Buenos Aires

Last week we had off of school for the Fiestas Patrias here in Chile (equivalent to our 4th of July), and since I don't have class on Fridays anyway, the break was extra long.  To celebrate, Marie, Vicky, and I decided to kick it over to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Eliana, my roommate from last year, spent six years in Buenos Aires growing up and has some family over there, the Booths.  We made contact with them both while planning and throughout our time there - they were quintessential to the trip, honestly.  Like I said in my previous post, they provided transport from the airport, a cheap place to stay, suggestions on what to see, maps and directions for the metro, food on occasion; they're seriously some of my favorite people now. So thank you, Ely, for sharing your family with us!  They are marvelous!

There is absolutely too much to write about from nine days tripping around the "Paris of South America," so I'll just go for summarizing some highlights.  

Graciela - Ely's aunt and our most valuable crutch - hooked us up with a place to stay: a women's home run by the Salvation Army.  It was cheap, central, and looked like a castle.  Evangelina, who is a "Capitana" in the Salvation Army and in charge of the home, helped us immensely with things like shampoo and changing money.  We were right near the essentials - supermarkets, laundromats, restaurants, the metro (i.e. the subte), and an ice cream shop.  

One of our first days there, we took a tour bus around the entirety of BsAs (the city, not the province) to get a feel for what we wanted to see most.  It was really a cool setup; these buses would come every 20-30 minutes so you could get off and on at stops and take all the time you wanted to see the place.  We stopped first at Caminito, a little artisan sector in barrio La Boca.  It was definitely one of our more colorful stops, and there were artists and tango dancers every few feet.  We also stopped at the Barrio Chino - Chinatown!  Marie and I had never been to a Chinatown before, so Vicky showed us the ropes haha.  

Most other days we just took a metro out to different barrios (neighborhoods or districts; BsAs the province is composed of......like 48 barrios I think) to see the sights.  In my opinion, Buenos Aires has such beautiful architecture that I could spend the whole day just staring at buildings.  There is an enormous European presence, so the whole city is this clash between old colonial-style architecture and sheer modern ones.  There are also book stores and stands all over the place.  And not just pleasure reading - like law and psychology and philosophy.  I was impressed.  

Anyway, that was a tangent.  We spent some time walking the weekend artisan feria in San Telmo.  The feria was pretty much a cobblestone pedestrian street crowded with stands and vendors yelling out offers, more people walking up and down selling coffee and food, and shops lining the road selling mostly antiques.  And of course breathtaking architecture towering overhead.  

Another day we took a tour of Teatro Colón, a gorgeous theater with the world's third best acoustics.  Unfortunately, there were nothing showing while were in BsAs, otherwise we absolutely would have gone to get the full experience.  

We also stopped by the Recoleta Cemetery.  Sounds creepy, but it was super cool.  It's just a public cemetery; it's pretty big and reflects the European designs inherent to the city.  

Plaza de Mayo was a pretty frequent stop for us; it's surrounded by a lot of government buildings, including the Casa Rosada - the "Pink House" equivalent to our White House.  Also nearby was the obelisco, a monument in the middle of 9 de Julio, the widest avenue in the world.

We also hit the Buenos Aires zoo and some of the surrounding parks.  The zoo was pretty average for a zoo, except for these little creatures called maras running free all over the place.  There were stands every so often that sold food that you could give them.  

One night we went to a tango show, which was incredible but I have no pictures.  Thankfully, the show rotated between vocal showcases and band arrangements as well as straight up dance performances, because I'm one of those people who gets frustrated when the dancers block my view the instrumentalists in the background.  Marie and Vicky didn't sympathize with me haha.  Also hit the Museo de las Bellas Artes, a free art museum with works by people like Goya, El Greco, van Gogh, and Monet.

We saw some cool stuff, but I have to say that the absolute highlights were hanging out with the Booths.  They had us over for lunch one day and dinner another; both times they helped us with practical things like buying tickets to Montevideo, Uruguay (which we couldn't use cause of bad weather - the port closed and we just went for a refund and more time in BsAs instead of trying to reschedule) and printing and whatnot.  But every time we saw them I felt so welcomed and comfortable; we got a lot of cultural tips, too, like how to drink mate, a tea common in all of South America, but more so in Argentina than Chile.  

Marie, Vicky, me, and Laura (Ely's cousin).  Not pictured: Graciela and Alberto (Ely's aunt and uncle), Andrea (Ely's other cousin), Benito (Andrea's pug)

I omitted a lot, but suffice to say that I'm a fan of Buenos Aires.  Hopefully I'll get to go back someday; who knows, I mean the entry fee I payed is valid for ten years.  Plus, then I'd get to fly over the Andes again :)

Laid Back

Not a whole lot has happened lately, mostly just hanging out and doing homework (sounds like Grove City...), with a few noteworthy moments in between.

1. Paula moved out last week.  From what I gather, sounds like she's going to be living with her mom now per her mother's wishes.  
2. September is a major patriotic month, so everything is decked out and, apparently, food prices at the feria have jumped.  There are a lot of vendors lining the streets pawning off plenty of typical Chilean trinkets for cheap.  Might have to take advantage of that...
3. Vicky and I went to the dunes in Con Con yesterday.  Her host brother Felipe drove us out there and showed us around the little city a bit once we climbed and descended an enormous dune.  There were people around renting sandboards, but it was late and we (well, ok, I) were wiped by the time we got to the top.  
4. I've been in pretty consistent contact with Graciela, my former-roommate Ely's aunt who lives in Buenos Aires.  She has been so amazing in helping us get ready for our trip out there (we leave Thursday!); it seems like I get multiple emails from her every day for the last week with new things that she's doing for us.  Along with just being super sweet in all her emails, she's hooked us up with a lot of other essentials:

• Cheap housing in a safe area with all of the necessary commodities
• Suggestions on must-see spots along with websites to the most essential ones
• A ride from the airport (and food since we're getting in fairly late)
• Towels 

It just never stops!  It's like my favorite thing right now.

We'll be gone for a grand total of nine days, the majority of which will be spent in Buenos Aires, Argentina and a few days at the end in Montevideo, Uruguay.  I'm going with a couple friends, Marie and Vicky, and we've been researching like crazy this past week.  I'm pretty pumped!

Weekend in Santiago

On Friday and Saturday, Grove City and another exchange program tripped it to Santiago to experience the big-city capital of Chile.  It really is a gorgeous city with deep European roots and backdropped by the Andes.  The snow-capped peaks are almost invisible if you’re too wrapped up in the constant motion of the city immediately surrounding you, but when you finally do look up long enough to make out their hazy blue silhouette it’s absolutely breathtaking.

We traveled around via contracted tour bus all day and students from the UAI Santiago campus made excellent guides and provided some historical as well as cultural context.  Our first stop was the Plaza de Armas, which is encircled by monuments, government buildings, a museum, and a cathedral.  We went through the museum and the cathedral, which were both beautiful.  

For lunch we hit the Mercado Central, which is an open-air fish market with a restaurant in the center.  It was a fascinating and somewhat rank atmosphere, and there were definitely some things still moving... but it was a cool place to experience.  I ordered chicken.  

After lunch we went to the Casa Moneda, which used to be the President's house but now it houses the headquarters for a lot of other government functions.  I honestly don't know the specifics, I wasn't paying that much attention...  

One of the UAI students who helped guide us is a volunteer firefighter, so for dinner we had a cookout at the fire department.  They let us get in the trucks, try on their coats and helmets, and slide down the pole - you'd think that we were a bunch of first graders on a field trip, but it was so much fun!  The department was founded by German immigrants, so everything was in German and there was a lot of Germanic design throughout the building.  One of the volunteers also said that all of their formal commands (usually only used when high-up officers are visiting) are in German.  The food was incredible; choripan (sausage in a bakery-bread bun) and cubes of pork and steak were passed around as soon as it left the grill.

We stayed in a hostel overnight and started the next day bright and early.  Our first stop was at Los Dominicos, an artisan community with plenty of typical shops for souvenir-ing and, for some reason, a lot of pet stores and poultry.  

We wandered around an area called Bella Vista and found a small local place for lunch, then took a funicular up to a low mountain peak that's used as a Catholic religious center.  At the top is an enormous statue of the virgin Mary, and there are several stops along the way up where you can find memorial resting places, cathedrals, shrines, etc.  All with a spectacular view of the city... 

 

The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city, getting ice cream, and finally heading back to the bus station to head back to Viña.

It's nice having Fridays free

Today was a bit more exciting than the rest of the week has been, starting with the fact that I slept in till 11.  I love not having Friday classes :)  This is also the first weekend that we haven't had some pre-scheduled event for exchange students, so the free time we had today was pretty novel.

In the afternoon Vicky and I crashed Marie's house to sort out details concerning a trip we want to make in September.  It ended in us finally buying tickets to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.  I'm super excited!  There are other trips we want to make within Chile throughout the semester, but this one was most pressing just since we wanted to get the best price possible on the flight.  

Once that got straightened out, we got to work on planning the rest of our day. Marie has been dying to take a tour around Viña in a victoria, or horse-drawn carriage. They're a pretty common sight hereabouts, and since Marie is just about as obsessed with horses as I am with cats it's been pretty high up on our list of things to do while we're here.  Since we had all this free time to kill and it was actually sunny and nice out for the first time in a couple days, we figured today was as good a day as any.  

 Our guide Ignacio with Juanita

Days

I barely even remember what's happened this past week... Apparently nothing too mind blowing (like sea lions).  Aside from Flo's official birthday party on Saturday, not much has happened outside of everyday life. Which includes (but is not limited to):

• Classes
• Sleeping
• Eating
• Finding new cafes
• Trying to find something to do that doesn't cost money

That last point hasn't really brought about any significant results.  I'm really trying to cut down on small expenditures to save up so I can travel throughout the semester, but it's hard when the only opportunities to socialize typically involve buying coffee or food.  Nonetheless, we've branched out a little bit.  Vicky and I went for a walk along the beach one day, where any number of little stands selling trinkets and snacks line the boardwalk.  We found a cute little cafe overlooking the shore that we hope to hit up someday.  I've also spent a couple evenings at Marie's house.  It's been great to bond with her host family, too - Judith and her two daughters Vaihere and Marreva (sp?) have taken to me and I love practicing Spanish with them.  They spent a number of years in Tahiti and have only been back in Chile for two years, so they have some cool stories and cultural tidbits to share.  

This week I've also been able to connect more with some Chileans.  On Sunday we went to the church that held that college-age service on Fridays, Iglesia Unión Cristiana, and I met a couple people there who are involved in the exchange student outreach.  Wednesday was a feriado, or holiday, so I left REALLY early in the morning to help a friend pick up her boyfriend who would be arriving in Santiago at 8 a.m.  On the bus ride back, I sat next to (1) a girl who had recently moved back to Chile from Mexico and (2) an older woman who spent the entire hour and a half ride telling me her life story.  This woman, Zoiea (I think that's her name; her handwriting is pretty hard to read), has had it super rough and was going back to a tough situation in Viña.  She said that she had been mulling over all of her troubles before I sat next to her, but felt way more at peace after talking to me and (as a devout Catholic) she was positive that God sent me her way to ease her mind.  I was so blessed to be used that way.  We exchanged numbers, so we'll see if anything comes of it.  Also, today I was able to talk a little with a couple Chileans from one of my classes.  I sat next to one of them on the bus, and the conversation immediately took a philosophical turn when I told him that I'm studying theology in the States.  It was a good discussion, I think.  Then tonight I got a ride back from class with Marie and one of her Chilean buddies.  She was pretty cool to talk to, and she told us to send her any essays that we have to write in Spanish to revise.  

It's been good to practice my Spanish more, too.  Judith told me almost immediately after we met that I talk "like a Latina."  Alice said that I've started speaking more fluidly since I got here, though I still have an accent.  Hoping to kick that by the end of everything...

Visa. Just kidding; boats.

So today we were supposed to go to Valparaíso to get our student visas, but due to circumstances unforeseen by the international directors, we were unable to get in to get them. To compensate, Álvaro (director of the International Office) offered to take us out on a boat around Valpo before taking the GCC students out for lunch. It was a decent tradeoff, I'd say.

 And there were sea lions everywhere.

After returning to an empty depto and crashing for a couple hours, I went with a few people to a kind of youth/young adult service for a local church.  It was really great on a number of levels, plus it was refreshing after a couple weeks of missing church due to pre-planned trips.  There is a decent foreign exchange presence, and the guy in charge of that group immediately sought us out and facebook-friended us to convey news and information on events and meetings for exchange students.  I'm excited to get plugged in that way; the group seems really solid and I was impressed with how quickly and easily we were able to connect - even with Chileans (whoa buddy).