My Madonna Cab Ride

There is a very interesting cab culture in Buenos Aires.  It is considered unladylike and even low class for a female to hale a cab off the street.  The more appropriate way to hire a cab is to call a RadioTaxi company, of which there are many.  You talk to an operator, tell them your address and cell phone number and when the cab is outside they buzz your apartment or call your cell phone.  RadioTaxis are very prompt, it takes 10 minutes or less for a cab to be at your front door.  

Stefanie and I were meeting some friends for dinner and called a RadioTaxi to the apartment to pick us up.  Our cab driver was totally awesome.  First of all, he drove a minivan. Then he asked us what kind of music we wanted to listen to.  He brought out a CD case and asked us if we had heard of this or that artist.  He insisted we listen to a male artist from Mexico because all the women say he has the sexiest voice around.  I wasn't impressed.  Then he started reading off artist names for us to choose from, and he said Madonna.  Of course I screamed ¡Madonna! He informed me that he had the best Madonna CD and I'm thinking, "Try me, my fabulous uncles have purchased for me every Madonna CD in existence, I have had extensive Madonna training" (thanks Mikey and John!).  He put in the Immaculate Collection, yes!  Stefanie isn't all that in to Madonna but the cab driver and I sang along to every single song with the windows down until we reached our destination. 

Classes this week were hectic.  I knew that all my classes would be in Spanish but actually sitting in a class where the professor is teaching you in Spanish is very different.  I look back at my notes when I'm home studying and it blows my mind that all my notes are in Spanish and I actually understand (for the most part) what is going on.   Crazy!

Yesterday evening, I consulted my handy-dandy Lonely Planet guidebook and found a cute little Italian restaurant to try.  I went out to dinner with 2 of my girl friends to Guido's Bar, what a dinning experience.  The food was absolutely delicious.  We didn't even order, the waiters just started bringing out dishes of the day created by chef Carlos done in a tapas to share kind of style.   One bottle of wine, three cold and three hot antipasti, risotto with carne, pasta with truffle sauce and three desserts later we began our walk home around 1am, three hours after we had arrived at the restaurant.  

As we were walking home we passed in front of a long line of Jasmine bushes, the blossoms smelled absolutely divine.  It is interesting that in Buenos Aires you can sometimes have the most wonderful smells of flowers, foods and perfumes and other times it smells like rotting garbage (discussed with Miranda Peterson).  Oh the city life.

The weather here is still wonderful, I was thinking it may have cooled down by now but the city is still hovering at a balmy 85F with lots of sunshine.  The sun is finally going behind some clouds, I'm going out for an afternoon jog.

Love,

Raquel

First Week of School

Hola todos,

Happy belated Saint Patrick's Day to all and a special happy 13th birthday to my Australian shepherd puppy Lilly.  Believe it or not, Saint Patrick's Day is a much bigger holiday in Argentina than one would have thought.  Apparently it became a popular trend a few years back to party at Irish pubs on the weekends instead of going to the normal techno blasting dance clubs.  As a result, a slew of pubs popped up all over the city and for whatever reason there is a high concentration of  pubs in the barrio of Retiro.  In celebration of the holiday, the city fenced off a 15 block section of the neighborhood for a huge block party open only to pedestrian traffic.  Then entire area was surrounded by scary looking riot police but inside the gates there were 40,000 people dressed in green, throwing beer and confetti, singing fútbol songs, getting in fights and having a general good time.  Lines to get in to the Irish pubs were hours in wait time so most people walked around the streets with open containers of beer, the police didn't mind at all.  It was a very fun time!!

Because it was so incredibly crowded, you can imagine that finding a bathroom would be difficult and waiting in line would take forever.  My friend Cat and I went on a mission.  I lead the way to a hotel located in the block party and explained to a security guard in Spanish that we were guests at the hotel, we were in.  The concierge apologized for the tightened security saying that a lot of women had been coming in asking to use the bathroom (ding ding!).  We continued with the small chat and eventually got in the elevator as if we were going to our room.  First up to the 5th floor then down to the basement, we used the staff bathroom and then walked out the front door of the hotel telling the concierge we would see him later. Mission accomplished.

Class this week was interesting.  I'm trying 9 classes and will drop 4 to take the minimum 5 required by the university.  Classes only meet once a week and of my 9 classes, I only had 3 this week.  Today the university is closed for a national worker's holiday so there is a big meeting of people at Plaza de Mayo, I'm watching it on the news from the comfort of my living room.

In honor of our day off of school, two of my Dutch friends threw a house warming party last night at their apartment in the barrio of Palermo Hollywood.  It was nice to see all the international kids and meet some locals.  Around 2am the party moved to a nearby dance club called Ink, 25 of us stayed out dancing under the disco balls and fog machines till 5am.

That's all the news from Buenos Aires for now.  I hope everyone reading this is happy and healthy.

Love,

Raquel

Back in Civilization

¡Che Boludo! I'm back in civilization after a week of traveling through the mountains and valleys of Patagonia. 

We left on Sunday and flew from Jorge Newbery, the local Buenos Aires airport, direct to El Calafate the capital of la provincia de Santa Cruz in Patagonia.  Airport security is non existant: no liquid restrictions, shoes and jackets remain on, if the metal detector beeps, so what?  We stayed at an adorable little hostel (my first hostel experience!) that had two bunkbeds for the four of us and a private bath.  We spent three days in El Calafate going on tours and walking around.  Highlights include a two hour horseback excursion through the Andes and then a ranch house dinner of hearty argentine steak, potatoes, squash, red wine and homemade rice pudding--delicious.  We also went on a guided nature hike in Glacier National Park and went to see Perito Moreno glacier.  Part of our tour included an up close boat excursion that brought us to the north face of the glacier, it is absolutely enormous, 50 square kilometers larger than the city of Buenos Aires and still growing.  

On Wednesday we took a bus from El Calafate to El Chaltén, a little mountain village in Glacier National Park.  There are no paved roads leading to El Chaltén, I'm talking a 4 hour bus ride through a desert valley on dirt roads, lets just say it was very bumpy.  El Chaltén is a town with about five streets and a population of 1,000 during the summer at 500 during the winter.  There is absolutely zero cell phone service in the area, frequent power outages, and slow to no internet depending on how hard the wind is blowing.  El Chaltén it is the national trekking capital of the world, people come for the mountains and the scenery.  I was definitely out of my comfort zone and in a backpacker's paradise.

We passed our time in El Chaltén hiking and eating scrumptious food.  All the water systems in Glacier National Park contain 100% drinkable water, it the most wonderful tasting water I've had in my life. We hiked to see a gorgeous waterfall on Wednesday but Thursday was our big hiking day.  We packed up our backpacks with fruit, salami and bread for lunch and embarked on an 8 hour 20+ mile hike to see Piedras Blanca (meaning white rocks). We had some great views of Fitz Roy mountain range (found on the Patagonia label brand) and had lunch on the piedras blancas overlooking a rushing river. The mountains were just beautiful, the day was so clear and the sky was so blue. "What are men compared to rocks and mountains?" as Elizabeth Bennet would say.  A storm blew in as we were coming down the mountain so things got very windy but everyone survived.

Friday was rainy and cold so I stayed in with a couple of the girls and recuperated from the hike.  There was so much wind it really sounded like the mountain was roaring.  Saturday we took our bumpy bus ride back to El Calafate and a plane back to Buenos Aires.  I was so happy to be back in the city and reunited with technology but there is something to be said for the quiet majestic beauty of mother nature.

Semester classes started on Monday so I'm just getting settled in.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy.

Love,

Rocky

I'm leaving for Patagonia TOMORROW

Yesterday I took the final exam for the curso intensivo de español, first a 2 hour written exam followed by a 10 minute one-on-one oral with a professor.  I won't know how I scored for a week or so but I think I did quite well.

Semester classes start on March 9 so I was all set to finalize my schedule and begin classes on Monday when Viviana, the international exchange student coordinator, passed out a list of start dates for every department.  I am taking classes in the history and geography department, social sciences department and language department.  Apparently, I don't have a single class until March 16.  I have been left with a week off and nothing to do...

I promised my sorority sister Eva that I would see penguins while in Argentina (she volunteers at the New England Aquarium every weekend and works with the penguins) and I've always wanted to go to Glacier Park so my friends Miranda, Cat and Stefanie and I decided to be spontaneous go to Patagonia.  In a matter of 3 hours, we booked a plane flight, reserved 2 hostels, and planned out our itinerary to go hiking and exploring and horseback riding.  This is the most spontaneous I have ever been in my life!  Tomorrow we are boarding a plane and flying south for the week :)

Last night mom and I went to a tango class.  As if it weren't enough that I'm dyslexic and still have issues between Left and Right the class was taught in Spanish, Izquierda y Derecha it is.  I have officially learned the basic 7 step combination of tango.  The dance hall rotated sets of tango music with salsa music so we spent quite a lot of time on the dance floor.  I've already bought a set of 4 tickets so that I can return and take more classes.  We had a wonderful time.

I didn't think I would ever say this but I'm getting sick of eating pastries for breakfast every day.  This morning Stefanie and I invited some of our girlfriends over and we cooked a HUGE american breakfast.    Bacon is very hard to find here but Mommy Carmen stumbled upon a carnecería (butcher shop) in out neighborhood that sells freshly sliced bacon, yes!  We scrambled 2 dozen eggs, toasted an entire loaf of bread, and cooked up a lot of bacon.  Breakfast was delicious.  

Mom is heading back to the US tonight but has assured me she will be back to visit with Poppy for my 21st birthday in May.  I can't wait.

I'll be in Patagonia from Sunday March 8 to Friday March 13 and be back in Buenos Aires on Saturday March 14.   Don't be superstitious about Friday March 13, in Argentina there is a saying:

El martes trece no te cases y no embarques.

Don't wed or start a trip on Tuesday the 13th.

So apparently be afraid of Tuesday the 13th not Friday, hmm.  I'll write an update all about Patagonia either from one of the hostels or when I'm back in Bs. As. 

Love,

Raquel

My New Apartment with Miss Stefanie

In the neighborhood of lower Recoleta, on Austria, in between French and Peña, there is a lovely apartment building where two girls are living blistfully in a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 baths, kitchen, living room dining area, fully furnished Buenos Aires apartment.  Good riddance of the university residence hall Alfa Proyecto 2000, my forced tripple (although I liked my roommates!), and all those rules.  I will miss the daily maid service who came in to make my bed and clean the room Monday-Friday but it is so nice to have an apartment in the city with a balcony overlooking the chaos of the street below.  The student residence was in Barrio Norte, I will not miss...

1. Living in a very Jewish orthodox neighborhood where I get looks walking down the street for exposing my shoulders, arms and calves.  Its not my fault that all the women where ankle length skirts and at least 3/4 length blouses or that the men where full suits with wide brim hats every day!  Everything closes down Friday-Sunday for the sabbath, it became a real pain when I wanted a bottle of soda or a bag of twistos (Argentine cheeze-its) at 10pm on a Saturday and had to walk 10-15 blocks to find an open store.

2. The truck that woke me up every single morning.  You know how large trucks make a loud beeping sound when they back up (beep...beeep...beeep)?  This truck made a beeping sound that played Beethoven's Fur Elise.  Aside from the fact that Fur Elise is an extremely overplayed piano piece the rendition produced by the truck was even more terrible than usual.  I heard the "music" every day when the truck driver left for work in the morning and returned at night. It was dreadful.

3. The fluffy white yappy foo-foo dog who ran up and down Viamonte jumping up and down barking at all the big dogs in the balconies above.  Crazy dog.

Stefanie and I are enjoying our new apartment immensely.  Mom took us grocery shopping yesterday, what an experience!  The tea pot is boiling, time for breakfast.

I hope everyone is doing splendidly.

Love,

Rocky