El segundo corte del agua

    A month ago we were supposed to have a corte del agua in the city where the city was going to shut off water because they were cleaning a dam in Potririllos. My part of the city wasn't actually affected after all, so even though I filled up a bunch of water bottles on reserve for the 36 hours we weren't supposed to have water, it ended up not being a problem.
    Today a pipe broke in Mendoza that is a major supplier of water to the city, and because of this, we are having a spontaneous corte del agua, which no one was prepared for. This was ground to cancel classes at the universities (but not our program classes of course). The schools here will use any excuse to cancel classes and take holidays. Zonda wind, for example. My music professor has been sick from the zonda multiple times. Monday, the elementary schools didn't have class either because the election took place on Sunday, and the whole city votes in the elementary schools, so they took a day off of class to sanitize the schools. Add today, and possibly tomorrow, this week could've been an entire week vacation. Except we better have class tomorrow, because my 5 page paper is due, and that's some of the only real work I've done here lately, so it deserves to be turned in on time.
    So I'm not allowed to shower, flush my toilet, or wash my dishes, because we weren't prepared for this corte del agua. Luckily I have one 2 liter bottle full for emergencies, and I'll probably have to go buy water too. I've heard estimates from 8 hours to 24 hours for how long this is going to last, so I guess I'll find out if I have water in the morning or not. It was probably a bad decision to go to the gym knowing that I couldn't shower after. I might stink like B.O all tomorrow.

Update: The corte lasted for over 24 hours in some parts of the city, longer in others. My house didn't have water until the next day. My history class wasn't canceled the next day because that building still had water. What I don't understand is why the university was watering the lawn (more of the water actually ends up on the sidewalk) while half the town didn't have water. Even our study abroad office didn't have water, and we still had classes there, and weren't allowed to use the bathroom. This made me really realize how much we depend on running water these days.

How to dress like an Argentinian

   Throughout my time in Argentina, I have seen the most random mix of fashion with so many contradictions, it's hard to explain. The fashion has also changed dramatically since I arrived in winter, and now it is 80 degrees out.
    During the day, a lot of men and women here dress very casually in non name brand clothing, just jeans and a shirt or casual sweater. A lot of people rewear clothes a couple days in a row. This is the kind of clothing you could buy from JC Penny, just very plain and casual. The elementary schools here require the students to wear uniforms, which are white smocks. The high school students don't wear uniforms, but also dress very casual. When I walk past the high school by my house during lunch, all the students are outside wearing the same navy blue sweatpants, t-shirts and sweatshirts. The college students in my classes normally wear jeans and simple shirts. There are a lot of knock offs, and people love Adidas here. Lots of people have Adidas bags and clothing. Fanny packs are popular too, and I totally see why; they are so convenient and safe when pick pocketing is such a problem here. I'm definitely going to buy a Fanny pack before I leave.
     The businessmen and women I often see walking in the city dress nicer in professional clothes, suit jackets and blazers. The casual wear and professional wear is pretty similar to the US.

So many colorful pants!

    But then there are people who wear the craziest outfits. This includes the blue full length leopard print onesie I saw a woman wearing in Salta. Or women wear something in the middle of the two extremes, like jeans with a glittery strip of cloth down the side. A lot of women wear heels. These heels are very specific though. They are gaudy platform wedges that are either bright colored suede, fringed, studded, leather or sparkly. They are probably 6 inches high in some cases. A lot of them have the same height in the platform part of the toe as the heel, so it looks like you are walking on a wooden block (these aren't quite so high). They look really good with the genie pants that everyone wears. These are Indian looking cloth pants that are scrunchy at the waist and ankles but really loose throughout the legs. They come in all sorts of patterns and bright colors, and could be super casual or pretty fancy, and some of them have a really super low crotch so you really do look like a genie.  I bought a pair of these in Chile after searching around multiple artisan markets for the perfect pattern and best price. Also popular are similar cloth pants, made out of somewhat canvas like material, that come in really bright stripes and plaid, but look more like pajama pants and don't scrunch at the ankle. I also bought a pair of these, so I'm pretty much an Argentinian now, I even bought a pair of wedges to accompany them (the least gaudiest pair I could find).

Could I pull this off better than the mannequin?

    However, these bold clothes are starting to seem normal to me after living here 3 months. At first I thought the onesie was the most ridiculous outfit, but now I see so many girls wearing them, they don't seem that bad. They come in shorts and tank top versions too, and I see these all over the city and in classes now. They look super comfortable.... might have to get one.
     The artisan markets have neat clothing and jewelry and bags. I'm sure they are mass produced somewhere and not actually home made artisan products because they are the same at every stall, and in every city, and in both Chile and Argentina. You can find neat textile products made of rainbow colored cloth and lots of leather bags from all the cattle in Argentina, and lots of llama and alpaca wool products. I'm so excited to wear my new wool sweaters when I get back to winter in Colorado. 

When would I ever be able to wear these?

    For going out at night, the girls get super dreessed up. They pretty much transform into new people. The Argentinian women all have super long, think beautiful hair that they will leave down for going out, or wear in super high pony tails. They wear super short shorts or mini skirts, sparkly tops, sequins, hot pink, patterned tights; they look glamorous. And of course are wearing the heels, while I'm wearing the six dollar flats that I bought at the Walmart here for going out, because the boliches destroy your shoes. But perhaps heels are the safer bet in boliches, if they elevate you off the ground, your feet can't get stepped on as much..?  The men normally wear jeans, polos, t-shirts or sweaters; less dressed up than the girls but similar to what American boys wear out for the night.
    When I arrived in Mendoza, I was told it's inappropriate to wear shorts, that the conservative and religious culture of Mendoza frowns upon wearing shorts or very revealing clothing out in the city. When it wasn't quite so hot, people did give me funny looks for wearing shorts, but now it's so hot I do it anyway. Whenever I leave my house, my host mom always tells me to put on a jacket. And mothers will warn the foreigners wearing shorts about the men that will harass you. The only times I saw girls wearing shorts at the beginning of the semester was at the gym or running in the park. Recently I've seen quite a bit of more revealing clothing in the city, as it is warming up, which makes me think that it is completely acceptable. I've seen that the younger crowd will wear shorts and tank tops, but lots of older people will go out during the 70 degree weather in long sleeves and pants, sometimes with a jacket. But what I don't understand is why it's not okay to wear shorts out in the daytime, but once it's night time and everyone is heading out to the bars, the girls can wear tiny booty shorts. Or why is it okay to wear thong bikinis at the pool and not shorts? Those are some big contradictions I can't seem to figure out.

Might never wear real pants again after discovering these!

   

October is already over!? Time to reflect.

     I have one month left until my last final here. Twenty days until my boyfriend is here to visit me, and a month until my parents are here to travel Patagonia with me. I can't wait to show them everything I've seen in Mendoza, show them how much my Spanish has improved, and travel a little nicer than how the typical college student travels (house on the lake in Bariloche instead of dirty hostel!?) I'm a little homesick, I miss my norms, and I've gained a lot of appreciation for where I live in the U.S.
    My finals aren't going to be too hard. One is a presentation, a couple are oral interview type, and another is an essay. I'm terrified for when I go back to DU and start the accounting core for my major. I've barely been in school here. I've never been the type to skip class, take the easy way out of assignments, or procrastinate, but it's been really easy to do fine in class without putting in too much effort. And I only need a 6 out of 10 to pass. The fact is that the kind of work I've had to do for classes here is read and summarize. This kind of busy work is what we did sophomore year of high school. I hope I still know how to study when I get back. I register this week for classes next quarter, which means it's almost time to go home and go back to reality. However, in a way, this change in attitude toward school has been good for me. I think I prioritize school too much. I've been a straight A student since elementary school, and I know that this will be very hard to maintain in the accounting core. You aren't expected to get As in the core. This is preparing me to receive my first B. In ethics boot camp at DU, Professor Ciocchetti gives a speech about prioritizing your life, and work or school should never be in the top 4; rather the top priorities should be filled with family, friends and your passions. Ciocchetti would be so proud of me right now. School is probably number 10 on my list right now. I'm going to pass, but there are just so many more important things here, right now than reading and summarizing.
    Being the foreign exchange student here has made me feel super guilty for how I have viewed foreign exchange students at DU. Probably 20% of DU is foreign students from China, and a lot of them are cliquey, and I haven't tried to make any friends with them. I've found it a pain to work with people in classes who don't speak English as well, because I was solely thinking about my grades. But now I'm in that exact position as the weird foreigner who cliques with the other foreigners, sits with the rest of the US kids, speaks English with the other exchange students, and am the one nobody wants in their group for class because I can't do as quality work. I will never again take for granted how hard it is to switch cultures and be the foreign exchange student, and the intercambios at DU deserve so much more credit from students at DU.  DU prides itself in their inclusiveness, but I don't think you can really understand the meaning of this until after studying abroad in a country with a different culture, different language, different customs.
 
    My host family here doesn't eat the best quality food, and I was starting to feel the effects of this on my health and how I felt throughout the day. Sometimes I eat lunch then immediately want to sleep because the quality of the food makes me tired. The empty white carbs I eat almost every day could be a cause of why siestas exist. But I've been trying to change my habits during the day to stay healthier, including buying a gym pass and buying healthier snacks rather than eating crackers at my house for snacks. The Argentinians just don't really snack, so my options for food in between lunch and my 10 pm dinner is crackers and tea. Even if it means I'm spending a little extra money, I've felt a lot better in the past month about my decisions. 
     I was reaching a point after a few months where Mendoza was starting to feel monotonous. My host family has a daily routine which involves a lot of sleeping when they aren't watching tv, and it's been hard for me to adjust to having a family that's not on the go all the time and ready for the next activity at any moment like my friends and family at home. My host family is quiet, and not much goes on in the house. Meals are short and outings infrequent. This, in addition to not having much to do in the house except Facebook, can be a bit depressive. The solution to this has been to get out of the house as much as possible. I try to find things to do in the centro after class, study in coffee shops, skype with friends from home. I fill almost every day in the weekends with day trips and hikes and meeting up with friends. It's a shame I haven't been able to connect with my host family like I had hoped, but there isn't much in common. I've tried to stay more occupied lately, and it's improved my attitude.
  
    My goal for October was to meet more local people, and make more Argentinian friends.  It's been hard to make friends here because of the language barrier and cultural differences; the women seem more closed off, and the men are more interested in dating. But I'd say in the last couple weeks I've done better at accomplishing my goal, by meeting people through some of my friends in the program who have host siblings that like to go out and introduce us to others. It's nice to have parties and houses to go to rather than always going to the bars. The other hard part is that we leave in a month, so any friendships I make now only have a month to progress. Living here, I've experienced a balance between feeling part of the culture and seeing the naturaleza in South America. I've been traveling all over Argentina, experiencing the Andes and the everything to see here, while absorbing a lot of the culture along the way, but traveling so much still makes me feel somewhat like a tourist rather than a mendocino, and although I call Mendoza my home now, it still feels temporary. It's a trade off, choosing to travel or immerse myself completely into the city. It's two different ways of experiencing Argentina and progressing my Spanish, and although I've seen amazing views, I wish I could say I've made lifelong Argentinian friendships, because I really haven't. The people in my program are amazing, and we are already talking about reunions, but I can't say that I have connected strongly with the people of Mendoza. This is probably the one major flaw in my experience abroad. `
    When I go back to school next quarter, I wont be in a Spanish class, so in my last month here before traveling with family, I need to speak as much Spanish as possible. My goal for when I go back to school is to still practice using Spanish outside of classes. My Argentina bucket list hasn't been completed yet. I still have so many things to do and see, and one month left to do it.

Halloween Previa!

    Recently we've been hanging out with a group of local chicos that Megan's host family introduced her to. It's pretty common that some of the locals want to throw parties for the foreigners to practice their English or simply have an excuse to party more. So this group of chicos has thrown a couple parties for us, calling them "English nights", and giving us more Spanish help too. A couple weeks ago they had a party in Chacras, at one of the chico's houses, which was a massive house with probably 2 or 3 guest houses and lots of beautiful land. Chacras has some of the ritzier houses in Mendoza, and is also where all the big boliches are. It's been fun teaching them our American drinking games, and learning theirs, and always having them ask if American parties are like what they see in the movies. I tell them that what they see in the movies is our chill Tuesday nights and on the weekends it gets even crazier. This week we had another party at the same house to celebrate Halloween. We got so creative with costumes; some of us were Argentinian things. I was Dulce de Leche, Amanda was Andes beer, Lizzy was Aconcagua, Julia was a bidet, and Briana was an asado. We looked super great, and I even brought dulce de leche and crackers and dulce de leche liqueur to accompany my costume. We played beer pong all night, which was so fun because I haven't played in three months, and some of the Argentinians were actually really good at it. I drank way too much fernet and coke, after my new found realization that I like fernet now. It took three months of trying it and hating it to get used to it, and now I like it. It takes like mouth wash at first, but it's all the Argentinians drink. We all crashed at the house in Chacras and had to figure out the micro getting back in the morning, which was easy enough.
  

Wine Tasting

    One of our prepaid for excursions with IFSA is going to one of the bodegas in Mendoza to do a wine tasting, which is the only time we've been permitted to consume alcohol during a program event. However, we were warned to control our consumption or we would be left at the winery. We were only offered two samples so this wasn't even an issue. We went to the vineyard Zuccardi, which is a huge winery in Maipu that is family owned and really promotes being sustainable economically and environmentally. We took a tour of where they make the wine, the barreling process, and then tried a pinot gris, a red wine, and a dessert wine, which were all delicious. I've really come to like red wine here, which I expected to happen, since Malbec is famous here and red wine is a lot more popular. The first bodega I went to in Mendoza back in August taught us to smell the wine and look at the wine and taste the wine properly, finding what aromas are in the wine, but this tasting didn't teach us this much. But we were able to distinguish green apple in the white wine, and wood in the red. Now that its spring all of the wineries have beautiful leaves and grapes growing, and it looks so much prettier than when I first saw the wineries in the winter with all the dead leaves. If you drive anywhere outside the city, all the land is covered in either vineyards or olive trees.
    After the tasting, we went to the restaurant at the vineyards for a 10 course meal, not exaggerating. We were all starving, and running late, so all the plates came out really fast and all at once. I was double fisting two kinds of sandwiches at one point. We were first served bread with various toppings; tapenade, sun dried tomatoes, picked eggplant and olives. Then a cheese plate, salami plate, a pork covered in a mayonnaise sauce, a tuna and walnut sandwich, and beef and mustard sandwich, a fried mashed potatoes and chicken roll thing, then two desserts of a fresh fruit salad, then peaches and cream. I had a massive food baby, and the bus ride home was the most uncomfortable feeling.

Aconcagua

    Friday I went to Parque Nacional Aconcagua to see the tallest mountain in the western and southern hemispheres, Aconcagua, at 22,837 ft.  It's on the same route to Chile, and took 4 hours to get there by bus, so Megan, Amanda and I left at 6 am from the bus terminal to get there. The bus dropped us off in Puente del Inca, a tiny little town 4 kilometers from the national park. This tourist town was built next to the Puente del Inca, a natural bridge formation over the Mendoza River. Here the water is hot and there are nearby hot springs, which petrified the surface of the ground to form the bridge. A hot spring spa was built into the bridge, and this bridge was even written about by Charles Darwin.

Us in front of the mountain we thought was Aconcagua

    From Puente del Inca, we walked to the park, the whole time thinking that the mountain in front of me was Aconcagua, even though it wasn't very big, I figured we must be at a really high altitude so the mountain didn't seem that big. I felt really stupid when I realized that it absolutely was not Aconcagua, which was farther back in the range of mountains, and much much bigger.

There is the real Aconcagua behind me.

    It was really windy and cold when we arrived, and barely warmed up during the day, but the mountains blocked some of the wind once we entered the park. It was a dollar fifty to enter the park, and there were two small self guided loops to walk in the park to see the views of the mountain. We also walked a little farther on one of the trails leading to the base camp of Aconcagua. It's a 17 day trek to reach the top, done with a guide and lost of acclimating. The colors of the mountains were so beautiful, and there are huge "wandering rocks" in the valley that were brought down the mountain with glacier movement. There are multiple lagoons in the park too from snow melt. Aconcagua was covered in snow from the recent snow in the mountains after zonda wind last weekend. The top was covered in clouds so we couldn't quite see the whole mountain. Even though it was off season for visiting the park, there were quite a few tour groups there from both Chile and Argentina. The tourist information center had hot coffee out for us which was nice, and gave us a place to warm up. We spent about 5 hours wandering the town and the park, then came back to the town to get hot chocolate and alfajores until our bus arrived to take us back.

A Weekend of Firsts

The weekdays go by fast in Mendoza; once it hits 4 pm on Thursday, I'm done with my classes for the week and it's time for more Mendocinian adventures. It can get repetitive sitting in my room on my computer every weekend trying to make plans through wifi, since it's expensive to text, but this weekend we found some great new places to go in Mendoza, and everything I did this weekend was a new experience.

Casino de Mendoza
Thursday night I went to the casino in Mendoza to see a free tango show. Arriving at the casino, I experienced more security than anywhere else I've gone in the city. This was maybe the second time I've been carded, and the security had to call back up to confirm we could enter because he didn't understand our U.S. IDs. I felt super classy in the casino. We ordered the girliest drinks; daquaries and tequila sunrises, which came in super tall glasses, orange and pink, with cherries. The show started as a free tango class, which was really cute to watch because it was full of old couples learning how to tango. Lizzy was the only one brave enough to participate, while the rest of us watched from the balcony. Afterwords the lesson turned into a show with tango dancers and a band. I wish I had dancing skills. The one tango class I went to here was a struggle. Inside the casino doesn't feel like Mendoza since it's so glitzy, with no windows. And being allowed in a casino is new for me; I've really only walked through casinos in the States since I'm not old enough to stay and have a drink.




 Potririllos
I'd been wanting to go here for a while, and finally made it. It's an hour and a half by bus, and there is a beautiful lake and dam right next to the mountains. The little town has some cabanas that you can rent, and restaurants, and a great churro stand that I've only heard about and not yet experienced, so I'm going to have to return another time. A lot of the lake was dried up, so we started walking out onto the dried up lake bed, but started sinking into the wet mud too much, and then really had to turn around after Kaylee sank into the mud knee deep. So we walked around the lake and found a place to jump in the water. I don't think you are really supposed to get in the water, it seems pretty stagnant and there was a lot of algae, but we jumped in anyway. It's all snow melt from the mountains so it was pretty freezing, but probably 85 degrees out, so we laid out on the rocks after to bask in the sun. We were planning on hiking, but that turned into a nap in the sun, which I'm perfectly happy with.

Aguas Termales
Saturday I went to the hot springs in Cacheuta, where I've hiked before, but haven't ever been in the town. There are three different hot spring areas, but one was closed and the other is an exclusive spa accessed by the hotel there, so we went to the one that was more like a big water park with hot pools and cold pools, and it overlooks the Mendoza River and the mountains. It was a beautiful day for this, high 80s, sunny, and an amazing place to relax. It was very crowded however, and I've never seen so many thong bikinis in my life as I did today. I couldn't believe the old ladies walking around in thong swimsuits. How is that comfortable to sit down on the benches, cement or grass in?
The town had some really great food for after the pool, and then we had to wait with about 100 other people to get onto two buses to go back to Mendoza, so we fought for a seat on the bus, and won.
I think I'm starting to get a tan here, which I love because I'll be going back to Colorado in the middle of winter all tan.

Partido de Futbol
    Sunday night was the Boca Juniors verses Godoy Cruz game in Mendoza. I went during the week to buy my ticket at the stadium in the park by my house with some friends, and happily discovered that chicas cost less than the guys to get in, since we aren't the ones causing all of the problems in the stands. The guys had to pay twice as much for a ticket, but we also bought the more expensive ones because the cheaper 'popular' tickets are where all of the hard core fans sit, who are the ones who will start getting aggressive and cause riots. Games are known to be dangerous in Latin America, especially in Argentina. My host mom and sister were very very concerned for my safety going to the game. My friend Josh planned out the adventure, and 12 of us were going, all foreigners, and 10 of which were girls. Our plan was to meet at the entrance to the park, and walk to the stadium. My host family however did not think it was safe to walk at all this afternoon; they warned me of huge groups of muchachos that were going to be walking past the houses on the way to the game, who wouldn't hesitate to rob us or grab our butts. They weren't happy that I wasn't going to change my plans to take a taxi to the stadium. But my host family has also never been to a game, and everything turned out fine. We walked towards the stadium, where I tried my first choripan, which is a chorizo sausage on a bun, and is delicious and fatty and juicy. This was right after having an asado with my family (today was Argentina Mother's Day, and my host brother's birthday), so I was already full of meat and dulce de leche crepes, but had to try it anyway.
    We ran into our new friend Santiago outside the stadium. It feels so good to run into somebody you know in Mendoza that isn't an IFSA kid or your host family; it makes you feel like you actually live here, and aren't just visiting. So with Santiago and his friend we went into the stadium. They were sitting on the Boca side, and us on the Godoy Cruz side, so we had to separate. We got a thorough pat down on our way into the stadium too.
    The stadium in Mendoza was built for when Argentina hosted the 1978 world cup. There is a moat separating the fans from the field, so that the fans can't charge the field in anger. Both ends of the stadium are reserved for the 'popular' section, separated by a fence, and guarded by the Argentine SWOT. Our seats had a row of guards too in front of us. I felt safe because we were sitting in a section with families and kids. Visiting fans were actually banned this year because of so much violence between fans. So now, tickets for the popular section for the visiting team are sold as 'neutral,' so they can still attend the game. The popular section filled up completely, with enormous banners, and everyone had flaming things that they lit up when the game started, and some of the flames even fell into the moat, leaving a small fire going for a while on the ground. Everyone was chanting songs the entire time. Each team in Argentina has specific songs that the fans sing during the games. They didn't stop singing for the entire two hours. There was a drum leading the chants, and everybody would clap and jump. I really wish I'd looked up the chants before going because the whole time I was trying to sing along with awkward vowel sounds. When they scored, the chants would get even louder, but also when the other team scored they would chant more. They all sounded the same to me, but the ones for when the other team scored were probably so crude and aggressive and I didn't even know it. I find it hilarious that the phrase "son of a bitch" translates directly as "hijo de la puta" and they use it frequently here, so this was chanted for a while too.
    I've never been super into sports, but there was just so much to see during the game in the crowd and it was an intense game too, I've never had more fun at a sports event. Except we were sitting next to these little tweenagers, and whenever I'd get into the cheering, they'd stare at me and laugh, which couldn't help but make me feel stupid for trying to fit in with the rest of the crowd. Everyone in the crowd is so passionate for the teams, and it's such a cultural trait as well. There were kids probably as young as 2 or 3 yelling profanities at the refs. People in the front row all had huge banners and were waving flags and umbrellas of the team colors. People ripped up newspapers as confetti to throw into the crowd, and they handed out plastic bags of the colors of the teams to blow up and wave in the air. People were throwing streamers onto the field too during the game. None of this would ever be allowed at a sports event in the U.S.

     It was a very close game. Godoy Cruz was up a point by the middle of the second half, with one player out for a red card, turning the last 15 minutes of the game into a power struggle to maintain the lead. In the last minute of the game, Boca got a free penalty shot, and scored, which put the game at a tie as the game ended. This was not a happy way to end the game for the Godoy Cruz fans, and a fight immediately broke out. As the 10 of us foreigners sit there in awe with our mouths wide open and cameras out as the players start fighting with each other, Josh thinks better of this, and makes us all leave right away, so we practically ran out of the stadium right as the cops brought out the water hose and the fans in our section started ripping apart chairs. We power walked away from the stadium with the rest of the thirty thousand people at the game, and heard some mysterious pops in the background that were definitely not fireworks, and were most likely tear gas being brought out. The police helicopter was flying above the stadium shining its light down on everyone fleeing. After getting a far enough distance away from the stadium, I had hoped to take a cab home, but ended up deliberately disobeying my host mother and walking home, when she had warned me of the dangers of this too. But I wasn't alone, and we were far enough away from the stadium there weren't any riots going on. So I survived my first soccer game.

Cultural Norms

These are some of my recent observations in Mendoza, and some things that just take a while to get used to.

1. Staring is completely acceptable in Argentina, and they love to stare at the foreigners. People will watch you on the bus, at restaurants, walking down the street, really wherever, and it's not just creepy men staring; it's kids and old ladies and everybody. I find it awkward to be caught staring at someone, and even more awkward to be goggled at when walking down the street.

2. Public displays of affection (PDAs) are also acceptable. Since everyone lives at home until you are married, young couples don't have a place to go to display their affection, so instead they display it in public. You quite often see couples laying in the grass in the parks together, making out aggressively on the micros, or taking up every bench in the park. There are even these places called telos which are hotels where you can pay by the hour... for when being in public isn't sufficient enough. PDA was very common in Chile too when I was there this past weekend. I ran up to this railing by the beach to take a picture of the sunset one night, to accidentally intrude in a couples' make out sesh right next to me. They probably thought I was taking a picture of them.

3. People here often refer to others as exactly what they are, for example, as "gordita" (fatty) for a person who is generally bigger, or "niña" for a child. This applies to nationalities too, like saying "chino" for someone from China. It isn't meant offensively, it's just how they refer to people and are normally terms of endearment. 

4. When sitting down to a meal, Argentinians don't wait for each other to eat. Once the food is on the table, you can start eating while it's hot. But then we occasionally say a prayer after everyone has sat down, when I'm normally awkwardly halfway through a bite.

5. Smoking is very common, as it is in many countries, but a lot of people smoke in this city. I've gotten a lot of second hand smoke here, especially because a lot of the IFSA students have picked up social smoking habits too because a pack of cigarettes costs less than a dollar here. Smoking is illegal in enclosed and public places, and there are really graphic warning labels on the packs and in the stores warning against the consequences, such as that it hinders your sexual abilities. Even after this, a lot of people still smoke. I was really lucky to be placed with a host family that doesn't smoke.

6. Seatbelts are barely used here; neither are car seats for children, which is actually quite concerning. I see so many kids in the back seats of cars just hanging out, or even babies sitting in the laps of their mothers in the front seat.

7. Argentinians are very proud and stubborn people who don't trust easily and also often leave responsibility and the blame for other people. I've learned this in classes, been warned this by our program, and see it everyday in Mendoza. A good example of this is when you talk about food. Everything is "rica" no matter if it's a hot dog or a steak. If you ever want to experience the attitude of a Argentinian, ask about the Malvina islands, which are technically a part of the U.K., but every Argentinian will tell you how they belong to Argentina. It's hard to argue with an Argentinian. They believe what they want.

8. From my perspective, I think kids here have more independence at a young age than what I'm used to seeing in the States. For example, I often see kids taking the buses by themselves, which I sometimes can't even do by myself. Or sometimes I see very young kids just playing on the sidewalk near an acequia outside a store while their parents are shopping. I'm no child expert, but at the preschool I worked at I feel like we had much stricter rules for safety.

Spanish fails

     Sometimes people say things to me in ways that I just don't understand. A lot of the times it's not because I don't understand the word, but it's because I've never heard it used in such a weird way. I take things very literally in Spanish because I don't quite have the abilities to speak properly and add the correct tones and moods to match the context. This makes sarcasm and jokes very difficult.
     The other day when I arrived to the gym, the trainer asked me something along the lines of, "are you ready to do some exercise?" like as motivation or encouragement. What she actually said translated to me as "are you going to move?" So I took that very literally and thought she needed me to move from the bike I was at, or I needed to adjust the seating or something. This ended in a lot of confusion and awkward smiles as I just put my headphones in and laughed, eventually figuring out what she said.
    On my way back from Chile, I was talking to the old man in front of me while waiting to pass through customs, and he asked how I was liking Mendoza, but the word he used was "tratar" which I've always thought meant "to try," but I guess has another meaning of "to treat," so what he really asked was how is Mendoza treating me. I had to ask him to clarify this, and he told me I'm obviously not a Mendocino yet and laughed.
     When we had my 6 year old host granddaughter over and her mom for dinner a couple weeks ago, the granddaughter was served something different than us even though she wanted what everyone else had. So my host mom told her that what we had wasn't very good anyway and that nobody liked it. I missed the intro into this conversation, so when she asked me if I liked it, and I obviously said yes, I accidentally ruined her scheme a little.
    It's hard to relate to kids in another language. I already have trouble relating to kids in English sometimes, but now the only thing I really can ask them is their name and how old they are. I'm not very good at playing games with them either. And sometimes kids speak in such quiet and innocent voices I can't understand anything they say. I think the granddaughter gets bored with me when she's over because I sometimes just stare and nod my head. Sometimes I feel equivalent to a 2 year old here.
     
    

Getting lost in Santiago

    On Monday Megan and I decided to head back to Santiago and explore the city before our bus left late at night. We got there around noon, and then had the hardest time figuring out where to go. Skylar told us to go to Bellavista where the downtown is, so after checking our bags at the terminal for the day, we asked around to try to get to Bellavista. The information center at the terminal would not help us with tourist information, but also couldn't tell us where to find tourist information. We couldn't find a map anywhere, and for some reason people just kind of stared at us when we asked for help, like we weren't even speaking Spanish. We couldn't use the bus system in Santiago because we didn't have a card to get on, so eventually someone told us how to get on the underground subway, and we found our way through that to the stop that somebody told us to get off on. They said there would be a horse statue, a university and a river. We couldn't find the river at first and walked the wrong way, asked somebody else, and eventually made it to the bellavista neighborhood for lunch. I was feeling adventurous after all this and tried the ceviche, which was a little weird. However, from the restaurant district we didn't know where to go since we were still without a map, and really wanted to see the old historical buildings and the downtown. So then while kind of wandering back towards where we came, a random man advertising his company on the street pushed a map in our direction, trying to get us to go on his tourbus. It's like he knew that the map was exactly what we needed. This saved our day because he told us where to go to see all the historical buildings. So we were finally able to see Santiago, and climbed the steps of Saint Lucia, a castle on a hill in the city where you can see all of Santiago. We saw the plaza de armas surrounded by all the government buildings, and some old churches.
    After walking all day we were more than happy to get finally sit down on the bus back to Mendoza. Of course, only after buying peanut butter, because you can find real peanut butter in Chile. It was neat walking around the city because I actually remembered a little of the sites from when I was in Chile ten years ago with my parents, but its completely different experiencing it as an adult.

Santa Lucia

View of Santiago

Plaza de Armas

Beach day

    The mornings in Chile all start out pretty cloudy and cold, and then warm up in the afternoon, so we picked the warmest day to go to the beach, and went back to Concon, and Emily showed us where to surf. We laid out in the sand waiting for the sun to come out of the clouds, then rented surfboards and wetsuits (which are needed all year round because the water is so cold) for 10 dollars an hour. The waves were pretty tiny, and I spent most of the hour just riding the board on my stomach when small waves would come in. The wetsuits really helped keep us warm, and it was pretty tiring lugging the huge surfboard through the waves the whole time. Following this we got more empanadas, and I tried the one filled with manjar and nuts, which was overflowing with dulce de leche. Unfortunately Sara and Skylar both got food poisoning from the ham and cheese empanadas at this place, and were sick all the next day.
    We hopped on the bus to go back to Vina del Mar right as the sun was setting, and watched an amazing orange sunset as we drove along a sea wall right next to the ocean. This made up for the cloudy sunset the previous day. The buses in Chile are very different than in Mendoza. They are nicer seats, half as many seats, and much cleaner and organized. There is a list of where they are going on the front of the bus rather than having to decipher three numbers on the front of the bus. But they don't have a preloaded bus card they can use, and instead have to pay every time they get on the bus. It costs probably 3 or 4 times as much each ride, and you can't do free transfers if you need to switch buses within the same hour or something. Every time the bus stops, people get on, and the driver normally starts driving before he's issued tickets to everybody, so I was watching him drive along the sea wall into the sun while also making change and choosing between 5 different colors of tickets, which seemed a little dangerous.   

     Since it was Sunday night, nothing much was open for us to do after the beach day. We stopped at a little market to look at artisan jewelry and clothes and gifty items, but a lot was already closed. We wanted to find terremotos, which are another typical Chilean drink of wine and ice cream, but couldn't find a place an ended up at a Mexican restaurants to get some food and margaritas. Another DU friend in Vina came and visited us there, so we had a total of 6 DU kids together. Exhausted from the beach, this night ended pretty early.

Exploring Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

    On Saturday, we went to Pablo Naruda's house in Valparaiso. He has three houses in Chile, all of which are now museums. This house was full of his collections and favorite armchairs where he would do most of his writing. His house was 4 stories high at the very top of one of the cerros in Valparaiso. The view from his bedroom overlooked the entire city and beach; I can imagine how inspiring this view could be for his poetry. The museum was packed with people, and they gave us listening devices to hear a self guided tour throughout the house, explaining about all the little random things he collected or how he liked to set his table.
    I'd been trying to meet up with my friend Emily in Vina del Mar all weekend, who is also studying abroad from DU. I couldn't figure out how to call her Chilean phone from my Argentine phone since we couldn't communicate on Facebook without wifi (what did we do before Smart Phones??), but finally found out I had to add a series of numbers in front of her number to dial a mobile, and we made a plan to meet to go sand surfing in Concon. So we figured out the bus system and finally met up! There are great big sand dunes in Concon, farther along the beach from Vina del Mar, and people rent out sleds and sandboards for 2 dollars an hour. The hike up carrying a board is tough, but the ride down was so much fun like trying to snowboard on sand. I'm a skier so it was a little harder. We had to rub wax on the boards every time to make them go faster. We crashed a lot in the sand and got the sand everywhere in our stuff. You could see the ocean and the view of the coastline from the top of the dunes. The entire coast used to be dunes, but are slowly getting built over with office buildings and homes.

     After the dunes Emily took us to her favorite empanada restaurant on the beach to watch the sunset. Chilean empanadas are fried, twice the size, and have so many more options. They have a lot of seafood and cheese empanadas, vegetable options, the typical beef empanadas that we eat in Argentina, and even dessert empanadas of apple or dulce de leche. I haven't been able to find dessert empanadas in Argentina, and the seafood was so delicious, I was completely satisfied. The day started out cloudy, and warmed up at the perfect time for our activities, but because of this we missed out on a good beach sunset.
    I brought Emily some Fernet Branca to show her what Argentinians drink, so she ordered a coke and tried it. I think she definitely tasted the mouth wash flavor that us in Argentina have become accustomed to and actually like now.
    Emily showed us where the Chileans go out at night in Valparaiso. Our hostel is right by the street with all the bars, so we could walk there and back, and felt pretty safe walking around at night. The main thing to worry about in Chile is all the pick pocketers, which is similar to Mendoza. Emily invited us to a party at a bar with her volunteer group who paints houses, so we got in for free to the boliche that we went to after. Valpo night life seems very similar to Mendoza night life, but they end the night a little earlier. They even have the same tradition of getting a hotdog at the end of the night, but they call them completos, which are a hot dog covered in tomato, avocado and mayonnaise.         
     Emily's friends were really fun to meet. She is in IFSA too, but with fewer students in the program, and sounds like her and her friends are a lot better about speaking Spanish all the time instead of English, but they also had some issues with choosing available classes because of the student strikes in Chile after the government decided not to make Chilean universities free anymore. They aren't taking classes with locals because of this, but sounds like their classes are a little harder. The Spanish accent is a little different too. Like we use "vos" for the second person, they combine the singular and plural versions of second person when speaking directly to somebody. This is hard to do because DU doesn't even teach us the plural second person conjugations because its only used in Spain. Emily taught me that, and then I felt really proud of myself for understanding the bus driver when he asked us where we were getting off.
   

Ragel and Megatron go to Chile

    Our first day in Chile was full of amazing views of the ocean, seafood, and climbing some very steep streets. The homes in Valparaiso are all multicolored, full of street art, and are all built into the hills where you can overlook the city. Since we arrived early in the morning, we found breakfast and then took a siesta in our hostel. Me and Megan are staying in a hostel up high on one of the cerros next to a beautiful church. Unfortunately there's a lot of construction going on next to us, but the hostel is an old house that is somewhat like a labyrinth. The only room they had available online was a double bed, so we got a nice big honeymoon suite all to our ourselves. Its actually really cute, and they provide a decent breakfast with eggs and cheese toast and fruit.
    The rest of the group we are traveling with are in different hostels, so we met up with them, then went exploring after our siesta to see the city from up high on one of the cerros. We walked past churches, plazas, a cemetery, and very picturesque houses in all different colors. We found lunch at the place the lady at my hostel recommended for Chilean food, so we had a seafood soup that was literally an entire bowl full of fresh caught clams, muscles, shrimp and squid, with peppers in a seafood broth. I was so impressed with how generous they were with the seafood.I also tried my first Pisco Sour, the typical drink in Chile.
    We walked along the beach to go to the fiesta de cerveza. The beaches in Valparaiso are more rocky, where the beaches in Viña del Mar, the sister city, are the places to go surfing and lay out in the sand. On the way to beer fest, we saw sea lions swimming and basking in the sun on a dock. We watched the baby sea lion trying to jump onto the dock following the example of his mother, and then watched a bunch of sea lions jump into the water. The beer fest was a lot smaller than we thought, but we tried some new beers and watched the Chilean futbol game, and ate amazing churros filled with manjar, the Chilean version of dulce de leche.
    When we left the beer fest we were amazed by the view of all the lights from the city along the shore.

Border Control

   On my way to the next weekend adventure! I'm going to Chile this weekend with my friend Megan, and meeting up with some of the other IFSA students that will also be in Chile for our long weekend. Our bus left at 10 pm from Mendoza, which means I could sleep on the bus over night, but also meant I couldn't see any of the scenery around me; its supposed to be a very pretty drive with a view of Aconcagua. I did get a pretty view of Penitentes, though, the ski resort near the border. After spending so much time on a bus for spring break, plus this weekend, its starting to feel normal.
    I somewhat forgot I'd have to go through immigration at the border since all my other trips so far were within Argentina. So we just spent 3 hours at the immigration office at 3 am. At first our bus got stopped about half hour from the border and two guards got on and walked up and down. After that, we kept driving on a road that had been made into a one way road by a line of rocks in between lanes to prevent people from crossing. Then we got to the immigration office and had to get off the bus and form a line outside in the freezing cold, and then joined a line full of people from 3 other buaes. The bus gave us two forms to fill out. One said official use only, so I thought that meant I didn't need to fill it out, but when I got to the window I realized it was the more important form, and the woman gave me the dirtiest look when I asked to borrow a  pen.
    After this line we had to go to another line and wait, but now I have a stamp on my passport! After that we waited around on the bus for everyone to finish, then went into another line to have our bags checked. They all lined us up at really long tables where we had to put our bags, and then Hermis the dog sniffing Labrador came through the room to sniff all of our bags. He even walked on the tables to sniff them. The man nexmt to me got sniffed for a while, then Skylar's bag was suspicious, and Hermis found her orange, which got taken away. He didn't find my two apples though, and neither did the scanner we put our bags through. 
    Afterwards it was back to the bus to arrive in Santiago and get on another bus to Valparaiso and arrive around 9 am. I was so confused trying to get Chilean pesos out of the ATM here because I'm so used to having to deal with the double exchange rate in Argentina and get pesos on the black market. I haven't used an ATM in months I forgot what to do. The denominations of money are so big too it gets confusing. One dollar is worth 500 Chilean pesos, so it feels weird carrying around 200,000 Chilean pesos with me.

No Comprendo?

There's a lot of things in Argentina that I just don't understand. So I've spent some more time thinking about these, and did some research, and now some of them actually make sense, or I've formed a theory for the answer. Others remain a mystery...

1. Why don't Argentinians refrigerate their eggs??
Answer: Because eggs naturally shouldn't have to be refrigerated. They actually have a natural protective coating that keeps the eggs good for up to a couple months. The US power washes off the protective coating because of food regulations, so they need to be refrigerated, but it's actually normal in a lot of countries to leave eggs out for weeks.

2. Why do my neighbors spend hours every day sweeping and mopping their section of the tile sidewalk? It's so dry here it will just get covered in dust within a few hours.
My theory: Mendoza is supposedly one of the cleanest cities in Argentina, and the Mendocinians are very proud people so maybe that's why they are always sweeping their sidewalks.

3. What's up with the Tom Cruise obsession on the buses? I've seen three Tom Cruise movies during my long bus rides. Its either that or a bloody and violent action movie.
No answer: its a mystery.

4. Why does a small city like Mendoza, where the majority of the city is residential, need one way streets throughout the city?
Answer: I read online that because there are frequent earthquakes in Mendoza, the streets were built some of the widest in South America for evacuation purposes. Maybe this has something to do with it?

5. How do Argentine women handle not ever having toilet paper in public restrooms. I guess this is common for a lot of countries outside the US, but its just so unhygienic.
Answer based on experience: Simple, just bring your own toilet paper. I see a lot of girls carrying around Kleenex packs. It just sucks when you forget.

6.Why are all of the house keys here the same type of style? They all seem so old fashioned!

Answer: These types of lever keys used to unlock a deadbolt are more secure than the types of keys that are more popular in the US.










7. How are there not more car accidents when there are so many intersections without stop signs or traffic lights?
Answer based on observation: The drivers somehow somewhat cordially take turns. Four or 5 cars going one direction will keep going through the intersection until one hesitates or slows down and the other direction of traffic will butt in, let 5 cars through, then switch again. I think it's some kind of unspoken agreement just to take "turns."

8. I always see really long lines forming outside of ATMS and banks.. There will be 30 or more people lined up outside. Why?

Answer: It is difficult for Argentinians to take out pesos from the banks here. Because the 100 peso bill (equivalent to around 20 US dollars officially) is the highest denomination, there is a bill shortage and the Argentinians often have to wait a really long time for money to be available in the ATMS, and often times can't even pull out money. The ATMs are also limited to how much you can pull out at once, so it takes longer to get the money you need.



9. When I'm walking on the sidewalks here and someone or a group of people are walking towards me, I always encounter that awkward situation where you can't get past each other because you move in the wrong direction, and you have to struggle past each other eventually. I don't know why this happens to me more here than anywhere I've ever been.
My theory: Maybe its me, but I've noticed that the Argentine pedestrians never move over out of the way to let people through. They walk slow and in a line across the sidewalk, and it makes it very awkward to pass.  I think it has to do with the differences between importance of time in Argentina verses the US. Time isn't as important here, for example there are less expectations for punctuality. People enjoy their leisure more, so it isn't as important to try to get past somebody on the sidewalk right away.

Flasher

My eyesight was violated today on my way to class. I was walking with my friend Briana on a road in the park when a car pulled up next to us and a man asked me (in Spanish) how to leave the park. I was on the side of the road by the car, so I started telling him directions, until I noticed that this man had no pants on, or underwear. Briana was behind me so she didn't see, and my initial reaction was to just turn to Briana and exclaim that he has no pants on!! Then the car drove away, leaving us in shock and with the scarred vision of the naked Argentinian flasher.

Asado

    My friend Megan co-hosted an asado with her Argentinian friend Santiago last night and invited a bunch of his friends and our group of IFSA friends over to enjoy in some barbeque and meet more locals. Santiago's friends wanted a reason to practice some English, so we switched off between Spanish and English all night to give them some practice. It was supposed to start at 7, then kept getting pushed back an hour, so we actually started the barbeque at 9:30 or 10 at his friend's house that had a beautiful patio out back with a grill and he even had a climbing wall in his garage. Normally, every house in Mendoza has a built in grill to the outside of the house because the asados are tradition and every Argentinian loves their steak. The grills are like big stone ovens outside with a grate for cooking. This was my first time having asado in Mendoza, so I watched our new friends start the grill by burning wood next to the grill, and then slow cooking the meat on the grate on top of coals. We made pork, beef, blood sausage and regular sausage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and bread. He cooked it all just with salt and lemon, and it had a great flavor because we cooked it so long on the grill, giving us plenty of time to sit around and drink wine.

     The rest of the weekend was pretty chill; I needed a relaxing weekend after traveling all spring break and the weekend before, and planning a trip to Chile for this upcoming weekend. We hiked, went out to the bars, caught up on sleep. It was weird jumping back into my Mendoza routine after taking my week long tour of Northern Argentina. It feels a little monotonous going to classes and planning where to go out at night. I'm trying to do at least one thing outside of the city every weekend. I want to do more hiking, but the hikes here are actually kind of hard to find and hard to get to without cars, so we've resorted to making our own trails up all the other peaks around Cerro Arco. I still want to go to the hot springs in Mendoza, there is a volcano an hour away, and I want to see Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the western hemisphere. There is still so much to see, and my program is already half way over.
    I also went to a small craft show this weekend in a boutique restaurant in the city. There were only three artists there, but had some very original art for sale. The resto-bar I went to Saturday night was fun because they had board games to play, so we played Spanish pictionary while drinking peach margaritas. Before the asado, I went to watch the River-Boca soccer game at an Irish pub to see Buenos Aires' biggest rivals. I pretended to care about sports to fit in with the Argentinians, and kinda just cheered when other people cheered; really it was an excuse to drink beer and eat bar food. Soccer fans get really aggressive here, there is a lot of violence and pride at games. It is a family tradition here too, that kids are fans of the same team that the parents are fans of. It is considered very rebellious to pick a different team than your parents. Technically this means that I need to be a River-Plate fan because my family here are fans for River-Plate, even though they aren't very aggressive about it. The bar we were at had a good mix of fans for both teams, but Boca ended up winning.
    The corte de agua didn't end up affecting my side of town this weekend. My family was all prepared with bottles and pitchers of water, but it never got shut off so we kept using it like normal. I was told that in other parts of the city a lot of people didn't have water. So we were lucky.
    For the upcoming week, I should be doing a little more studying; I have two midterms coming up. Sometimes I forget I even go to school here because I never have homework. Classes consist of mostly lectures and tests so I don't need to do much until I realize I need to study right before a test. My music class, however, has four essays throughout the class instead of midterms. I need to write a 4 page essay about whatever music topic I want for each country we learn about. Those are due before the final in November, so I still have plenty of time.

Corte de Agua

So last weekend we were dying of dehydration during our attempt at camping. And this weekend the government is cutting off the water supply for two days to the city of Mendoza. It's called a corte de agua (cut to water supply) and is happening because for the first time in maybe 20 years, the government is going to clean the dam in Potrerillos, which doesn't leave enough water for the residents of Mendoza too. Every house has a water tank, and starting at noon on Friday, there won't be any more water supplied to houses except this water tank. It is supposed to last until sometime on Saturday, although I heard rumors that the corte could last three days. I'm not allowed to shower, and the water in the tank is going to be reserved for emergencies. My host mom brought me a big jug of water to use to refill the toilet, and I filled up every water bottle I have and my camelbak which hopefully is enough. My host mom said that she couldn't find bottled water in the grocery store by us yesterday, and had to go to a farther away grocery store to buy it. So if I run out, hopefully I'm not running around looking for water. Apparently the city has these cortes once or twice a year. I'm wondering how businesses like restaurants function when there isn't any water. Will they let me shower at the gym? My host brother said that in reality, they don't actually deny water to all of the city, I'm guessing that means just the residential areas...? But there's some discrepancy in my house; my host mom said yes, yes they do deny water to the whole city. So I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Am I back in Colorado?

A lot of people ask me why I chose Mendoza over other options to study abroad, and one of the main reasons is because it is similar to my hometown in Colorado. Denver and Mendoza are both dry, near the mountains, and full of great outdoorsy people and activities to do in the summer and winter. But lately I've felt like I'm back in Colorado because of the similar weather patterns between Colorado and Mendoza. The most cliche way to describe Colorado weather is 90 degrees on Monday and a blizzard on Tuesday. And lately this is how Mendoza is acting! I don't know how to dress for the day because its beautiful in the mornings, and then freezing by 3 o'clock and maybe even starting to rain! It snowed here 3 weeks ago, then the temperatures got up to the 80's, apparently it snowed again on the first day of Spring, its hot now, and apparently it's going to be cold again this weekend. I'm going to blame it on the Zonda.

Piropos

    One nice thing about traveling lately is that I've noticed less piropos in places other than Mendoza. Piropos are "compliments," but refer to the catcalls that us foreign girls attract every time we walk down the street. The majority of the piropos are harmless whistels, honks, and kissy noises, and usually from passing drivers, construction workers, and groups of guys on the street. The construction workers like to yell "hey baby!" and "chica" and things like "hermosa, que linda!" (how beautiful). The bad piropos come from the guys who I'm pretty sure are repeating what they've seen in R rated movies or probably pornos.
     I always subconsciously look towards the piropos, even though the best thing to do is just ignore them. I think they are funny at times and start smiling, even though I shouldn't be encouraging it. Some of my other friends have gotten really annoyed with them, but I normally just tune them out nowadays.
    The best piropos are those we get when we've just gotten off a 20 hour bus ride, haven't showered, haven't brushed our hair, are covered in bug bites, and still get cat calls thrown at us. My favorite story was from my friend who said she got some piropos while sitting in the bus terminal stuffing her face with doughnuts.
    The piropos are more common in the bigger cities. It was nice escaping them while traveling to some smaller towns these past couple weeks.

Back to the gym

    I bought a gym pass this week. After spring break I decided it was time to get back to the gym, and it was the first of the month, so a great excuse to make a healthy change. Plus it's starting to get hot here and I just can't run in the heat. So I paid the equivalent of around 40 dollars for a month to the gym right by my house. It's two blocks away and the hours are great because it doesn't close for siesta, so I can work out when everybody else is sleeping. It's a really nice gym; three levels, lots of machines, aerobics classes and a sauna. They have all the machines I need for my workout, so I'm definitely satisfied with my purchase.
    A lot of gyms in Argentina require that you have a medic give you permission to use the gym, but they also normally have a person to do the evaluation and sign off on the medical form right there in the gym. I tried going to the gym on campus, but the doctor's available hours are really inconvenient, so I didn't end up being able to use that gym. The person who signs off on your medical form is also the "professor" of the gym, and they walk around while everybody is working out and give pointers and make sure you're using the machines right. It's a really nice benefit, almost like a free personal trainer. I saw the professor mostly helping with stretching. People would take turns lying on a work out bench and she would help them stretch by pushing their legs back towards their head and holding the stretch for a while. I actually noticed a lot of other people at the gym doing their stretches in pairs with this same routine. I've only been to 3 or 4 gyms in my life, but haven't really seen this done much at home at the gyms I've been to.
    I went to lift some weights the first day I was there, and wondered why the 5 pounders were so much bigger than normal... and felt so much heavier than normal... Had it really been that long since I lifted weights? Oh yea.. they use kilograms here. So I had to convert all the weight sizes from what I normally use.  The conversion came up again when trying to plug my weight into the machines. All of the labels and stickers on the machines at the gym are in English, but when you turn them on, the options are in Spanish. The gym plays a lot of English music too.
    The one thing that bothered me was that the gym doesn't promote the "wipe down after use" responsibility as much as gyms in the states do. I didn't see any sanitizer or paper towels. Also, nobody carries water bottles around with them in the gym. There was a jug with paper cups, but I was the only one with a water bottle that I could see. This goes for walking around the city too. Many host parents have commented on how all the American students always carry their water bottles around. I think Argentinians don't really like water, or don't drink as much water here, because water costs more than wine in restaurants, and people normally drink soda or tang instead of water.
   
   

Random Updates

Look what I found!!

I found peanut butter in Iguazu! It's not as good as the real stuff, there's a lot of sugar in it, but it's a good substitute for what I've been craving! I finished the jar in a week, dipping everything in it: apples, carrots, cookies, chocolate...


Big News!!!

When I came back from Spring Break, the TV in my house had been moved from my host mom's bedroom to the living room. This means that the weather is starting to warm up here, which means that the Argentinians will start getting out of bed more and will do less "hacer fiaca"-ing.


Entertainment in the Park

 I always see these groups of rollerbladers in the park on my way to class. They set up a line of cones and then do really cool tricks in between the cones, on one foot, backwards, etc. They all hang out in the middle of the path and take turns doing tricks. It's really cool. My pictures stalking abilities didn't get me the best picture, but you can kind of tell they are skating through the cones.


Got my Official Visa!

 It's a couple pieces of paper stapled together. Looks like I could've printed this up myself. I don't even get anything to put in my passport.