Bariloche y San Martin de los Andes

Delicious Brazilian food at Lauryn's 21st bdayGreat Brazilian music and dancingOn our way to Bariloche in the microWarming up at the top of Cerro Catedral- tallest MT in BarilocheBottom of Cerro CatedralDouble rainbow taken from hostelView from top of Cerro Llao Llao- my favorite spotGorgeous!Cerro Catedral

From here down are Nora's pics

National Park Nahuel HaupiDog with dreadsMt Trenedor in the backLago de 7 colores and Isla de amorGlaciers near TrendorMt TrenedorLake Nahuel HaupiTop of Cerro Llao LlaoTop of Cerro CompanarioFreezing cold bus ride thru 7 lagos

Studying one night in our freezing cold hostel in San Martin

Almost getting attacked by dogs (prob the 5th time in South America so far) on our hike to la BanduristaVista BanduristaOvejas!Holly!Bus trip back through the Andes

A Wednesday a few weeks ago we celebrated Lauryn's 21st at a really cool Brazilian restaurant- Malucu Baleza, after dinner we got to enjoy a great performance and danced to the wonderful Brazilian rythms which reminded me of good times in Brazil : ) Earlier that day I volunteered at a comedor, helping seniors in the community get their lunches and cleaning up after (and i was able to eat too- always a plus), chatting with them, and doing some activities with them after. I really liked the people and the atmosphere is nice too. We are in the process of doing renovations there too. And i got my haircut too! 32 pesos, woot woot, but I guess I got what I paid for, and my hair is a little uneven- which of course I noticed later that night. haha.

Thurs: Hung out with Agustin after class, and had Burger King for the 1st time here- and it was really tasty. Found out my INTL MKT [which btw I got a 7 out of 10 on my PARCIAL : )- really good for extranjeros, and even for Portenos too] class was cancelled, and hung out with Ceci, Juli, Cristina and some other friends from class at a restaurant nearby.

Friday: Arrived a little too late, even 4 Argentina, to the bus station, only to find out the bus was an hr late. I did hw and read on the ride over and slept like a baby.

Sat: Arrived later than expected, and headed to Cerro Catedral- biggest MT in Bariloche. But was dissapointed when the snow and the fog made the amazing view not so visible. We then found our great HOSTEL 1004, which was on the 10th floor w amazing view and stocked kitchen and great atmosphere.

Sun: Spanish bus tour of incredible MT Trenedor and nacional park Nahuel Haupi. Favorite part was the glaciers and being able to hear Mt Trenedor cracking

Mon: Rained out, so we went to pretty much all the chocoleterias in town and explored the shops as well as the costanera of centro de Bariloche

Tues: Walked along Chico Cirquito to Avellenid Tacul and hiked up Cerro Llao Llao- favorite spot bc there was no1 there and had amazing view, and also hiked up Cerro Campanario- also amazing, but had too many people up top, a confiteria, and gift shop too. But we saw a condoor! super cool bc they are almost extinct. We then had our Bicentenario/wine tasting/appetizer party at the hostel to celebrate the 200 years of this great country.

Wed: Took bus to San Martin de los Andes- super cute town surrounded by MTS

Thur: Hiked up the Bandura only to get lost and almost get attacked by dogs- this is prob the 5th time so far that dogs have almost attacked me. We then found our way to la Vista- viewpoint of La Bandera (GORGEOUS)- which was in Mapuche territory, and then made my way to La Islita, but not before passing  herds of sheep, a few llamas, some jack rabbits, and roosters and hens, and few horses and oxes. Lost Nora on the way, and ended up trekking back to the Hostel to find that she had gotten a ride back from some nice visitors. We walked around town a bit more and headed to our bus.

Fri: Arrived surprisingly on time in the afternoon and hit the books. Went out that night with Andres to a really popular American bar in Recolleta, the Alamo and met some other really cool people.

Sat: Rained all day : / so plans were cancelled, but got some studying done and went out for some pizza with Nora, Bex, and Zac. Yummm!

Sun: Tarea and had a movie night with my IFSA girls at Becca's place. We watched La Princessa y El Sapo- Princess and the Frog en espanol, it was good fun, and we all brought some snacks to chow down on.

La semana pasada...

The past week was a little hectic for me because I had a parcial in my International Marketing class. I studying a lot for it, and was really nervous for the test, but it's done. I think I did pretty good on it, but here, you never know. When I turned it in the profesor looked a little confused- I'm sure my formatting was diferent than the rest and had tons of errors on it, and after apologizing many times- the prof said don't worry about it- yes literally in English. haha!

La Granja (I'm in the orange UofI sweatshirt-of course)

Friday I went to Caballito's sole museum - El museo de Ciencias Naturales- and it was kinda run down, but still had some interesting things to learn about. Nora and I planned out our 20 page paper for our Geografia clase, and started on that a little bit too. We then headed over to Tunedra to have some dinner at Chris' house. We had some pasta and torta that he made, it was pretty good- except for the fact that the torta had tuna- yuk! After dinner I headed over to hang out with some friends at the same bar- The Negril- we hung out at last week. good fun : ) Saturday I spent 3 hours playing ultimate, which was so much fun, but really tiring. And later that night Nora and I met up with Alejandro for a Greek Fiesta- yes we saw about 80 plates being broken, either on the floor or on people's heads. And of course Alejandro taught us how to dance Greek style. OPA!
Monday I had to wake up early to do volunteer at an organic farm in the city. We were broken up into groups and helped pelear (shovel), semillar (plant seeds), and arrancar (take out) weeds. After our labor we ate choripan and I tried morcilla (blood sausage) and was very content. Nora, Bex, and I then met up with the president of IFSA, Mario, to talk over our plans for Bariloche (Rio Negro province, pretty much SOuthwest of BA, around the Andes MTs.) SUper excited to go!!! We will be leaving this Friday and coming back the following Friday. It's gonna be great : P

RACING, mi buen amigo...

Sweet Mama'sNew friendsCapucha- hood- shot after the game- it was coldFU'TBOLHinchadas- fansJuan

Constitucion train station

Last week was pretty laid back for me compared to the previous. I'm pretty much settled in with all my classes, but am dreading my 1st parcial-exam- in my International Marketing course. Besides studying and doing homework- because that's always pretty much the same I celebrated 5 de Mayo with my IFSA friend Lauryn, and some others. Nora and I met up with a Chilean friend, Sebastian on Thursday and hung out in the Recoletta area, which of course I ended up sleeping in my 2nd home here- Nora's house- her host mama has an extra room with bunk beds- which I was offered whenever I wanted. So sweet! Friday I met up with my friend Esteban who I haven't seen in more than a month b4 that. Later that night   I went to see a play with my Castellano class- which the title was too long and complicated to remember- sort of how the play was. It was really bizzarre, but I understood most of the SPanish- I had trouble with the plot and the purpose of it... I actually stayed in Friday night, which was a good decision to catch up on some needed sleep... I watched part of a movie with Spanish subtitltes and the volume really low. Saturday Nora and I headed to Avallaneda with our friend Christian and a new Korean freind who's  been traveling for 5 monts which I didn't quite remember his name. We met up with another friend in the stadium, Juan, who we met before. ANd we all watched in dismay when our team - RACING- lost 3-0 to River. Q triste! Some churipan (sausage sandwhich with tons of toppings) cured our sadness after the game. Nora and I sent our friend on his way back home and then headed to a bar in Constitucion where we met some old drunk men- haha! One fought in the Malvina war- so we had a little history lesson from him, and the others were good fun. We met up with Esteban and his friends from work shortly after that and ended up going to thier restaurant, chilling out till 8 am chatting, dancing, and eating delicious empanadas.

My favorite cheer from Racing that I must leave:

Racing mi buen amigo...Esta campaña volveremo estar contigo

Te alentaremo de corazon
Esta es tu Hinchada que te quiere ver campeon
No me importa lo que digan
Lo que digan los Demas
Yo te sigo a todas partes
Cada vez te quiero mas.

Todo bien...

After our picnic in Parque RosadelRuben, Maria, Bex, Me, Nora, Zac

Pachoclo-popcorn mmmPretty orchestra that was in the park

Friday I went to La Viruta in San Telmo for my 2/3rd Tango lesson- I now consider myself fit enough to move onto intermediate. I went with Andres and we had a great time. We danced for hours after and got to see professionals show their stuff too. There was also a bit of Salsa music placed in there, some cumbia, and some others too. It was a mezcla of dances and really crowded too! Saturday was spent doing some good ol' reading and homework as well as seeing a free concert by Caetano Veloso- a really famous Brazilian singer- really beautiful musica! Our group of friends somehow ended up multiplying to a large number and headed off to a bar for some drinks, food, and lots of conversation. Sunday I met up with some other friends at Parque Rosadel (Parq del roses) and had a nice picnic and sniffed many different types of flowers, and enjoyed the wonderful views and sounds this park had to offer. Homework time!