My Next Job
I decided that if I ever decide to just give it all up and get out of the States for a simpler life, I will come back to Buenos Aires and become a paseoperros, or professional dog walker. I am fascinated by these guys because not only do they seem to have the perfect job - low stress, get paid to exersize, work with animals - but they are almost like canine Jedis - they have the ability to walk and control a montón of dogs of all sizes simultaneously. It has become my new favorite game as I walk around the city to count how many dogs they have each time I see one. So far the highest count is 11, but I just read a newspaper article on one and he normally walks 21 dogs at a time! It also helps to explain the copious amounts of caca that pedestrians must constantly be on the alert for - when you are walking that many dogs you can't exactly be bothered to stop your momentum and clean up after your charges. Another interesting fact is that in Argentina's struggling economy, dog walkers make more than many college-educated professionals, including veteriniarians. So, I figure that in a city of 12 million with an usually large kinship with dogs, there is always the need for one more paseoperros. 
La Gargantua del Diablo
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Because my photos don't do it justice, I uploaded this clip of the Devil's Throat. Let me know if doesn't work - I am still figuring out this whole "blogging" thing!
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Mas Fotos de Iguazu
Some of the representatives of the animal kingdom that live at Parque Nacional Iguazu.
only one of the several different butterflies we saw at the falls
a coatie up to no good!
several dung beetles rolling a ball of...you guessed it - dung!
do you see the caiman?
Las Cataratas de Iguazu Part Dos
Saturday we spent all day at the waterfalls, which were beyond spectacular. "Iguazu" means "big waters" in Guarani, and they certainly live up to the name. The falls are within a national park that has been slightly Disney-fied in terms of trains and paths to get around, but it does allow for incredible views of the falls. The most spectacular is La Gargantua del Diablo, or Devil's Throat. It is formed where part of the river falls into a narrow canyon, which means that it is an insane amount of water falling into an U shaped cliff. We were on a platform right over one side of the fall, and the spray from the falls was so intense we were completely soaked after only a few minutes of snapping pictures. From there we headed to a different path that allowed us to see the rest of the falls. We saw
lots of wildlife, including tons of butterflies of various colors, extremely large lizards, a caiman, coaties, and even a toucan with a vibrantly red beak!
However, the highlight of the day was La Gran Aventura, which started with a half hour safari in an Indiana Jones-esq truck through the jungle, where our guide identified some of the flora, and educated us on the animals that live in the jungle. The safari ended at the river, where we put on lifevests, loaded our stuff into waterproof bags, climbed into large speedboats, and speeded
do you see the boat disappearing into the mist of the waterfall?
upriver, through the rapids, to get a river-level view of the falls. Then our guides told us to put away the camaras, and we headed directly into the falls! Upon our groups cries of "otra vez," they took us back into the falls three times!
after our "shower" in the falls!
Guarani Deer Trap
Check out this video of one of the Guarani traps - it is in Spanish, but you all should get the gist. Everything is made from nature - even the rope is from plant leaves.
Cataratas de Iguazu
This weekend myself and three other American girls went to Puerto Iguazu, home to Iguazu Waterfalls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. We opted for the 1.5 hour flight in place of the 20 hour bus ride, so we arrived Friday midday and had until Sunday afternoon to enjoy time out of the city. 
Friday afternoon we went on an excursion to a Gaurani village, one of the indigenous tribes of South America. It was very interesting because there are very few remaining indigenous tribes in Argentina due to displacement
and genocide. This particular tribe lives in poverty in the jungle, and subsist by selling their craftwork. Our Guarani guide, Roberto, only learned Spanish when his village started giving tours as a means of income for the village. Nicole became instant friends with a group of children, who were fascinated with the photos she took of them on her digital camara. 
Roberto showed us several examples of traps his tribe used to catch animals. This trap was used to catch coaties, which look like a cross between a racoon and an ant eater.
Check back later this week for more on the weekend!
Vamos, River, Vamos!
On Sunday I went to the Superclásico, or derby, between River Plate and Boca Juniors, the two biggest home soccer teams in Buenos Aires. The rivalry between the two teams and their fans is
so intense that attending a Superclásico was listed one of the 50 sporting things to do by The Observer, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The game was at the River Plate stadium, and the fans for the two teams were kept separate at all times - the Boca section was surrounded by a 6 ft fence topped with barbed wire, military style, and the different fans enter and exit 
separetly. The police even keep the 65,000+ River fans inside the staduim after the game until every last Boca fan has left to avoid post-game fights. Watching the fans was more of a show than the actual game - they are really into futbol. They are on their feet the whole game, and they have a litany of cheers that the entire stadium chants during the game. Each time River scored the stadium went crazy - the fans would jump of their seats, climb the fence, hug and 
kiss each other, grown men would cry tears of joy. One guy next to us kept kissing his River scarf and praying and crossing himself during game. His prayers were answered, because River won 2-1. The Boca fans, however, weren't too happy, and began throwing things down onto the River fans. 
Argentine Camping Trip
My first weekend in Argentina I went 
camping with two other girls from my program. We went camping in Parque Nacional el Palmar, which is a national park and palm tree forest reserve about 5 hours north of Buenos Aires. It was a great experience, from our five hour bus ride, where we shared mate with some very friendly Argentines seated next to us, to arriving at the campsite at 2:30 in the morning and managing to set up our tent in the pitch dark, and dealing with the 50 degree nights. We spent the weekend hiking around the park, napping on the beach of the Uruguay River, and barbecuing. The park is beautiful, and looked more like an African safari than South America. There are even some ruins in the park dating from the 16th century. We also saw a ton of wildlife, including capybaras when we first drove into the park Friday night, which look simalar to an ROUS from The Princess Bride; caprintos, which look like they are related to raccoons; and lots of birds and jumping fish.
This is part of the ruins, which are old ovens they used to make stones that were used to build buildings in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
The River Uruguay borders the park, and in the above picture, the land on the left side of the river is Uruguay.
Saludos de Buenos Aires
My first three weeks in Argentina have flown by. While I definitely experienced some cutlture shock, I am starting to finally get adjusted to everything. The first week I spent exploring the city, getting lost, trying to understand the heavily accented Spanish the Porteños speak, and meeting my program directors and students and faculty at the school where I am working. The school is a really nice K-12 private bilingual school called Colegio Esquiu, and I am working with the 7th, 5th, and 4th graders on their oral speaking skills. The students are all so sweet and adorable, and ask me tons of questions, the number one being if I ever see movie stars since I live in California. I always feel so bad when I have to tell them there aren't a lot of celebrities hanging out in Shell Beach.
Below are some pics I took my first day in the city while wandering around the downtown area.
This is La Casa Rosada, or Pink House, home to the Argentine executive powers, equivalent to our White House. 
Cabildo, or City Council. 
The Catedral Metropolitana. This and the Casa Rosada and Cabildo are all centered around La Plaza de Mayo, which is the heart of Argentine political tradition. 
Palacio del Congreso, or Congreso building.
The photos below are in the Barrio of Puerto Madero, the newest and most opulent neighborhood in the city, with a completely different feel than the rest of the city. It is really pretty, running along the docks with lots of good restaurants, but I almost forget that I am in South America, as it feels like most US port towns.
girls events, and saw my first field hockey game. It was really fun to hang out with my girls outside of class.
