Buenos Aires

What an elegant, sophisticated city.  If anyone reading this has an opportunity to travel abroad, please go to Buenos Aires.

I´m in the airport waiting for my flight back to Santiago, so I have some time…

I loved the feel of BA…everything is beautiful, the parks, the architecture, the people, the clothes, the food… the prices.  I went to museums, malls, pedestrian shopping streets, bakeries, cafes, artesan fairs, a tango class, restaurants, one concert-show…  I read two books, “Remind Me Again Why I Married You” and “David Copperfield” and met some interesting people.  Jessica from New York, Yulun and Elisa from New York, Sarah from Holland, Naomi from Switzerland, Melanie and Laura from Ireland and Veronica from Mexico.  In short, it was a wonderful, wonderful vacation.

I should be back in Viña tonight, late sometime.  I register for classes tomorrow and classes are supposed to start again on August 2nd.  We´ll see…last semester was slow starting…It´ll be nice to be back again, I guess, but I´m sad to leave BA.  I could use a few more days of wonderfulness.

Buenos Aires

Well, here I am in Argentina.  I have about a week and a half of vacation between semesters so I´m spending them in Buenos Aires.

I flew in yesterday and have greatly enjoyed my one night and morning here.    I`m staying at a funky little hostel (funky but safe) and have maps and guidebooks coming out of my ears, so I should be ok for exploring. 

My first impression of Argentina is a good one.  Outside of the city, it seemed to be greener with more trees than Chile and inside of the city, at least the part where I´m at, is more…European.  Wrought iron balconies, cobblestone streets, etc. 

I have five more minutes at the internet cafe…cost me .50 cents for an hour of internet.  Last night I bought 2 green apples, a pack of wheat crackers and a huge sub sandwhich for the grand total of $1.00.  Can´t wait to see what the prices are like at the mall.

In Santiago for the weekend

To celebrate Fourth of July, I went out for sushi with my buddy Nathan.    How very patriotic.

Today I´m in Santiago, staying with some of the friends who invited me when Ryan and I were in Placilla.  They have a darling little condo in the suburbs and are SO nice.  So nice.  We grilled bratwurst yesterday with 2 other young couples and the parents of one of the couples and I discovered the Spanish equivalent of dumb blond jokes.  No blond involved, just dumb people.

It´s rainy and cold and we´re planning on doing a bit of sightseeing so I hope it gets nice.

I´m here until Monday morning and then I´m going to Placilla.

I had most of my finals last week and have on more on Friday and then my first semester in Chile is OVER.  Crazy, huh?

Ow, my mouth hurts

Today was a fabulous, beautiful, sunny, sunny day.  It was like a summer day, but in July.

I’ve been sort of fighting off a little cold so I came home from meeting and took a long nap while Angela was at mass and then we had lunch.  She gave me some Mentholatum — like Vick’s Vapor Rub, I think…but I don’t like it because it makes my nose feel greasy and tingley and doesn’t do much for congestion.

So, after lunch, I down to the seashore and bought a candied apple and walked on the boardwalk for a while and watched the ocean and people going by.  Candied apples are about as annoying to eat as they are enjoyable…  Got harassed by more gypsies.  This girl, about my age, came up to me and said “Hola, mi linda (Hello, my pretty)” while I was staring out at the ocean.  I looked up and said “No, I don’t have any money” but with a smile, to take the sting out.  But, she didn’t smile back…just said, “I’m not asking for money.  I’m asking what time it is.”  So, I told her it was 3:25 and she was like “Now, give me your palm and I’ll tell you your fortune” and I said “No, thank you.” and then she was like “Where are you from?”  I told her I was from the United States and she said “Beautiful country, the United States” and I said, “Yeah, I love it…” and took a bite of my apple and she stood there for like 10 seconds staring at me and then walked off.  Yesterday, I went through the same song and dance with two other gypsy women and one of them cursed me out and asked why I was so rotten.  They’re just annoying.

So, after that I went up to the sand dunes with Nathan, Dan, Lucy and Amanda and we watched the sun set and the lights of Valparaiso turn on and hung out for a little while and then went for pizza.  Which is the reason my mouth hurts.

This coming week is kind of wierd…a mix of busy and slow… I guess it’s like finals week anywhere.

I’m tired.