El Norte

The weekend after Mendoza was a long weekend in Argentina because Tuesday, May 25th was the 200th anniversary of the revolution that led to Argentina's independence. My friends and I took advantage by going to the north! We went to the small city of Salta and then to the province of Jujuy. The whole trip was absolutely gorgeous and a really nice break from busy, loud city life.

On Friday afternoon we flew into Salta. We checked into our hostel, walked around the town and had a relaxing dinner that ended up lasting about three hours. We were planning to take a bus to Jujuy the next day but we ran into some other IFSA students at our hostel who told us it's much prettier and not much more expensive to take a taxi. Apparently the buses go on a newer road which just looks like a highway, but the taxis still go on the old road. So with five of us piled into a taxi, we made our way to Jujuy. It took about 2 and a half hours and was quite cramped in the taxi but the ride was beautiful. It was so green and lush that we felt like we were in Avatar. We stopped at one point to take pictures, which included an Avatar-inspired photo shoot.



In Jujuy we stayed in the little town of Tilcara, an adorable indigenous town with a stunning view of the mountains. Our hostel was really cute and also had an incredible view. Our first night there, we met some Argentines who were also staying at our hostel. They were planning on cooking dinner at the hostel and they invited us to eat with them, so we ended up eating a home-cooked dinner with a big group of Argentines at the hostel. Afterwards, we went to a cafe to hear live music which was awesome.

The next day, we took a bus to Purmamarca, another small town similar to Tilcara. Since llamas are a big deal there, there were a lot of people selling alpaca sweaters and other knit items. We had a lot fun shopping and looking around. One of the main attractions in the area are the salinas grandes, or the salt flats. It looks like a giant desert except the ground is pure salt. It's really an incredible sight to see, especially with the white salt of the ground in contrast with the blue sky. The strange and stunning landscape makes it a great place to take fun photos! And that's just what everyone does when they go. Here are some highlights from our photo shoot:







And my personal favorite

Wine and paragliding - not at the same time

The past two weekends I've gone on trips, the first being to Mendoza. Mendoza is basically the Napa of Argentina, known for wine and pretty scenery. I went to Mendoza with my friend Charlotte from the program. A bunch of our other friends had already gone to Mendoza a different weekend so they recommended a bunch of stuff for us to do, including renting bikes to ride to the different vineyards and go wine tasting. We were really excited for our bikes and wine adventure but sadly, the weather was pretty bad (cloudy, cold and rainy) and the bike company was not renting out bikes. However, at the bike rental place, we met up with some other students that had also wanted to ride bikes and wine taste so we decided to join forces with them and walk/take taxis together to the different wineries. (Also, it just so happens that they were all Stanford students. Small world.) By the time we got to the first winery, our group had grown to 13 people after some Canadians joined us, as well as an Irish girl and a Swedish girl. Here we all are at a winery!



Another activity our friends had recommended to us is paragliding, or "parapente" in Spanish. Parapente is where you're attached to a big parachute and you run off the side of a mountain and then float leisurely down. I promise it sounds a lot more intense and scary than it actually is. Although the weather wasn't that great, it was still a gorgeous view. We were only in the air for about ten minutes, but I actually started to feel pretty dizzy while floating down, so the short time was fine with me.


View from the top


Getting ready to go!


Woohoo!

Beth - 1 Argentina - 1

Although I've been here three months now, I still find myself frustrated by the language barrier all the time. Even though this is to be expected, I find myself still feeling very self-conscious about my speaking and frustrated that I can't understand more than I do. However, in the past couple weeks, I've had a couple experiences that made me quite proud of my attempt to get by in Spanish.

First of all, I had my first exam in a real Argentine class with other Argentine students and I passed! Not only did I pass, but I did really well! It was my Psychology class at Universidad de Salvador. Since there were a lot of people that didn't pass, I was pretty surprised at my grade, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Also, this past week I went to the doctor because I had a swollen lymph node in my neck. It didn't hurt and I had no other symptoms, it was just very swollen. I was really nervous to go to the doctor and have to navigate my appointment in Spanish, but I managed! (And in case you're wondering, she gave me antibiotics and ibuprofen and it is definitely getting better.)

I'd say these two things make the score Beth - 1 Argentina - 1, in the game of Beth living in Argentina.

My trip to Uruguay (or how I found the site for my Latin American wedding)

Last weekend I went to Uruguay on a trip organized by IFSA. We went to the little historic town of Colonia, across the river from Buenos Aires. Although we had a lot of fun exploring the town (we even rented motorbikes to drive around town), the highlight of the trip by far was going to Mario's house outside of Colonia. Mario is the program director for IFSA in Argentina and owns a house/bed & breakfast near Colonia with his partner, Sergio. The place is called "La Casa de los Limoneros" which means House of Lemon Trees and it certainly was. The property was full of rows and rows of beautiful lemon trees, among gorgeous flowers, a pool and some very happy dogs. When we got there, the staff that works at his house had prepared an amazing barbeque lunch for us. The whole scene was so idyllic it felt surreal. It reminded me of how I felt living in Annecy in the French Alps last summer. After we ate, Mario led a group on a walk to and down the beach, in case the day wasn't perfect enough.

Yanqui Blanca

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've had some difficulties with people being able to say/understand my name here, particularly with the women who work at the "lavadero," the place where I go to get my laundry done. Now when I go to the lavadero, I just use my middle name, Clara, because that they can understand...or so I thought. However, when I went to pick up my laundry a few days ago, I saw that my laundry bag was not labeled Clara, but rather "Yanqui Blanca." For those who don't know, "Yanqui" is pronounced like Yankee and is a slang word for Americans, (kind of like "gringo" is for a White person) and "Blanca" means White girl. Therefore, I now know that instead of knowing me as Clara, the laundry women know me as the White American girl. In the ongoing battle of Beth assimilating into Argentine culture, this means Argentina-1 Beth-0.