Termina la joda. Time to be serious again. That's fun haha. Now, a little about my latest thrilling stories...
Saturday, November 6th
This was a jam-packed day! My parents' flight was due to arrive in Buenos Aires at 6 am. Me being the wonderful daughter that I am decided to surprise them at the airport because a) I hadn't seen them in 5 months and b) I knew that they would not have a clue where to go, who to look for, or how to communicate with people haha. I really wish I had taken out my camera to capture the moment when I first saw them walk through those good old sliding doors in Ezeiza because it was funny stuff. They looked so LOST, but good thing they had a wonderful tour guide to help them out!
We took our ride back to our hotel in the city from the airport. We stayed in a hotel with pretty good location, close to everything. We went and ate right away because we were all hungry, and it was here how fast my parents were able to get accustomed to the little things in BA, like to only eat pizza with a fork and knife, or the fact that iced tea is a rare commodity, and free refills are virtually nonexistent. We then took a nice little walk (in fact it was a very long walk, but we had beautiful weather so it was nice) to visit the cemetery in Recoleta. We also did some window shopping along the way. Went back to the hotel, checked in, took a little napski, and then went on a city tour. It was here that it really hit me how much I have seen over the past 5 months and how well I have come to know the wonderful city of Buenos Aires. Let's just say that if I had a car we could have done the tour without the guide because everything he kept mentioning and every place we passed and went through, ya lo conocí! My parents thought it was funny, and I was extremely proud of myself for taking advantage of all of the wonderful places and things to see in Buenos Aires during my stay. A special thank you to all of those who helped introduce me to new places!
For dinner we went to La Brigada. Translation - best dinner ever. I'm not much of a carne person so naturally I ordered grilled chicken (which was bomb by the way), but my Dad had the "best steak of his life" this night. Well done Argentina. I'm not surprised :-) After dinner, we then walked to Café Tortoni to see my wonderful tango professor perform! The show was fantastic as usual (this was my second time!), and I even got a chance to show off my dance moves on stage :-)
Sunday, November 7th
This day consisted of a lot of walking. That was our theme in Buenos Aires. Rather that IS the theme in Buenos Aires. We slept in (well, a little) and had breakfast at the hotel. Another lesson that the padres learned: breakfast is not the same in South America haha. We first went and visited Starbucks (¿cómo no?), and then hopped on the subte. We went to my favorite barrio of Belgrano (the residential part of the city where my home has been the past 5 months!). We walked to my apartment so I could show my parents where I've been living since June. Then we took my typical walk to school that I had taken oh so many times. We arrived at UB and had a lovely photo shoot because I SOMEHOW went 5 months without taking a single picture of the outside of my school!!! Then we went to my favorite Perte (an ice cream place) and shared a delicious treat because today was SO HOT, without a doubt the hottest day Buenos Aires had experienced in 5 months. Hopped back on the subte and went to La Feria in San Telmo. We did a lot of shopping (my parents thought it was funny to have me bargain for everything in Spanish), picture taking, and even ran into a couple of my friends! I made my parents try some empanadas for lunch as well :-) After La Feria, we ended up in Plaza de Mayo (one of my favorite spots), and ended up walking a bit on Calle Florida (another main shopping avenue) to do some more last minute souvenir shopping for a few people (not like I had 5 months to do this or anything).
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| Reason # 234871349 why I love Argentina |
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| My school for the past 5 months :) |
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| La Feria en San Telmo |
Later this night, the three of us had dinner with Ivonne (my wonderful host Mom the past 5 months!). You don't get the full experience of public transportation in BA unless you take a colectivo (the bus) so that is just what we did to arrive haha. I really enjoyed this night because not only did my parents get to see my room, where I had been living, and taste the wonderful food I've been eating, but they had the opportunity to meet Ivonne, who so graciously opened the doors to her apartment and made me feel at home since day one. Christina (my wonderful roomie) and her Dad also joined us for dinner as well! We ate a GREAT meal, drank some wine, shared some good memories, and before I knew it, it was time to finish packing (yes, most of my stuff was still there) and say my goodbyes. It was hard to say goodbye to Christina, and even harder with Ivonne. However, I have every intention of seeing both of them again in the future!!!
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| the roomie and I!! |
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| US padres meet Argentine madre :) |
Monday, November 8th
Woke up early, hopped on Buquebus, and took a short ride to Colonia, Uruguay for the day. Despite the 85 degree and sunny weather the day before, unfortunately it was about 50 degrees, rainy, and windy this day. Thus, not very conducive to touring around the town for the day. We had a tour and ate lunch when the rain really started to come down. Not feeling up to exploring in the rain, we decided to get massages (good decision). By then it was time to head back to BA. Oh and this is where it gets interesting, but how could it not be interesting? After all, South America is full of surprises. You should all know that by now.
I had heard on Friday that Aeroparque (the airport in Buenos Aires used for all of the domestic flights) was closed due to a strike or some nonsense that usually goes on there. This was not the first time AEP was closed during my stay down here. As a consequence, all flights scheduled to leave from Aeroparque now had to go out of EZE. Translation: HUGE MESS. The company we were scheduled to fly with tomorrow (Tuesday, the 9th) to Iguazú was Aerolineas Argentinas. You should know something about flying within Argentina. There are 3 and ONLY 3 companies that fly domestic flights in Argentina: Aerolineas, LAN, and Austral. Furthermore, Austral is owned by Aerolineas, which means that in essence there are only 2 companies that fly. Another translation: very FEW options when booking a flight. I forget who I asked about this, but this is because the government plays such a large role in flying business. Because I am now aware of the (very different) way things operate in Argentina, and South America for that matter, we were constantly checking in to see the status of our flight (because most domestic flights during this time were being canceled). Lo and behold, because nothing is ever easy, our 6 am flight to Iguazú was canceled. We find this out around 5 pm, which gave us a load of time (NOT) to figure things out. Perfect. Immediately, I take my parents to the ISA office, simply because they are wonderful and know everything!!! Actually, it wasn't immediately. It was after we sat in a taxi in traffic for about 45 minutes, and I got in a heated argument with the cab driver because he was taking the long way.
So we arrive at ISA, about 15 minutes before they were due to close, and luckily because Guille is the man, he decided to stay an extra hour to help us figure things out. Thank you again Guille for everything!!!!!! Our local travel agent wasn't much help so we spent time emailing and trying to communicate with people here (in the US) while Guille was working his magic calling airline after airline. Our travel agent had re-booked us on a 6 pm flight which meant that we would not be seeing the falls. This was not okay with me whatsoever considering the falls were the ONE THING that I wanted my parents to see in South America. After all of these shenanigans and going through all of our possible options, we finally accepted our fate in that our flight was canceled and that there was a high probability that we would miss the falls completely.
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| Daddy chillin in Uruguay |
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| Guillermo and I - what would I do without this man!! |
Interesting morning to say the least. Stress levels were already high, and we had not gotten much sleep the night before. Our transfer to the airport was due to pick us up at 7 am from our hotel because it is an hour ride to the airport and we were going to try and get on a 10 am flight to Iguazú. You can't even imagine all of the things that I had accumulated to bring home after 5 months, and even with my parents packing light, we still were travelling with a ton of stuff. With this being said, you'd think our transfer to the airport would have planned accordingly. Ha no. The first car came on time (surprising actually), but quickly left because we couldn't fit everything in the car. We were told a larger car would arrive in about 5 minutes. We were not very pleased because the later we get to the airport, the less chance we have of getting on this flight. Car #2 comes, and what do you know, it's the same exact car. This is when Kathy loses her temper. Now that I think back on it, the hotel guys probably thought this situation was really funny because it was. Not only was I complaining to them about our entire situation, mainly the incompetency of this car company doing the transfer, but the IDIOT cab driver was trying to tell me to cool it. No thank you, sir, because the fate of whether our trip ultimately turns out as good or bad is riding on this dumb flight that you are going to make us miss. He also then tried telling us to pay for a cab to take to the airport even though we had already paid and arranged for this transfer. I insult his car-packing ability (truthfully it wasn't very good at all), he yells back by saying it's not his fault, I respond by saying no it's your stupid company that sent us the same car twice (how hard is it to do your job?), my parents try to chime in in English (even though no one understood any English at all), the driver responds by telling me not to get mad at him and that I don't understand what he's saying to me, and then I decided it was time to whip out my not-so-nice Spanish vocabulary that would normally be used as a joke around my friends because he went and insulted my comprehension ability. Oh yes, we (rather I) caused quite the scene in our hotel lobby at 7 in the morning, and I'm pretty sure the hotel guys were happy to be rid of us. In hindsight, this little incident was actually really good practice for my Spanish. It was like Bolivian airport mess round 2 haha. Nonetheless, it could have all been avoided if people could just do things right the first time around.
After a few more nasty tid bits (it's actually a good thing my parents had no idea what I was saying to this guy), I convinced him to repack the car, and oh look we got everything to fit. So a half hour later we were finally on our way to the airport. Talk about having a pink elephant in the car. I felt super awkward because I was sitting in the front seat right next to this guy after spending the past 20 minutes arguing with him. And even better, he spent the first 5 minutes of the ride talking about the 3 of us on his phone and that he was mad that we got so angry over the whole thing. He hung up the phone, and I said excuse me sir, do you know that I just understood every word you just said? Instead of going off like I did before, I nicely explained our situation (how we only had one day at the falls, put a ton of money into this whole trip, and were very upset over this potential loss) and why I reacted the way I did. He responded by telling me that he had not slept the previous night because he was having nightmares of yesterday when he got held up at gun point in his car (they kicked him and his passengers out) on the way to the same airport we were going to. At this point I was thinking, wow this is the best morning I've ever had.
We walk into the airport, and I don't think I've ever seen a bigger mess. There were about 300 people waiting in line to check in. Lovely. We meet our travel agent right away, and he explains the situation. Now we play the waiting game. By some God given miracle (it really was a work of God!!) George (our travel agent) snuck us on the 10 am flight that we were hoping for!!!!!!! Todo bien!!!!!! All of that worrying for nothing.
The first of many flights for me, and the absolute LAST with Aerolineas Argentinas. Gracias a Dios. We arrive in Iguazú and immediately head to the falls. We hit up the Argentine side first (Devil's Throat & the upper circuit), and by hit up I mean we were so rushed for time that we were practically running through everything. Nonetheless we were having an AWESOME time, and got absolutely soaked. It was also pouring raining the entire time too, but no importa :-). Below are some pictures from the Argentine side of the falls.
We hopped back into the car and went straight to the Brazilian side!! Crossed the border, got another stamp on the passport of course, and then we hit up the Brazilian side of the falls!! I really REALLY love the Argentine side, so you can imagine how cool the Brazilian side is when I tell you I don't know which side I enjoy better because they are both AWESOME!!!!!! Here are some pictures from the other side. The first is the view right outside of our hotel, Das Cataratas (one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in)! Also, check out my parents trying to copy my pose :-)
Wednesday, November 10th
We woke up feeling great about fortunately being able to see the falls the previous day, and were ready to move onto our next destination: Rio de Janeiro! This good feeling quickly vanished because 1) I could not remember where I had put roughly $200 in Argentine pesos and thought that our driver had stolen it the day before while our stuff was in the car and 2) I thought I lost my wallet that was only holding every important card that I've ever owned in my life in it. Yes, another good start to the morning. I had gone 5 months without losing anything (that's a lie; I lost my favorite chapstick at Lost one night haha), so I was very upset with myself over this. We arrived in the airport and soon boarded the plane. I had tried to search through my stuff to find everything important to me and I could not find any of it.
A short flight later we arrived in Rio! The weather was absolutely beautiful when we stepped outside! We drove to our hotel in CopaCabana, meanwhile our tour guide spent about 15 minutes scaring the crap out of us with security precautions to take during our stay here. We also drove by the many favelas (slums) that make their home in Rio. We make it to our hotel, check in, and I immediately search frantically through my stuff to find my wallet. Turns out, it was hiding from me in the bottom of my backpack so I was quite relieved when I found it.
It was beautiful outside so we walked across the street to Copacabana beach and relaxed for a few hours in the sand. It wasn't too hot out so we didn't go in the water, but the beach was absolutely beautiful! Later this night (after I found the $200 I forgot I had hidden in the pocket of a pair of jeans haha smooth Kath) we went to a Brazilian steakhouse (it was really good! And yes they did the whole thing where they come around with the meat and slice it off for you), and then we journeyed to go see a samba show. The show was awesome! It consisted of dancers (all of whom wore thongs...? haha), great music, drum playing, acrobatic muscular Brazilian men doing crazy flips, and some really good costumes.
Pictures from this day below! :-)
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| At the Copa, Copacabana... |
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| samba show! |
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| these guys were incredible! |
Today we took a tour of Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer. For those of you not familiar with Rio, Sugarloaf is one of the mountains you can go up on via cable car and you get a spectacular view of the city from the top. Weather wasn't great, but we were still able to see everything. It was awesome!
After Sugarloaf, we went and ate lunch in a restaurant when I spotted the acrobatic guys from the samba show we had seen the night before. I went outside to get a few pictures when they wanted to use me as a volunteer. Haha cool? So I volunteered to be a part of one of their tricks (they were doing all of this in the middle of the street by the way...nbd). So I'm standing there, and the guy tells me not to move. One guy is standing behind me holding a water bottle (about a quarter of the way full) over my head. This is all happening while our entire group is watching through the window inside of our restaurant. The guy standing in front of me does a 360 in the air and then a back kick over my head, as the water bottle the guy behind me was holding flies down the street about the length of a football field. I was a little scared so naturally I shut my eyes and said a quick prayer while all of this was happening haha, but it was the coolest thing when I opened my eyes and saw the water bottle flying away down the street. Here's a picture of me and these cool fellas below :-) The guy standing on the right of me (yes he is the same height as me, and I have no idea how he got his leg about 2 feet over my head) is the guy that did the trick. Cool stuff right? This is what they do in the streets of South America.
After lunch we went to Corcovado aka Christ the Redeemer. It started to rain and it was really foggy, so in turn we could barely see it when we got all the way up to the top (this is on top of a mountain, and you take a train up to get to it). But nonetheless, we were there and got to see it!!
Friday, November 12th
Today was supposed to be our beach day, but again the weather wasn't great. We took a taxi to Ipanema Beach (another famous beach of Rio, right next to Copacabana). It was about a 5 minute ride from our hotel. It was very interesting trying to communicate with people in Rio (because they speak Portuguese). They had absolutely no problem understanding me speaking Spanish, but when they responded to me I often did not understand. It was very frustrating, and to be honest I think I would have enjoyed Brazil more if I could FULLY communicate with people.
Anyway, we went to Ipanema, drank coconuts on the beach, and watched some volleyballers have intense lessons. I should have showed them what's up. We then took a walk into the city where we stumbled upon this...
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| view from our hotel! |
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| Ipanema Beach! |
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| sippin on a.... coconut..? |
Saturday, November 13th
Another early morning flight and we had made it to Perú!! This time we flew first class, and I felt like a celebrity. I still think it's funny that they close the curtains so that no one can see that we get unlimited drinks as soon as we step foot on the plane, as well as a 3 course breakfast along with a movie to pass the time. Not too shabby!
We arrived in Lima (the capital) and went to our hotel. We were staying in Miraflores, which is one of the nicer barrios of the city. I knew nothing of Lima coming in, except that I was told there was nothing there and that it was pretty ugly haha. Well, to be honest there really isn't anything there, but the part of the city we stayed was actually pretty nice. Lima is located right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, so there were plenty of great views!
We got to know the city a little better by taking a city tour (surprise, surprise). Interesting fact: Lima does not have a subway. Instead they have this bus that runs on the main highway. There is a separate lane in the middle of this highway with occasional stations where they make the stops. Weird right? We saw the business district of Lima, government buildings and the main square, and we also stopped at a famous cathedral where Lima tries to imitate La Alhambra of Spain, but doesn't even come close haha. It was still cool though. Here's some pics!
Sunday, November 14th
Another early morning flight, this time to Cusco, Perú! The town that sits oh so high above sea level (almost twice the altitude of Denver!). To conquer any potential altitude problems we drank some coca tea (tea made from the cocaine leaf - the LEAF and not the drug haha) because it supposedly helps with altitude sickness. Well, it was gross, but I guess it did the trick because we didn't have any problems.
First we drove to see the Pisac Ruins. My first taste of ruins... ever actually. They were pretty cool. Then we shopped in the famous Pisac market. Take a look below...
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| typical :) |
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| Pisac ruins!! |
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| me and my stuffed llama :) |
Then we drove to another town nearby (the name eludes me as we speak) and we had a wonderful lunch at one of the hotels there. It was absolutely beautiful and the surrounding scenery was even more hermosa.
Our next stop were the Ollantaytambo Ruins. We climbed them (it was pretty big and steep), and this gave us a little pregame for Machu Picchu! Dad was a little scared and had to have Flo (his new Peruvian lady acquaintance) hold his hand on the way down, as Mom and I got a kick out of it. We then made it to our hotel, and it was absolutely beautiful!!!
Machu Picchu!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had been waiting for this day since about May! Well, to no surprise we woke up at the crack of dawn, again. By now we had been quite used to waking up at 4 in the morning and going to bed at 7 haha. We took the train into Machu Picchu (the town), hopped on a bus, took a sketchy ride up the mountain with no guard rails (this did not affect me after my experience crossing the border in Chile, but my parents were not a fan of this ride), and we were finally standing at the gates of the park entrance!
We have a guided tour and learn a ton about the history of the whole place. It was absolutely HUGE. And incredible. And unlike anything I've ever seen before. Super cool!!! We explore basically through the entire thing, and what do you know there are llamas on the Machu Picchu. There would be llamas here.
After lunch, we went back into the park and sat on a bench under a little hut that overlooked the entire Machu Picchu. So I'm sitting there just staring at this wonderful place when I spot a familiar walk, and sure enough it was the one friend I didn't get to see earlier! Qué suerte! I was so happy!!! :-)
Tuesday, November 16th
Day 2 at Machu Picchu because I didn't get enough the first time!! I took this trip solo because the padres weren't feeling up to it. I decided I would be adventurous and hike up a mountain because I could. The mountain that I hiked is called Wayna Picchu and it overlooks the entirety of Machu Picchu. I used my wonderful Spanish persuading abilities slash my good looks to convince the guy at the gate to let me hike up this trail (apparently, as he told me, people get in line at 5:30 am to sign up for this trail because they only allow 400 people up it per day). So I went, without any water (this was a dumb move) and hiked up this trail. Holy hannah was this thing intense! It took me a good hour to get to the top, and I didn't even go to the tip top. I was expecting a zig-zag type pattern up to the top, but what I got was a straight upward hike. Fun!!!! Anyway, despite my struggles (haha) the view from the top was vale la pena times 10. It was incredible!!!!
Wednesday, November 17th
We spent Tuesday night in Cusco, so we woke up early this morning and journeyed to the famous Cusco market to do some more shopping. We spent most of our time bargaining with this one lady (I actually did all of the bargaining.... I'm actually pretty good at it now haha), and bought some really cool stuff to take home. Also took a trip to the main square (if I remember correctly it's called Plaza de Armas?). Cusco is a pretty cool city, and I did not picture it to be as big as it was! We then took a flight back to Lima. Homestretch!!!!
Thursday, November 18th
Last full day in South America. This is so upsetting!!!!!!!! We took a nice walk around town and eventually made it to this really nice mall that sits right on the coast and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. It was super cool, and had a great view of everything. We walked around, had lunch at Chili's (I had gone so long without eating American food that I caved right before going home haha), and were soon on our way back to our hotel. Packed up our stuff, and were soon on our way to the airport for a 12 am flight. Yes! We went through all of the security in the airport (this time was a little more intense than the laughable measures they usually take down there) and waited by our gate. We thought the security was over. Wrong. They hand searched everyone's carry on before getting on the plane. This took an hour to complete. Talk about being a little over the top. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry...
HOME SWEET HOME!!!! Long day of traveling, but we finally made it. El fin! A wonderful 5 months spent on a wonderful continent, and I am more than excited to start planning my return! :-)
One last time, I would like to say thank you to all of those who helped me during my stay in Argentina. It was truly an adventure from start to finish, and it is hands down the coolest thing I've ever done en mi vida. Incredible falls short at beginning to describe everything, and I really wish that everyone had the opportunity to do and see all of the fantastic things that I've done since the end of June. I have so many fond memories and wonderful friends all over the country that I hope to stay in touch with! And don't worry Argentina, te visito muy pronto :-)
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