Pascua Argentina & Cidade Maravilhosa: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Alô amigos, and Happy Mother's Day!
My last post was on Palm Sunday, so I'll do a quick run-through of the weeks in Argentina leading up to my Spring Break trip to Rio de Janeiro (known in Brazil as Cidade Maravilhosa, or Marvelous City)!
Since we didn't have class on Maudy Thursday or Good Friday, I used the time to explore more of the city and do some much-needed shopping (my converter for my hair dryer sparked and burnt out so it was time to find a new one! Oops). On Thursday, Dan Liz and I decided to go see the new animated movie RIO at one of the theaters nearby in 3D!  Since Argentines are always out late, most of the showtimes go until after midnight, so even a kid's movie was still showing at 1am.  Another interesting fact about movie tickets is that you have an assigned seat in the theater before you go in, so if you want to sit by friends you have to buy them all from the same register.  The movie was about a blue maccaw who lived in MN with his owner, who finds out that he is the last male of his kind and gets flown to Rio to keep the species going!  I had to laugh at the irony of it :)  It turned out to be a really cute movie, and even though the whole thing was in Spanish, I still felt like I could follow everything! The soundtrack was awesome too, and since the songs were super catchy and all about Rio de Janeiro, I made sure I downloaded them to get me excited for the trip.
Friday night, Sofia invited the group over to ring in her birthday at midnight with snacks and drinks, and her señora even got her a cake! It was fun celebrating another 21st in Buenos Aires :)
Saturday was my shopping day, and also part of the month-long Feria de Libros (Book Fair) in Buenos Aires. It celebrates literacy in Argentina and features famous authors and book sales from all over the country and the world.  On my way back from finding a new hairdryer I ran into the celebration in the middle of Plaza Italia, where a choir was doing their sound check on a large stage for a later show.  There were also street performers, and even a Turkish flash dance! That night, we celebrated Sofia's birthday for real by going out to a Spanish restaurant called Ávila.  It was a dinner/show type of place, and we got to watch an awesome live flamenco show right next to our table!  After midnight, Liz and I were excited to be able to eat ice cream again since we were officially done with lent, so we went to one of the many heladerias in the city called Volta to get some gelato-like ice cream which is so famous in Buenos Aires. Sooo delicious!!
On Easter (Pascua), a group of us woke up early for catholic mass at the Santa Teresa church near my house.  It was interesting going to a catholic mass, but it was hard to follow since it was in Spanish! Also, most people go to mass the night before instead of on Sunday, so it wasn't as formal as I was used to and there were a lot of people wearing jeans- one woman even brought in a small dog! After church, Liz and I went back to my apartment where Maritina (my host mom) was hosting an Easter luncheon of 9 people, mostly her friends that had been over to the house before.  We shared slices of tartas (like quiche) and lentil soup, and finished off with a Rosca de Pascua (Easter bundt cake).  Liz and I decided to get another ice cream afterwards, too since we were still excited about being able to enjoy it :)
The next day marked the start of mid-terms, so Tuesday night Audra and I pulled an all-nighter to finish our take-home Argentine Foreign Relations final. Poetry was on Wednesday as well, and my last test (Spanish) was on Thursday. As soon as that was all over, I started packing since Friday morning at 6:55am I left for Rio de Janeiro!!

After a smooth check-in at the local airport, I found out that my travel companions didn't have such great luck themselves: one of their flights was canceled since the plane broke down, and they were bussed to another airport an hour away to wait for a flight 3 hours later; another switched airports at the last minute and my friend showed up at the wrong one and had to do the same 1 hour taxi ride to Ezeiza Airport instead! What madness.
After all 8 of us arrived safely, we took a taxi to the Che Lagarto Hostel on Ipanema beach, right next to the famous Copacabana! We met travelers from all over the world here, and it was even fun when we met Spanish-speakers so we could practice.  The hardest part was being in a country where I couldn't communicate easily with people- the best I could hope for was that they could understand either Spanish or English!  Most of the week-long trip was spent at the beach soaking up some rays, but we had to take time for some touristy things too.  Our first must-see visit was to visit the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer).  It's one of the wonders of the World, so why not see it, right? It's so big you can basically see if from everywhere in the city- it's located on top of the Corcovado Mountain, which is 2,300 ft tall, and the statue itself is over 130 ft tall! The views from the top were absolutely breathtaking... easily one of the most beautiful landscapes I'd ever seen.  The other trip was to the Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain), which is another great place to take in the sights of Rio de Janeiro.  Made out of granite and quartz, the mountain is located right on the famous Guanabara Bay on the Pacific Ocean and rises 1,299 ft in the air! To get to the top, we took a "bondinho," or cable car, to the top of a smaller mountain, and then another one to get to the top of the Sugarloaf.  Mollie and I got there just as the sun was setting, which set the scene for some truly spectacular views of the area at dusk and the brilliant city lights after the sun went down. Absolutely breathtaking!
Another great aspect of Brazil is its fresh fruit. We're talking straight off the vine/tree fresh-- nearly every day we watched as someone hacked the top off of a coconut so we could sip the sweet water inside, or enjoyed a mouth-watering Açaí smoothie with delicious chunks of banana/kiwi or granola sprinkled on top.  It's naturally sweetened with Guaraná, which is a main ingredient in most energy drinks.  Other notable foods include camarões (shrimp), pão de queijo (cheese bread shaped in balls), caipirinhas (a sweet lime drink made with Brazilian liquor called cachaça which is from sugarcane), suco de maracujá (passion fruit juice), and fro-yo!
Lastly, some fun things I noticed about the beach culture: There are mini workout stations every half-mile around the beach, and people actually use them! The average Brazilian works out a lot to maintain their perfectly muscled beach body.  We also enjoyed watching the locals juggle soccer balls in small groups- this is everywhere along the beach! Some even use a volleyball net and hit the ball back and forth without using their hands.  Another thing we noticed is that barely anyone uses towels- guys and girls lay on sarongs that are sold everywhere on the beach!
The last night we took a shuttle to the famous Escadaria Selarón (Selarón Steps) near the Arcos da Lapa in the Lapa/Santa Teresa neighborhood. Every Friday there is a huge street party held there with thousands of people taking up multiple streets with food vendors, alcohol tents, and random jewelry/clothing.  It was crazy trying to maneuver through it while still keeping the group together, but it was definitely something to experience!  The next morning we were on a flight back to Buenos Aires and fall weather.
Today, I celebrated being back in the city by exploring the San Telmo fair with some friends, which was like a version of Antiques Roadshow/an art festival in a few of the neighborhood's streets.  Examples of things for sale were silver utensils, old comic books, glass bottles, and rusted old keys! Quite the mishmash of things. After enjoying a nice dinner of Arabic food and later café/medialunas (my fave), we called it a day.  Tomorrow I go back to the daily grind, so wish me luck!
Até logo (Portuguese for hasta luego/until later),
♥ Taylor

Maritina and I on Easter Sunday

Chocolate eggs for sale everywhere!

The choir at the Feria de Libros

¡Adios, Buenos Aires!

First view of Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian Reais, aka jungle money!

Ipanema beach daytime:)

At sunset

Fresh fruit/veggie market

Cristo from the front

Cristo Redentor from above, at night

view of Sugarloaf from Cristo

Beautiful view!

My friends and I enjoying the beach

Drinking from coconuts!

Lapa street party

San Telmo Fair

Fall in Argentina

Happy Palm Sunday!
I'm trying to get better about posting so I don't end up with a novel each time, so here begins my blog-a-week streak... we'll see how long it lasts!
I've had a pretty regular schedule these past two weeks since I haven't been traveling, and it's been nice to explore the city more and take a break from jet-setting everywhere.  Also, since I have my internship 16 hours a week and classes too, I only have free time Fridays through Sundays! 
Last Friday, I went to visit the Brazilian Consolate to get my visa in order to visit for Spring Break! I'll be going with three other girls from my program, as well as meeting up with a friend from High School who is studying in Brazil. I'm so excited!! We're staying right next to the beach in the neighborhood of Ipanema in the city of Rio de Janeiro!  It's starting to feel like fall weather here (dipping down to 60s-70s instead of 80s-90s... rough, I know), so I can't wait to have a nice beach vacation.  After I gave my visa information to be processed, I made a trip to the Correo Argentino (Post Office).  Unlike in the US where you can leave your mail in your mailbox and it will be taken by the postman, in Argentina you have to physically go the the post office in order to send something.  This becomes troublesome because they usually are only open from 10am-5pm and there's always about an hour wait to get anything done, so you might as well schedule a whole afternoon to send anything.  It definitely makes me miss the efficiency of the USPS at home!!  The rest of the day, I wandered around with friends and explored one of the many Carrefour grocery stores in the city: a two-story building complete with a shopping cart escalator!
On Sunday, my friends Liz and Sofia and I explored the neighborhood of Palermo Viejo and went to this adorable café/brunch place called Oui Oui.  It felt like a little cottage and served amazing American-style brunch food... we were craving scrambled eggs so badly! I had a Croque Madame and a delicious banana nut muffin :) We then wandered around the neighborhood, which has a lot of little restaurants and shops.  We also ran into a weekend crafts fair, which is pretty common on Sundays throughout the city.
On Monday, I had my first IES choir practice! There six girls in the choir, and we will be practicing to perform at the farewell dinner for the program at the end of June.  We will learn an Argentine Folksong, a Tango, and a more modern piece.  We started Cinco Siglos Igual by León Gieco, who is an Argentine equivalent of Bob Dylan.
This past Friday, I went with a bunch of IES students to a "Drumming Workshop" in the greater Buenos Aires city of Palomar.  The place we went was called La Chilinga, which is a school that specializes in percussion stemming from afro-argentine influence.  We got to watch the teachers play for us as a dancer performed the tribal dances associated with each rhythm, and then we got to play the drums ourselves! It was an interesting cultural experience since Argentina used to be have of the largest slave trade markets of its time, but the African influence on Tango and Folk rhythms is rarely discussed since the topic is more or less taboo.
On Saturday, I exercised in my favorite park in the city, which is Parque 3 de febrero.  It reminds me so much of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, since it has a lake right in the middle with a large paved path around the outside.  Every weekend it is filled with runners, rollerbladers, bikers, boarders, paddle boaters, street hockey players, and countless other activities.  Some of my favorites to watch are the tightrope walkers who set up ropes between trees and perform for crowds.  Also, there is even a live outdoor Zumba class!! Last weekend my friend Liz and I rented rollerblades and went around the lake, then enjoyed popsicles while we sat and watched the families picnicing and the children feeding the geese. After my nice run, I celebrated my friend Audra's birthday with delicious dulce de leche cake and a fun evening dancing.
Next Sunday is Easter, so we have a long weekend starting Thursday! I plan on exploring more of the neighborhoods, celebrating my other friend Sofia's birthday, and cooking/enjoying a nice Easter meal with my host mother.  Until then, have a blessed week and I'll write more later!

Pictures of the Week:

Palermo Viejo

Cool shop in Palermo Viejo

Evening out with friends Liz and Sofia

Watching the performance at La Chilinga

Learning our rhythms for drumming!

Getting competitive with formations for the drum-off!

Me quedó mi corazón en Mendoza

¡Saludos!

It's been forever since I've written, but I'll get you caught up as best I can!  My last post was on Wednesday the 16th, the day before St. Patrick's Day.  In Argentina, St. Patrick's Day really isn't a big deal but there are some Irish pubs and American bars that cater to us tourists wanting to celebrate leprechauns and Irish luck.  After visiting one such place, we went to a hip hop dance club that played mostly remixes of popular American beats which were really fun to dance to... that is, until my wallet was stolen.  I had promised myself I would do everything in my power not to become a victim of theft, but before I knew it, my cross-body purse had been unzipped and raided while I was dancing.  Thankfully my cell phone, keys, and camera remained in a separate pocket, but gone with my wallet was about $75 USD, my license, debit card, and numerous IDs for class and such.  I was lucky I was with friends who helped to pay for me to get home, and I had to learn my lesson the hard way along with many other doe-eyed foreigners.

The next day, I decided to relax after what happened and take a break from the city to visit my friend Trini.  I met Trini my senior year of high school when she was a foreign exchange student studying in the United States and staying with one of my good friends, Anne.  Trini is from Argentina, right outside of the city in a suburb of Buenos Aires called Pacheco.  I took a half-an-hour long train ride and she picked me up from the station, then took me to her house where I stayed for the weekend! She lives in a gated community (which is different than in the United States—it includes hundreds of houses and multiple neighborhoods) surrounding lakes so it reminded me of Tonka!  I had a blast getting to know her family and seeing everything around where she lived, and it was such a fun “life swap” where I now got to play the foreign student.  The weekend flew by, but that definitely won’t be the last I see of Trini and her friends! 

The following Wednesday marked the anniversary of the start of the last Argentine dictatorship in 1976, which is regarded as the “Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice.” We had Thursday and Friday off of school, so I left for Mendoza with two friends from my program.  We took a bus that left Wednesday night at 9pm and arrived the next day at 11:30!  The bus company fed us dinner, showed movies, and even facilitated a game of Bingo (which my friend Liz won- and got a bottle of wine!).  The only bad part was suffering a casualty from accidentally dropping my phone into the on-board toilet. Ewwww! After arriving at Hotel Empedrado, aka “the wine hostel,” we went on a bus tour of 2 wineries and one olive oil factory.  It was interesting to see how the wine was made, and we even got to taste the famous Malbec of Mendoza.  That night, we enjoyed our daily glass of wine (included in the room cost) and even got to try some other types such as Torrontés (a white fruity wine native to Mendoza) and classics such as Chardonnay and Merlot. 

The next day, we slept in and meandered around the area which was full of little shops and restaurants, but not in the least bit as busy as living in Buenos Aires.  At 4, we got ready to leave for our horseback riding excursion! Our group took a van out of the town and into the Andes Mountains—literally some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.  We drove past a large, crystal blue lake surrounded by the mountains and ended up at a small ranch.  After being assigned horses (mine’s name was Gringo), we crossed a road and almost literally started going vertically up a path of rocks.  It was a scary experience at first, but I definitely learned how to trust the horse! We rode through streams, up mountainous paths, and galloped on stretches of land surrounded by the giant backdrop of the Andes; absolutely every turn held a breathtaking view.  After returning to the ranch, we watched the sunset and prepared to feast on asado for the night.  Asado is literally a “roast” or “barbecue” where they pile a bunch of different meats and veggies on a fire and grill them to perfection.  After gorging ourselves on delicious Argentine steak and emptying glasses of Malbec, we listened to our guide sing Argentine folk songs with his guitar and accompanied him on some more modern tunes we knew.  All in all, it was a perfect night enjoying nature, the company of friends, and some traditional customs of Mendoza.

The next morning, we woke up early so we could return to the mountains for some extreme adventures: whitewater rafting and ziplining!  We went ziplining first, over multiple valleys in the rock and finishing with a finale which spanned the river right by the main camp.  One of the things I was thankful for is being able to understand the safety directions in Spanish, because even though some of the guides spoke English, I don’t think they could have taught me much (one of them told me that when braking with my hand on the zipline, I “needed more oppression.” Definitely not helpful!). Next we braved the freezing water for rafting, and bundled up in wetsuits, windbreakers, helmets and lifejackets for the journey down the Río Mendoza. It was rough paddling around the rocks, but no one fell out and only my friend Fay got drenched with splashes!  We were exhausted afterwards, and went almost directly to the bus station so we could sleep the whole way back to Buenos Aires.

The next week, I started my internship with W3 Communications.  They are a technology consulting and internet marketing company based in Buenos Aires with clients from all over South America as well as some from the United States.  I will be working here 16 hours a week helping mostly the heads of social media and web for Argentine and American accounts.  I already love the challenge of the work, the introduction to international brands, and my colleagues, so I’m excited to have this experience as an intern (“pasante” in Spanish, literally from the verb pasar, or “to pass through”). I also received a new debit card in the mail, so I felt whole again and was able to buy things such as a new phone!!

And lastly, in order to bring this back to the present, I just got back from spending the weekend in Tigre with a group from the IES program.  We drove to the city where Trini had picked me up from the train station, and we got to explore a large outdoor crafts fair with delicious food and creative things for sale.  Next, we took a boat down the river Paraná to reach the island we were staying on.  Everyone had a little “luxury cabin” that they stayed in, and we enjoyed spending time on our private island kayaking, feasting and relaxing inside during a thunderstorm.

Now I’m back to the daily grind of the city, but there will be more exciting trips and events to come! Until then, ciao!


**Translation of this post's title: I left my heart in Mendoza ♥

Fotos de mis aventuras:

Trini's House

Hanging out in Trini's neighborhood

Main building at the Lopez winery

Wine barrels of La Bodega Lopez

Wine tasting!

On our way to go horseback riding

The beautiful Andes Mountains

Me & Gringo!

Ready to whitewater raft!

Tigre Museum of Art

walkways at La Becasina Resort

Taking the riverboat back to Buenos Aires!

Raindrops keep falling on my head... ♬

Buenas noches, amigos :)
I am currently mid-way through my first week of classes, and it's been quite the shock.  First of all, I haven't been in a class since December 18th, which is something in and of itself. Secondly, instead of one Spanish class per semester like I'm used to, everything is in Spanish. I'm taking classes on 20th century Argentine Poetry, Argentine Foreign Relations, Spanish Grammar, and Regional Blocks & Globalization.  The hardest of these was Globalization, since it is taught at UCES, Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales (local university in Buenos Aires) instead of through the IES Program at the center.  Luckily, there were 5 students from IES taking the class with me, so we struggled through the econ and business vocab together!
Last week, we took a field trip to visit the Boca Juniors' soccer stadium in the neighborhood of La Boca. It was much smaller and older than Minnesota's newly-built TCF Bank Stadium, but it was clearly the pride of the area and well-known throughout the country.  The team is one of the best club teams in the world, having won over 40 national and international titles and included players such as Diego Maradona and Carlos Tévez.  The area of La Boca is known for its brightly-colored buildings, so the blue and gold stadium fit right in.
We celebrated our last day of orientation in Puerto Madero, the newest neighborhood of Buenos Aires.  It is known as the "clean business district" on the river, and it is still under construction in many parts.  IES hosted a dinner at La Bisteca, an "all-you-can-eat" steakhouse right on the edge of the water.  There were so many different kinds of meat and cheese that came from locally raised Argentine cattle, as well as a variety of other traditional foods like empanadas and spaghettis. I was stuffed after topping it off with a delicious tiramisu, but  walked it off by the river where we found the famous bridge of Puente de la Mujer. It was designed to look like the embrace of a man and woman while dancing the tango! Overall, it was a beautiful night.
On Saturday, we took a city tour by double-decker bus.  It would've been an amazing way to see the city, but it was difficult to completely enjoy it since it rained the entire time :( One benefit of this was that it brought down the humidity, so we were finally able to enjoy a day out without sweating like crazy.  Most of the buildings have a Spanish-European influence, which makes for a truly beautiful cityscape.
Minor sidenote: The title of this blog relates to the fact that when it is extremely hot out, everyone in the city runs their air conditioners, which unfortunately drip water onto unsuspecting pedestrians. I have tried and failed (many times) to dodge the random "downpours," so actual rain was a nice change of pace!
My last outing recently was to visit the famous Recoleta cemetary.  I knew nothing of the place, so I was expecting rows of rotted gravestones with nice greenspace... I was completely wrong.  Recoleta is filled with intricately carved mausoleums, which are made to resemble small chapels and other important buildings.  There are rows and rows of them, and you could easily get lost while looking for any one of the many former presidents or cultural icons buried there. One such well-known figure is Evita Duarte Perón, First Lady of Argentina from 1946-1952 and champion for causes such as women's rights.  After exploring the cemetary for a few hours, I left the eerie walls to find the world outside alive and bustling with the Recoleta fair, commonly referred to as "la feria gypsy." Many vendors set up tents to sell their crafts, and there is plenty of food and live music to keep the crowds entertained.  I spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the excitement, and I can't wait to go back another weekend. Until next time...
Sending my love from Argentina- besitos!
-Taylor

Boca Juniors Stadium

 

Puerto Madero

Puente de la Mujer

La Casa Rosada (Argentine government building)

Recoleta Cemetary

¿Qué suerte soy yo?!

The long-awaited post you've all been dying to read... straight from Buenos Aires!!

Six flight attempts later out of Atlanta and Miami, I finally managed to make it on a flight!  After 8.5 sleepless hours on the plane, I had arrived in the Paris of South America-- Buenos Aires, Argentina!!
The local time after landing was 7:15am, 2 hours before my official IES Program Orientation started. I was exhausted, but after lugging my suitcases to the taxi and gazing out the window at my beautiful new country, I was running on pure adrenaline.  The cab driver was very talkative once he found out I could speak Spanish fairly well, so he helped me break down my nervousness when speaking to locals.  He told endless stories about his family, and taught me a couple of new words (in lunfardo, Argentine slang, a lot of the words are standard Spanish words but switched around. For example:  lleca=calle/street). He dropped me off at my homestay, where I met my Argentine (grand)mother Maritina! She lives in an apartment in the chic neighborhood of Palermo, and teaches music :) She is absolutely adorable, and reminds me of my grandma Sylvia, but with blonde hair. She helped me drop off my bags, then she brought me to a café to get an espresso to help me stay awake. We then took a taxi to the National History Museum, where my orientation was.  I got to meet other students in my program, and we went over important things and finished by taking a walking tour of San Telmo (an artsy part of the city, on the south side).  It was still surreal to me that I was finally in Buenos Aires, but the more I saw of the city, the more it felt like my adventure had really started!

The next day, I learned how to take the bus to the IES Program Center where I will be taking most of my classes for the next 4 months.  We had more orientation classes, which became more interesting when we started to learn about the "vos" form of informal speech (unique to this part of South America) and general Argentine slang words that are commonly used.   After class, I was able to wander around with new friends and explore, which has been by far my favorite way to spend my time. We have two weeks of orientation before classes start, and this has been how most of the days have gone-- exploring cafés, heladerias (ice cream shops) and panaderías (bakeries). Yummy!

This past weekend was Carnaval, so my friends and I planned a trip to Mar del Plata (2nd largest city in the Buenos Aires province, and 7th largest in the country), which is supposed to be a 4-hour bus ride south of the city. Turns out over 100,000 tourists visit Mar del Plata during this weekend, so we got caught in insane traffic both there and back- the bus took around 8 hours!!  We stayed at Hotel Pergamino, which was a hostel within walking distance of one of the beaches.  The atmosphere was  a lot of fun since we had planned the trip with a group of 9 and there were were others staying in the same place who were also in our program. The nightlife was really fun since sone locals showed us around, and despite Monday being rainy we had a lot of fun :)

Now it's back to the last few days of orientation before classes start on the 14th.  Tomorrow is a tour of "La Bonbonera," where the largest Argentine club soccer team, Boca Juniors, plays. Also scheduled is a city tour of Buenos Aires, so hopefully I'll get to see all of the touristy places now, too! More later, amigos... I'll leave you with a few take-your-breath-away landscape/city pictures :) ¿Qué suerte soy yo (how lucky am I)?!

My bedroom :)

City Pics of Buenos Aires:

Catholic Cathedral

El Ateneo, a theater turned bookstore

Mar del Plata