Iguazu Pictures

Iguazu

*Captions Coming Soon*

P.S. I added Day 3 of the Iguazu trip to the post "Cataratas".

Cataratas

Day 2:
We visited the smaller Brazilian side of the waterfalls (cataratas) which offered a great view. We took a bus to a drop off point where we walked a trail and caught glimpses of the falling water as we walked. By the time we reached the end of the path we were at the U-shaped juncture of several waterfalls. There was a platform you could go out on to be super close to what you've been photographing for at least an hour before and, of course, get soaked if you didn't have to bring or buy a poncho before you headed out there.

Since it only took a few hours to knock down this side of the waterfalls people kind of did their own thing afterwards. I visited the mall since its one of the things I like doing in new countries. Nothing really spectacular about it until I hit the third floor food court. There was a variety of food! I was so surprised and happy. I went to every single restaurant minus the Subway and looked at all the menus. You just don't get choices like this in Uruguay where you'll find a lot of the same dishes in different restaurants all over the country.

The language barrier did pop up on this visit though as realized that I seriously knew virtually no Portuguese except Obrigada, or thank you. I just had to point to what I had a question about and the guys behind the counter had to put their heads together to come up with a response in English or Spanish. It was a lot of effort to order a hamburger with pineapple. What? I didn't realize that rice and beans was traditional Brazilian food until after. Oops?

Day 3:
We visited the Argentinian side through a reservation with the hostel which meant we got a ride there and back, help with customs both ways (we handed the guy all our passports, he disappeared inside with them, came back, and voila), and a tour guide in the park. I took advantage of the tour guide and was really glad for it because he managed to show us the highlights of the park in just the few hours that we had to spend at the park. We walked a trail where we kept catching glimpses of waterfalls until we started heading for the boat tours where we got a great few of the falls. I was against the boat ride at first and was not even dressed for it (jeans), but it was hot and I didn't to pass up that photo op. Everyone started screaming when we met the blast of the falls, but it was more because it was freezing! Completely worth it though. We then kept hiking in our wet clothes except for the fortunate few who brought swimsuits or extra clothes and arrived to the top of the U-shaped falls. It was great looking down and remembering I was down there yesterday and now I'm up here and in a different country.

Then before crossing back over to Brazil to change clothes and head to the airport we made one more stop. The "Three Frontiers" is a point where you can stand and see the intersection of river where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay come together. Each has a cone shaped thing (sorry, my English is failing me at the moment) painted in the colors of their flag that you can see from standing on the coast of whichever country at that point. Of course, I saw the lack of coast guard and security in general watching out for the borders and wondered if this was a great smuggling place at night when the tourists went back to their hotels, but that's just me.

We then almost uneventfully board our plane back to MVD and arrived home around two in the morning. Talk about a long day.

So, which day/ side was better? I think to get the complete picture you should visit both sides. BUT if I had to choose one... Argentina. You get to walk around in the forest AND see falls up close and personal. And, that side spoke Spanish. Big plus.

Three Countries in Three days

So, I went to Brazil, Argentina, and kinda Paraguay this past weekend. Frankly, the area didn't have as much to do as I thought it would. Despite there being twenty people in our group, the city of Foz do Iguacu, Brazil doesn't have much else outside of the waterfalls. So, we spent our days catching glimpses of waterfalls through the trees and our nights hanging out at the hostel though we did luck out one night when one of the workers at the hostel invited us out.

Day 1:
Unfortunately, it rained enough the first day to probably ruin the views of the waterfalls. But we had three full days to spend in we took this rainy day to visit ITAIPU which is a power plant and a dam at the same time. This is where I learned that Brazil tourism operates in three languages: , English and Spanish. Our poor tour guide had to translate everything she said three times in all three languages and it was obvious she was exasperated at the idea. She even tried to get on me for wanting to speak English, but I had to get on the defensive and tell her that I definitely did not raise my hand for that one, but the seasoned gentleman at the back of the bus did. I can understand Spanish just fine thank you very much.

During the visit to the dam/ power center we even entered Paraguay... for about two minutes. Maybe less. That's because ITAIPU is a joint venture run by both the Paraguayan and Brazilian governments. So, when we crossed the halfway point of the dam we changed countries. Didn't even need our passports.

And allow me to say that Brazilian public buses are hell when you have twenty people with luggage who have never boarded a bus in Brazil. First off, don't even think about handing them a bill worth 50 reales that you received in an exchange booth the day before. You will get a fierce shake of the head and a wave of the hand telling you back away until you figure out how to make that bill into something much smaller like a 2 real bill. Also, there is a pesky gate you have to wesel through after you've paid your fair. I am not a big person by any means, but I had trouble getting through it and my luggage was a added problem. Not to mention there were less seats and way more standing room. That got pretty uncomfortable after spending hours walking in the wilderness snapping pictures of waterfalls.

The first day was alright all in all. It also helped so much that Portuguese speakers can understand Spanish more or less and vice versa so the language barrier was hardly a problem.

P.S. If you count Uruguay, it was four countries in three days.

I'm Back

I officially think in Spanish. I returned the sixth and have been speaking almost non-stop Spanish both inside and outside of the apartment. It's nuts. I was wondering how to start this blog post and immediately started thinking of what I wanted to say in Spanish. It was a 'Whoa' moment.

Going home was worth it. I was burned out a little after exams and it was a welcome break. I didn't do much of anything seeing as how we moved and I didn't know the area nor anybody nearby. But I did visit the mall several times in an attempt to experience American culture in the best way I know how. Other than that I just hung out with my family since I missed them like crazy and visited a few friends.

Actually, I had a lot of problems trying to return to the States then again when flying back to Uruguay. My first flight to the US almost had to make an emergency landing because someone fainted, customs was slow in Puerto Rico and I missed my flight thus having to spend the night, had my flight cancelled in Charlotte on the way back to MVD, experienced bad turbulence on a small plane in a thunderstorm... Basically, my faith has not been restored in airplanes at all and I am thankful that I have to fly two more times this year then I'm done. Ugh.

On another note, I met the new international students the same day I arrived and I absolutely love them. There is a good mix of people and the university has really listened to our suggestions by adding uruguayans to the group in the form of volunteers and interns to help them out. I can tell it has made a world of a difference. Though I admit I feel kind of like an outsider because while I'm an international student I don't really need the help of the International Program anymore or to go on tours around the city. So, I'm mostly just doing the same tours and lunches among international students that I did last year, but more with a purpose to get to know the students and help where I can. I've only been around the group as a whole one time, but I can already tell that the group this year seems to be much tighter than the previous one.

I planned on writing a little more, but I'm falling asleep on my keyboard. Look forward to a blog about Puerto Rico. Dare I say, I might retire there one day. It was perfect.

Ahh, Buenos Aires 2

Oh, Buenos Aires. A week later I still miss the place and look forward to going back and doing all the things I didn´t get to do. *daydream*

Ok, so less about what I did in B.A. and more about it. I´m going to start this blog post off with safety in this big city, and well any big city, because I think it´s definitely something to know and very real that your chances of being robbed, pickpocketed, etc. are likely.

I can´t tell you how many I know that have gone to Buenos Aires and came back with a story about how they were robbed, lost something, tricked, etc. It happens. So, why have I been to Buenos Aires twice and nothing has happened to me when I scream tourist, am a women, and tiny at that? Because I learned from a wise friend how to visit Buenos Aires and return with everything you came with and not paying more than you should. I´m sure I´ve talked about what happened to her in this city, but it deserves repeating. Rachel was walking through a park between two museums off very little sleep. So, she had everything in her camera case (money, camera, passport) and was not fully alert to prevent what was about to happen to her. It is common for people to rig things that will fall on your or throw things on you to make you flustered and lose your sense of awareness. In those few seconds where you´re wondering what happened they are stealing everything on you that they can reach as they pretend to help you out. Rachel had "bird poop" fall on her via a device rigged to a tree and while she was looking to see what happened two people approached her pretending to be great samaritans and stole her passport and expensive camera. Ouch. She was on her way to Mendoza, so immediately she was stuck in Buenos Aires going to the US embassy to get an emergency passport and she still hasn´t replaced that expensive camera.

So, how to avoid this?

First off, protect your passport! ALWAYS lock it up (even if you´re all buddy buddy with your new hostel friends) when you aren´t willing to carry it on you. Then I think one of the best inventions for travelers is the pouch you wear under your shirt or under a jacket. It easily holds passports, money, and important paperwork (folded) and should contour to your body so no one even knows you´re wearing it. When I am in the midst of traveling I never take it off since I sleep very easily on buses and on airplanes I´m more worried about dying than if someone is reaching for my purse and not the cup they just dropped. Protect the passport, ladies and gentleman. It works better than a license, school id, credit card, ISIC card, bus ticket with your name on it, etc. and in the case that it is stolen head for the embassy and be aware you might have to file a police report first.

Second, spread your things out. I usually use the pockets I have on the front of me to put things in, so I will put money in one pocket and my camera in another. Being mindful of pickpockets, though, I try to wear tighter jeans and I wrap the string of my camera around my belt loop once. I, also, have a jacket that has zippers on the pockets so I will use those as well. And being a proud new owner of a traveler´s backpack don´t keep important things in the outside pockets but in hidden pockets (usually on the inside with zippers) and between other things like pairs of pants.

Third, be paranoid and keep checking to make sure you have everything... but be subtle about it. I would casually make sure I had everything as I was reaching in my purse for my wallet at Mcdonalds and patting my pockets while waiting for a light to turn.

Fourth, don´t make it easy for them. Examples: I keep my hand on my purse at all times. If I feel like someone behind me has been by my purse or my backpack too long I shift to the other side. With my smaller backpack I would use my two small locks and keep the two compartments closed at all times.

Fifth, even if you don´t know what you´re doing or where you are look like you do. Confidence is a huge crime deterrent. Go into a super market, Mcdonalds, or some place that seems safe to ask people questions and pull out your map.

Sixth, trust people when they say a certain area is safe or not. This one I say with a condition. If you´re a traveller who is there for a few days then please follow their advice. If you´re like me and you´re living there and people say not to go to Cuidad Vieja then, I can ignore them. Hah, I probably shouldn´t but I think I know how to handle myself and I never take anything with me I wouldn´t mind losing or that isn´t easily replaceable. And my pepper spray (thanks, dad).

Those are just some of the big things I think people know to do so your awesome trip to the big city won´t be spoiled. And, by the way one of my goals while I´m here is not to get robbed and it´s still alive!

Other things about Buenos Aires are that there is a neat arts and crafts fair on Defensa which is partly made of cobblestone which I always love. I didn´t have time to walk the whole street but it seems like it covers a great deal of it and some side streets as well. It is tourist central! I heard some languages being spoken and saw a lot of North Face jackets. The fair has lots of painting, jewelery, antique pieces, and a few shows such as tango, a guy with a doll with the strings attached (I forgot what this was called-- marinette?), and I saw a guy who painted himself and his costume white and stood still like a statue.

Riding the subway or the subte was fun. Usually maps have the routes marked in different colors that match the colors in the subway so you can figure out which train to take and where it goes. Despite how many times I wondered around aimlessly it is a pretty straightforward system and even when you get on the bus there is a little map telling you all the stops in both directions so you can figure out if you got on going the right way or not.

Buenos Aires is also called the Paris of South America. I cracked up at this when I read it and had to read the reason why because Paris didn´t cross my mind a single time when I was in B.A. They actually say that because there is a big French ifluence in the city which can been seen through the architecture and pasta restuarants. The closest thing they have to the eiffel tower is the Oblesico which I will see next time I go and instead of burets the most popular hat at the moment seems to be the gaudy blue and white hats to support Argentina in the World Cup. Paris, indeed. Haha I´m making fun of it but I read about this after I went to the big city, so of course I didn´t notice it.

Also, while researching for a paper yesterday I came across another blog that talked about Argentinan bus tickets.

Buenos Aires, te extraño! I´ll probably be back around my birthday in July though on my way to Mendoza then to Chile, but that´s another post for another time. I´m off to walk 8 de Octubre and hopefully buy a Uruguayan Flag and whatever else I feel like I need for the next Uruguay game. Dale, campeon!

Ahhh, Buenos Aires

The first time I saw Buenos Aires (as a pit stop to Ushuaia, then on the way back to MVD) I wasn't very impressed. In fact, I was overwhelmed, nervous, and very naïve. Then again, I had only been in South America for a month when I hit up the B.A with my friend Rachel, so it was perfectly natural to feel the way I did. This time, though, it was just me using the Spanish skills I´ve learned thus far and my paranoia. Haha I´ll explain this one later.

My trip actually didn´t start off very well. I had packed everything the night before and had enough left over Argentinan pesos from my other trip to bring with me, but no matter how prepared I was, I was not prepared to leave wide awake at 5:30 in the morning. This meant I was in no shape to double check my passport to make sure the slip of paper inside of it which contained my entrance stamp for Uruguay was still in there. Huge mistake. I took a bus/boat combination to Colonia and when I had to present my passport to immigration in order to get on the boat for Argentina... I didn´t have it. This is where all of the episodes of Locked Up Abroad that I've watched came back to haunt me. As soon as the lady realized I had no evidence proving I was a study abroad student and legally in the country, she demanded to know what I was doing in Uruguay and why in the world I didn't have my stamp. I´m not going to lie... I did get a little teary eyed as she made me look through all of my stuff and made me hang up my phone as I tried to call someone in my apartment to see if I had left it somewhere (like that would have done any good). But the lady was reluctantly nice to me after watching me having a badly contained almost panic attack in the middle of immigration and let me pass with a stern look. Lesson learned!

I didn´t do too much in B.A. because I was actually leaving to renew my 90 day tourist permit and could only stay the weekend. This is called a border run, my friends. I did manage to do a few fun things, however.

The first day I arrived to a rainstorm and a quiet city. Buenos Aires a quiet big city? Nahhhh. I actually arrived right in the middle of the Argentina vs. Nigeria game. There were tons of empty resturants and full pubs/bars as people watched the game and it was actually kind of cool to walk through the city that way. I then arrived at one of the best hostels I´ve ever stayed in, Carlos Gardel, and headed out to find a cheap lunch. According to my guide book Calle Florida was a great place to grab something to eat and indeed it was. Calle Florida is a nice, long pedestrian street that is full of resturants and all kinds of shopping. My orginal goal when I arrived to Buenos Aires was to buy a big coat and a backpack and I definitely could have done so within the first few hours of arriving to B.A. after walking this street. It goes for blocks and being a Sunday it was flooded with people and even more so after the fútbol game ended. I ended up just grabbing some Mcdonalds and walking to a fancy mall called Galeria Pacífico where I had fun listening to the baristas of Starbucks try to call out my name and sat down in the middle of the food court cheering on the USA in their game against England. The mall wasn´t really my style because it had expensive designers like Dior, but it did have a museum that I´m not sure I was suppose to pay to see, but no one said anything to me.

The second day there I had all day to try to find a backpack and a jacket, so I set off just before the Australia game for a shopping center the girl at the hostel told me about called Abasto Shopping. Loved it. I had to take the subway and definitely spent a good while looking for the entrance on the right side of the street which was conveniently located in the middle of a park. Then I had to pull my map out several times to make sure I was going the right way and that I knew how to transfer trains and then which direction the next train needed to go in. It was confusing and I looked like such a tourist but I made it without asking a single person. As soon as I stepped out of the subway on the other side Abasto Shopping was right in front of me. So, I spent the next few hours trying on jackets and travelers backpacks making sure I would be content with my purchases. The guy at the first shop I went too was actually really frustrated that I was taking up so much of his time and when I went back the third time to buy the backpack I knew he and another of his coworkers were betting if I would buy anything from the store. It was annoying at first, but honestly, I had taken up a lot of his time and I probably would've done the same thing if roles were reverse, though, I would have been more subtle about it.

So, I bought my things and headed to the biggest food court I have ever seen in my life to go on another adventure via the subway. By the way, the food court had tons of restaurants lining both sides of the space which included an Arabian restaurant, McDonalds Kosher, a sushi restaurant, two sit down restaurants in the middle of the food court, among plenty of others. I was so happy to be there it made not being able to find a seat for over 15 minutes of walking around and having to eat while standing seem not as bad. It was still bad though after all the walking I had done and would do that day. Ooouch.

The next day I had to leave at 2pm so I tried to wake up early and see at least two more things. I actually woke up two hours later and got hung up watching the Denmark game and got to see one of them-- el Caminito. I´m really glad I chose that as my one thing to see. It´s basically a block of houses and restaurants that were painted by a famous artist some years ago. It´s a huge tourist trap but it was worth it to see this part of B.A. that you find all over post cards and to just take your time to look at how colorful it is. And when I saw a famous artist painted the houses, I mean solid colors. No huge murals or abstract paintings cover the buildings. Just bright colors. It is unique though and actually was somewhat near the boat terminal I had to walk to, so it worked out.

My overall impression of Buenos Aires is that it was awesome! There were so many things I didn´t get a chance to do and will definitely have to do next time when I will hopefully have more time to meander. It almost makes me wish I was in B.A. instead of Montevideo, but I´d never get anything done because there is just so much to do.

Did you think I could say everything I wanted to about B.A. in one post? I think not. This one is long enough already, but I´ll write another one to cover what I missed.

And notice how I marked my days by fútbol games? I´m not a soccer person at all but put me in a continent where it is a big deal and in a hostel where the games are always on and people are talking smack then I´ll watch a little.

Math and Foreign Countries

I thought I was seriously done with math after I took College Alegbra two semesters ago. Wrong! It´s not like I´m doing calculus or stats in my classes but more the everyday things like paying for things, finding out what time it is and what it is in the US, and figuring out buses.

Exchange rates. Oh, man, they are not what they used to be. When our economy was doing much better in 2005 the exchange rate was 24 pesos uruguayos to 1 US dollar. Now it´s about 19 pesos to a dollar. Not really a huge change but considering how much I have to draw money out from an ATM (I can only get $263 USD out at a time or 5000 pesos) it starts to add up quickly. I think I avoid being charged for exchanging currencies this way by taking my money out of the ATM in pesos because the bank only says it charges me a fee for using an international card. Hmm...

Uruguayan money. This is something I should have looked at before I arrived. Uruguay uses Uruguayan pesos and money appears in bills (billetas)as such: 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20. A bill for 2000 does exist but it is hardly ever seen and I have never seen one. Coins (monedas) come in denominations of 10, 5, 2, 1, and .50. The half a peso coin perplexes me. I only really use it at the grocery store when I owe .50 to .60 pesos. So, if my order is 143.60 pesos then they ask for it and I lose .40 of a peso because it doesn´t even exist. Does that make sense? I feel like someone is always losing with the half peso coin unless it comes up to exactly half a peso. Oh, Uruguay...

Time. The 24 hour clock is widely used as is the 12 hour clock. Ahhh. Everyone fully knows both clocks but they like to throw curve balls and say "Hey, let´s meet up at 15:30!" after I´ve been looking at my 12 hour watch and cell phone all day. What in the world. So, I have to figure out which method to use to find out what time we are suppose to meet and usually end up using my fingers and sometimes freezing in place so I can think of the right time. It´s a very simple thing to use a 24 hour clock, but I´m simply not used to it. I usually have to subtract two from the hour which works from hours 1 to 20. Then I just remember that 20 hours is 8 o´clock and add and substract from there.

Daylight savings time. When Uruguay is in daylight savings time, while the US consecuently is not, Uruguay is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard time. When it´s the reverse Uruguay is three hours ahead of EST. Then, of course, traveling is made difficult because which time zone you're in depends on the country in South America. This means you need to look up the times for each country you're going to travel to. I tried doing this for Uruguay before I arrived and even the internet would get it wrong. My suggestion is to use a map to figure out which time the country is in, look up legitimate sites (government or tourist department websites) or buy traveling books for the country/region which should be able to offically tell you the time zone and if daylight savings is observed and if so when and what regions are affected. Be sure to look up other places you´re traveling to as well because I know for a fact that Buenos Aires and Brazil have different times from Uruguay depending on the time of year.

Buses. I still haven´t figured everything out about buses yet but I´m pretty sure the numbers help to indicate the general area the bus will travel to. For example, most, if not all, of the buses between 100 and 109 with their variations travel from Plaza de Independencia and up 8 de Octubre. I know there are other patterns enough but I´m not confident enough to put them here so I can confuse people.

Taxis. They have two different fares: night and day. I´m not sure if they charge by distance or time, but there are a few that will purposely take the long way with the most lights/traffic if they sense you don´t know where you´re going, you are an obvious foreigner, or drunk. We had a driver this past weekend who was about to bypass Gral. Artigas in favor or taking the longer way to our apartment and Lorenia said "Estoy borracha pero esto es Artigas!" (I´m drunk but this is Artigas) to the cab driver and made him turn onto the main street. It was pretty funny because right afterwards we went on a bump and she was back to being inebriated and pretending we were on a rollercoaster. This is especially bad in Buenos Aires as I think every time I had to take a cab in B.A. I got ripped off one way or another. It´s just how it is in Buenos Aires so allow for it money-wise and know where you´re suupose to be going.

I find that stores, restaurants, and buses are more relaxed with their money. If you´re missing a few pesos they of course make you look for it, but if you can´t find it then it´s fine. I bring this up because I was a cashier for about five years at places where they would count your drawer and you would get in trouble if you were missing too much. Usually, I would have to add my own money and go looking around at the floors on my breaks to come up for whatever money I knew I was missing. So, it´s cool they aren´t strict about money.

And of course, always buy tickets early whenever possible when traveling out of the country. I know for a fact that flights are cheaper to South America when you´re already in there so plan ahead and always ask your fellower travelers where they went, why, and what did they think about it as well as to ask for any traveling tips. I know this has kept me from doing things not worth my time or money. Alright that´s my two cents. (See how I ended with a clever math pun? I didn´t even mean to. Honest.) :D

Exploring Uruguay

So, in the past two weeks I went on two trips within Uruguay: the interior and Colonia.

My Spanish for Foreigners class (all four of us and the teacher) went to a town past Carrasco and we invited Lorenia along too. We only went to the outskirts of the interior, but we were in the countryside of Uruguay nonetheless. We ate then rode on horseback around the ranch. I, actually, took a horse drawn cart with the teacher because I wasn't feeling confident with the horses. Have I mentioned yet that I´m not an animal person? This little boy around 8 years old drove the cart for us and the landscape reminded me so much of North Carolina. It was fun to get out of the city and see some of the cows that are soo famous here. And probably where the asado came from. As mentioned before, I was done with asados on week three, so I had chicken.

Then I went to Colonia this past weekend by my lonesome. Colonia is about two and half hours away from Montevideo and was a nice break from city life as well. It's a small historic town with a long coastline and expensive food due to a lot of vacationing tourists especially the ones from Buenos Aires looking for a break. I have to admit I wasn't too impressed with the place. Not to say it wasn't worth it--I´m glad I went-- but I wish I had gone with lower expectations. One of the biggest attractions was a string of museums where you could pay a one time fee and have the ability to browse all of them. That ticket, also, lasted a couple of days or at least two when I asked the ticket lady about it. I could only get into six of the eight because one was closed for rennovations and one wasn´t open on the weekends. I think the museums are more for history buffs, though. I walked around and thought it looked nice, but I wasn't thrilled by them. Now the nice views were more exciting. I'm not good at taking pictures, but the way the town is set up it's hard to take bad pictures unless there are dogs humping behind you as you push the button. Ahem. And even though there are restuarants contructed in original buildings from the actual colonial period, they still manage to look hip and romantic. These restuarants actually make Colonia a great couples town. It's a nice and relaxed place, and with some well placed dining in view of the water.

The rambla, or boardwalk, offers great peeks at the beaches and the river of Colonia and I think I experienced this the best way by renting a bike for a few hours and just cycling it. I was very much out of shape, but the rambla was reasonably flat so my limp the next day wasn't too severe. Also, the rambla had nice rest spots where I would abandon my bike for a picture and to stand on the beach. I enjoyed it a lot since I got into cycling before I came here and was missing my bike trips something awful. Overall, it was a good trip even though it wasn't all I thought it would be.

Package update: I received my package! It actually arrived in customs in Montevideo ten days after it was sent, but they failed to send me a slip of paper letting me know this. So, I waited over a month extra for a package that was already here. Bummer. But really glad I got my package and everything was intact... until I dropped my laptop right after I took it out of it's case. So, I have to find someone here to fix it for a reasonable price and, if not, then when I possibly go back to the US in July I'm going to buy a Mac. (Mac>PC)

Speaking of heading back home in July... I never actually planned on stepping foot back on US soil until my ten months were up. I was talking to my parents before I went to Colonia and my dad asked me out of the blue if I was going to come back during my break. I thought he was kidding and jokingly asked him if he was going to pay. He said yes.... So, if time permits I'm going to head to Chile after exams then head home for a few days in July. We shall see...

Random: This guy in Colonia really surprised me when he thought I was from the frontera AFTER hearing me speak Spanish. What? haha. Even more progress!

In Argentina 'oops' means 'oops'

It´s my (belated) month-iversary! Today marks the last day in March which means I´ve been in South America the whole month of March-- four weeks and four days to be precise. Exciting.

Today is the last full day we spent in Ushuaia. We made it a very low key day by splurging on a really good lunch then visiting the Martime and Penal Museum. The museum wasn´t the most exciting thing, but we got a student discount with our ISIC cards which all study abroad students need at UNCG (I finally found a place to use it!). The museum was held in what used to be a prison and all the cells had information about the prision, prisoners, and even information about Argentinan ship expeditions. Did you know Argentina owns part of Antartica?

Backing up a few days, we did other more exciting things like a combination bus-boat tour around Ushuaia. The tour was nine hours and we were able to see some special kind of bird that I couldn´t focus on because there were sea lions right next to them. I don´t know how to describe the sea lions in a way that makes sense. They were so ugly they were cute? Then we saw a real lighthouse and an island of pingüinos! Unforunately, the penguins had already started to migrate, so there weren´t a lot of them like there would have been if we went a few weeks earlier, but it was an island of penguins! On my list of things to do here was penguins, glacier, Chile, and hiking, so I was super excited when the bus ran onto the island a little bit and we had about 20 to 30 minutes just to stare at and take pictures of the penguins. Never while I was planning this trip did I think I would see penguins. It was a possiblity, but at the same time when you see something on T.V. so much you don´t think it´s possbile to actually see them. It was surreal. We transferred to land afterwards and toured the first ranch in Ushuaia. We, also, drove through the mountains on a bus, and went to a husky breeding center that served great hot chocolate. I highly recommend this tour if you ever go to Ushuaia. You get to sit down a lot in a warm place and get pretty close to penguins. So. Worth. It.

We, also, went hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was just Rachel and me, so we were able to take our time and enjoy the view of the forest and the coastline as we hiked for about three and a half hours. With how I walk in the streets of Ushuaia always having to hold on to things so I won´t fall completely on my face as I trip over everything, I´m surprised I didn´t twist an ankle or something more dreadful (word brought to you by a British guy in the hostel).

And yesterday we went on our last excurision where we went riding in a 4X4, had asado for dinner, and went kayaking. Best Excursion Ever. Our guide was perfect for the job. He had special CDs made just for these trips and would get out of the car, while it´s still moving, and dance on the hood of the car. He would turn the overhead light on and off like a strobe light, let us sit on top of the car while we went through dips and turns and puddles, and made all kinds of jokes like the one in the title of this blog. There was even one instance where he went through a huge puddle, went up a hill, put the car in neutral, rolled back, and did it again. I was on top during this holding on for dear life. So much fun! The kayaking was fun, too, because it was my first time. Kayaking is as hard it looks. I had Rachel to guide me, so I feel like that´s the only reason we did not tip over and thank God because it was cold. We then did get stuck on a sand bar that was made of mud and had to have our guide rope us in while everyone watched and took pictures. Hah.

There were days in between where we did much less significant things not worth mentioning, too, of course. We were thankful for it because this is vacation afterall and it gave us plenty of time to relax.

With our extra time here we cooked to save money. Ushuaia is such a tourist town plus it´s so separated from everything that prices are a little crazy. After spending about $15 USD on a chicken sandwhich with no fries or anything we knew we would have to cook. So, we´ve cooked stir fry, eggs in a basket, pasta with homemade garlic bread, and we bought soup for about 50 cents so we´ve had that more than once. They were simple meals that definitely helped out our budget.

Other culture things: People in Ushuaia WILL pick you up if they see you walking (I experienced this first hand and aparently it´s nothing to be afraid of). Even though this is a semi-isolated town they still have brand names and seem to have way more labels in their closets than I do. I´ve been told that while crab from Ushuaia is widely sold here it´s actually not good compared to Alaskan kind crab. Just about every business is fully biliginual here so you can get away with speaking all English, if you wanted to. They take their siestas seriously here in that around mid-day a lot of stores will close for about three hours. Lastly, Ushuaia is the southernmost city but NOT the southernmost town. There are two towns one on the Chilean side of the Beagle Channel and one on the Argentinan side that are actually more south but a city here has to have at least 10,000 people which they both don´t.

Other things: Met a guy from the UK who laughs and shouts in his sleep and gave us a demonstration. La Posta hostel is the place to stay here in Ushuaia. It´s the closest to the airport and the furthest from town. It´s my favorite hostel out of the four I´ve stayed and I highly recommend you check it out if you make it to this side of the world.

OK, leaving Ushuaia tomorrow and going to spend two days in Buenos Aires then head back "home". Travelling is fun, but I did come here for school after all. :P

p.s. Made my first joke in Spanish that a native speaker understood and told me was very good. <---Progress!! What what!?

Ushuaia

So, remember how I said I was going to Caractas (I still don´t know how to spell it)? There was a change of plans. I´m traveling with Rachel who has been almost everywhere I was planning on going, so she convinced me late at night one night to go to Ushuaia. Ush-a-whata-ya? Oosh-why-ya. It´s the southern most city in the WORLD and has penguins. Those are the only reasons I´m here. It´s about 43 degrees fahrenheit here (and it´s summer time!) and there are snow-capped mountains everywhere. It´s so beautiful in that cold, mountainous way. Rachel said it reminded her of Alaska and me never having been to any place like this just went "WoOoOoOow."

We left Wednesday evening and arrived Thursday at about 2:00 p.m. We took a bus to Colonia then a boat to Buenos Aires where we spent the night. And from there we flew to the airport in Ushuaia. Unfortunately, we had a hiccup with the boat in Colonia and didn´t board until about four or five hours after we were suppose to. We thought the boat was going to be cancelled due to rough waves in the harbor, so we had just refunded our money to purchase tickets with another company when suddenly the first boat was boarding. We had to scramble and plead with the manager to let us re-buy our tickets and let us run to the boat to make it but we did it and happily made our plane the next morning on about four hours of sleep for me and two for Rachel. By the way, when I said WE had to scramble I meant Rachel. I was exhausted and being the calm one of the both of us, so I just sat down at some point and let her do everything. Whoops :P

Where exactly is Ushuaia, you ask?



Well, we´ve slept a lot of the day away already here, so we´re just gonna check out some museums, take more pictures of the mountains, and maybe eat out. Who knows! Adiós from the other side of the world!