abril en buenos aires

Update

2007-02-01T00:51:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone is still checking this blog after a month of no new posts, check out my new blog that my roommates and I are all contributing to. It will have all of the crazy adventures of the Shell Shack girls.

BA on TV

2006-12-11T21:16:00.000-08:00

Another BA blogger posted about Buenos Aires's popularity as a filming site for commericials, and the main reason I am copy his post is because on the first video is a commercial that I saw all the time at home and loved, yet would never have noticed that it is BA until he pointed it, and the last two videos have a great shot of my beloved colectivos in the background, as well as the ubiquituous kioskos of BA.

My kindergardners!

2006-12-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

Aren't they cute?

Holiday Cheer

2006-12-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

Because everyone here is getting ready for the summer vacation and the weather is 85 degrees and humid, it is hard to remember that it is December and Christmas is just around the corner. I also realized that the most wonderful time of the year will be half over when I get home, so I have been trying to get in the Christmas spirit here in sunny BA by downloading 2 hours worth of Christmas songs on my iPod. I also stumbled across this little jewel, guaranteed to give hours of fun to all. Click on Elf April for an exciting suprise.

My name is April, and I am a blogaholic

2006-12-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

So, I admit: I am addicted to blogging. Not just my own, but to reading others. Prior to having my own, my experience to blogs was limited to reading my pastor's, and giving my friend Christion a hard time about his (sorry about that, Christion - Fuzzboard is WAY cool!). But since I have started my own (and I realize I am bit behind the times getting on the blogging bandwagon), I have realized there is a bunch of really interesting blogs out there. For example, there is an entire ex-pat blogging community here in Buenos Aires, and some of them are semi-celebrities, and they all know each other. I sort of want to be a part of their group. But, my favorite blog is written by these really cool twentysomething-year olds, Claire and Lara, that are traveling around the world and blogging about it their experiences. I have spent hours when I should have been doing lots of other things, like posting on my own blog or sleeping, reading their archives. I am pretty sure that if they met me I would be their new best friend. Check out their blog at TrippingOnWords. But be forewarned: reading it may give you the desire to quit your present job, get a website, and hop on the next plane to Africa.

All Things Gaucho

2006-12-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a gaucho (the Argentine version of a cowboy) themed weekend with a little beach thrown in, and since I am 3/4 country girl and 1/3 beach bum, I was quite content. Friday we headed up the river to the closest thing to a beach Buenos Aires has, even though it is considered a port town. On Saturday Emily and I went to San Antonio de Areco, which is the epicenter of gaucho lore. It is a very quaint, quiet, and picturesque town, with a charming plaza, cobbled streets, more kids on bikes than actual traffic, and a park with a swimming hole, where half the town was cooling off from the 85 degree weather. We toured an replica of an estancia, or estate, where my favorite part was the pulperia, or general store or tavern. During the 19th century, the pulperias were gathering places for gauchos to rest and tomar algo, or have a drink. However, the pulperia owners would only let gauchos the owners knew into the main part of the bar, and that theme was carried out outside with the horses, where only the horses of the gauchos that were friends of the pulperia could drink at the water trough inside the pulperia's yard, and the rest had to drink at the water trough on the other side of the fence. We also went horseback riding!Sunday we went to the Feria de Mataderos, a weekly rural-style festival in one of the barrios of BA. We got to see actual gauchos strutting their stuff: country and folkloric dances, vendors selling productos del campo, and even a gymkhana-esque game where they hang a small ring from a pole and a mounted gaucho gallops at full speed while holding a pen-like instrument and spears the ring. I was ready to try it if only they would have given me a horse!

Below is a video of their game, with some unintentional commentary by myself. Sam and Grandpa, if you read this, I think we could get Wats and Cally to do this no problem!

And, no experience in Buenos Aires would be complete without an adventure on the colectivo. I confidently guided my friend Jackey onto the 55 to get us home, not realizing that we were going the wrong direction until a half hour later, making a hour trip home a two hour tour of Buenos Aires.

You Know You are a Porteno when...

2006-12-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

- At any time of the day, a café con leche and 2 medialunas can be considered a square meal
- You can, at all times, find a heladería within 3 blocks
- You would much rather be a bostero xeneise than a maldita gallina, and you know what that means
- In your barrio, there are more people on the streets at 3 am than 3 pm
- ¿Qué sé yo?
- Nothing is good anymore, it's "bárbaro"
- You have learned how to get across Avenida Libertador without getting run over, before the pedestrian light even turns green
- You have accepted the fact that you cannot successfully walk across 9 de Julio before the lights turn red, because everyone KNOWS it's the widest avenue in the WORLD
- You instinctively cross yourself everytime you pass a church, even when riding on the bus
- Your guía T is old and falling apart, but you still won't leave home without it
- You can walk the entire length of Florida without being heckled once by a money-changer or flyer distributor
- $80 is far too much to pay for anything, unless, of course, it is an unbreakable maté thermos
- You can estafar, zafar, and continue to the farra with all the other porteños
- You have any idea what the last line means
- You actually know the historical figures the streets are named after
- You start to give false directions to tourists
- You consider both superpanchos and choripan to be hearty meals
- Based on taste alone, you can pick out a Terrabusi alfajor in a double-blind test
- You complain about everything while in Buenos Aires, but as soon as you leave, you begin to miss it
- Upon getting into a taxi, instead of stating your destination, you give a series of turns and street names, entering into a battle of wits over who knows the grid best
- You generally communicate better in gestures than actually conversing
- You know the attractive women all over Palermo Hollywood are really men, but that's OK
- You think nothing of hopping on a bus for 15 hours to get away for the weekend
- You don't find it surprising that 2 of these hours are spent leaving the city
- No matter how hectic life gets, you can always find time to matear
- Nothing is cool anymore, it's re canchero. You and your friends, (who are all capos and copados, obvio) are re chochos because you just saw a recital that was piola.
- You have forgotten your name and now only answer to a string of epithets, such as che, maestro, flaco, papá, pibe, etc.
- You don't coges el bus, you subís el bondi
- You don't go out to comer, you morfar
- You have come to accept the fact that Buenos Aires sometimes huele a mar, even though it's a five hour drive to the ocean
- Fito Paez just passed by on the street and nobody seemed to notice
- A bar at a car wash, a Kosher McDonald's, and a Museo del Jamón all seem to make sense, somehow
- You know where to see the movies for 2 mangos, but still go to Village Recoleta because it's "top"
- You know that a disco is not a place to dance or a genre of music, but a place to buy food
- You eat sandwiches without crusts, pizza with a knife and fork and empanadas with your fingers
- You find yourself eating ñoquis on the 29th of each month, and not really knowing why
- You stay out till 6 am at a boliche but are still fresh as a daisy for your class at 9
- You mix ketchup and mayo, slather the beastly concoction on everything, and have the audacity to call it "salsa golf"
- You begin to wonder how Washington D.C. got off copying the obelisco, why London stole Buenos Aires' phone booths and letter boxes, and why Milan’s La Scala operahouse had to steal the blueprints for Teatro Colón
- You get used to the fact that though you live in a port city, you rarely, if ever, see the waterfront.
- You don't find it at all confusing thatthere are streets called Peña, Rodríguez Peña, Luis Saenz Peña and Roque Saenz Peña, all in fairly close proximity. Nor that there are an Yrigoyen and Irigoyen that intersect, despite their different spellings.
- It makes perfect sense that the seediest redlight bars are directly alongside Recoleta cemetery, where the Argentine aristocracy is buried
- “Spice” is no longer a condiment to be put on food, but a television channel replete with B-grade SciFi films
- You are nostalgic for the bygone days of Carlos Gardel, or of Evita's Casa Rosada speeches, or even Maradonna's "hand of God" goal, even though you never saw any of them
- It doesn't seem to bother you that a "drugstore" sells anything but
- You can get everything delivered to your departamento...from munchies to mariachis
- You consider it rude when you throw a party and people show up on time, while you are still making preparations, obvio...
- You feel comfortable wearing alpargatas just about anywhere
- You can't imagine drinking coffee without briskly following it with a shot glass of mineral water
- You know all the parts of a cow and you're not a butcher or a veterinarian
- You have ever considered growing out a mullet
- You get mugged and ask for your wallet back
- You refer to everything outside the capital as the "interior" of the country
- You realise that Neuquen is a palindrome, Salta a command and Buenos Aires a cruel joke, given the level of air pollution
- No weekend feels complete without a trip to the feria
- You are a self-made expert on EVERYTHING
- Your favourite thing to do is fiaca, the special action of not doing anything
- You drink your mate amargo but eat dulce de leche on everything
- You realise that when there is a superclasico, everything halts for el fútbol
- You can find Evita’s grave blindfolded, and know that Carlos Gardel is buried in Chacarita, even though nobody knows for sure where he was born
- Your swear words include colourful descriptions of the birthing process and the private parts of a parrot
- Everything is a quilombo
- It seems normal that professional dog walkers are dragged around by up to 20 canines, and that there is a bus to cart dogs around the city to the parks

Okay, this might not be funny to everyone except those living in BA, but I found it and thought it was hilarious!

Feliz Cumpleanos a Charity!

2006-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is very important day: it's the birthday of one of my best friends , Charity Elizabeth Romano. Since I am not at home to celebrate with her, I wanted to send her a little birthday shout-out from Buenos Aires, and let everyone else know why she is so cool!

She is beautiful outside and within - actually, I think that we will all agree that she is HOT! (And still single, guys!)

She is adventurous, brave, and is always willing to try new things!

She is an amazing cook, and can whip up anything from practically nothing.
She is goofy, crazy, outgoing, loves to have fun, and is a blast to be around!

She is athletic, outdoorsy, energetic, and loves to be outside enjoying God's creation.

She knows how to get down and shake her groove thang! Looks like we didn't impress Rich that much, though!

She is super artistic and creative. Check out an example of her artistic side - she took this sunrise photo in Panama.

She is an adoring, loving, and supportive sister and daughter.

Last, but certainly not least, she has been an amazing friend and sister in Christ, and a blessing to have as a roommate. Charity is always there to laugh with, cry with, and pray with, and is an indescribable encouragement, support, teacher, and buddy to all of her friends.

Happy birthday, Charity! I hope you are having a birthday that is every bit as special and incredible as you are. I miss you tons, and I am so thankful for your friendship!

Thanksgiving in the Andes

2006-11-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

My friend Emily, a way cool missionary girl living here in BA, invited me to spend Thanksgiving weekend with her in Mendoza, a desert town at the base of the Andes, where a group of missionaries has a Thanksgiving celebration. So Wednesday evening we boarded the bus for the 12 hour ride to Mendoza. However, buses in Argentina are much nicer than any in the States, and are actually more comfortable than sitting on an airplane. We were traveling coche cama class, which meant our seats almost fully reclined, we were given a cold dinner, a hot dinner, breakfast, and a movie! With its two levels, meals, sleeping passengers, and gentle swaying, it reminded me of The Knight Bus from Harry Potter.

We arrived in Mendoza Thursday morning, and because we were not celebrating Thanksgiving till Saturday, headed to Cacheute, beautiful hot springs up in the mountains. Friday we went white water rafting on the Rio Mendoza, which was a blast. Saturday we loaded up two vans with about 24 people to head up to a cabin in the Andes, where Thanksgiving was being held. One thing I have learned since being here, though, is that everything is an adventure. En route to the cabin, a large semi in front of us insistently motioned for us to pass him, despite the fact that it was a double yellow line. As soon as we did, however, both vehicles full of hungry extranjeros were pulled over by a group of police waiting on the side of the road. The two dads spent a tense 40 minute trying to convince them not to make us go all the way back to town to pay the ticket, and trying not to give in to the temptation to bribe the officers, which they had hinted was a possibility. However, the officers finally showed us grace and let us go. Thanksgiving itself was amazing. There were about 40 plus people there, almost all missionaries serving in Chile and Argentina, and was incredible to hear about their experiences and eat turkey at the base of the Andes.

We are excited for Thanksgiving dinner and to see the mountains!

Amazing, huh?

Turkey!

The start of our post-turkey hike

Lauren, a fun missionary kid growing up in Argentina, and I at a Jesus statue overlooking the mountains and the valley below.

Los Colectivos

2006-11-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

Buenos Aires's public buses are called colectivos. They are loud, dirty, emit noxious amounts of foul-smelling exhaust that send me into spastic coughing fits as they pass by, and are a constant threat to pedestrians crossing the street, but I love them. I love their history with the colorful porteno art style called fileteado. I love that even though I ride the colectivos at least twice a day, I have never seen another American, or any foreigner for that matter, on a colectivo. I love that the name for the bus driver, colectivero, is also what they call a mullet here, which should lend some insight onto the hairstyles favored by the colectiveros. I love that I can now locate the appropriate bus in the Guia T, the amazingly complex guide listing all 200+ colectivo's routes (which at first I called the "Get You Lost T"), in a mere 15 minutes - quite an improvement over my original hour.

My first experience with the colectivos was almost enough to swear me off them for the remainder of my stay in Buenos Aires. I had taken one successfully downtown on my second day in the city to meet a friend for ice cream. In order to get home, I hopped on the regreso, or return, of the same line. Because every other street in Buenos Aires is one way, the regreso went on a street that I was not yet familar with, and because I didn't recognize the neighborhood, I missed my stop. By the time I realized I had passed my house, I had no clue where I was, and spent the remainder trying to figure out where I was on the map to call a taxi, and wondering why in the world I was not safe at home in the Shell Shack. However, I soon realized I was the very last person on the bus, and worked up enough nerve to explain my predicament to the colectivero. He rolled his eyes, told me that the neighborhood I was in was too peligroso to get off in, and took me back to the bus station, and put me on the next bus, where the driver dropped me off safely at my corner.

My favorite colectivo experience, however, is from a couple weeks ago, when my friend Emily and I were waiting to cross the street, and the passing colectivo whistled at us. Not the driver - the horn of the bus itself made a cat call whistle, while the driver leered at us with a "hehe, my bus just whistled at you" smirk.

Mi Casa

2006-11-21T06:01:00.000-08:00

I love where I live in Buenos Aires! I don't think that I could have gotten a better place. I live in Palermo, the largest barrio in the city with a population of 240,000. Palermo is then divided into smaller sub-barrios, and I live in my favorite area in all of Buenos Aires - Palermo Viejo, so called because it is the "old" part of Palermo (duh!). Palermo Viejo is further divided into Palermo Soho, because it is becoming a very trendy locale with lots of botiques and posh restaurants, which is the part of Palermo Viejo I live in, and Palermo Hollywood, due to the media businesses that are based there. I love Palermo Viejo because every other street is cobbled, there are no skyscraper apartments but only old houses that have been restored, and it doesn't feel like you are in a city of 12 million when you walk around the neighborhood. My apartment itself is great because it has a garden, which is pretty much unheard of in the city, plus a terrace, a washing machine, and I have a huge room with Internet. I share with a cool Argentine art student named Loli and her cat Nina. My building from the outside.

The open living room and kitchen. The stairs go to Loli's office/studio.
The jardin. The open door is to my bedroom, and the spiral stairs go to the terrace above my room.
My bedroom! My bed is tiny, though, and sags in the middle like a cot.

Me on the terrace! Can't you just imagine all the great parties the Shell Shackers would have here?

Charity, this post's for you!

2006-11-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

One of the readers of this blog has been requesting pictures of me dancing tango. Since there are no pictures of me dancing tango and there are unlikely to be any pictures of me dancig tango, I thought I would post pictures of real tango dancers, which is actually a lot more fun than seeing me dance tango, plus pics of all the other dance styles I have seen here in Argentina. And while we are on the topic of tango, it came to my attention that said reader has been telling people that I have been learning tango, and that when I come home we will all go tango dancing and I can teach people. For the record, I have had a total of 1.5 tango lessons, and it is unlikely that in the four weeks remaining I will not master the tango. So please people, do not expect any crazy moves. I am happy to stick to line dancing. And to said reader - I miss you! Let's go take tango lessons together when I get home! Countdown to Operation Shell Shackers Reunited: 29 days!

break dancing at a percussion band concert

Scottish dancers at a Anglican church event.

Greek dancing at a Greek Restaurant. We got to throw plates on the floor!

Buenos Aires by Numbers

2006-11-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

Time Out Buenos Aires, my other Bible while I am here, has this interesting article on statistics of the city.

39 million Population of Argentina in 2005.
12.3 million Population of metropolitian BA in 2005 (2.9 million in the capital).
12th BA's ranking in list of world's largest cities.

142nd BA's ranking (out of 144) in list of world's most expensive cities.

4th BA's ranking in list of world's noisiest cities.

1:30 Ratio of psychoanalysts to population in Argentina.

1:100 Same ratio in developed nations.

1 in 30 Number of Argentines who have undergone plastic surgery since 1970.

1 in 10 Number of adolescent girls in Argentina suffering from an eating disorder.

40 Percentage of Argentinian population living below the poverty line in 2005.

3 Number of presidents since 1914 to complete a full term and hand power to an elected successor.

6 Number of Argentinian presidents since the 2001 crisis.

20 Percentage of Argentinians who are practising Roman Catholics.

15 Age of sexual consent in Argentina.

1986 Year that divorce became legal in Argentina.

2003 Year that same sex civil union was legalised in Buenos Aires.

14,000 Number of left-wing dissidents that "disappeared" under military rule from 1976 to 1983 according to official reports.

30,000 Number of left-wing dissidents that "disappeared" according to most human rights groups.

1st Argentina's world ranking for soy meat and soy oil exports.

4th Argentina's world ranking for beef exports in 2004.

60kg Amount of beef consumed per capita per year in Argentina.

7th Argentina's world ranking for wine consumption.

92 Percentage of Argenine households in which mate is drunk

50,000 Estimated number of tangos composed (and counting).

20 Percent of city streets still cobbled. (Hence my pic of street performers on a cobbled street, since all of my other photos are actually quite boring)

All About Trash

2006-11-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

One thing that is interesting here in Buenos Aires is the trash. For some reason no one has large trash cans anywhere in the house, not even the kitchen, but little bathroom-sized cans. Of course, this means they fill up quickly, and so the cans are emptied often and trash pick-up happens every weeknight in city. Unlike in the States, where we have large trashbins at the ends of the driveways, here they just set the trash out on the curb right outside the door. Well, last night I was walking to the parada, or bus stop, and as I passed by my neighbor's front door, she opened the door and threw her trash bag out, without even checking for any pedestrians on the sidewalk. As I dodged her trash, I reminded myself that it could have been a worse object to be nearly pelted with - at least we are no longer living in the Middle Ages, and it wasn't someone's slops being tossed out the door.

My Next Job

2006-10-30T16:29:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-27T14:18:00.000-07:00


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!

Mas Fotos de Iguazu

2006-10-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-10-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

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!

Sports Day

2006-10-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was Sports Day at my colegio. I helped with the 7th grade girls events, and saw my first field hockey game. It was really fun to hang out with my girls outside of class.

One interesting thing about the culture here is that soccer is very much a men's game. The typical girls' sports are field hockey and tennis, and even when I ask my students about what sports they like, the girls always say they don't like soccer.

Vamos, River, Vamos!

2006-10-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

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.

More Camping Pics

2006-10-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

Argentine Camping Trip

2006-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-08-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! Check back here after September 17th for (hopefully) regular postings on my life in Buenos Aires! For now, you get to enjoy the Shell Shackers!