Trekking & Horseback Riding

 

(1)Our fearless trekking guide, (2) After hiking up the cliff with ski poles (3) me and Gillian in our ridiculous hats provided courtesy of Uspallata hostel

 

 

 

Sunday I discovered I was outdoorsy. We set out at 9:30 for trekking, which I thought was more or less hiking. Um, not exactly. Our tour guide, who spoke no English, kept insisting that we bring ski poles, which I thought was ridiculous and would be a nuisance. I finally gave in—thank goodness! We literally just climbed up a vertical wall. That MAY be somewhat of an exaggeration, but there were definitely points where the tour guides locked arms as a safety net between us and tumbling down the mountain. If it were in the U.S., we’d have had to sign multiple waivers. It had the most amazing views, was a ton of fun…can not say enough good things about trekking in Uspallata in March. Also, we roamed around in a cave for a while, which was pretty cool.

This was followed by horseback riding through the most beautiful landscapes. I will provide a warning: this trip is not for those with a fear of heights. There were moments when I was thinking if this horse missteps, the both of us are going tumbling down this ridge. Luckily, horses are not as clumsy as humans such as me. I also felt pretty rebellious as I kicked off the stirrups 5 minutes in since they were uncomfortable. Pretty much a gaucho at this point.

I now understand the phrase stubborn as a mule. It kept wanting to run off on its own. Best. Trip. Ever. Everything for $130 US dollars might I add (bus tour, food, hostel, trekking, horseback riding, ride home, etc.)

Uspallata and Beyond! Day 1…

 

Above: Me and Gillian on Calle Aristedes drinking a bottle of Malbec red wine.

One of the best weekends of my life…perhaps I’m more outdoorsy than I thought.

Thursday and Friday of last week I was trying to coordinate a trip for me and my friend Gillian since it was our last weekend before our schedules really go into full swing. It was a little difficult since Thursday and Friday were national holidays, but I finally received confirmation via cellular that we would be picked up at 8:00 on Saturday morning for an excursion to Uspallata.

I must say I had a very nice date night with Gillian on Friday—neither one of us had really gone out to a restaurant for a nice dinner yet so we decided to splurge. We went to a restaurant on Aristedes, which is the popular street to go out on, and sat outside drinking the recommended Malbec wine and sharing empanadas de humita. Gillian taught me that humita is corn ground up before it is mature and mixed with peppers, milk, butter, cheese and tomatoes to name a few ingredients. A lovely night if I do say so myself.

USPALLATA PASS: Route that heads west and takes you straight to the mountains. Only route between Chile and Argentina for miles.

Saturday was the less interesting of the two days as we were on the bus touring the countryside for most of it, and although the views were absolutely breathtaking, both Gillian and I are more adventurous than that. But it was good to check that off our list.

Photos from the trip: CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL ALBUM (not below)

		Uspallata-Day 1 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Some of the spectacular sites:

Potrerillos Dam: manmade lake for rafting, paragliding, hiking, sailing, etc.

 

 

Tambos: Resting places of Incans

 

 

 

Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer): statue representing a peace treaty between Chile and Argentina in 1904. About as close as you can get to Chile without going there…the altitude was so high that my ears were throbbing.

 

 

 

El Puente de Las Incas: bridge formed by geological changes over time; legend has it that an Incan prince bathed in it to cure his paralysis and that the color of the bridge comes from the Incans who were sacrificed to carry him across when there was no bridge. Morbid, no?

 

 

Cerro Aconcagua: the highest mountain in the Americas and in the southern hemisphere

 

 

 

 

I will post about my other weekend adventures later. However, to wrap up, I will say we were stalked by our bus photographer all day Saturday, who was lunging to take National Geographic shots of tourists in the Andes landscape—nothing short of hilarious. Also, I had my first milanesa for lunch. Milanese is more or less breaded meat, usually beef. I had a milanesa napolitana—more or less veal parmesan. Our meal on Saturday was a buffet so I didn’t have a portion nearly as big as the photo below or fries, but this would probably be a normal portion in Argentina. In addition to the milanesa, we had garlic with cold eggplant, which was surprisingly delicious!

Taco Tabasco!

I’m actually spending too much time online these days, but it’s hard for me not to as I’m waiting to hear back on apartments. Things seem to move at snail pace in that regard—or rather I’m being Type A, but I’m only supposed to be at my current place until next Wednesday so we’ll see how that goes…my first lesson on “letting go.”

The difficulties finding housing here:

1. Temporary housing is not common. People rent apartments here at the minimum of one year, usually two, so there are a limited number of options.

2. Being a foreigner, people are aware of our lack of connections and that we can afford to pay more many times. So many times you get overcharged.

3. Apartments are not on par with those in the U.S.

4. Argentines are not married to their jobs or computers as most Americans are.

So last night, determined not to check my email anymore and be disappointed the perfect apartment wasn’t waiting in inbox (I’m being so American right here), I went out to Aristedes to get some real food. I’ve been mostly eating yogurt and fruit I bought from the supermarket during the day, and then eating a real meal for dinner.

My friend Gillian recommended a place called Taco Tabasco, so I sat down and ordered and low and behold, two of my students are sitting with two Americans next to me. I went back and forth in my head as to whether it would be fine to eat with them, and I decided upon yes as I’m not a big fan of eating alone and it’s hard enough to meet people in a new city.

I’m really glad I did because I ended up meeting a ton of new, interesting people. One guy told me his life story (I love life stories!) which was absolutely fascinating.

His mom is a chef and his family moved from Mendoza to Ohio when he was 10 years old. He learned English and made friends in Ohio and then when he was 17, he moved back to Mendoza with his family. He said it was an extremely tough time because he now spoke Spanish with a heavy accent and had to leave all of his friends and his girlfriend in Ohio. ON TOP OF ALL THAT, his family was robbed of every cent of their livelihood. When they shipped their stuff from Ohio to Mendoza through a company, the company “lost” ALL of their things and the insurance company covering it went bankrupt and fled. From Mendoza, his family couldn’t do anything—especially without spending a ton of money, so they had to just go on with their lives, starting from zero.

The fantastic part is he said he’s glad it happened because it made him the person he is today and he made the best friends in the world because of it. He’s studying politics b/c he thinks it’s the best way for him to help people.

I also got to talk to one of my students who wants me to help her apply for a scholarship to study English at Baylor University next year after she finished her schooling in Mendoza.

GOD IS GOOD!

School starts…and then vacation again!

The school I teach at is the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, or UNC. Imagine that! I’m back at UNC!

I went to my first class on Tuesday, and I’m so excited to be teaching an English literature class. I’m a nerd at heart and love reading, so they wouldn’t really have to pay me to do this job as I would probably do it for free. Anyhow, I was also very impressed with the level of English all of my students spoke. They are all very eager to learn (at least it seems so as of the first day).

We also did an exercise in which the students shared their favorite books/movies/t.v. shows/food. There were several popular choices including Friends, Harry Potter, pizza, The Kiterunner (who would’ve thought?), and of course, they all love hanging out with friends, listening to music, etc.

An interesting concept about the public university system: it’s basically free! I’m not sure how Argentina has figured out how to provide inexpensive healthcare and college education, but they’ve done it. However, another interesting concept: you can go to the next level of your coursework without passing the previous one. For example, if I fail the 2nd year level English classes, I have until the middle of the following year to pass my exams. Someone who hasn’t passed everything is called a “libre,” or a free student and and student who has passed is called “regular.”

Finally, I have to share that after one day of classes, we have a vacation. Wednesday my teacher has to take a board exam and Thursday and Friday are national holidays. Monday we don’t have class, but alas! we start again on Tuesday—with a short story called “The Littoral Zone” by Angela Barrett.

Since we have this nice long vacation, my friend Gillian and I are planning a trip this weekend! I will post more later on that when I have photos.

Asado! Mate! Amigos!

Saturday morning I decided to try and get tan so I headed out to the lake at the lake. Of course I got a coffee on the way so I have indeed had a café con leche every single day I’ve been here. At the lake, they were having a wakeboarding competition sponsored by a local beer company so as my dad would say, that didn’t suck. haha. After a few hours in the sun and getting severely burnt, I thought it would be a good idea to visit the museum by the lake as a Canadian couple I met that day suggested. Possibly the worst museum I’ve ever been to, but it was a good escape from the heat and I learned about the animals and plants in the area. Also, in their defense, I think the museum has been vandalized several times so perhaps they stopped investing…

 

		Day at the Lake VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Best part of my trip so far was meeting up with a friend I met through a language exchange program named Paula. She picked me up around 6 and off we went to her house for a MATE!!! To quote Fodor’s, “mate is a strong tea made from dried leaves known as yerba. It’s drank from a gourd (called a mate) through a metal straw with a filter on the end called the bombilla. It serves as the basis of social interaction and people drink it at any of the day, passing it from person to person. It’s often extended to strangers as a welcoming gesture.” The Fulbright orientation shared with us that it’s extremely rude to turn down a mate invitation and to feel very welcomed if it’s offered.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic to try this tradition and I really did enjoy it (with a massive amount of sugar added might I add). I will take a photo next time…

THEN, not two hours later, I got to go to an asado! An asado is like an American family barbecue but a bigger deal. Every house in Argentina comes with a churresqueria, on which the asador, or grill master, burns a wood pile. Then after this has burned down a bit, the asador puts down a grill grate and cooks the meat on that. This takes a few hours. Finally, once the meat is ready, the asador takes a procession of meat plates to the table recommending meats and parts of the cow to each person’s taste. In my case, Miguel brought five plates of meat altogether. We also had french bread, salad (with oil and vinegar) and a potato and pea mixture. Absolutely divine, and I hope I’m invited to another soon!

Argentine asado

Finally, this dinner get-together was topped off by the fact that Paula’s dad is musically inclined and KNOWS JAMES TAYLOR!!! As well as several other American musicians. In addition to Paula’s mom, sister and dad, her parents had two friends over, and all of us were singing along as we could over delicious ice cream and café con leche. It was such entertainment to hear them sing American songs so well, even though not all of them knew English, and then to sorta make up lyrics when we all forgot. I will post the video of us all singing James Taylor when I get the video from Paula tomorrow.

Such a good time and such a good example of how inviting and family-oriented Argentines are. Oh and to put this in perspective, we started the asado at 11 p.m., which is a normal dinner time in Argentina, and I left around 4 a.m. Paula’s parents and their friends were still rocking out when I left…

Mendoza!!!

 

Here I am already slacking off on blogging and I’ve only been here four days. I arrived in Mendoza on Wednesday night and moved in with one of my professor’s ex-alumnus. Her name is Flor, short for Florencia, and she’s an private English tutor as well as a translator for government affairs. She’s pretty busy, but she took time one day to drive me around and show me some parts of Mendoza that are farther out….The apartment I’m living in now is the penthouse apartment in the center of the city, and I have a fairly large room. Most importantly, Flor has an adorable dog that resembles a mop named Pipa.

Classes start this Tuesday so I’ve just spent the last few days exploring the city, drinking café con leche (espresso with steamed milk) and meeting new people through my daily interactions. Thursday I walked through El Parque de General San Martin, which is twice as big as Central Park. The university I’m teaching at is located within the park—turned out to be quite the hike since the university is in the back corner of the park.

		Parque del General San Martin VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

FOOD

Thursday I took a waitress’ recommendation and ordered a steak sandwich---seriously the size of two sandwiches with every condiment possible: mayonnaise, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, fried egg…luckily they believe in to go boxes here (unlike many parts of Europe).

Friday I went grocery shopping. I didn’t really know what to buy so I ended up buying fruit, yogurt, beer and something similar to rice-a-roni. Not sure why but the yogurt is amazing here…pronounced SHOGURT.

Friday night I was feeling a little sad that I had to watch my tarheels play alone so I cheered myself up with pizza and beer. Again, I took the waiter’s recommendation and ordered El Campo, which turned out to be a pizza completely covered in ham and topped with arugula and chorizo. A bit salty for my taste but again, this city’s cuisine is a meat lover’s paradise.