Argentina

FRIDAY
Unfortunately we did not make it out of bed until later in the day, but we managed to get some shopping and sight seeing in. Buenos Aires is really beautiful!! All of the buildings are really old, a lot of baroque (sp?) facades, lots of parks, and lots of shopping to do. Since the minute we crossed the border the three of us have been giggling non stop at the Argentine accent, it´s all ashhhjjja, la cashhjee. So who would have thought that we´d have gotten so used to Chilean spanish that a supposedly easy spanish is hard to understand, I don´t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Everybody everywhere all the time here is drinking mate out of their gourds, passing it around, looking all cool. So we bought mate cups and have been trying to fit in.
In the evening, we met up with William´s family friend Joe who has been living in Buenos Aires, and he was sharing some hilarious stories and sharing his impressions of what its like to live in BA. He took us to a very posh club called Crobar, where they served tapas, and there was this awesome soul band with the hottest pregnant lady we´ve ever seen. Of course we got invited up on stage and danced with her, and it was really fun.

SATURDAY
Despite the fact that none of us felt very good in the morning, we were determined to make the most of our day. And let me tell you, there is nothing that makes you feel better like getting your picture taken while riding a miniature horse.. We couldnt help ourselves. Then we went to the zoo, which was pretty big and in downtown BA. My favorie animals were the sealions. But the whole time we were so jealous of all the animals because they all got pools of water to lay in and we were so hot. After the zoo, we walked over to a big park and rented rollerblades! While blading around the park, we saw tons of people doing every sport or activity you could think of. The park had a big lagoon in the middle, and after our rollerblading session we sorta swam in the fountains. Then we went back and took a nap. I was hungry, so I walked around Avenida Florida, and was desperate so I hopped in to Burger King. And... they had a veggie burger on wheat bread!!!??? What?? Do they have that in the US right now? I was super surprised and happy. Then we walked to the port/ waterfront area where there are lots of restaurants. After much searching we found Siga La Vaca, the all you can eat meat fest, But they actually had a great salad bar so I was happy.

3 days in Buenos Aires was not nearly enough, but we had an incredibly fun time while we were there. The biggest differences were- the accent, BA is much more humid than Santiago and there are more mosquitos, the food is much better in BA because they have chimichurri sauce everywhere, in Argentina they use the vos form instead of usted, santiago´s metro is much nicer and more modern, and I forgot what other differences I thought of.

SUNDAY
We arrived at the airport early, and continuing with the theme of our journey, William´s ticket was apparently not in the system. Of course. So we argued for a while with the people, and by the way this spring break trip has improved my spanish 100% because of all the companies Ive had to haggle with to get us where we are supposed to be.. But we finally got on the plane and 3 hours later arrived in El Calafate which is in Argentine Patagonia. It is a very remove town with no tall buildings on the edge of lago Argentina which is a turquoise, carribbean looking lake bordered by mountains. Patagonia could be the windiest place on earth. We tried to get bus tickets to get to Chile asap, but of course they were sold out, so we spent the night in Calafate. I had a great veggie burger at a cafe called Borges and Alvarez, then we embarked on our calbalgata (horse back riding). We rode alongside the lake where surprisingly there were pink flamingos, up the hills which are brown grass, and then the purple mountains in the background as well as snow covered mountains where you could tell it was storming. It was seriously windy!! We also saw a lechuza (horned owl). Im not sure what I imagined patagonia to look like, but it was acutally really warm and we were in shorts and tshirts (except the wind is cold).
Our guide was an authentic Argentine Gaucho (cowboy), with a serious machista attitude, he was ragging on another vegetarian at the table, making her squeeze his muscles that could only be from eating meat, telling us how he drinks cows blood for iron, how all europeans are incredibly closed minded but Americans are the worst (while we´re sitting at the table), how he would never ever travel to Europe because he would never pay 50 euros for meat, how the gauchos´s diet is 80% meat, etc... I just sat there because I didn´t want to feel his carnivorous rant either.
We watched the Oscars dubbed over in Spanish, which was... not as good as the Oscars in English. But I thought Sandra Bullock looked beautiful, then my loves Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem looked great as well. Now I need to watch The Hurt Locker. Mommy I very much missed watching the oscars with you. It was one of those few moments where I really wish I was home!

MONDAY
I had the morning to my self in Calafate while the other 2 went on to Chile early, so I ate lunch, did a little bit of souvenier shopping, then caught the bus back to Chile!! Woohoo! The drive was beautiful.

TUESDAY
Today we prepared for our Patagonian adventure. There was a lot of stuff to prepare for!! We went to an info session where a very experienced guide took us through the whole thing, basically he said we are going to be wet for 5 days, all 4 seasons of the year happen in one day in the park, and some of us in the room wont make it back alive... hmm.. It sounds intense but totally doable. I am a little scared but more excited. Today we rented all our gear, bought all our food, and are preparing to head out to mother earth!!!!! Cant wait to post my pictures when I get back to Santiago!! Google images of Torres Del Paine parque nacional.
This whole journey has been quite an adventure, at times it seemed like it would be impossible to make it down to patagonia because of the earthquake and everything, but we kept perserviering, and finally have made it down to the end of the earth!! And seriously it is very warm!! (there is a giant hole in the ozone layer right above us by the way)