explain how to tip ( which finally taught us how to tip in Argentina, because Christina and I ended up tipping the driver 20 pesos, or about $4.50).

I realized after a while that Buenos Aires is like new york- very crowded and bustling during the day, dies down very little at night. Less people on the streets so its easier to navigate at night. But on the other hand, I was only able to experience the city for 2 days, not even, so my assumption and conclusion of the city most probably is very biased to what I did and the very little slice of Buenos Aires I was able to see.

I feel sad that I haven’t been able to venture and raom the city. I feel like a tourist in Buenos Aires, I haven’t given it enough of my time or enough appreciation. But today, I will finally go to the really colorful La Boca barrio to watch a Tango Show with the rest of the program, and hopefully get some good food, as well as do a little shopping.

As luck would have it, my flight for 2:20pm was cancelled yesterday. It was such a hectic and stressful day yesterday after finding out the sad news at around 10 am. I had to wait on the phone for about 20 minutes ( which wasn’t too bad compared to the hour long wait a few people I heard had to do) to speak to an American Airlines representative, and finally, was able to reschedule flight time for Tuesday. All in the span of about 3 hours.

Which kinda really does suck, because the program already started today! I’ll be missing 2 full days of frolicking in hot Buenos Aires. Right now, I’m freezing, having just finished shoveling half of my house. The snow is crazy here- it goes all the way up to my waist!

Anyways, I always believe that everything happens for a reason, and rescheduling the flight for Tuesday night seems like a really good decision, because not only do I get to spend more time with the family, but I can also help out cleaning the snow, go a little more shopping ( I did that yesterday before the blizzard really got horrible), and finally clean up my room.

Hopefully my next post will be when I am in the airport, waiting to take off!