And after that circus of a weekend, we're back. Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of Argentina's independence, so this whole weekend was one gigantic celebration. There were no classes Monday or Tuesday, so the parties stretched day and night from Thursday at noon until about 2am this morning. We went to some bars and clubs, had a few friends at our place, went to some friends' places, went to the Argentina vs. Canada soccer game (Argentina won 5-0), and went to the gigantic celebrations on 9 de Julio, the widest avenue in the world. Last night there was a crazy parade, the coolest one I've ever seen (it was created by the guy who produced the off-broadway shows De La Guarda and Fuerza Bruta). I honestly think the whole city came to see it, there was no end to the people. The floats consisted of people flying, giant burning objects also flying around, a gigantic snowglobe with tons of people and confetti in it, flying cars, and the best float imaginable- a traditional Argentine folkdance party, with an actual asado on it. I mean the people were having a blast dancing and singing to the music, in cool costumes, all the girls were super hot, they had a fire pit on one end with giant slabs of steak, chicken, and sausage cooking, giant jugs of wine, and a live band. It literally was just my dream party placed on a platform and towed through the city. They were even handing out food to people in the crowd. Best thing ever.
Now for Bariloche. Sorry if this is a long post, but we spent 5 days in Bariloche and I want to cover them all now. We met a lot of ex-pats from around the world who had told us they visited Bariloche once and decided to move there. If you have ever been there or ever do go, you'll understand why. Bariloche is a gorgeous ski-town in the middle of the Andes and a ton of lakes near the Chilean border of Argentina. The people are very laid back, extremely friendly, and love to have a good time. We arrived there around 1pm on Wednesday after our ridiculously long bus ride from Chalten. We headed immediately to the chocolate factory because Bariloche is famous for its chocolate. Afterward we just walked around exploring for a bit.
Thursday a few of the girls went paragliding while the rest of us relaxed in the hostel or did a little more exploring. Max, Madeleine, and I wanted to ride the alpine slide, but it was closed. Instead we hung out by the lake and found a cool cat too play with. Later, the guys, Laura, and I headed to a nearby go-kart track to do some good old fashion, American-style racing. The place had a loft with a really nice bar, tv's, couches, and more, where we had some beers while the guys prepared the karts. They were super fast and it was a fun track, so we had a blast. Max won and I took second, I choose to blame the weight disparity for that. The place even gave us a printed time-sheet with everybody's lap times, it was great. That night we played some games, went to a Mexican restaurant, then went to a bar and played some games with a few guys from England. Great day.
On Friday, Dave, Malcolm, Max, Hannah, Brenny, and I went paragliding. There are a few guys in Bariloche who are good friends and have their own private company, so we went with them. We drove for about an hour and a half south to a place called El Bolson to do it. We pulled up and parked in the front lawn of somebody's farm, and Max and Hannah hopped in the pickup truck with the guys and headed up the mountain. They flew down fairly quickly, then Dave and Malcolm went. They had great luck and caught some rising warm air columns which carried them so high that we almost couldn't see them. Malcolm got so high into the clouds that he has pictures of the other side of the mountain range, it was unbelievable. Brenny and I went last. We also had some good luck. Brenny got about as high as Malcolm and Dave, and I was up there too but not as far. Paragliding is so cool. You basically sit in a little chair and literally just float around wherever you want, looking for rising air columns so you can stay up as long as you want. Our rides were only about 30 minutes because there 6 of us that had to go, but that was enough because it was freezing that high in the air. I posted a bunch of pictures taken during my flight on my photo page. I'll try to find a way to post some videos too. Friday night we had a wine tasting party at the hostel with all the other guests. That was fun because we got to hang out with some cool people from all over the world.
Saturday was the guys' day out. We rented bicycles from a local place and headed off on Bariloche's famous "circuito chico". A few miles in, we got off our bikes and went for about an hour hike up a hill to our first incredible view of the day. We continued on and stopped at the magestic Hotel Llao Llao, which a few of the girls chose as their future wedding spot. If I could afford it, I'd probably agree (what a guy thought). We went a bit further and stopped at a little cove with a beach on the lake, where we saw a bunch of hawks or eagles or something. A bit further and we ran into trouble. While riding my bike through some woods earlier on, I had taken a small tumble and bent the derailer on my bike. After that it was making this weird clicking sound when I pedaled. Well on my way up a hill, the chain snapped. We were really far from town so I just walked/scooted the bike or Dave and Max would push me until I reached downhills which I would bomb at terrifying speeds. Eventually, we reached our haven- a microbrewery in the middle of the woods. We called the bike shop, and they sent a guy with a new bike for me. Meanwhile, we ate some good food and tasted the local brews (which included a pale ale- extremely rare in Argentina and my favorite kind). A few more miles and one gigantic hill later, we arrived at the most breathtaking view I have ever seen in my entire life (seen in the picture at the top of this page). For miles around you could see lakes and mountains and the Hotel Llao Llao right in the middle. And it was just as the sun had set behind the mountains directly in the middle, so the whole sky was light up bright orange (unfortunately my camera didn't capture the light very well). I literally wanted to stay there forever and just keep looking at it. Instead we went up some more hills until we arrived back at the rental shop. That night we went to dinner and hung out. Sunday we relaxed and then took the bus back to Buenos Aires, arriving about 16 hours later in Buenos Aires.
All in all, the trip was amazing. Fresh air, incredible views, physical activity, and no stress at all. I'd do it again in a second. Now go buy your plane tickets.
PS- Do you guys look at the links that I post inside these stories? I add them whenever I feel they could add something. Somebody other than my mother, please post a comment and let me know.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
El Chalten
After sleeping plenty on Saturday night, we headed off early Sunday morning to Chalten. It was about a 3 and a half hour ride through the barren land of Patagonia (there are plenty of mountains and lakes and stuff there, but a huge amount of this whole country is just empty desert) before we arrived in the quaint village of Chalten. We received a quick welcome at the Chalten visitors center, then checked into our hostel. After a quick run to the supermarket to grab lunch supplies, we headed off on a hike that we had chosen to do.
Chalten is the national hiking capital of Argentina, so the entire 200 person village is located at the center of all of the trails spidering out through the surrounding area. The hike we had chosen for Sunday was supposed to take us 3 hours to a lake at the end of a glacier in the mountains, a place called Laguna Torre, then 3 hours back. We headed out through some scattered brush and hills, through a valley between some massive mountains. After passing through fields, marshes, forests, and streams, we arrived at the huge basin of Laguna Torre. The lake is located at the base of some mountains, with a small glacier at one end of it. The air was super fresh and everything was absolutely gorgeous there. We took tons of pictures, ate lunch, and rested our legs for a bit before heading back towards Chalten. On the hike back we found some really cool gigantic woodpeckers on a tree, there's some pictures of them on my photo page. That night we were exhausted from the hike, so we just made some dinner in the hostel and took it easy.
On Monday we headed out early once again. This time, we had chosen a hike to a place called Laguna de los Tres. We were told it was significantly more difficult and longer than the first day, about 4 or 5 hours each way (we had actually done the first day in about an hour less time than predicted, but we were warned this one actually takes 8 or 9 hours). We left around 845am, before the sunrise because we were so far south. The first 45 minutes or so of the hike was super difficult with a lot of uphills and lingering sleepiness. Eventually things flattened out as we continued through more forest, streams, valleys, and marshes. About 2 hours in, we saw a huge mountain in the distance with a squiggly looking stripe going up it. Dave joked saying, "Hey guys, that's where this path ends up, straight up the mountain." We all laughed at how ridiculous that would be, and kept truckin onward.
Apparently, Dave was right. About 45 minutes to an hour later, we arrived at a little rest stop at the base of that mountain, a place for the courageous to refill their water bottles in a little stream and for the smart to turn around. The cool thing about Chalten is that it's very removed from any cities and all of its water is sourced from glaciers, so you can literally drink any water you see- waterfalls, streams, puddles, dew, or lakes- and it all tastes super cold, clean, and delicious. I didn't carry a waterbottle, so I would just kneel down and drink from whatever water was flowing past me at the moment. Anyway, after a quick rest we headed up the mountain. At first it was just an aggressively steep hike for about 20 minutes, then it turned into almost a full-out climb. The trail disappeared, and using our legs and hands to climb over boulders and huge rock piles, panting the entire time from exhaustion and altitude, we continued. After about an hour of climbing and literally almost passing out or falling off a cliff or 5, we reached the peak. But the peak had a little dip and then another peak on it. We tossed around the idea of stopping there, but decided we hadn't come that far for nothing.
As we crested the second peak, we caught our first glimpse of the coolest place ever. A blast of cold glacier air met us as we glared in disbelief at a huge lake situated in between several jagged mountain peaks. The water was unrealistically blue, 2 glaciers converged from opposite sides of the lake, massive teeth-like rocks towered over us, and the snow-capped peaks just higher than us gleamed in the sunlight. We sat and ate lunch next to the lake, discussing how incredible the place was (we concluded that the words I'm using right now to describe the place with are 100% inadequate, and you can't begin to grasp how breathtaking it is until you're there). Dave saw a trail running around the lake, so he went to explore. A minute later he was screaming for us to come over. As we approached, the sound of water flowing grew louder, and the reality of a several-hundred-foot cliff slowed us a bit. The lake was pouring over the cliff creating a massive waterfall, which then flowed down to a second, even larger lake a few hundred feet below. My pictures really don't capture any of this unfortunately, but I can assure that I have never even dreamed of a place as massive, isolated, and peaceful as this was.
We needed to catch a bus that evening, so we started climbing back down the mountain. A few hours later we arrived at our hostel, where I downed some Advil for my knees and ankles. We took the bus back to Calafate (Argentina's famous Route 40 is closed in the south during the winter, so we couldn't go anywhere except Calafate from Chalten) and hung out at a hostel for a few hours. Our 34-hour bus ride (yes 34, as in thirty-four) to Bariloche left at 3am, so we had a few drinks for Max's 21st birthday to get us feeling nice and relaxed before we boarded. After a day and a half on the bus we arrived in the magical town of Bariloche. Highlights of that story include chocolate factories, go-karts, paragliding, bicycles, and kittens, so stay tuned. Click here for pictures!
Chalten is the national hiking capital of Argentina, so the entire 200 person village is located at the center of all of the trails spidering out through the surrounding area. The hike we had chosen for Sunday was supposed to take us 3 hours to a lake at the end of a glacier in the mountains, a place called Laguna Torre, then 3 hours back. We headed out through some scattered brush and hills, through a valley between some massive mountains. After passing through fields, marshes, forests, and streams, we arrived at the huge basin of Laguna Torre. The lake is located at the base of some mountains, with a small glacier at one end of it. The air was super fresh and everything was absolutely gorgeous there. We took tons of pictures, ate lunch, and rested our legs for a bit before heading back towards Chalten. On the hike back we found some really cool gigantic woodpeckers on a tree, there's some pictures of them on my photo page. That night we were exhausted from the hike, so we just made some dinner in the hostel and took it easy.
On Monday we headed out early once again. This time, we had chosen a hike to a place called Laguna de los Tres. We were told it was significantly more difficult and longer than the first day, about 4 or 5 hours each way (we had actually done the first day in about an hour less time than predicted, but we were warned this one actually takes 8 or 9 hours). We left around 845am, before the sunrise because we were so far south. The first 45 minutes or so of the hike was super difficult with a lot of uphills and lingering sleepiness. Eventually things flattened out as we continued through more forest, streams, valleys, and marshes. About 2 hours in, we saw a huge mountain in the distance with a squiggly looking stripe going up it. Dave joked saying, "Hey guys, that's where this path ends up, straight up the mountain." We all laughed at how ridiculous that would be, and kept truckin onward.
Apparently, Dave was right. About 45 minutes to an hour later, we arrived at a little rest stop at the base of that mountain, a place for the courageous to refill their water bottles in a little stream and for the smart to turn around. The cool thing about Chalten is that it's very removed from any cities and all of its water is sourced from glaciers, so you can literally drink any water you see- waterfalls, streams, puddles, dew, or lakes- and it all tastes super cold, clean, and delicious. I didn't carry a waterbottle, so I would just kneel down and drink from whatever water was flowing past me at the moment. Anyway, after a quick rest we headed up the mountain. At first it was just an aggressively steep hike for about 20 minutes, then it turned into almost a full-out climb. The trail disappeared, and using our legs and hands to climb over boulders and huge rock piles, panting the entire time from exhaustion and altitude, we continued. After about an hour of climbing and literally almost passing out or falling off a cliff or 5, we reached the peak. But the peak had a little dip and then another peak on it. We tossed around the idea of stopping there, but decided we hadn't come that far for nothing.
As we crested the second peak, we caught our first glimpse of the coolest place ever. A blast of cold glacier air met us as we glared in disbelief at a huge lake situated in between several jagged mountain peaks. The water was unrealistically blue, 2 glaciers converged from opposite sides of the lake, massive teeth-like rocks towered over us, and the snow-capped peaks just higher than us gleamed in the sunlight. We sat and ate lunch next to the lake, discussing how incredible the place was (we concluded that the words I'm using right now to describe the place with are 100% inadequate, and you can't begin to grasp how breathtaking it is until you're there). Dave saw a trail running around the lake, so he went to explore. A minute later he was screaming for us to come over. As we approached, the sound of water flowing grew louder, and the reality of a several-hundred-foot cliff slowed us a bit. The lake was pouring over the cliff creating a massive waterfall, which then flowed down to a second, even larger lake a few hundred feet below. My pictures really don't capture any of this unfortunately, but I can assure that I have never even dreamed of a place as massive, isolated, and peaceful as this was.
We needed to catch a bus that evening, so we started climbing back down the mountain. A few hours later we arrived at our hostel, where I downed some Advil for my knees and ankles. We took the bus back to Calafate (Argentina's famous Route 40 is closed in the south during the winter, so we couldn't go anywhere except Calafate from Chalten) and hung out at a hostel for a few hours. Our 34-hour bus ride (yes 34, as in thirty-four) to Bariloche left at 3am, so we had a few drinks for Max's 21st birthday to get us feeling nice and relaxed before we boarded. After a day and a half on the bus we arrived in the magical town of Bariloche. Highlights of that story include chocolate factories, go-karts, paragliding, bicycles, and kittens, so stay tuned. Click here for pictures!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Calafate
We started off our trip in Calafate. After a 3.5 hour plane flight from Buenos Aires, we landed in the middle of nowhere in Calafate and grabbed a cab to our hostel. We got in around 7pm after the sun had already set so we didn't really get to see much of the town. That night we just relaxed around the hostel because we had to wake up early on Saturday to head to Perito Moreno National Park to go glacier hiking.
The sunrise revealed a breathtaking view of the massive valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks that Calafate sits in. We hopped on a bus and drove for about an hour to the park. On the way we passed a big group of eagles huddled around some carcass on the side of the road, I have some pictures of them on my photo page. We then took a boat down the lake to where the glacier was. The guides gave us some instructions and background information on the glacier before we started our hike. They said the part of the glacier we were hiking was 400 year old ice, and that the wall of the glacier on the lake was 55 meters, or 180 feet, tall in some places. I hope that helps give some perspective on it, because it certainly doesn't look that big or cool in my pictures. Then we headed to the crampon place, the place where we put on our crampons.
Once ready to go, our guides led us up and around tons of hills, ridges, crevices, and caves on the glacier. It was really cool to see how jagged the whole surface of it was, and how almost everything is tinted blue. Some crevices went down really deep until the ice was a dark navy blue. The view from the glacier was also incredible with the lake behind it and tons of mountains all around.
Towards the end of the hike we came down into a basin area where the guides gave us some free snacks and whiskey. The water from the glacier is extremely pure, so you can drink any water you find there, so we drank plenty of that too. Afterward we went back to the crampon place to take them off, then went to a place where we could go underneath the edge of the glacier. Everything was bright blue as we crawled around a bit, surrounded by cool shapes of ice with air pockets trapped inside. We then hiked through the woods a bit back to the base where the boat was. It took us back to the bus which then brought us to the other side of the lake which was separated by an ice bridge created by the glacier. There were a ton of observation decks overlooking another absolutely massive glacier, so we sat there watching giant chunks of ice cleave off and make tremendous splashes and sounds very much like thunder. It was awesome to see.
We headed back to the hostel that night and hung out with some friends we had made. There are several things that I loved about Patagonia in general: 1. Everybody is incredibly friendly 2. You can drink almost any water you find anywhere 3. There is never any stress 4. Everything smells fresh 5. There is no one place where there isn't a breathtaking view. I could definitely understand why so many people we met had moved there after visiting it.
Sunday morning we headed to El Chalten. That and more stories to come! Click the link in the second paragraph to see pictures!
The sunrise revealed a breathtaking view of the massive valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks that Calafate sits in. We hopped on a bus and drove for about an hour to the park. On the way we passed a big group of eagles huddled around some carcass on the side of the road, I have some pictures of them on my photo page. We then took a boat down the lake to where the glacier was. The guides gave us some instructions and background information on the glacier before we started our hike. They said the part of the glacier we were hiking was 400 year old ice, and that the wall of the glacier on the lake was 55 meters, or 180 feet, tall in some places. I hope that helps give some perspective on it, because it certainly doesn't look that big or cool in my pictures. Then we headed to the crampon place, the place where we put on our crampons.
Once ready to go, our guides led us up and around tons of hills, ridges, crevices, and caves on the glacier. It was really cool to see how jagged the whole surface of it was, and how almost everything is tinted blue. Some crevices went down really deep until the ice was a dark navy blue. The view from the glacier was also incredible with the lake behind it and tons of mountains all around.
Towards the end of the hike we came down into a basin area where the guides gave us some free snacks and whiskey. The water from the glacier is extremely pure, so you can drink any water you find there, so we drank plenty of that too. Afterward we went back to the crampon place to take them off, then went to a place where we could go underneath the edge of the glacier. Everything was bright blue as we crawled around a bit, surrounded by cool shapes of ice with air pockets trapped inside. We then hiked through the woods a bit back to the base where the boat was. It took us back to the bus which then brought us to the other side of the lake which was separated by an ice bridge created by the glacier. There were a ton of observation decks overlooking another absolutely massive glacier, so we sat there watching giant chunks of ice cleave off and make tremendous splashes and sounds very much like thunder. It was awesome to see.
We headed back to the hostel that night and hung out with some friends we had made. There are several things that I loved about Patagonia in general: 1. Everybody is incredibly friendly 2. You can drink almost any water you find anywhere 3. There is never any stress 4. Everything smells fresh 5. There is no one place where there isn't a breathtaking view. I could definitely understand why so many people we met had moved there after visiting it.
Sunday morning we headed to El Chalten. That and more stories to come! Click the link in the second paragraph to see pictures!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Fotos
New albums are up! Click here to check them out. Enjoy!
PS- New stories will actually be coming soon.
PS- New stories will actually be coming soon.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hey we're back, just like I said we'd be back
First things first, everybody get off this page and buy your plane ticket to Patagonia. You can continue reading afterward. We got back yesterday morning after 10 days in the land where those who dwell in paradise go to vacation. I haven't been to class in almost a month (not entirely because I took a vacation, we also had some days off and tests and my schedule is awesome) and so I have a bunch of work to do to catch up and resettle my life. As soon as things chill out, within the next day if I work hard at it, I'll be sitting here typing for hours on end telling you how much better my vacation was than any you've ever been on (unless you've been to Patagonia). So keep your pants on everybody, plenty of fun stories (and unbelievable pictures) to come in the very near future. I just wanted you all to know that I'm home safe so that you can all sleep again. Hasta pronto.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
La Querencia continued
Hey everybody. I understand that the last couple posts have been excessively long, so I'm gonna try to keep them a bit shorter to keep my readers reading. Midterms ended today with Business Oraganizational Theory finishing it out. Its a fairly easy class because I've learned most of the material already or its common sense or its in English, or a combination of the three. Everybody told me that the professor is super easy too, and that the midterm was 50 multiple choice and a short answer. Turns out, his tests aren't that easy- it was 11 multiple choice and 9 essays. Didn't go as well as I'd thought it was going to, but I'm sure I did well nonetheless.
Somehow I forgot to mention in all of these posts that my wonderful family came to visit in between Mendoza and La Querencia. They spent a week here exploring the city and getting a taste of local culture. Unfortunately I was sick for half the time they were here, so I tried to take it easy a bit. We went to dinner a few times, made a trip to Tigre with Brenny and his family, had an asado at our friends' apartment, explored areas like Caminito and the Plaza de Mayo, and went to tango lessons and a dinner/show. Hopefully my lovely sister Marie will post the videos of Lynn and Sal doing the tango on Youtube soon. As soon as she does you can be absolutely positive that I'll post the link up here. Love you mom and dad :)
Saturday at La Querencia, we woke up around 11 and had breakfast out on the patio. We hung out listening to some music, playing cards, reading, and chatting. The weekend was really all about getting away from the bustle of the city and chillin as much as possible. After being sick for the 500th time and entertaining my family for a week, it was great to relax in the fresh air. Eventually a few people got some motivation and played a little tennis. Belu and I headed into town to pick up some beverages for everybody. The roads in the area are beat up old dirt roads and the car was a busted old compact, so it was a fairly interesting drive. When we came back we had some lunch and hung out more. To be honest we didn't really do anything at all that day. We had tea time around 6 and then an asado for dinner. That night we drank a bit and played some more games before going to bed. For some reason, at night there are hundreds of frogs around the house, by far the most I've ever seen at once. I have a picture or two of them hanging out on the patio if you check out my photo page.
Sunday was very similar. Wake up late, hang out, listen to music, play cards. We went horseback riding again too. This time we headed towards the other end of the property. We walked for a while just talking and enjoying the gorgeous sunset, but eventually that got a little boring. We tried to get some pictures of us galloping and with the sunset stretching our shadows across the field, but they didn't turn out that well. We had a quick race to take a cool picture, but Dave started behind me and his horse ran straight into me and half knocked me off my horse, taking me out of the race. Thus, no pictures of me running, sorry. There's a really long, straight, tree-lined driveway leading to the house. As the horses got more and more anxious to head back, they wanted to run. So we raced down the driveway. I'm proud to say that even with significant headstarts and a bunch of prior riding experience, both Max and Belu both got SMOKED by yours truly. What I'm saying is that my horse would have made Secretariat look like a little donkey the way he was running. It was awesome, although it took about 30 minutes for my heart rate to calm down a bit. Afterward we showered and ate and watched Iron Man, then went to the bus station and headed home.
The time since then has been just hanging out, classes, partying a bit, and studying. The best thing I've done lately was on Sunday. After a big party at our place Saturday, I woke up and went to the National Fine Arts Museum by myself. I threw on my ipod and just checked out all the cool stuff they had there, occasionally just sitting and thinking for a bit. Afterward, I went to a fair in that cool park I love so much. I watched some jugglers, a percussion group, a really good reggae band, and some guys doing capoeira. Then I met some friends at a cafe. I came home, had an awesome steak dinner from the parrilla across the street, then watched Dexter and went to bed. Best day ever.
Sorry if that was too long. Feel free to comment anyway! I'll be out of posting commission for almost 2 weeks as my friends and I are heading to Patagonia! Itinerary: Calafate, El Chalten, Bariloche, Villa Angostura, and San Martin de los Andes. Google them and get a little culture. Chau!
Somehow I forgot to mention in all of these posts that my wonderful family came to visit in between Mendoza and La Querencia. They spent a week here exploring the city and getting a taste of local culture. Unfortunately I was sick for half the time they were here, so I tried to take it easy a bit. We went to dinner a few times, made a trip to Tigre with Brenny and his family, had an asado at our friends' apartment, explored areas like Caminito and the Plaza de Mayo, and went to tango lessons and a dinner/show. Hopefully my lovely sister Marie will post the videos of Lynn and Sal doing the tango on Youtube soon. As soon as she does you can be absolutely positive that I'll post the link up here. Love you mom and dad :)
Saturday at La Querencia, we woke up around 11 and had breakfast out on the patio. We hung out listening to some music, playing cards, reading, and chatting. The weekend was really all about getting away from the bustle of the city and chillin as much as possible. After being sick for the 500th time and entertaining my family for a week, it was great to relax in the fresh air. Eventually a few people got some motivation and played a little tennis. Belu and I headed into town to pick up some beverages for everybody. The roads in the area are beat up old dirt roads and the car was a busted old compact, so it was a fairly interesting drive. When we came back we had some lunch and hung out more. To be honest we didn't really do anything at all that day. We had tea time around 6 and then an asado for dinner. That night we drank a bit and played some more games before going to bed. For some reason, at night there are hundreds of frogs around the house, by far the most I've ever seen at once. I have a picture or two of them hanging out on the patio if you check out my photo page.
Sunday was very similar. Wake up late, hang out, listen to music, play cards. We went horseback riding again too. This time we headed towards the other end of the property. We walked for a while just talking and enjoying the gorgeous sunset, but eventually that got a little boring. We tried to get some pictures of us galloping and with the sunset stretching our shadows across the field, but they didn't turn out that well. We had a quick race to take a cool picture, but Dave started behind me and his horse ran straight into me and half knocked me off my horse, taking me out of the race. Thus, no pictures of me running, sorry. There's a really long, straight, tree-lined driveway leading to the house. As the horses got more and more anxious to head back, they wanted to run. So we raced down the driveway. I'm proud to say that even with significant headstarts and a bunch of prior riding experience, both Max and Belu both got SMOKED by yours truly. What I'm saying is that my horse would have made Secretariat look like a little donkey the way he was running. It was awesome, although it took about 30 minutes for my heart rate to calm down a bit. Afterward we showered and ate and watched Iron Man, then went to the bus station and headed home.
The time since then has been just hanging out, classes, partying a bit, and studying. The best thing I've done lately was on Sunday. After a big party at our place Saturday, I woke up and went to the National Fine Arts Museum by myself. I threw on my ipod and just checked out all the cool stuff they had there, occasionally just sitting and thinking for a bit. Afterward, I went to a fair in that cool park I love so much. I watched some jugglers, a percussion group, a really good reggae band, and some guys doing capoeira. Then I met some friends at a cafe. I came home, had an awesome steak dinner from the parrilla across the street, then watched Dexter and went to bed. Best day ever.
Sorry if that was too long. Feel free to comment anyway! I'll be out of posting commission for almost 2 weeks as my friends and I are heading to Patagonia! Itinerary: Calafate, El Chalten, Bariloche, Villa Angostura, and San Martin de los Andes. Google them and get a little culture. Chau!
Monday, May 3, 2010
La Querencia
How's everybody doing? Things around here have been kind of slow I guess. Our 2 week midterm period ends Friday, so we've all just been hanging out and studying a bit and going out a bunch at night. My friends and I are taking the first week of classes after midterms off to go on a nice long trip to Patagonia. Its going to be 10 days starting way down south in Calafate heading north up through Chalten, Bariloche, Villa Angostura, and San Martin de los Andes. Look up Calafate on Google maps, its really far down there, almost at La Tierra del Fuego. To everybody's pleasure and my partial dismay, the trip promises a ton of blog posting (also known as "lunch break literature" at Groner Service), so I figure I better catch up before I have new stories.
After returning from Mendoza on Monday morning, Dave, Max, and I crammed in a few quick classes and a nap or two before heading back off into the country again. A friend of ours named Bel came over back in March with her other friends named Bel (the former known as Belen and the latter as Belu) and Clara. Belu invited us to her campo (the Argentine word for estate/farm/massive property) named La Querencia near a little town about 5 hours away called Arias on the border of the Cordoba and Santa Fe provinces. We all took a bus up to Arias late Thursday night, arriving at about 5am. As Belu drove from the bus station to the house in the dark we couldn't really tell what the campo looked like or how big it was. When we woke up later in the day around 10, we got our first glimpse of it.
Belu told us the whole thing was 2000 hectares. For those of you who are bad at math or have no idea what a hectare is, that's almost 5000 acres, or 7.72 square miles. For those of you who would like a geographical comparison, that's one-third the size of Manhattan, or 235.35 times bigger than Aunt Suzy and Uncle Eric's piece of sod. It's massive. If you look at my pictures of our weekend, there is not a single picture that shows any other land in it other than her family's, even the ones where the horizon looks a million miles away.
There is a big old mansion in the middle of the property where some of her family members live. There are other houses and buildings and structures scattered about the property where workers live or where tools/grain/things are kept as well. Around the mansion there is a garage, big windmill, tennis court, picnic area, and tons of grass. There's also a fenced off farm where horses and cows are kept. Its really a cool place. There's also a couple of dogs living around the farm, two of which stayed with us the whole weekend. One is an adorable beagle named Holly and the other was a black lab. We didn't know the lab's name so we called him Negro (not the American word negro, but negro as in the Spanish word for black).
On Friday we had breakfast in the big dining room (there's a lady or two that comes everyday to cook for everybody) and then went to play some tennis. We took a break and had lunch on the back patio overlooking the huge lawn and a ton of farmland where they grow soy and corn. We enjoyed the perfect weather and serenity and got our minds off of this stressful life we're living for a bit, it was great. After lunch we played a little bit more tennis as a farm hand rounded up some horses for us.
We got changed into some gaucho clothes (one of my tshirts, some super comfy horse riding pants, and a cool hat i found) then headed over to help saddle up the horses. I had never truly ridden a horse before, so the gigantic masses of muscle scared the crap out of me. As I stood back afraid of walking near them for fear of being kicked or something, our experienced gaucho Max went to work with the farmhand. For those of you who don't know, Max is our French/American friend who goes to school at Tufts in Boston. He worked as an actual gaucho on an even bigger farm in Uruguay for like 6 weeks before coming to Buenos Aires, so he did really know what he was doing.
Eventually the horses were ready and we all hopped on. We got 15 seconds worth of instruction on how to "control" the horse, and everybody started going. I was in a near panic, so when they told me to kick it to get it to walk, I hesitated just a bit. The guy smacked its butt and it started off. It was super uncomfortable and I had no idea what I was doing, so everybody just walked slowly for about 15 minutes. Max, Belu, and Dave got impatient and started running around the fields a bit. Eventually I worked up some courage and gave my horse another kick. It went into a trot, and I bounced up and down, hanging onto the reigns for dear life, as my butt and adjoined parts were smashed flat. The group continued on (probably for a couple of miles) until we reached a big reservoir. We rested there for a bit and watched the little beagle Holly bound through the grass that was a foot taller than her (she actually stayed with us the entire time on the 3 hour ride).
We started heading back by going the long way around the property. Max eventually pressured me into trying a semi-gallop or gallop if I had the courage. I got some decent speed, but was really scared so I stopped. I practiced a few more times, and eventually Max and I reached a long straight strip of grass mowed through the field. The horses know the property pretty well, so they knew we were heading back and started becoming hard to control because they wanted to go home. Max took off down the strip at full speed and my horse immediately followed, without even warning me. I actually hit a full sprint! It was so cool to feel the horse running and breathing heavy underneath me as he just tore through the field.
Eventually we got back, unsaddled the horses, hosed them off, and brought them back to their field. The saddle and 185lbs of person on their back must be pretty annoying because every single one of them immediately laid down, rolled onto their backs, and did that wiggle thing that dogs do to scratch their back. It was really funny to see giant horses doing it.
We showered off, relaxed a bit, and had dinner. Afterward we just sat around and relaxed some more on the back patio. The nearest city is really far away, and the sky was absolutely filled with stars. The air was crystal clear and it was super silent. I haven't been that relaxed since Long Beach Island, which is saying something.
Saturday held more adventures, but its getting late, I need to study more, and my fingers are tired. I'll finish up tomorrow. Click the link above for pictures!!!
Oh, and one last thing- as much as I appreciate my mother's comments (thanks mom), I get tons of those without this blog. I really would like to hear from the other people who are reading this (I would like to thank Tracy for her funny comments, and the one comment Aunt Carole left me). I spend a ton of time doing this, and I always wonder who is actually reading it. I leave Flat Evan pictures up all the time, and I never hear from my beloved Godfather or his rascal sons in New Jersey to know if they're getting the pictures. Que frustrante! Anyway, here's a quick guide on how to leave comments:
Step 1: At the end of each post, it says for example: 0 comments. Click the part where it says "0 comments" (not right here, but at the end of a post).
Step 2: It will take you to a screen that says "Post a comment" with a white box under it. Write your comment in the box. Then under the box it says "Comment as:", select "Anonymous" from the list. Since you're posting anonymously I will have no idea who wrote the comment, so make sure you say who you are in the comment. Hit "Post comment".
Step 3: You will be taken to a similar screen. Under the comment box it will say "Word verification." Just copy the funny looking letters into the box below, and again it "Post comment." You're done! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Hasta luego.
After returning from Mendoza on Monday morning, Dave, Max, and I crammed in a few quick classes and a nap or two before heading back off into the country again. A friend of ours named Bel came over back in March with her other friends named Bel (the former known as Belen and the latter as Belu) and Clara. Belu invited us to her campo (the Argentine word for estate/farm/massive property) named La Querencia near a little town about 5 hours away called Arias on the border of the Cordoba and Santa Fe provinces. We all took a bus up to Arias late Thursday night, arriving at about 5am. As Belu drove from the bus station to the house in the dark we couldn't really tell what the campo looked like or how big it was. When we woke up later in the day around 10, we got our first glimpse of it.
Belu told us the whole thing was 2000 hectares. For those of you who are bad at math or have no idea what a hectare is, that's almost 5000 acres, or 7.72 square miles. For those of you who would like a geographical comparison, that's one-third the size of Manhattan, or 235.35 times bigger than Aunt Suzy and Uncle Eric's piece of sod. It's massive. If you look at my pictures of our weekend, there is not a single picture that shows any other land in it other than her family's, even the ones where the horizon looks a million miles away.
There is a big old mansion in the middle of the property where some of her family members live. There are other houses and buildings and structures scattered about the property where workers live or where tools/grain/things are kept as well. Around the mansion there is a garage, big windmill, tennis court, picnic area, and tons of grass. There's also a fenced off farm where horses and cows are kept. Its really a cool place. There's also a couple of dogs living around the farm, two of which stayed with us the whole weekend. One is an adorable beagle named Holly and the other was a black lab. We didn't know the lab's name so we called him Negro (not the American word negro, but negro as in the Spanish word for black).
On Friday we had breakfast in the big dining room (there's a lady or two that comes everyday to cook for everybody) and then went to play some tennis. We took a break and had lunch on the back patio overlooking the huge lawn and a ton of farmland where they grow soy and corn. We enjoyed the perfect weather and serenity and got our minds off of this stressful life we're living for a bit, it was great. After lunch we played a little bit more tennis as a farm hand rounded up some horses for us.
We got changed into some gaucho clothes (one of my tshirts, some super comfy horse riding pants, and a cool hat i found) then headed over to help saddle up the horses. I had never truly ridden a horse before, so the gigantic masses of muscle scared the crap out of me. As I stood back afraid of walking near them for fear of being kicked or something, our experienced gaucho Max went to work with the farmhand. For those of you who don't know, Max is our French/American friend who goes to school at Tufts in Boston. He worked as an actual gaucho on an even bigger farm in Uruguay for like 6 weeks before coming to Buenos Aires, so he did really know what he was doing.
Eventually the horses were ready and we all hopped on. We got 15 seconds worth of instruction on how to "control" the horse, and everybody started going. I was in a near panic, so when they told me to kick it to get it to walk, I hesitated just a bit. The guy smacked its butt and it started off. It was super uncomfortable and I had no idea what I was doing, so everybody just walked slowly for about 15 minutes. Max, Belu, and Dave got impatient and started running around the fields a bit. Eventually I worked up some courage and gave my horse another kick. It went into a trot, and I bounced up and down, hanging onto the reigns for dear life, as my butt and adjoined parts were smashed flat. The group continued on (probably for a couple of miles) until we reached a big reservoir. We rested there for a bit and watched the little beagle Holly bound through the grass that was a foot taller than her (she actually stayed with us the entire time on the 3 hour ride).
We started heading back by going the long way around the property. Max eventually pressured me into trying a semi-gallop or gallop if I had the courage. I got some decent speed, but was really scared so I stopped. I practiced a few more times, and eventually Max and I reached a long straight strip of grass mowed through the field. The horses know the property pretty well, so they knew we were heading back and started becoming hard to control because they wanted to go home. Max took off down the strip at full speed and my horse immediately followed, without even warning me. I actually hit a full sprint! It was so cool to feel the horse running and breathing heavy underneath me as he just tore through the field.
Eventually we got back, unsaddled the horses, hosed them off, and brought them back to their field. The saddle and 185lbs of person on their back must be pretty annoying because every single one of them immediately laid down, rolled onto their backs, and did that wiggle thing that dogs do to scratch their back. It was really funny to see giant horses doing it.
We showered off, relaxed a bit, and had dinner. Afterward we just sat around and relaxed some more on the back patio. The nearest city is really far away, and the sky was absolutely filled with stars. The air was crystal clear and it was super silent. I haven't been that relaxed since Long Beach Island, which is saying something.
Saturday held more adventures, but its getting late, I need to study more, and my fingers are tired. I'll finish up tomorrow. Click the link above for pictures!!!
Oh, and one last thing- as much as I appreciate my mother's comments (thanks mom), I get tons of those without this blog. I really would like to hear from the other people who are reading this (I would like to thank Tracy for her funny comments, and the one comment Aunt Carole left me). I spend a ton of time doing this, and I always wonder who is actually reading it. I leave Flat Evan pictures up all the time, and I never hear from my beloved Godfather or his rascal sons in New Jersey to know if they're getting the pictures. Que frustrante! Anyway, here's a quick guide on how to leave comments:
Step 1: At the end of each post, it says for example: 0 comments. Click the part where it says "0 comments" (not right here, but at the end of a post).
Step 2: It will take you to a screen that says "Post a comment" with a white box under it. Write your comment in the box. Then under the box it says "Comment as:", select "Anonymous" from the list. Since you're posting anonymously I will have no idea who wrote the comment, so make sure you say who you are in the comment. Hit "Post comment".
Step 3: You will be taken to a similar screen. Under the comment box it will say "Word verification." Just copy the funny looking letters into the box below, and again it "Post comment." You're done! Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Hasta luego.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)