Passport stamps, beaches, and a place to call "home"

The coming of March brought only slightly noticeable temperature drops (that the Argentines have met with entirely unnecessary winter coats and scarves for 70 degree weather), the halfway mark and, of course, "spring" (technically late summer/fall here, but that isn't really the point) break! For our vacation, we headed out to the coast in Montevideo, Uruguay.

So, third country on my repertoire! Argentina is definitely different from the US and Uruguay is almost as different from Argentina.

Here are some of my highlights from Uruguay:
-The bus system: (I know, buses again- let me know when buses are no longer interesting) In Buenos Aires, the buses are very much in a hurry, so you have to be there when the bus stops and on the bus within 30 seconds of it stopping tops in order to grant yourself a ride. In Montevideo, buses waited for us a few seconds longer if they saw us running. Also, in Buenos Aires you have to pay your fee in monedas (change). Which doesn't sound like a pain but it totally is. Because the coins used in Argentina are worth more melted as metal than they are as currency, monedas are scarce. Keeping monedas stocked is constantly a problem. In Uruguay, you can pay with bills- up to fifty pesos! That point might not have been as exciting as it sounds...
-Being serenaded: On the first bus we took in Uruguay, a young man and a guitar player followed us on. They entertained the bus with two Beatles songs, including one of my favorites "All My Loving" (which seemed all too appropriate, being so far away from all my loved ones). The singer probably didn't know English at all, but sang it almost perfectly. Enamored, I parted with 10 pesos in appreciation (an equivalent of 50 cents, oops probably should have given more - but more on money later). The second instance I had in mind was not technically a serenade but my favorite cat call ever. We were walking back to our hostel after a hot day on the beach, definitely not looking our best (but maybe our best version of beet red and in need of showers). We are used to cat calls now, I rarely take notice of them and am good at ignoring. But this particular man decided to show off his english for us, yelling in a sing-song voice from his spot on the park bench, "Oh my god! Look at these bee-yoo-tiful girls - walking down this bee-yoo-tiful street - with such grace!" I know we're supposed to ignore, but I couldn't stifle laughter this time. The men who kiss at us back in Buenos Aires could learn something from this guy.

-Beaches: We saw the ocean! The same one I saw off the coast of Florida- just way south. Nothing terribly different from beaches in the US (besides Brazilian cuts everywhere) just a couple days of relaxing, chatting, wading in the waves, and burning (mostly successful)
-Fútbol: will have its own post to come...

The group plus CJ and Alana from Australia

-New friends: We spent the week with Anna's boyfriend CJ, and some new hostel friends from around the world. So cool to share stories and exchange cultures and travel experiences.
-Calling Buenos Aires "home" for the first time: While Uruguay was fun, and experiencing yet another country was amazing, I definitely missed my good old Buenos Aires for several reasons. The currency in Uruguay was so difficult to manage. In Argentina, it is 1 dollar to 4 pesos (imagine paying for everything in quarters). In Uruguay, it is 1 dollar to 19 pesos. There is just no way to make that math easy. A reasonably priced dinner was listed at 200+ pesos - such a headache. But more than that, I missed knowing my way around, being able to navigate by myself, having my own space and my own agenda. Something felt so nice about the familiarity of stepping off that bus into the middle of Puerto Madero - knowing exactly where I was and how I needed to get home (and that my nice bed was waiting for me :) ) I was definitely glad to be back (which I'm sure had nothing to do with the fact that I was now anticipating the arrival of a certain boy in just 2 days - to be continued)

Beautiful sky outside my window upon returning.. ahhh hogar dulce hogar (home sweet home)

Food: Trial and Error

So lately we've been missing food from home a lot. Argentina is famous for its delicious steak, different Italian cuisines, and of course its red wine, and don't get me wrong, it is amazing, but it lacks a certain variety that we are used to in the US. Or maybe we just lack a good enough familiarity to find where the variety exists. Even though we are trying to completely immerse ourselves here, looking for ways to imitate "American" style food has become a guilty pleasure.

Me and my shiny foil-clad burrito

One of the things I miss the most is mexican food, or Tex-Mex I guess, since what we eat is probably nothing like authentic Mexican. Since, I've been dating someone who eats Chipotle 3-4 times per week, I got used to enjoying the delicious burritos, tacos and perfect guacamole perhaps more than the average person. So for my first shot at American food replication, we decided to try the California Burrito Company. A name in English and clearly modeled directly off of Chipotle. Upon visiting the restaurant, that became even more clear, the walls were decorated in tin and only sold the same three options (burrito, taco, burrito bowl, chips). Unfortunately, the food was nowhere comparable. My burrito was too cheesy, not spicy enough, and lacked guac. It was decent, but disappointing. Perhaps I set my expectations too high.

Nope. No good.

Brace yourself

For our next attempt, we tried McDonald's. Though none of us here are really big McDonald's fans, an Oreo McFlurry began to sound appetizing and we were hungry. So Anna, Kylie and I ventured to the nearest location and ordered chicken sandwiches, fries and McFlurries. To our disappointment, the chicken sandwiches weren't really patties but more like giant versions of the McNuggets on buns and the McFlurries weren't blended or very chunky :(  At least the fries were okay.

Kylie and I finally decided that if we wanted something done right, we were just going to have to do it ourselves (feel free to say that part in a Gru accent, Annie). And our "American" food (aka tacos) ended up being a complete success. I know tacos sound simple and easy (especially considering we're in South America) but who knew tacos would be such a struggle? We went on the grocery trip which would have lasted probably 15 min in good ol' Columbia Walmart, but no. We were in the grocery store for more than 2 hours. Tomatoes, lettuce, avocados, cheese- easy, Argentina can do all of those just fine. But literally every other ingredient posed a problem. So to illustrate how what should have been a couple quick errands turned into a multi-day chore, I'll take you through each item:

Taco seasoning

Taco Seasoning- This was actually the inspiration for our meal, a random find far from our grocery store in Recoleta, along with the tortillas (also rare). The trip that could have been a quick stop on the way home from class, became much longer by taking the wrong bus (oops) 


Ground Beef- This part, the first item on our list at our local grocery store, seemed easy enough at first. Grab the first thing in the meat section that looks like ground beef. But wait, is this lean? Oh there's another kind, is that leaner? It's cheaper, is it cheaper because its bad quality? Eventually we had to just say whatever and grab that kind that looks closest to home.

Lemoncello

Drinks- Our original idea was to complete our taco night (and spring break kick-off) with margaritas. Just grab some tequila and margarita and be all set.  Argentina must have something against Mexico, because not only do they not do mexican salsa, but they don't have margarita mix either. Our next substitute idea was Corona with limes. So we picked up some Corona and headed to the produce section when Argentina denied us again: no limes. We headed back to the liquor section and chose a cheap bottle of lemoncello, hoping it would taste something like lemonade (another thing we had missed). It ended up being pretty good, but I wouldn't call it similar to margaritas... or corona w/ lime... or lemonade, but good in itself.

Sour cream substitute

Sour cream- We weren't initially sure if they would have sour cream for sure, but thought it was definitely worth investigating. The dairy aisle was confusing and we didn't really know what anything was. We came up with a couple of contenders but couldn't judge by weight, spanish name, or package which might be sour cream. So we sought the help of an employee and started asking questions about the items. Unable to tell him the spanish term for sour cream, or even the word sour, we had to get creative. We picked a product and asked, [conversation translated into English for clarity] "What would you eat this with?" He responded, "todo", everything. Not very specific, grocery store man. Suspicious that it might be cream cheese we asked, "Would you eat it for breakfast?" "Oh si you could it it for breakfast I guess," He replied. "Would you eat it with fruit?" "No definitely not with fruit." Perfect we thought! So we knew that it wasn't cream cheese and decided to chance it and taste it at home. It ended up being very close, but a little cheesier than sour cream. Not the same, but we were definitely a fan of the product with the tortilla chips. And speaking of the chips...

Made with pride in the USA

Tortilla Chips- We found a cheap box of tortilla chips (a rarity here just like tortillas) at the same place as the taco mix and got those. Easy enough but as soon as we had tried them, we found they were terrible. Something must have been rotten in them. Unfortunately, we didn't figure this out 'til after our grocery trip to Coto, where we knew to have nice, normal, made in the USA tortilla chips. We decided it was worth it to head back in order to fully enjoy our meal. So another 30 min trip to the grocery store and we had the good chips in hand. 


With some quick preparation our meal was finally ready. I don't know if they were just satisfying because we worked so hard to make them perfect or if they were actually the best tacos ever made (I'm boldly assuming the latter). 

Yum!

The Backstreet Men

Halloween '99

So to appreciate this post you may have had to know me cerca 1999 (shout out: Mom, Dad, Amy Scassellati). For those of you who didn't, to sum up, I was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys, and obsessed in the truest form of the word. I devoted a good section of my Y2K time capsule to my devotion to the Backstreet Boys, hosted a BSB themed birthday party (complete with Nick Carter cake) and sported an awkward and clonky (but well-painted, Mom) suit of cardboard to dress as their "Millennium" album for Halloween. 

So, what does this have to do with Buenos Aires? I'll get there.

Earlier this week, Anna and I were working at one of the rare cafes where it is socially acceptable to spread out, and stay for a long time while working on your laptop. Three men sitting next to us, in town for work, noticed we were speaking English, and asked us where we were from and what brought us to Buenos Aires. We told them that we were studying abroad and had been in Buenos Aires for about a month and half. They asked for recommendations on stuff to do for their day off, and we summarized the coolest things we have found here, and went back to our own conversations. 

As the men got up to leave, they thanked us for the recommendations and added: "Have you heard of the Backstreet Boys?"... ummm WHAT!? We're college aged, so ten years ago (BSB peak) puts us in the prime BSB enthusiast age. They responded to our positive reactions, "We're on crew for their concert tomorrow, I think its sold out but we could leave tickets for you at will-call." Okay, again, WHAT?! Did we just get free tickets to a Backstreet Boys concert? In Buenos Aires? An unfulfilled childhood dream, that I thought to be impossible for years was about to come to fruition!?

As we entered the concert venue the following night to the sounds of BSB's "I'll be the one", I felt like I was being rushed into a time machine to my ten-year-old fantasies. But wait, not only is Kevin missing (a now former backstreet boy, who abandoned the group to start a family), these are clearly no longer Backstreet Boys, but Backstreet Men. AJ is bald, Nick may or may not have been intoxicated, the choreography has toned down quite a bit in the last ten years, and the band doesn't have the stamina to perform longer than an hour and a half show. 

But don't let me mislead you, the changes did not detract from the awesomeness of the show! The
songs I knew, I danced along and belted every word like ten year old Alyssa would surely have done. (Apologies for the shakiness of the video, that was due to dancing and excitement)

My money shot: The band takes a bow, repping Argentina fútbol

I still just can't get over the coincidence of the whole situation. To quote my Oscar pick, 127 Hours, "Everything is... just comes together... This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface." Except for me, the girl who's parents thought concerts weren't the place for elementary schoolers (and perhaps rightfully so), it wasn't a rock, it was those free, will-call tickets, the right table, in the right cafe, on the right day, in the right country! I didn't pick Argentina over Spain for the internship and the more unique experience, it was fate, those tickets that didn't come in Spring of 2000  were waiting and had been waiting since the first time I heard "As long as you love me" on the radio. Okay, dramatic? Yes, I'm kidding.... really.

Sierras de Córdoba

Having whipped out 2 papers just in time for deadline late Friday afternoon, I was packed and ready for my first "weekend excursion" of study abroad: Córdoba, Argentina. Córdoba is the second largest city in the country (after Buenos Aires of course) located in the geographic center of Argentina and known for its architecture. I was mostly excited to be done with the papers, and away from the stresses of work and school in Buenos Aires.

Arguably the most comfortable
chair I have sat in in months

We arranged to take a long distance bus that would get us to Córdoba in about ten hours, overnight. And I promise that this won't be another post about buses, but this bus was crazy comfy. Never before have I legitimately enjoyed transportation (perhaps with the exception of catchphrase filled road trips to dance competitions). The chairs were comfortable, leather, and reclined 180˚. We were served dinner, shown a movie (in English, with Spanish subtitles), lolled to sleep with the rocking of the bus, and awoken with food in the morning, breakfast in bed style.

Being the second largest city, I didn't expect my weekend in Córdoba to be too different from BA, but there is a huge disparity in size as well as atmosphere. In terms of metropolitan areas, Buenos Aires is home to about 13 million people, while the Córdoba area houses about 1.5 million (not even bigger than KC!). The air was fresher, the streets were quieter and emptier, and the city was physically smaller and easier to navigate.

But the best difference was the sierras, small mountain ranges that surround the city. Aside from getting a terrible sunburn that limited my physical activity for the next two days, hiking in the sierras was one of my favorite experiences here so far. Apart from my family's roots being in Iowa, I've mostly considered myself a city girl, and I didn't realize that I would miss just driving through roads surrounded by grass. It was refreshing to just be out of a jungle of tall buildings, surrounded by busy people and crazy traffic. I feel like my experience in the sierras is best shown through pictures, so I'll stop writing here and let you see for yourselves.

Mantequilla de Cacahuete

Peanut butter. Or, in Argentina talk its actually "manteca de maní" but I learned it as the "mantequilla de cacahuete" (mahn-tay-key-yah day caw-cuh-wah-tay), and its more fun to say so I prefer it.

Arrival day full jars

One thing that I was warned about before coming on the trip by alumni of this program was: "Bring peanut butter, you will miss it!" Having only barely used one small jar of JIF the entire last semester and trying to keep to the 50 lb luggage limit, I figured that the small jar of peanut butter would be more than enough.

I was wrong.

Luckily (I thought), Kylie brought the giant size of crunchy Skippy! But those soon began depleting. I assured myself, "Drew will be here in March, surely we can last until then."

Wrong again.

Empty

As we felt farther and farther from the US and the culture, language, and food that we were familiar with, a spoonful (or 2) of peanut butter became a piece of home, comfort food. Five weeks in we find ourselves empty. And we scraped down to the last ounce.

We had heard rumors that Chinatown in Buenos Aires had grocery stores that sold imported foods, and that maybe some type of peanut butter would be for sale there. Devastated and desperate, Kylie and I ventured down to Chinatown (a 40 minute trip by bus), willing to spend whatever amount on any peanut butter substitute we could find.

The grocery store in Chinatown was an interesting experience. I've never felt  so much before like I had NO idea what anything was, and I've been a foreigner for more than a month now. We searched the aisles for anything that resembled our desired manteca, and finally we found it! Be it decorated with unfamiliar Chinese symbols and some spanish and beyond off-brand, when you're this far from home, peanut butter is peanut butter.

The Holy Grail

Update: The strange Chinatown peanut butter has since been finished... back to square one.

"Mucha Agua. Mucha, Mucha Agua"

One Saturday night, after a day of shopping at Plaza Serrano (an open air market where young designers sell their clothes), we decided to go out with a porteña friend of Kylie's from her work. Yani (pronounced shaw-nee in porteño Spanish) had chosen a club for us and told us to meet her and another friend there. Of course, being United States-ians, we showed up fashionably late, and Yani and her friend (Latinas), were fashionably later.

We arrived at the club only to find that it had been closed for not meeting regulations. We waited for Yani and her friend to find out what to do, as it started to sprinkle. Sprinkle had turned into rain by the time they arrived, and we decided to take a taxi to another nearby club. Apparently a popular club, because it was already filled to capacity. Not wanting to waste the night, we decided to wait in the line for a while, as it started to pour, and we huddled with many other porteños under a small awning. 

We finally made it in, and after only about a half an hour, the power went out. I half-expected to be kicked out, but they let us stay... until rain started leaking in and dripping off of a chandelier, and we were kicked out due to danger of electrocution! We filed out of the bar with tons of other disappointed porteños to find it was really really pouring. We waited for a while until we realized everyone we were standing with was waiting for a taxi, and none were passing. We would never have gotten one standing there. Yani suggested we start walking to a more busy street and maybe we'd find a taxi sooner. 

We started walking and the water, which began to collect in the streets, was getting deeper and deeper. Eventually we found ourselves wading through the middle of the street with water up to our thighs! It was absolutely incredible. At one point I honestly thought there was no way we could make it home tonight and that we would have to sleep in a gas station or something. But as we walked (nearly half of the way home) the water got much more shallow. Our cab driver, amazed, kept repeating, "Mucha agua, mucha, mucha agua"(So much water, so so much water). 

Anna, demonstrating the depth of the flood before it reached our thighs

Photo from the newspaper the morning after... 

La Boca

Okay, so I'm going to skip the apology and excuses for not writing in my blog this time. Hopefully you'll be pleased with all of my updates :)

One weekend we visited La Boca. A less fortunate neighborhood in Buenos Aires, but also home of the fútbol stadium and Caminito (literally little walkway), one of the faces of Buenos Aires. We ended up walking there from a plaza in San Telmo (another BA neighborhood) which was not more than a 25 minute walk. During the walk we went from regular city Buenos Aires, to poverty, to tourist town.

Caminito was pretty and colorful, but not as authentic as I had expected. Caminito used to be a stream. When the stream dried up in the 1800's, it was replaced with train tracks, which were closed in 1954, leaving Caminito to appear deserted and ugly. In the late fifties, artist Benito Martín painted the walls lining the street with bold colors to cheer up Caminito. Which breathed life into the area and attracted street artists to sell their goods along the walk and even a wood plank stage. Obviously the changes attracted attention, and now years later Caminito has lost a good amount of the authenticity that once represented color and hope in dismal situations.

All the shops and stands sold the same tacky tourist products (where I found your magnet, Mom :) ), the walls have been repainted, and the tango was performed and preplanned, instead of sensual and impromptu.... but it was still pretty regardless.

Rehearsed street tango (notice that the dancers are "leaving room for Jesus"

Legit street tango in San Telmo, perhaps less beautiful people, but a more intimate spectacle (paradox?)

Colorful Caminito