Argentina

In September a group of 8 of us gringos travelled to Mendoza, Argentina. It's a little town in the northern part of Argentina. The trip was spectacular. There was sun everyday and comfortable temperatures. Nothing bad happened not even a bad feeling came to me while on this trip. I swear it was absolute heaven. I decided I wanted to go back to Argentina simply because I loved it so much. I mean, good reason right?

Well, it turns out that not every trip can be as amazing as the one I had to Mendoza. This time my friend Maggie and I went to Buenos Aires, the Europe capital of South America. I mean what could possibly go wrong? Okay, maybe I'm building it up a bit too much. The trip just wasn't the best. It left me tired and worn out. It also left me missing home after 2 months of already being here. Anyway...

My friend and I ended up busing it the entire way to Buenos Aires. It wasn't actually that bad. It was a total of 30 hours of travel, which sounds painful but in the end it was alright. I woke up in the middle of the night to thunder storms. It was surprisingly very beautiful. The thunder would light up the sky and I could see the ground and what was around us. It was all flat with a few trees. Thats the trip from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.

When you get to Buenos you can immediately tell. It's a huge city and you don't miss something like that. The first building I took a picture of had a gigantic clock on the top. One of the very many breath taking sights in Buenos. When we arrived we took a very expensive taxi to our hostel. They made us wait for an entire hour before we went to our room. Obviously the only thing they did was put blankets on our beds. The room was still a disaster and hostels never put sheets on themselves. On the plus side my friend found some brazilian money that the last hostelers left. It was good too b/c she was on a strict budget. The first thing we did as Americans in the city was find a Starbucks. It was as good as the real thing.

After that we went to the capital building, La Casa Rosada. To be honest I feel a little bad. I've been to two capitals and capital buildings in two South American countries, but I haven't been any where near my own. One thing thats very interesting to me is their pride down here. All Latin Americans are very proud of where they come from. I wish my people were like that. I mean, the USA has done a lot of bad, but I was born there. It's my own country. Instead of talking shit about my own country I should embrace it's defaults and help fix them.

Throughout our time in BA we went to three different well known communities San Telmo, La Boca and Recoleta. In San Telmo we had little adventures trying on old hats and meeting other Americans. There were so many people at this market, it was a little insane. La Boca was very beautiful. I loved the colorful buildings and all the tango dancers in the streets. Also the jotes(in other words creepers) that would not leave my gringa friend alone. She heard SO many pick up lines in the 5 days we were in BA. Some of them included...

"Is your name Barbie?" -Jote
(just playing along) "Yeah" -Maggie
"Well I'm Ken" -Jote

We were taking a run in the city and as soon as we step out the door...
"Holy Shit?!!!" -Another Jote

"Oh look, my future wife." -Yet again...Jote

"Can I give you my number?" -Jote

"Hermosa" "Chica linda" The list goes on and on and on.

One of the creepiest "pick up" lines was when this guy started throwing money at us. This day we were both wearing skirts. I thought for a second the money was coming out of my purse. We looked at him and he was like yeah yeah... Oh Argentineans who just don't know what to do when they see Maggie. It was the entertainment on our trip.

The reason BA left me tired was because I got really sick. One day after a night of partying out on the town I got a fever. It wasn't very pleasant and all I wanted to do was lay in bed. I felt bad for my friend b/c she wasn't sick at all and wanted to enjoy our time in BA. I was finally getting better the day we left. We ended up going to catholic mass that morning. The church was overwhelming gorgeous and epic. I mean all the architecture in BA is gorgeous. Many of the buildings have the classism style of architecture. I love this style. None of the pictures I took in any way shape or form do any justice to the city. Everything looks so tiny when everything was just gigantic and epic.

It may have just been because I was sick, but I felt like the city had chewed me and spit me out to fend for myself. I felt defeated and started thinking about how much I missed home. I haven't been missing it until now. When you get sick in a foreign country there really isn't any of the comforts you would normally have when you're sick at home. I can handle it when I'm in Valdivia b/c it now feels like home, but I was alone in a strange HUGE city. There's just no clear way to explain how I felt. Anyway, It all ended well and I made it back to Valdivia safely.

Even though the trip wasn't as amazing as Mendoza was I enjoyed it none the less. I mean I went to Buenos Aires. That in itself is amazing and I never thought I would actually get the experience to go there. I'm reminded every day how lucky I am to be down here in Chile. It's an amazing experience I wish everyone could get to experience.

Until next time...