At any rate, a lot has happened this December and now it’s time to break it down into main points. This will not be a standard blow-by-blow of what has happened as I feel that is somewhat impossible at the moment. Rather, there are a few things from December that are noteworthy.
First up, I went back to Argentina for not one but two destinations in mind.
One of which was Puerto Iguazu which is really the gateway town to Iguazu Falls. The only notable thing we did there was go on a wildlife reserve tour of a bunch of birds that were endangered. It was cute but we were really there to see Iguazu Falls.
The park was magical. The entire time I was there all I heard was the rush of thousands of gallons of water at all times. Some wildlife too. We saw these crazy things called Coati that would come right up to people and eat their food if they happened to be snacking on something. They looked kind of like a raccoon and an anteater combined. It was cute. The falls themselves were pretty awesome as well. We took a tour that led us through the jungle in this insane jeep thing to a port by the river. We got in a boat from there and drove right up to one of the waterfalls there. Once we drove under it, we became completely drenched. There was so much water there. It was like, so much water that you couldn’t hear. You couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even see Alice sitting next to me. It’s like water was dominating all of my senses in that moment. And not in the “crap! I’m drowning!” way but in the laugh-out-loud “this is so ridiculous. I can’t believe this is happening” way.
The park itself consisted of many different elevated pathways that swerved in and out of the jungle as well as over the rivers and falls themselves. We ended up taking a relaxing raft tour down one of the rivers. Our “guide” (if you want to call him that) didn’t really talk at all. He even slowly drifted the boat to one side of the river and we were like “what is he doing?” because he wasn’t explaining anything. Then all of a sudden we realized that there was a sleeping alligator there. Crazy! Oh. There were also like, a million billion zillion butterflies there… approximately. In one area they were all hovering around and it was just insane. Iguazu Falls was a trip to remember and I’m thoroughly glad I got to get there. And hey, that 18 hour overnight bus ride was not that bad at all and totally worth it.
The next place I went to for a few days was Buenos Aires. I figured if I’m in South America I might as well check out one of the most famous cities there. We went and got steak the first night we were there and they brought a tiny stove to the table so that if our meat got cold, we could rest it there and heat it up. So awesome. We spent most of the time there walking around the streets. There was a lot to see simply doing that. For example, there are many street performers in BA that do tango right on the street. We saw a few of those. Also, on that Sunday we went to a market in San Telmo. They were selling antique versions of pretty much anything you could think of. One night we went out to a Brazilian dance club. It sounded more exciting than it actually was. Let me put it this way: Brazilian dancers are way more talented than me, so I think that club mainly catered to them. Lastly, they have these cake things in Argentina called alfajors that are delicious. And of course, my preference is definitely the Oreo flavored alfajor. It’s like eating two double stuffed Oreos at once except it’s bigger. So good.
While in Buenos Aires, we took a side trip to see this place called El Tigre. This town was about a half hour train ride away from the city but it ended up taking us about 2 hours to get there total from Lonely Planet’s “recommended route” that involves not going to the bus station, but taking a specific train in the city. It sucked. Don’t ever do that train. Just do the bus station. Sometimes lonely planet is just plain wrong. As for El Tigre, it was somewhat notable. What ended up happening is we took a boat to a neighborhood that was located in an area with a lot of rivers. So everyone that had a house also had a dock. This area would have been a lot cooler if it wasn’t COMPLETELY in infested with mosquitoes. I didn’t get bit that much but Alice got rocked. She was slapping herself so much she looked like Michael Jackson. So yeah… noteworthy, but that’s about as cool as it gets.
Back in BA, we visited the zoo they had in the city and it was incredible. Easily the best zoo in South America and maybe one of my favorite zoos of all time. There were a lot of animals (duh) but also a lot of animals NOT in cages running around with people. I’m not even kidding when I say that dozens of jackrabbits, ducks and wombats accompany you through the park as you gaze at other creatures. It’s the cutest thing ever. They also sell this generic pellet animal feed. About half of the animals in this zoo can be fed. Sometimes it’s by putting the pellets on a little slide that goes into their cage but most can be fed directly through the cage itself! Once again, great zoo. Loved it.
We also managed to tour some fancy art museums and old buildings in the city as well as check out their cemetery. At the cemetery, we saw the grave for Evita. And SPEAKING of Evita, we also toured the… I think it’s called the “Casa Rosada”? sure. It’s like Argentina’s White House except it’s Pink and it is where Evita lived. That was pretty sweet. They also had a Japanese garden but if you ask me, the one in La Serena, Chile is way better. ANY ways, my overall impression of Buenos Aires is thus: it’s an awesome city with a lot to offer but it’s the most Americanized part of South America I’ve seen thus far. I heard so much English there and honestly, I hated it. Speak frickin Spanish, people. On the flipside of this, when you would try to speak Spanish you got mixed results. For example, in Chile if you try to do this they’re at least like “oh you’re trying to speak our language. That’s cute. Ok well I’ll help you out and be patient”. However, in Buenos Aires it’s more like “What? Speak up. Use correct connotation. I have no concept of main ideas. Speak correct Spanish or I’m done with you”. I liked Buenos Aires a LOT, but I definitely don’t want to live there. Ever.
I’m not sure if my hatred of the English language is an early sign of reverse culture shock or not. They say one of the symptoms is that you hate your culture of origin upon returning from a long stay in a foreign country. I could see that. I could definitely see myself going back to the U.S.A. and being like “Jesus all these people are loud and obnoxious. Hasn’t anyone ever heard of a little common courtesy?”. But I guess that’s both the appeal and the downside to Americans. Our right to free speech has made us speak as much as possible.
Between Buenos Aires and Christmas, I tutored a guy named Sergio for four straight days of intensive 6 hour classes prepping him for his TOEFL test. It was a lot of hard work but he managed to get his desired score and that was an amazing feeling. Probably one of the best feelings I’ve had teaching. After the class, we ended up hanging out a lot and he’s become a new friend of mine here. He always takes me to these crazy places to get food. In fact, while I was tutoring him, he bought me lunch one day at Club Providencia. It was this ridiculous meal called the “Escalopa Kaiser”. This is (and believe me, it’s true) steak stuffed with ham and cheese… wait for it… FRIED. It looks like a giant hash brown but it’s filled with essentially an entire dinner. I also had it “A La Pobre” because my student recommended that I do that so I had that meal on top of caramelized onions, fried eggs and French fries. It was delicious but I don’t think I’ll ever eat it again because it’s essentially like eating 2 meals.
Christmas was very relaxed. Alice and I exchanged gifts in the morning and had a movie marathon of “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “A Christmas Story”, “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation”, “A Christmas Carol” and “Love Actually”. I think we also watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special at one point that day. We also had some people over for dinner. We made spaghetti with homemade sauce and homemade garlic bread. They were both pretty big hits. We had Lemon pie for dessert. I can’t wait to go home and cook for my family/friends. Cooking has been a big part of my life this year and I’m ready to take it home.
New Year’s Eve, Alice and I went to Valparaiso. We had heard it was supposed to be “the best place in the world” for this specific holiday so we decided to give it a shot. Sure enough, it was. Although before celebrating, we took a bus to Vina Del Mar and hung out on the beach. I think this is the only time in my life I can say that I was sunbathing on New Year’s Eve. After about an hour or so of that, we hopped on a bus back to Valparaiso. Thousands of people were flooding the streets at night. We met up with some friends for the countdown. Once the clock hit midnight we were all instantly drenched in confetti, champagne and silly string from all directions. Suddenly, fireworks shot FROM THE WATER into the sky. We were luckily situated on the hill far from the rioting madness of downtown Valparaiso. This also meant that we had a spectacular view of this outstanding display of fireworks. Not only that, but if you looked down the shore, the other 8 or 9 towns you could see from our view point were ALSO doing this same thing. I have never experienced anything in my life quite like seeing 8 or 9 different fireworks displays happening at the same time all down the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Valparaiso is TRULY the best place to be in the world on New Year’s Eve.
Oh. also worth mentioning: it was a full moon. a full moon on New Year's Eve only happens once every 19 years. :)
The aftermath of the countdown was not that exciting. We would have stayed out and went clubbing (which we heard was essentially a shitshow) but we were tired and not dressed for the surprisingly cold weather. Our hostel was weird. We ended up sharing the room with a baby and her mother for a while (I’m not kidding). They eventually explained that the baby belonged to one of the owners of the hostel and there was nowhere else to put it, but it was still weird. And yes, of course, I got sunburned.
And that about covers December! If you want a preview of the next entry, let me just say that I’m writing this on a bus in Patagonia. Expect a similar “main ideas” entry in the next few weeks before I come back to the states. It will be my last blog entry in Chile as I come back to the U.S.A. on January 29th (cue tiny violin). Until then… chau!
