 |
| My fabulous group of friends and profesora - SRU! |
6 de junio!
Last week, we ventured to Mendoza's
zoo. It's absolutely beautiful to walk
through, but also kind of depressing. I'd be lying if I said it met the
standards of our zoos in the US. Ever see a camel with deflated humps? The
whole zoo itself is immaculate like a rainforest and takes roughly two hours to walk through. We couldn´t help but notice cute little monkeys swinging high up in the trees, which was fun until my friend got bit by one - YES, you read correctly! My friend got BIT BY A MONKEY! The zoo staff didn´t help matters by looking horrified when we told them. They even offered to call an ambulance, but
my friend insisted she would get home and visit a local doctor. Here, there are no rabies vaccines, so she's
taking some unknown antibiotic..... She hasn't
grown a tail yet, so we're assuming she's okay.
 |
| Seriously... mauled by a monkey! |
 |
| Right beside me... petrified for my life. |
 |
| See the lion? Everything here is loco... even cages aren´t a requirement! |
Mid-week, I had a study date with mi amiga. I arrived early and sat by a beautiful
fountain where tons of people - students, children, young and old - were relaxing in the sun. I'm amazed at how full of life this place
is. While waiting for my friend to arrive, I decided to venture
into the Mendoza Museum of Modern Art which is located underground. I was oddly mesmerized by some weird video that
played over and over on a big screen. The video was a compilation of images at
super high speed that you could only make out by staring at it. It was a figure of a person running, and
running, and running, and running..... I stared for about 10 whole minutes and
then - I almost cried. This is the lesser-known side effect of studying here in Argentina. It's making me cuckoo... It's like I'm the
one who's constantly running. I am a foreigner in an even more foreign, faraway land.
After
that, I met my friend at a local cafe.
Here, there is no counter service.
It's not like Starbucks or DD where you can just walk in, grab a coffee,
and leave. For a simple coffee, you have
to sit down and order. If you really
want a to-go coffee, you can ask, but its rare that anyone walks around with
coffees. Food and drink is done sat down
because the overall speed of everything here is so much slower. For example, it takes forever for any order to
arrive at the table - even a simple cup of
coffee. The other night,
we ordered drinks that took about 30 minutes to arrive. My inner-American is saying "geesh, the
service here is awful" but the reality is that this is Argentina and
this is what people know and expect.
There is no rush - ever.
 |
| Beautiful tiles and fountains at Plaza de España |
Thursday, my host mom offered to show my friends and I the local
aquarium. It was one large room. We are spoiled
in Boston. Earlier that day before the aquarium, my host
mama took a 'siesta' (nap) and I decided to venture out for a run. Here, the major park is El Parque San
Martin. It's absolutely huge with a
large lake, walking and running trails, a rose garden, horse track,
amphitheater and mucho more. The amphitheater
is really cool and is the site of the annual Vendimia Wine Festival. A fabulous fun fact - they award the title of
Miss Vendimia and she represents the wine festival for a whole year. This could totally be me... wearing a crown AND drinking wine? Que magnifico! Anyway, the park this day was packed with
runners. People here are really
active. Oddly, the park also has
"playground" gym equipment - like a kids playground but for adults
and for exercising. There are elipticals
and other machines just built right into the ground.
 |
| My fabulous friend. |
Friday, all student groups visited the Museo del Area
Fundacional. I mentioned in a prior post
that the city was once destroyed by a massive earthquake that killed 1/3 of the
population. This museum is built on top
of ruins so when you walk in, you see layers of street that once existed.
 |
| Sara and I outside the museum... a large stone map of the park behind us. |
 |
| The museum is built right on top of the old earthquake ruins. This floor is hundreds of years old! |
In addition, I've had a blast going out for dinner and drinks over
the past two weeks. There are great bars
and restaurants. Here, nightclubs play
American music - in fact, EVERYONE here listens to American music. They also seem to watch all of our tv shows
but with sub-captions in Espanol. Bars
here stay open late. For the true party
animals, there are ´bolechas´ which are open from 1am to 6am! I have no desire to visit them, but I have
had a few late nights. The strangest adjustment has been to have to 'text my mom' to let her know when I am coming home. Fortunately, everyone here stays up late so
she expects me to stay out past 1:00.
Texting her is great because I can fully prepare my Spanish before
sending. I tell her what time I think I will be home, and then I can add
"mas o menos" (more or less) and anything goes.
 |
| Jeremy, Kara, and I at PPTH. |
The best part...!
Hiking Cerro Aconcagua --- America´s tallest peak!!!!
 |
| At Cerro Aconcagua... |
This weekend has been, by far, the highlight of this entire
trip. The Andes
are absolutely breathtaking, especially when you are face to face with them. ¡Las montañas son bellisimo! ¡Relindo! Very early Saturday morning, we departed for
a long weekend at Uspallata. Despite the
numerous schools, our little Salve group (8 of us) was lucky enough to travel
alone. On Saturday, we hiked at 3100m
through beautiful snow-covered mountain terrain. On Sunday, we hiked a very steep climb to the
top of Cerro de la Cruz. Once at the top, we were all
pretty speechless. The views are
incredible. Two of the coordinators of
the Argentina-based program hiked with us. One of the coordinators is all about the
hiking. She does it on a regular basis…
not a bad way to spend your weekends!! She has climbed to the top of Aconcagua and told us that it took an entire 14 days….. After this weekend, I have a serious passion
for these mountains and someday, will totally return to tackle the challenge
myself…. Anyone in?
I have two weeks left but am committed to fully enjoying every minute. On Saturday, I sat on a rock beneath the mountains and just sat there for a while. It suddenly all sunk in how amazing this experience is. As I sat, I recalled nearly my entire life story. Looking back on all of the moments in my life where I felt the world couldn´t get any smaller, I feel so blessed to be here now. I´ve had moments in my life where I´ve possessed nothing, including myself. With strength, ambition, and drive, I´ve found myself climbing mountains.....
No comments:
Post a Comment