County Fair

What better way to cure a case of "I-miss-the-Oregon-countryside-blues" than a county fair?

In the heart of Buenos Aires within an expo at Plaza Italia I reunited with the good old farm land.  It was a bit bizarre to look over the cow herding competitions and see skyscrapers a mere 100 meters away.

The cows were enormous and some looked like a camel meets Eeyore meets cow cross.

Before the cattle herding competition, a band proceeded to serenade the cows with traditional Argentine music.

And there were peacocks, too!!

Sunshine and wandering

Despite a splendid high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the Argentines insist that because it is a winter month they must wear coats, sweaters, scarfs, and boots at all times.  Needless to say, my scampering happily around in a t-shirt has drawn some startled and concerned looks from the elderly population in the neighborhood. 

I'm lucky to live in an area with plenty of parks that fill up with picnic-ers and futbol players on the weekends. 

This statue serves as a great motivator on my morning runs.

In other exciting news, fall study abroad programs have started up and there are plenty of Claremont College kids here now!  That said, I'm quite content sitting in my home stay sipping tea and listing to my recently acquired Adele album all evening... :)

Mendoza

Last weekend's trip to wine country at the foot of the Andes mountains might have precisely countered everything my parents have ever taught me about safe bike riding: no helmets, narrow country roads, jeans that could get caught in the gears... did I mention we were biking between wineries and wine tasting?

Err...sorry Mom, but don't worry, no one got hurt!  In fact, thanks to my general walking skills (slash lack thereof), I was voted the #1 seed for "most likely to fall" in our sweepstakes bet and I didn't even get a scratch!

The beautiful weather and clean mountain air was quite a refreshing break from the city. 

Mendoza city was really pleasant and the people were quite kind.  Sunday we wandered through the many parks the city has to offer before catching an overnight bus home.

Córdoba

My friend Elisabeth and I traveled a bit north to Córdoba.  A ten hour bus ride dumped us off in the city early in the morning for three full days of exploration. 

After picking up a few maps, we found our way to the Dirty War Memorial Museum.  The Dirty War refers to the military dictatorship in the late 1970's and early 1980's in which an estimated 8,000- 30,000 (depending on whom you ask) political enemies, often young students and intellectuals, "disappeared".  The museum is an old police station just off the main square in town; during the dirty war it was a concentration camp and torture chamber for the desaparacidos.  Now, it is filled with photos, scrapbooks, love letters, and descriptions of the disappeared donated by the families, many of whom still march weekly in memory.      

After a mere 6 hours in the city, Elisabeth and I decided we needed a bit of peace and quiet.  We jumped on a bus that took us to Alta Gracia, a small town about an hour outside the city.  Here we toured the childhood home of the revolutionist Che- motorcycles and all.

 The next day we found ourselves in a small German enclave town.  These small German towns are quite common throughout rural Argentina thanks to the large immigration after WWII.  Everyone spoke and wrote Spanish, but other than that, I felt as if I was in a small town in Germany. 

 Our main motivation for coming to this town? The 29th annual chocolate festival!  This popular local festival is second only to their Oktoberfest, which I can only imagine to be epic.

Quotes and Boats.

This quote is painted on the wall of one of the community centers I work at. I thought it was quite fitting to our work.

Cuando existe la voluntad

Hay mil recursos

Cuando no existe la voluntad

Hay mil escusos

(When there is the will

there are a thousand resources,

when there isn't the will

there are a thousand excuses)

Off to Northern Argentina for the weekend! 

Uruguay!

Beach? Check! Another passport stamp? Check! Ferry-Ride? Check!

Saturday some friends and I went off to Uruguay for the day.  A lovely ferry ride took us to the quiet, touristy Colonia.  I didn't realize how noisy Buenos Aires is until we escaped to this sleepy town. 

Here's the BA skyline from the Atlantic Ocean.  Ironically called the city of Clean Air, please observe the thick brown layer. YUM!

 

We wandered the streets, had a lovely, dulce-de-leche filled lunch, and played on the beach.

This tea shop was my favorite, but unfortunately too expensive to eat at. 

It was a pleasant, relaxing day.  Mom and all you Aunts would have absolutely loved it. I'm off to watch the Copa America futbol games with some friends.  Today's match: Brazil and Venezuela.