TravelStream™ news feed for member mlbierle on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mlbierle en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:27:43 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1227561540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1227561540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1227561540/tpod.html Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:27:43 -0500 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Rosario, Litoral, Argentina

So I walk a lot here. I see a lot of really strange things here. I also have this friend, and her name is Samantha. Sammie. We walk around together. A lot. Thankfully, she´s always there when strange things happen. Here are some unsolved mysteries:

1. We were sitting at the Bajo Cero (literally translated, ¨below zero¨) ice cream place. We eat a lot of ice cream here. We were sitting outside, basking in the sun, enjoying our ice cream, and chatting about the busy day we´d had. I was facing away from the street and telling MY adventures to Sammie, who was facing the street. She stopped me in mid-sentence about halfway through my story, said, ¨Melanie, I´m listening to you, and I want to hear your story, but please turn around and look at that.¨ I proceeded to turn around and saw what I can only describe as a Disney cartoon that had come to life. (Some background: Every half-block or so, Rosario has a dumpster along the side of the street. Throughout the day, various people go picking through the dumpsters to find stuff in the trash-- yeah, just a bit sad, right? Apparently they bundle together the recovered treasures and set them to the side of the dumpster. Later in the day, they come around and pick up all the picked-through trash.) Just across the road from us, there was a 1980´s-era 4-door sedan running, but stopped next to the dumpster. A man was going over to the dumpster to pick something up and add to the car. Not seen in many places in Michigan, so somewhat strange. What was STRANGER was the fact that they were taking the bundle on their back, climbing to the top of the absolute mountain of bundled trash on top of the car, and strapping it on. Mountain?-- you might wonder. Never in my days have I ever wanted a camera more. Neither of us had our camera, and if Sammie hadn´t been with me, I wouldn´t have believed my own eyes, and definitely wouldn´t be telling this story, as it´s impossible to believe. Imagine a 4-door sedan, standard size, piled with bundles of items so that it´s as tall as, oh, I´d say a semi or a double-decker bus. Imagine something from a Disney cartoon-- you know, where the family´s getting ready to move across the country, and they pack up everything they own on top of their car and start driving? And they end up packing a load that´s 3x as big as the entire car itself? That´s what we saw. Something I can only describe by drawing. And I´ll give you Sammie´s phone number...we are NOT exaggerating here. Check out this website. This would give you the best visual aid... not lying. Anyway, all this stuff was piled on top of this car, and people were climbing on top of it to boot. I don´t think that the roof of a car is made to support all that weight. All in all, it was weird.

2. As much as I hate to start this story like this, Sammie and I were sitting at the ice cream place, eating ice cream. We had ordered the deluxe that day, and she was eating the wafer cookie off of her ice cream. As she was doing so, a crumb landed in my ice cream. I assumed it had come from her wafer, and so I picked it out and continued to eat my ice cream. Another crumb fell, this time-- with no plausible source. I looked around, didn´t see anything, and continued with my ice cream. Keep in mind that we were sitting at a table on the sidewalk in front of the building, with nothing above us-- no balconies or anything. I asked her if she´d seen it, and she hadn´t, and she told me I was crazy. We both continued on with our ice cream, and within a couple minutes, half a loaf of stale French bread fell on our table. We both looked up this time, and saw nothing. In the next couple minutes, two whole HARD stale loaves of bread dropped down on our table. Was it a sign from God? Was He sending bread from heaven to remind us that we shouldn´t actually be at the ice cream store? Maybe. Maybe it was bread from heaven. The bread, from what we could see, came from nowhere. All in all, it was weird.

3. Sammie and I were walking to the ice cream place. We had stopped to look through the window of a shop, and so were stopped on the sidewalk next to a dumpster (somehow we find ourselves next to the dumpster) 4 cars parallel-parked behind it. We stood in the sidewalk talking, and all of a sudden, this man walked over to the car parked just behind the dumpster, and got in and started the car. We looked over, decided that he wouldn´t actually have room to get out, because he was only about a half-foot in front of the car behind him, and only about a half-foot behind the dumpster in front of him. He got out, looked at the dumpster, looked at the other car, and got back in his car. He put it in reverse and backed up so that his car hit the car behind him. That car, in turn, was pushed so that it hit the car behind itself. He drove his car forward, hit the dumpster, then drove backward so that he hit the car behind him once more, decided he still didn´t have enough room, then got out of his car again. He walked to the 3rd car back, pushed it back till it hit the 4th car back (all the cars here are stick-shifts, obviously, and so all left in neutral when parked). Once the 3rd car was as far back as it could go, he pushed the 2nd car (the one behind him) back so that it hit the 3rd car, and then he got in his car, put it in reverse, reversed the car until it hit the 2nd car. All the while, Sammie and I just sat there watching him, never having seen anything like this before. He noticed us, rolled down his passenger-side window, looked at us and said (in Spanish), ¨I drink milk!¨ and drove away. All in all, it was weird.

4.This is a short one. I was by myself for this one, actually, and I was walking to the internet cafe here in the city-- about 5 blocks from school. Keep in mind, it was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. As I was walking down the sidewalk, I got hit on the head by a block of ice. Not an ice cube, but an odd, misshapen block of ice. And there was no explanation. All in all, it was weird.

5.This is the weirdest one-- and for those of you with a sensitive stomach, I suggest you stop reading here. Sammie and I were walking through the San Martin Plaza (a popular spot for young high school-age couples to sit on their lunch hour and play kissy-face, or for people to walk their dogs. It´s basically just a block taken up by a big grassy park filled with giant palm trees, a statue of General San Martin (a legendary hero in Argentine history) and a big cement X sidewalk through the plaza, with each corner of the X ending at each street corner on the block. Sammie and I always take this plaza to go to eat lunch on the days we have school. One day last week, we were walking through the park and talking. I looked down, stopped, grabbed Sammie, and told her to look as well. We saw, for a few seconds, what can only be described as an actual severed human ear, finger, and toe lying on the pavement. We then looked around for some kind of hidden camera, saw none, screamed, and ran away. All in all, it was weird.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1226434800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1226434800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1226434800/tpod.html Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:00:48 -0500 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

So this past weekend we went to Buenos Aires. We left at 7:00 AM on Friday morning (the 7th of November) and took a bus to Buenos Aires. We arrived about 11:00 AM, more or less, and got to our hotel, the Hotel Carlton, in the city. I roomed with Sammie. We got to our first room with 2 twin beds. Neither of the beds were made, and there was trash all over the place. They'd clearly not cleaned the rooms. So we called down to the front desk and requested some help. They came up and switched our rooms. The next room was clean, but the air conditioning didn't work (yuuuuck) and so we called down again. They came up, fixed our air, and left. We then attempted to use the phone. The cord had been completely torn from the wall and so they came up to fix that. It was kind of crazy for the first couple hours. That day, we went out to eat at a nearby restaurant and then went for a walking tour of the Plaza de San Martin. It was all in Spanish, very long, and a little boring for us. Our tour guide's name was Cecilia, and she was VERY good at what she does. But I think she was too incredibly enthusiastic for a not-so-enthusiastic crowd. We learned all about the important buildings in Buenos Aires. Which would've been cool, if it wasn´t so hot and long and a bit boring.

We basically spent the weekend touring and checking out various barrios (neighborhoods). On Saturday we went to La Boca (a very colorful, noisy, tango-filled, fun neighborhood) where there were street vendors and street musicians. It was a lot of fun. We ate at a restaurant in the barrio of La Recoleta, a very nice Italian restaurant. Lots of pasta was eaten in Buenos Aires, almost every meal. After our meal in La Recoleta, we toured through an old cemetery. This cemetery was very cool and we saw lots of old grave sites (I´m not sure what the word for them is, but the caskets aren´t buried-- they´re placed into buildings above the ground... anyone know?) and we saw the grave of Evita Perón (wife of Juan Perón). If you don´t know who Evita Perón is, she´s an important political figure in Argentine history, and her character was played by Madonna in the movie Evita, where Madonna sings ¨Don´t Cry for Me, Argentina¨ off the balcony. REmember this? Anyway, the Argentines love Evita. We saw her grave and a couple other graves of important people in Argentina. It was very interesting, and i´m very glad to have gone.

Saturday night, we got all dolled up and went to see a tango show in a VERY nice tango restaurant-theatre. We were served a three-course meal, all WONDERFUL food, and unlimited wine. If I haven´t said so already, I´ve developed quite a palate for the dry red wine here. It was, in a word, stupendous. One guy in our program cried because it was so emotionally moving . The whole evening was just absolutely fun-filled.

Sunday, we left our hotel and toured San Telmo, a barrio filled with artesan fairs and the streets just FILLED with people down the streets, blankets spread out, tables up, their goods EVERYWHERE. We were given four hours to tour the street, which (in my opinion) was too long. An hour and a half would´ve been sufficient. I guess, in my case, it was too long to tour the streets with a head full of pain (my head was pounding all day) and a wallet full of NOTHING. I had no cash with me, and so was touring the streets solely to browse through the items and not to buy. My only solace, I found, was to sit on the curb and watch the many street musicians performing. My favorite? This family of a young mother, young father, son of about 3 years, and a daughter of about 7 years. The mother played a mandolin, the father played the guitar, the son ¨played¨ the drums, and the daughter played the violin. They were AMAZING. I probably could´ve watched them all day. The son didn´t actually play anything. He had a pair of bongo drums sitting on his lap for about a half hour, and pounded them every now and then, but for the most part, he was enamored with the old wooden door behind him.

Our bus picked us up from San Telmo, and we were taken to a café, where we were given Churros (long, tube-shaped elephant ears) and hot chocolate. The café was old, beautiful, and apparently very popular. It was nice, but most of us just wanted to go HOME. We´d had a LONG weekend, a LONG day, and we were ready to sleep. We went back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, and boarded the bus for our 5-hour bus ride back to Rosario. The weekend, as a whole, was good. The weather was wonderful, and I got to see a brighter, more colorful Buenos Aires than the one with which I was welcomed into Argentina. THings were no longer gray, the trees were in bloom, the flowers were bright, the sun was warm, and the buildings looked much more beautiful. Thank you, Mother Nature, for bringing the ¨Paris¨ of South America into the light!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1226082900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1226082900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1226082900/tpod.html Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:37:38 -0500 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Rosario, Argentina

It's hot here. And I don't mean it's "pretty warm." It's HOT here. Yesterday it was 38 degrees Celsius. I don't know exactly what that is, but I know that 37 degees is standard body temperature. That's 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. 100 degrees is bad, yeah. But what about with no air conditioning? That sucks. And with no fan? Even worse. But I guess you could open a window to get some air flow. Not here. Because of robbers and...pigeons, I guess, you're almost forced to close the Persiana (the metal curtain outside the windows... it functions like a standard overhead garage door in the States and you have to close it every night). There's no air movement-no wind, no fan, no A/C. It sucks. I can't sleep at night, and every student this week has complained about it. My family HAS an air conditioning unit in the apartment, but they don't use it. 100 degrees is a lot, you might say. But they just shrug and say "That's spring in Rosario." SPRING. It's hot.

So the elections were Tuesday. Our program paid for us to have a little "election party" at a local restaurant. It was basically the 40 of us going out to eat and watching the election updates on a giant TV. It was really fun. And the thing I was most excited about was the promise of the end of the questions from any cabbie or store clerk: "American? Obama or McCain?" Rosario is overwhelmingly pro-Obama, and I can't figure out why-because they have no good reasons. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with either candidate-for the record, I sent my absentee ballot in a few weeks ago and I'm pleased with my selection, but I don't see anything terribly wrong with either candidate; I think each candidate ran an excellent campaign and would have done a splendid job at running our country. But Rosarinos (the citizens here) are so incredibly anti-McCain, and without good reason. My family, especially. "Obama this" and "Obama that." And I think it's excellent to stand for something, to really believe in the politics that represent you best. But I think there's only a very SELECT FEW Rosarinos who actually know something about the issues at hand in the election. The only reason I've heard people give for wanting Obama to be elected the next CEO of our country is because he's black. I personally don't think color should play any sort of role in deciding a person's ability to do something. I think he'll make an excellent President of our country, and I was overwhelmingly moved by his acceptance address (did all of you watch it? you should. I was not able to stay up late enough to watch it here, but I downloaded it on CNN the next day), but I don't think all that comes from the color of his skin. Even the major newspapers here in Argentina (yes, national newspapers) focused on the fact that America has a black president. Rosario was SO interested in the election, which was interesting for me to see as an American. I can't tell you the last time I interested myself with the elections in any other country. Just shows how big a role America is playing on the world's stage, doesn't it?

Anyway, I thought it would be cool to buy a newspaper on Wednesday-the day after the election. Especially because their headlines were so freakin' controversial. But, alas, every newsstand I walked by was SOLD OUT of papers at about 11 AM. Can you imagine? Big news for Argentina, I guess. Lucky me, though-I went to a café Thursday and asked whether they had any old papers from Wednesday. They had one, and I asked how much they wanted for it, but they gave it to me for free. How sweet. Anyway, I was sitting at my table and drinking coffee when a guy came up, said "excuse me" (in Spanish), grabbed my paper, and walked over to his table and proceeded to read MY paper without waiting for my response. How rude! Did he think that I wasn't even going to read it? Just cuz I'm an American? I can read your newspaper, sir. So I waited for him to flip through MY newspaper (with his grubby little butter-covered fingers between sips of café con leche) and then I went up to him and asked "Can I have MY newspaper back, please?" He looked surprised (because it was mine and not just some random newspaper sitting by me) and gave it back. I then walked away. But the front page headline says "Un Negro llega por primera vez a La Casa Blanca," which means "A Negro comes to the White House for the first time." That's what the newspaper focused on. Anyway, I have it. And I'm glad I got it.

That's Rosario in a nutshell right about now. This weekend we're going to Buenos Aires. I'm not overly excited, but will be going with an open mind. I'll write more later!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225828800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225828800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225828800/tpod.html Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:09:48 -0500 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina

So on the 9th of October, I hopped on a double-decker bus with my friends Sammie, Lily, Maarja, Olivia, and Jillian, and took a 22-hour bus ride to the northeast corner of Argentina, up by Paraguay and Brazil. The bus was all right-- a very long ride, and the only aid I found was a ton of Dramamine. We travelled with a busload of Argentines up to Iguazu Falls, the 2nd largest in the world (the largest are in Africa-- Victoria Falls, I think?... don't quote me on that). They dropped us off at Puerto Iguazu, a town near the falls. The rest of them went to Brazil. Apparently Brazil has a more beautiful panoramic view of the falls. Brazil, however, has placed a visa on Americans' entry into their country because America has placed a visa on entry into our country. The visa is very expensive, and so we were unable to enter the country. We stayed on the Argentina side, and so were unable to enjoy the panoramic view. I like to think, though, that we got to enjoy the MUCH BETTER atmosphere of being IN Argentina, right in the falls.

We arrived at the hotel Los Helechos on Friday night and stayed in for most of the night. As we were getting ready to go out, a huge thunderstorm erupted in Puerto Iguazu and the power went out. For the rest of the night. It rained and rained. We ended up just running up and down the cobblestone streets of the town in the rain and enjoying the beautiful weather and peaceful town.

Peaceful? Understatement. This was the quaintest little town EVER. So very peaceful and quiet-- with a 0% crime rate, we heard. And for good reason. We saw nothing that would have suggested crime. There were police all over, but they were very nice and smiled and waved at us as we walked by. I would feel comfortable walking anywheere by myself in the town of Puerto Iguazu. Cobblestone streets everywhere, and little boutique-shops and tiny Italian restaurants everywhere. Breakfast and dinner were provided by the hotel, but we had to look for lunch by ourselves. We ended up eating at only 2 different restaurants for 2 different lunches-- both excellent. Friday I ate an OMELETTE!!!!! with lots of Tabasco sauce... yum. Sunday we went to a restaurant where I got a tasty chicken lasagna. Mmmmm.... So good.

We arrived on Friday, and on Saturday we travelled about a half hour to Iguazu Falls National Park. Entry was about 40 pesos (a little over $10 USD), but with entry one day you can get in the next day for half price. So really, if you WANTED to go 2 days, you could go for $60 both days-- a little less than $20USD. We got right into the park, early in the morning, and started walking. The park is HUGE. I had no idea what to expect, but I didn't expect it to be so darn big. We must have walked a hundred miles that day. I'm from Michigan, you all know, and so I'm accustomed to Niagara Falls. I wasn't actually expecting much more than that. And thank God I was expecting so little. Because I was BLOWN AWAY.

Our first stop was at La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat) waterfalls. This is the most powerful of the waterfalls at Iguazu. It was absolutely amazing... and the sound was deafening. And you walk out on this metal-mesh walkway, over the river that leads to the Falls, and right up to the edge of the waterfalls. To me, it doesn't seem completely safe, but I didn't care. It was amazing.

Our next stop was the rest of the falls. We walked about 50 more miles and took a train to the other falls. More of the metal-mesh walkways over the water, and we got some absolutely amazing views of the Falls. Words can't describe just how amazing they are. Absolutely the most amazing thing I've ever seen. In my whole life. And for someone my age, I think I've seen a lot of places. I can't even begin to describe just how breathtaking this trip was. I'm kicking myself now for not having written this blog as soon as I finished the trip. The words are somewhat gone, I guess. But I took a gazillion pictures! They're posted on my web album again, and I'll post the link again at the bottom of this blog.

Word to the wise: If any of you EVER get to Argentina, GO TO IGUAZU. You have to see it. I promise you, you won't be let down. Iguazu Falls is absolutely heaven on earth. The coolest thing I've seen. Argentina is AMAZING because it's got so much to offer. It's got places like Iguazu Falls-- paradise, and the 2nd biggest waterfalls in the world. And it's got the 2nd tallest mountain in the world (Aconcagua in the Andes mountains) and it's got the southernmost city in the world (Ushuaia). Pretty cool, that they can boast all that stuff. And I got to see the end of the world (Ushuaia) AND the beginning of the world (or so I say, about Iguazu Falls... paradise!!!)
Anyway, GO TO IGUAZU FALLS if you're in South America. I am a changed person. Or something.


web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/mlbierle
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225386780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225386780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225386780/tpod.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:20:52 -0400 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

hey all-- I've uploaded my pictures from my trip to the region of Patagonia this past weekend. Because I looooathe the photo uploading software included in this program, I'll be posting my pictures on my web album from now on. I'll post the link below and in each entry from now on. Hope all is well-- keep posted for more entries!

http://picasaweb.google.com/mlbierle
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225106760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225106760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1225106760/tpod.html Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:33:16 -0400 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

My dearest fellow Americans:
I am writing from El Calafate, in the southern part of South America. We left from Rosario the morning of Friday, Oct. 24, at 1 AM and took a bus to the Buenos Aires airport (about 5 hours). But our bus actually broke down about 1/3 of the way to Buenos Aires, and we had to take it back to the bus terminal and start over. So we were a little late. And then we left from Buenos Aires and flew to Ushuaia (in Tierra del Fuego), the southernmost city in the world.
Our first two nights were spent in Ushuaia. This city (the farthest south you can go before reaching Antarctica, by the by) was absolutely amazing. Had I not known that I was in South America, I would have been surprised to find out that Ushuaia is not located in Switzerland. Ushuaia is a little city snuggled up against the Beagle Canal and situated right in the middle of all these rocky snow-capped mountains. Absolutely beautiful, and all the architecture is very Bavarian (remind you of anywhere in particular?). It was like a little Frankenmuth (only not so tourist-y, more residential) in the middle of the mountains. I'm still not sure why the architecture is so German, because there were no big stories of German or Dutch settlers... strange, though. All the houses were different colors, and packed right next to one another. One of the absolutely MOST beautiful places I've ever seen. And everything was very natural, and not tainted by commercialization. Very unlike the U.S.

Our first day there we visited an old prison in Ushuaia. It was very interesting-- we had a very interesting tour of the prison. It was where all the TERRIBLE criminals were taken (to the end of the world, right?) and was shut down by the president in the 40s because of inhumane treatment to the prisoners. And all the prisoners were set free. Anyway, our tour guide spoke excellent English, with a very Argentine-British accent (?) which was a lot of fun to hear. We saw lots of really cool things and heard really interesting stories about the prisoners that used to be detained there.

Then we went to dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet (49 pesos worth... yikes) and it was a huge parilla (grill) with lots of strange foods. It was okay. But I'm not much of a meat-eater, and so all the giant hunks of lamb and beef didn't really do it for me.

We went back to the hotel that night and downloaded The Shining on my laptop so we could watch a scary movie to commemorate the coming of Halloween. My room was on the first floor-- and the rooms were nice and cozy. My roommate was nice, but I don't really talk to her all that much. My three bestest friends here, though, had a 3-person suite with 2 joined rooms and 3 twin beds. They had moved all 3 beds into the large room, right up against one another, and so it was like one giant bed. So I spent the majority of my time in their room, and so that night we all just lied in bed and watched The Shining. And were scared out of our minds. But it was fun.

The next morning, we left for the National Park in Ushuaia. It was, in a word, AMAZING. I've never seen rocky mountains before--only the green ones of Central America. These were very rocky and snow-covered. We hiked for a while up the mountain, while some others from our group took a train ride up the mountain (The train to the End of the World). I didn't take the train, because it was 80 pesos (about 27 dollars) but they said it was nice to see things all the way up the mountain. It was beautiful, and I took some great pictures.

We spent the remainder of the morning in the park and then we were taken back to the city. WE had lunch at a panaderia (bakery) there, where we were given what was possibly the BEST meal I've had in Argentina. Our first course was a cheese soup, and then we were given a wonderful mixed-green salad (salads are NOT the first course here, by the way.. ever. but at my apartment, my mom brings my salad out about 5 minutes before the rest of the meal so i can eat it. and i eat so slowly compared to them, so it gives me a head start). And then after the salad, at this restaurant, we had crepes stuffed with chicken, broccoli, asparagus, and smothered with a cheese sauce. It was fabulous. And for dessert, apple crisp with a mint-lemon sauce. IT WAS SPECTACULAR. Amazing. So after lunch, we headed back around town for some souvenir-shopping. It was great, and all the little Bavarian stores had Christmas things out. Why do they have Christmas things out?-- we wondered. But apparently it's not July anymore, and no one told us. We didn't realize it's almost November. Christmas is quickly approaching. The end of our program is quickly approaching. Yipes. Anyway, Christmas is drawing near, and being in this gorgeous little town really made it evident. IT was wonderful, but made me a bit homesick. I never really get too homesick in Rosario because it's so NOT like home, and there's nothing there to remind me of fall weather or vanilla candles or evergreen trees or the changing of the seasons. It's just summer there.

Anyway, that afternoon/evening we took a boat ride around the Beagle Canal (google it, if you want... it's the canal that goes around the southernmost tip of South America). It was a fabulous boat, called the Elisabetta (awwww, like my sissy-poo!) and we got cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and lots of cookies. It was great. And the scenery was unlike anything I've ever seen before. We were right in the middle of all the beautiful mountains, travelling through the icy waters, and we saw all these islands in the canal with sea lions bathing in the sun and PENGUINS and cormorans too! Very exciting! The boat trip lasted a few hours, and was just amazing. We went back to the hotel and had dinner in the hotel itself. I ended up falling asleep again, not in my own room, but in the room with the giant bed where all my dear friends were.

The next morning, we were all sad to leave Ushuaia, but we hopped on a plane and went to El Calafate, just a bit north of Ushuaia and a little to the west. El Calafate is near a giant glacier called Perito Moreno. Our plane ride was taxing (not really) and very long (not really, either). It lasted about 45 minutes, and we were in the small town of El Calafate. The town is about a square mile, I'd say. And our hotel, Alto Calafate (which means "high" or "tall" Calafate) was about a mile or two outside the town itself, and situated up on a hill where you could see the whole town. There were about 2 trees for a hundred miles, as far as you could see. I noticed when we were flying into the town that the moutains looked funny-- no grass, no trees, no snow. They looked wrinkled... just dirt and a few bushes here and there. I took pics, so you can see. But it was strange.

Anyway, the first evening at El Calafate we took a bus into town (shouldn't walk it... too far. and dangerous, they said... as it's dimly lit and no place to go for help) and ate at a pizza place. THe pizza was great, and we were given big bowls of ice cream-- chocolate and Calafate (a calafate is actually a berry-- similar to a blueberry, but more purpley-red in color, and a bit different in flavor) ice cream. To die for. So good.

We went back to the hotel, which was by far the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. That includes in the United States. It was amazing-- the most North American-ish place I've seen in this country. Again, my three goodest friends had a suite with two rooms and they continued to move the beds together to make a giant bed. We spent a good majority of the night snuggled in our room and watching movies. It was fabulous.

The next morning we woke up for breakfast (a surprisingly AMERICAN breakfast.... we were all in heaven). I ate EGGS AND BACON! And cereal. And toast with CREAM CHEESE. It was too much. OH! And they had TABASCO SAUCE TOOO!!! Well, they USED to have it. Hotel has Tabasco sauce... enter Americans... Hotel lacks Tabasco sauce. We ate our fabulous breakfast and then hopped on a bus and drove 80 km to Perito Moreno, a huge glacier. We took a bus through the national park to see the huge chunk of ice, and it was amazing. It took us about 2 hrs to get to the glacier, and our bus kept chuggin up the mountain like a champ. We stopped and got on a boat and took it out right up by the glacier. The boat trip was amazing-- to be THAT close to something so huge (the glacier is 180 feet tall, 20 miles long, and 500 feet wide) and see it right up close like that... AMAZING. After the boat trip, which lasted about an hour, we trekked a little further up the mountain, into the national park, and ate lunch at the lookout points along the path. It was just ice. Ice, ice, and more ice, for as far as you could see. And we saw about 100 HUGE chunks of ice fall from the glacier and splash into the lake. From where we were (pretty far away yet, although we felt very close) the chunks didn't look that big. But the sound of the chunks crashing into the water was unbelievable... like a car being thrown into an ocean from 200 feet above. And the sound of the glacier was almost frightening... most of the time, if you could tune out the sound of people talking (in many European languages, by the by... lots of French and Brits)-- most of the time, it was pure silence, a spooky silence like I've never heard before. And the silence was only broken by chunks of ice crashing into the water. Perito Moreno (the glacier) is the only glacier in South America that's in equilibrium-- that means that during the spring and summer (like right now), the glacier is melting and shrinking. But during the fall and winter, the glacier is accumulating just as much ice as what was lost. Therefore, despite global warming, the glacier remains the same size, whereas all the other glaciers in South America are losing size. Pretty cool. And this glacier is situated on a mountain, and is moving down the mountain at 2 meters per day. That seems pretty fast for how big this chunk of ice is. It was amazing. The views were amazing... unexplainable, and unfortunately, pictures will never do it justice... like so many other amazing things (sigh). I have pics, and the pics are amazing. I don't like the process by which I have to upload pictures to this particular site, so I'm going to make an online Web Album using Picasa, by the by, and I'll post the address soon so you can all see where I've been.

THe whole trip was amazing, and everyone had a good time. It was a great bonding experience for EVERYONE in our program. We got back last night (Tues. night) at about 10:30 PM. I got home and went straight to bed. Slept very well, and back to the old grind this morning.... So sad.

I'll write more later... I have to recount my tales of adventure in South America. Two weeks ago (please don't be too angry) we went to see Iguazu Falls, the 2nd biggest waterfalls in South America. And I haven't written anything about it. I wish I'd written right away, but I figured I might as well just write about south South America while it's fresh in my mind, and tell you all about the falls very soon. Hope all is well in USA!!! Have a great Halloween, everyone! (by the way, the faculty here decorated our school with Halloween decor and set out big plastic pumpkins full of candy for us... even though they don't observe Halloween here... but it's AMAZING!!!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1224361500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1224361500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1224361500/tpod.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:43:03 -0400 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Entre Rios, Argentina

I apologize that I´ve been away from my travel blog. It´s been quite some time, and I have SO much to write. School´s going well. This coming week we have our midterm exams, and so I have lots to study up on! This entry, in the interest of saving time (mine AND yours) will focus on one event only-- the Gaucho Party.

As I´ve said before, this organization (AHA) through which I´m studying sets up different excursions for us so that we become truly immersed in the culture here-- all of it-- and our experience is ultimately enriching.

Last Tuesday (the 7th) was a holiday for all of Rosario. It was supposedly some Day of the Virgin. Supposedly many cities were named after all these famous virgins (Rosario, for example, is the name of one), and so they celebrated it. There were no classes, banks were closed, and everyone took the day off. The American students traveled to the province of Entre Rios (a bit north of the Santa Fe province, where Rosario is located). We took a big double-decker bus to the tiny ranch of El Cerrito (the little pig), in the absolute middle of nowhere. We left about 10:00 AM, arrived at the ranch at about 1:00 PM. The bus dropped us off at the rusty old gate to the ranch, and all the students piled out of the bus, through the gate, met the head gaucho, and into our little ´heaven¨ for the day. For the first 45 minutes or so, we sprawled out our bags, jackets, blankets, whatever we had, and just basked in the warmth of the BEAUTIFUL spring sun and the glorious fresh air. The cooks came around with baskets of empanadas for us as appetizers--- FABULOUS empanadas, I might add. There were about 8 horses grazing around in the pasture, and 4 of them were soon saddled up by the cowboys and ready for us to ride as we please.

I was the first to saddle up and test out my (somewhat rusty) riding skills. But I was one of the only ones who actually knew how to ride, and soon others followed suit and mounted the other horses. We rode for about an hour, taking turns (as there were 10 of us to each horse) and then had to go in and eat. Various tables were set up in this little lean-to, and we all sat down. Like a true Argentine meal, we were first served with big carafes of water and about 3 bottles of red wine per table. And a bottle of 7-Up for each guest. Our first course was a giant sausage and then came big racks of meat for each person. In addition, we were given corn, potato salad, and spinach salad (which is still, according to Argentina, not spinach. Agree to disagree.). Above all, we were given BREAD. Baskets and baskets of bread, and we ate and ate until we were full. And then we ate some more. Stuffed, quenched, and a bit tipsy (wine disappears pretty quickly sometimes in the South here), we all sauntered out of our little snack shack and out into the sunshine again.

We gathered around the front of the house and watched a group of gauchos and their ladies dance. Surprisingly, it wasn't merengue, flamenco, or salsa. More like polka dancing with handkerchiefs being flailed about. It was interesting. The show didn't last long, though, and we were off to our free time again.

Some continued to ride the horses. Others grabbed a soccer ball and commenced a game of futbol, Argentina-style. I had my playing cards with me. Some of us played go-fish, all in Spanish, of course. A couple guys had brought their guitars. They sat under the trees and fiddled with their guitars while some sang. It was, all in all, an absolutely perfect day. Some others just wandered out of the yard, through the gate, and down the dusty dirt road (leading to NOWHERE, I might add) to just enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. Still others grabbed some old broken-down bikes leaning against a tree and took them for a spin around the pastures or down the dirt road.

My friend Lily here doesn't actually know how to ride a bike. She lives in Oregon, but was born in Peru and lived there until she was 10. She blames her lack of bike knowledge on Peru. Apparently no one in Peru had bikes, and so she never learned. By the time she reached the US, everyone her age already knew how to ride bikes. She just never learned. We attempted to teach her. It did not go well. Does anyone know, by the way, if there's an age cutoff for learning to ride bikes? Like I know, for example, you can't perfectly learn a certain language if you begin to learn it after a certain age because the muscles in your mouth won't function properly enough for your mouth to pronounce the words flawlessly. Is it the same for bikes? Maybe Lily will just never be able to ride a bike... poor girl. Anyway, she couldn't learn. It was funny. And sad. But mostly funny.

And then Lily decided to take a break. Sammie, Maarja, and I took 3 bikes out to the open road (the open DIRT road) to test out our pedaling legs. My bike seemed to be in the best condition, as Maarja's pedals were broken (yet still functional) and Sammie's bike seemed to suffer from the same affliction. We went out to the dirt road and began to pedal. There seemed to be a slight grade in front of us, slightly downhill but nothing we couldn't handle. It looked fairly simple. Fairly simple, that is, if you have brakes on your bike. The hill turned out to be MUCH steeper than we'd observed it to be. Sammie commented, as my bike flew past her, that I seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to get down the hill. I screamed back to her that there were no brakes on my bike and that she needed to help me. She and Maarja couldn't even catch up to my possessed bicycle as I sped down the death-hill, on my way to a surely painful end. I had to have been going 20 mph as I watched the fields fly by me. There was no end in sight-- my only way out was to crash. So I crashed. But, in any case, I stopped. And 3 minutes later, Sammie and Maarja caught up to me. And took pictures of my crash. And I cut my shoulder.

But don't worry, all. I'm okay. and I'll probably survive the remainder of my time here.

It was so refreshing to be out there. We were absolutely in the middle of nowhere, not even another ranch in sight for miles. The air was fresh and smelled fabulous, and the food was great. The gauchos were nice, and the horses were FUN! We all felt like we were about 9 years old, and it was fun to just run around and be a kid again. I was talking to my friend Brett here about the day we had. He said he just sort of "left" the fiesta-- just walked away from everyone playing soccer, playing guitar, playing cards, playing anything, and just walked down the endless dirt road outside the ranch. He went out by a field and just looked around for about 30 minutes. He said it was refreshing to look straight ahead and see the sun. He made the comment that here, in the city of Rosario, we have to look straight up so see any kind of sun at any given time. It's true. There's so many big buildings here (amazing architecture, yes, but a little out of the norm for Oregonians and Michiganians) and we're just surrounded by cement and shadows all day long. It was nice to get back to nature. Thank you for your input, Brett.

Argentina's a big country, you know. But what's cool about the city I'm in is that it's right in the center of the country (well, just about), and you can travel to any corner of the country relatively easy. For example, I can go to Buenos Aires (the biggest city I've ever been to, probably) in just 4 hours. I can to go the center of a really artsy city (like Rosario) in 12 minutes. I can go to the middle of nowhere in the province of Entre Rios in just a few hours. I can go to Iguazu Falls (more about that in the next entry) in very tropical Argentina by taking a bus. I can go to the southernmost city in the world (Ushuaia, on the southern tip of South America) relatively easy. I can go to the mountains in wine country (Mendoza, near Chile) by taking a bus. I can go to Salta (very desert-y, up by Bolivia) by taking a bus. Argentina is fabulous, and has so much to offer. For anyone traveling to South America, I tell you-- GO TO ARGENTINA. You won't be let down.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222911900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222911900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222911900/tpod.html Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:49:37 -0400 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Rosario, Argentina

So I´m on my sister Julia´s computer in our apartment right now. My computer hooks up to the internet, has full wireless internet connection, and hooks up to AOL instant messanger and Skype, but does NOT work with Internet Explorer, AOL Explorer (a different internet browswer program), or my iTunes store. WHY??? So I can get the internet on my computer, but just can´t do anything with it. And Skype works, so I´m obviously connected. But my internet explorer and iTunes store don´t work. Grrrr.

And Julia loaned me her connector for my memory card for my camera. Now I´ll be able to upload some more photos. Thank you, Julia.

I´ve got my little routine going on here in the big bad city of Rosario, and I´m enjoying it. I have class practically all day on Monday and Tuesday, then only for a few hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday, between classes, I´ll probably always be at Tae Bo. The teacher, Sebastian, is really nice, like I´ve said before, and he remembers me every time he sees me, even outside of class (like on the street!). And I thought he was gay, but I just saw him the other day with his 1 1/2-year-old daughter and a wedding ring. I think he´s very straight and very married now.

So a while ago I posted a picture of graffiti on the walls, and one of a bicycle graffiti´ed on the wall. These ¨bicycles¨ are everywhere, and I learned about them in class today. Apparently people paint them on the walls to commemorate one of the ¨disappeared,¨ as they call the 30,000 people who were taken and killed by the government about 30 years ago. So, as you can imagine, there´s a lot of these bikes all over the place. And now I´m sad every time I see them.

Last night all the ¨international students¨ (us guys here) had the opportunity to listen to a seminar by a famous lawyer from Rosario. It was about 1 1/2 hours long, and VERY interesting. Over the topic of human rights. It was completely in Spanish, and I understood a good portion of it. There´s some kids that went, though, that speak barely any Spanish, and I don´t think they got anything out of it. Oh well. It was a good opportunity.

It finally rained! It´s actually been raining since Sunday, and it´s lovely to see everything turning green. Finally. Rain? Fabulous. Their sidewalks here + rain? Less than fabulous. I decided to wear flip-flops on Monday, and when I left for school, it was NOT raining. But when I left school to go to lunch, it was raining and very wet. Some bright engineer decided to make all the sidewalks here out of TILE. Wet tile in flip flops? Forget about it. Like trying to walk on ice. I actually had to have two people hold me up just to get to the school cafeteria, and I used the hook on the end of my umbrella to grab onto things and pull myself along. Comical, THEY all said. Stupid, I said.

Tomorrow is the last day of school this week, and then the weekend. YAY!!! I´ll try to write more soon. Take care, all!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222729860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222729860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222729860/tpod.html Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:37:24 -0400 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Rosario, Argentina

So I´ve been here one month exactly today. I really like it here, and I´m starting to get used to life as an Argentinian. But the longer I´m here, the more I miss certain things from the States, like:

-milk
-milk
-MILK (none here, been over a month since I´ve drank the glorious dairy product)
-cream cheese
-peanut butter
-spicy food (food here is very bland)
-ethnic food
-driving a car (just walking out of the house and getting from point A to point B quickly and effortlessly)
-smiling faces
-customer service (because there´s NONE here)
-any employees that want to talk to their clients
-rain
-green grass (product of the lack of rain for the past 7 months)
-clean air (there´s so much smoke here because people are illegally burning the island in the river very near to here... and there are ashes and smoke every single morning and it´s hard to breathe)
-milk
-English books (didn´t bring any)
-eating with my hands (rude, gross, I know, but whatever)
-not wearing shoes (sometimes it´s nice)
-normal stores
-women who don´t look like models
-safe ATMs (but please don´t think I´ve had any problems... just heard stories)
-my entire wardrobe (and not just the clothes that would fit into my suitcase)
-non-carbonated water (but I´m getting used to it)
-Mountain Dew
-honest people (like cabbies. or anyone, for that matter)
-24-hour stores
-my VERIZON WIRELESS CELL PHONE
-American cellular phone calling plans
-ice cubes
-a computer that actually works (because my laptop doesn´t even work. grrr)
-getting out of the house without keys
-being able to walk into a store without ringing the doorbell
-regular lined paper
-milk
-PAPER NAPKINS (they´re almost a plastic/ tissue-paper consistency here, and completely non-absorbent)
-any napkins (some places don´t even have them)
-badé-less bathrooms (without that gross little washer-outer thing next to the toilet)
-Americans (because there´s so many Hugo Chavez-supporters here... which, ultimately, are not US-supporters)
-American news channels
-any channels (I only have 8 on my TV here... I watch a lot of classic movies on number 8, sometimes in English)
-hot showers
-milk
-ovens with degrees on them (they only have high, medium, and low, on their ovens... how do you bake with that?)


I guess that´s all I have time for now. I realize it´s an odd and random list. But hey, I´M odd and random. Deal with it. There´s a lot of things, too, that I will miss from Argentina, too, believe me. But unfortunately I´ll have to save that for another date, another entry. I´m doing great here, and enjoying myself tremendously. Some days are hard, because you JUST WANT CUSTOMER SERVICE OR MILK, you know? But you just gotta keep on keeping on. Anyway, I´ll write more later. ¡Chau!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222204440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222204440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mlbierle/1/1222204440/tpod.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:05:15 -0400 Buenos Aires-- the "Paris" of South America... Wait, what?

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Rosario, Argentina

I guess it´s been a while since I wrote last. The weeks have been flying by-- already going into our fourth week of classes. Yesterday made 3 weeks that I´ve been in Argentina. And I´m loving it.

Let´s see. every Sunday (so far) I go to la feria, or the fair, with my girlfriends here. It´s more like a market place that sells lots of artesan-ish artsy things. They sell lots of matés (the gourds from which you consume maté), paintings, leather goods, incense and incense holders, and lots and lots of jewelry (semi-precious stones, silver, and copper). Sammie has gotten some cool things for her boyfriend back home-- a hunting knife engraved with his name, a woodburned rack on which to hang his keys. Everything is relatively cheap here-- especially the leather goods. And the merchants, if you will, are there every Sunday. There´s lots of handcrafted everything. And all the vendors have black teeth and dreadlocks. That´s actually a generalization, something we, as humans, should attempt to avoid. I apologize. MOST of the vendors have black teeth and dreadlocks.. The others are working on it.

Oh, I got pooped on a bird. Walking down the street with my friend Sammie, I felt something very warm on my hand and it turned out to be droppings from a bird. Um, yuck.

Yesterday was Mora (the dog)´s birthday. She turned 9 years old. My mom made a chicken ¨cake¨ for her. It was weird. I probably would have eaten it myself, though. She´s a fabulous dog. Mora is.

This past weekend, I went out a few nights with my friends Sammie, Lily, and Maarja (pronounced Marrya, by the by). We went to a reggae bar called ¨Roots.¨ We had a few very fun, fruity, girly drinks there. It plays reggae music and there are two levels: the first level is just tables and chairs (and very nearly NO illumination. we had to read our drink menus by the calming light from our cell phones) and up the stairs is an open room with just bean bag chairs. Very...ummmm reggae? The bar is located right next to a hostel, of which there aren´t too many in Rosario. In Buenos Aires, there are a TON. We were sitting at our table talking, and a young man came over to our table, mentioned that he heard us speaking English, and pleaded with us to join our very English conversation. He was 25, named John, and was from South Africa. He had a fabulous accent, and had been traveling around the world for the past FIVE YEARS. How does anyone fund a five-year trek around the world? We couldn´t figure it out. As politely as possible, we pried and pried, but still couldn´t figure it out. Well, John from South Africa wanted to talk AMerican politics with us. We´d had a few drinks, and talked politics for as long as we could before politely making up some random excuse to leave. Daiquiris + US Politics/Economy = instant buzz kill. We left the bar and went to our favorite spot here, the Malteria. We eat there a bit-- the meals and drinks are very reasonably priced-- and so we had a bite to eat and another drink there.

Most of the servers there are incredibly nice, but some are terrible. Our favorite is Paul (pronounced Pah-ool), who is about 23, I think, and from a small Argnentian town. He came here a few months ago because he wanted to live in the city. We think he´s like a host or semething-- but can´t figure out exactly what he does, as he never seems to be actually doing work while we´re there. He´s usually talking to us and trying to learn English. He´s very nice, and very polite, and always hails cabs for us to get home. One of the very few gentlemen in Rosario.

So we go to the Malteria a lot. We also go to the ice cream places. Ever been to a Coldstone and experienced the heavenly creaminess of their ice cream? Imagine that-- only in 53 different flavors-- and about one-fifth of the price. It´s fabulous. Sammie and I are determined to try each flavor at least once. They have crema borracha, or ¨drunken cream¨ ice cream. Interesting? Yes. Good? Only if you enjoy mixing your ice cream with whiskey.

Because we go to the malteria and to the ice cream places, we have to head to the gym a lot. I´ve already written a bit about the gym, but I experienced something new there this past week. One day I went to a spinning class-- talk about one of the hardest workouts I´ve ever experienced. For those of you who don´t know, spinning is where you´re on a simple stationary bike with adjustable level of difficulty. You rarely actually sit on the seat, always moving up (arriba), down, (abajo), back (atrás), and forward (adelante). It´s very hard. Especially in Spanish. And they ahve a fabulous mix of music-- from Spanish cumbia to Christina Aguilera to Night at the Roxbury disco to Grease soundtrack. It´s great. And then on Thursday, I went with Sammie and Lily to a tae-bo class taught by a petite man named Sebastián. They´d gone the week before and sworn to me that I woudn´t regret it. It was, by far, one of the FUNNNNNNEST things I´ve ever done. Just kicking and punching and dancing (??) the whole time. It actually felt like we should be in 2nd grade gym class. Then he teaches us a gangster dance routine and we have to ¨battle¨ with dance. Then we get in a giant circle and do a cha-cha line. Then we run like crazy around the room and he finds a small girl and puts her on his shoulder so the song ends in a ¨bang,¨ as he says. Then he turns on Barry White and dances for a bit. I think my abs got the greatest workout from laughing so hard. But don´t get me wrong-- the whole class was an incredible workout. We were all pretty sure Sebastián was as gay as it gets. But I saw him in the gym yesterday morning as well with his one-and-one-half-year-old daughter. Anyway, he´s great-- super nice guy who loves the Americanas that come to his class so he can pick on them-- and he even remembers our names. I´d recommend that class to anyone.

My classes are going well-- I´m taking four. Grammar, Conversation, Marketing, and Management. Grammar is good-- I actually do really well in that. Conversation is all right-- it´s just a lot of reading, which is difficult for me as I read incredibly slowly. The teacher gives us an article to read and discuss. Within minutes, she asks ¨¿Terminaron?¨ (Done?) They all reply yes, and I wonder how they got through those 5 paragraphs so quickly when I´m halfway through my first paragraph. They must be brilliant. So that´s a bit difficult-- and not much that take-home homework will help with. But I do need to practice my reading. My goodest friend back home, Jessica, read a book on our trip to Guatemala that she recommended that I read-- ¨The Last LEcture¨ by Randy Pausch. I took the liberty of buying said book, only in Spanish, and am working on that. It´s taking me a while-- read 3 words, look up 2 words. I bought it last week, and I´m already in the middle of the 3rd page. But I know it´s going to help me. My management class is all right-- kind of boring, and only 2 of us in the class. Talk about being put on the spot. All the time. My marketing class is fabulous. The professor is great, and incredibly humorous. Half the two-hour class is pure laughter, mixed with a bit of education. Not a bad mix, I´d say.

So I had this grand idea for a while . Normally i wouldn´t divulge such fabulous information, but I´ll go ahead. I decided a couple years ago-- why is champagne only manufactured in glass bottles? It should be manufactured in cans as well. If carbonation can be maintained in aluminum cans for soda, then why can´t it be used for champagne? I was going to patent this and call it ¨Can-pagne: for when you want to celebrate but you just don´t feel fancy.¨ A while ago, I was reading a magazine and found an advertisement for canned wine, found ONLY in upscale bars and wineries in Argentina. I asked my marketing professor about them, and he told me about a store I should check out to find said canned wine. Oh, that canned wine. And then in my marketing class, this girl Marcie told me that my canned champagne´s being manufactured in Europe, and they´re trying to market it in the States. Talk about a low blow. A low blow AND A HALF. Dreams are shattered, but I´ll be fine. I have more ideas, don´t worry. But I´m not going to tell them to you.

So I really want some milk. It´s been almost a month since I´ve even tasted milk. Does ice cream count? I guess, Mom, you can rest assured that I AM getting some calcium. Even if it´s got a ton of sugar in it. Oh, and whiskey too. Anyway, the dairy section of their grocery store is something to write home about. It´s like bags and bags of milk. Yes, bags. Apparently they´re cheaper to manufacture. I didn´t even know how to use a bag of milk. Apparently you have to buy this tough plastic box thing to put your bag of milk in in order to store and pour it. Stupid. But it´s cheap. And ultra-pasteurized. My mom has an open bag of milk in our fridge, but I don´t think I´ve seen anyone drink milk here in the past 3 weeks. I think the milk here will last for the entirety of the time I´m here. I don´t care. I´m going to drink it. EVen if it gives me 3 more toes. I just want milk. I could write a sonnet about milk at this point. I could drink 42 oz. of milk. Just pure milk.

Oh, Sunday was the first day of spring. It was great-- lots and lots of people out and about. It was also El Día de los Estudiantes, or ¨Students´ Day.¨ People were EVERYWHERE. They just set up camp on the lawn of the many parks here. I just about bought 2 bags of milk and joined them. But the grass here´s very dry. IT hasn´t rained here in 7 months, and we´re here for their worst drought in 106 years. Imagine how dry everything looks.

But you can´t see it, because I´ve been snapping away with my camera but my memory card and card reader in order to upload the pics to my computer were both stolen. I´m taking pictures, and will soon get another memory card and a reader to share my experiences with you all. It will just be a while. Please stay patient, and please don´t get bored with only my little stories to keep you occupied.

Food´s still fabulous here. My mom keeps cooking away. I´m definitely not going hungry. Last night she made this fabulous chicken with a white wine sauce and it was TO DIE FOR. She makes pies (lemon meringue, strawberry, etc. etc). Be jealous. It´s great. I´m not going to attempt modesty when raving about my food here. Sitting at the dinner table is something different too. I´m learning to eat with a fork and knife. Sounds funny, right? But people eat really differently here. And it´s rude to put your hands in your lap. You must put your hands ABOVE the table, with the area between your wrists and elbows resting lightly on the edge of the table. Not that my family really cares, but they said it´s protocol if you´re eating in public. And it´s true too. you can always tell an American. He or she is the person with their hands in their lap, inviting questions from the Argentines staring at them.

Well, I´ve got to go now. Mom´ll be cooking dinner in about an hour and we´ll be eating in about two (haha, the point is that it´s already 8:00 PM). And I don´t want to miss my show, Por Amor a Vos. It seems that yesterday, the two janitors ran into one another at a party and they´re in love, but both married to someone else, and their spouses catch them talking at the party. And then Jasmín, as far as I can tell, is pregnant. But we don´t know. And will León ever win her over? Or will she continue to think they´re brother and sister? THESE BLANKETY BLANK SPANISH TV SHOWS!!! I´m so addicted.

That´s all. Write more tomorrow.
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