Puerto Iguazu

Two million liters of water per second pass over this fall. El Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat)



This place is one of the coolest things I have seen. Ever.

River Plate vs. Godoy Cruz

Once there was a 'soccer' team (they play futbol). They are called the Club Deportiva Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba, Godoy Cruz or Tomba for short. As far as I understand, the team used to play in the B league but just recently moved up to the A league... so it was a big deal that they were playing River Plate. River Plate is from Buenos Aires and is one of the most renowned teams in the league. We got the chance to go to the game, it was totally crazy.
We bought seats in the more tranquil section, where people actually sit down, but from where you are you can see the "fan's section". They are out of control. Walking in, there were crowd control police officers on horses, helicopters flying around, and Choripan (delicious spicy sausage sold in a roll) being sold on the side. Everyone was singing, yelling, and getting excited for the game. The energy was... heavier than a sporting event in the states. I knew it was about to be a battle, rather than a game.
The roudy fans were throwing toilet paper constantly, throwing small hand bombs at the police who were decked out in riot gear and had shields. The songs they were singing were hilarious and awesome, I regret not having learned a couple before I went. Moreover, there were flags draped all the way down the section, and banners across the section. At one point, they let the biggest flag I have ever seen fall over the entire section of people. Where did they find a flag so large? It covered the entire section, and it was unreal. It was really fun, and so cool to see.

They tied.

Visit of the Madre

Then my mom visited. I was nervous at first about what she would think of this crazy place I have been living in...and she said it perfectly "I was thinking I would go back home feeling better about where you are, but now I think I might worry more now that I do know." I think by the end of the trip, however, she had changed her mind. Everything went perfectly while she was here, and I think she really liked Argentina. She wants to come back. We went to the Bodega Familia Zuccardi and after a tour, that I had to translate "uh she said something about the grapes....like the go in that thing and then i dunno what happens really....and then it's done." We had a picnic in the vineyard which will be a really special memory. They equipped us with everything we could possibly want, olives, breads, wine, meats, wine, dessert, sandwiches, tables clothes, etc. It was really cool (and delicious). I had a glimpse of the life of the owner of a vineyard.
We shopped. For my birthday, I got a leather jacket (thanks Honey). I also got a leather purse. Both of them are really cool, and we bought them from the sweetest family ever. I won't go into it, but... shoes shoes shoes, clothes clothes, shoes.
I took mom to the big city, Buenos Aires. She loved it. We walked all around the city, I showed her the capital buildings and the national cemetery, the artisan market, and other neat things...then I got tired of those kinds of things so I dragged her to Chinatown, a couple forgotten cobble-stone neighborhoods, and some dusty bookstores. It was so fun and quite a laugh, especially when the subway workers decided to go on strike so the whole city was moving by foot. I bought a book, written by a famous Argentine historian, and not even an hour later I saw on the news that he had just died. Weird.
Lemon pie is really delicious, make a note.
Above is a picture of mi vieja doing a little shopping in Chinatown. Below is...the only other picture I took.

The last entry was about a haircut?!

Oh no, now I have really lost readership. The last couple didn't have any pictures, that is so rude. I'm back. Sorry for my negligence. Where do I start?
My friend from home, who is studying in BsAs visited a few weeks ago, so we did all of the touristy things around Mendoza. It was fun to play the tourist for a short while. We rented bikes from a place called Mr. Hugo's, and spent the day riding along "el camino de vinos" where there are several Bodegas in a row. We did a couple of wine tastings at small boutique wineries and then went to an olive oil factory. All of them were delicious and really fun to visit. The actual bike ride was really bizarre. There is no real path to ride on, so you find yourself riding along the street, on the dirt shoulder. Police officers in cars and on bikes followed us the whole way, to ensure we wouldn't get robbed. It was unnerving. Once we returned to Mr. Hugo's they handed out some wine which I'm sure was bootleg, and we sat around for quite a while just talking to other travelers. It was really fun, and I met a new friend who is just lovely. Beckie and I had a great time. The picture below is from a night we went to a piano concert of a friend here, he was so marvelous I teared up.

Haircut

I walked into a peluqueria, a haircut place, with a comic book action figure on the sign. I thought it would be funny to try this place, but when I walked in I reconsidered because there was a man in the chair with blue hair. I described in very broken Spanish what I wanted, (because I don't remember the haircut vocabulary I learned, if I ever did) then crossed my fingers. The hair-cutter went about cutting my hair in a way I have never seen, but it seemed to be working. It looks great and I am enjoying it a lot, all for the price of $8 US. I'm okay with that.

Portrerillos, Argentina

In need of a break and too tired to embark on a grand adventure, we rented a cabin in the pre-mountains of Mendoza province and relax. There were eight of us, so naturally it was hectic trying to organize. After a frenzied search for a cabin (thanks Jacquie) and filling a shopping cart to the brim with groceries we were ready to go. We tried to pack light so we could trek four days worth of food with us in our backpacks, knowing the provisions would be limited. Toilet paper never crossed our minds...We rushed to the bus station, loaded our bags into the back of the bus and got in line to get on the bus. I said "did anyone verify that this is the right bus?" and I heard crickets. It was not the right bus, so we scurried back to grab our bags, and moved them to the next bus over. A man selling ice cream from a bicycle stopped to help us, which caught us off guard sufficiently but was very gracious of him.
The cabin we stayed in was lovely, the town was simple. I made some friends and hung out with them most of the day. They showed me a dried river bed that curved through awesome rock structures then ended where a waterfall would be if there were water. I started formulating escape plans in the case of a flash flood then thought to myself "who am I kidding, it never rains here." The scene was breath-taking. There were snow capped Andes looming in the background saying "welcome, but don't get too comfortable". There were rolling hills with cacti and brush all around, different colors of sand and rock, and salty residue from the river that once was at our feet. We were surrounded by hole-y rocks that reached to the sky. I began to think we are beginning to take scenes like this for granted, because we see them all the time, but they are awesome and if it were the states, there would be look-out points and gift shops on the sides of this site. It would be littered with trails. "Travel slowly" is some of the best advice I have heard, and now I know why.
The next day, while my friends hibernated until noon, I hiked back to that spot to take pictures only to find out I didn't have my memory card in my camera. I showered, wrote in my journal, stretched, then woke them up to make breakfast. Huge breakfasts are what I had been missing so they were key essentials of the trip. That's what we did.
The next day I got up early again and ran, explored the river, and walked around "town". In the afternoon, we went walking to the lake. Someone told us it was 5 k away, which we thought was like 3 miles. It was way further. We were exhausted by the time we got there, having stopped for cookies and empanadas on the walk. It was lovely and fresh by the lake, we relaxed and laughed and chatted.
The next day...consisted of more of the same, movies, breakfast, napping in the sun.

Lamentably, I have no pictures of the weekend except those I have saved in my mind.

Midterms and Halftime

The week of midterms was tough. I had to give a presentation in Spanish about France, to a room full of Argentines. This is harder than speaking in front of your comrades in Spanish class because they are also learning Spanish, whereas the Argentines know Spanish pretty well. The presentation went well, because I had five Mendocinas standing next to me, giving me a thumbs up and nodding fervently to whatever I said. The rest of my midterms I passed...kind of. For one of them, the professor pulled us aside and said "you passed, but that's because I went easy on you since you're foreign. Do better on the final or you won't pass." Ha ha. So, now we know what to expect. Aside from being written tests in a language I only started learning two years ago, they were over information I don't even know about in English. I can tell you all about movie sets, cranes, camera angles...in Spanish only. Moreover, they were over information different than what we were told would be on the test. Something I noticed that is different is that they test the students on concrete information, rather than a thoughtful synthesis of the information.
Because you're expected to read information, memorize facts, and comprehend ideas, in Spanish, then recite them back...in Spanish, even the simplest of information gets jumbled in your head. That's alright. Onward.

Midterms, coincidentally, came at the same time that half-time did. It seemed everyone had been experiencing a sentiment of weariness because we have all been here two and a half months, and have the same amount of time to look forward to. We are past the honeymoon, things aren't quite as new and fantastical. We all have lists of things to complain about. At dinner the other night we were complaining, and a friend said, "we have things to complain about...that only means we're actually living this now." So, I mean to say, it has all settled in now. Here I am.