Los últimos días en Córdoba

My last few days in Córdoba were spent hanging out with friends and doing all of my favorite things in the city, along with a another trip to Carlos Paz.  In Carlos Paz, we took a chairlift to the top of the Sierras and then rode on what is called an "Aerotren" which, translated directly, means "air train"(if that wasn't too obvious).  So it was basically just a little train that goes around the top of the mountain.  After that we took the chairlift down and then hiked up another side of the mountain.  Pretty great views all day long!

Jess and me at the top of the Sierras

In Carlos Paz with Fernando and Irupe

Aerotren

My last days at Banco de Alimentos- Córdoba were bittersweet.  Everyone was so nice there and it was such a great experience!  Here are some pictures of my last day at the banco....

Working hard

Ariel

Alejandro

I already miss everyone from Córdoba so much and I'm probably going back one weekend to visit before I go back to the United States!

Mendoza- Vino, Caballos, Montañas, y más vino!

I can without a doubt say that this trip has been my favorite part of Argentina so far!  Mendoza is a city at the foothills of the Andes mountains about 10 hours away from Córdoba by bus.  I went with my friends Jess (also from the U.S.) and Sabina (from Slovenia) and left Thursday night and arrived Friday morning.  Immediately after arriving, we met with a travel agent in our hostel and she was able to set us up with winery tours, a sunset horseback riding trip, and a bus tour of the Andes mountains for the weekend.  We started with the winery tour on Friday because we only had a half day.  We first went to Bodega López, which is one of the larger, more famous vineyards in Mendoza.  Next we went to an olive oil factory and then on a tour of a smaller bodega called Don Arturo.  Our tour guide told us that Mendoza has so many wineries that if you wanted to see every single one of them you would have to go to 3-4 of them per day for a YEAR.  Isn't that insane?!!  I guess I better stay in Argentina for a while longer in order to hit all of them!  Good wine is also extremely cheap here so I had to buy a couple of bottles to bring back with me :)

The next day we walked around the city a little bit and climbed to the top of Cerro de la Gloria, where we were able to see some beautiful views of the city as well as the Andes mountains.  It took us about a million years to walk there but we finally made it!

Cerro de la Gloria

Later that day we went on the Sunset horseback riding tour.  Definitely one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life!  It was only my second time riding a horse but the horses were all pretty tranquil so we didn't have any problems.  It is kind of hilarious to think that we rode horses in the foothills of the Andes mountains and then galloped off into the sunset at the end.  Kind of like something you would see in the movies, right?!  We were joking that we should try and sell this photo to Mendoza tourism because it looks so unreal...

Our cowboy!

Horseback riding was then followed by an Asado (barbecue).  It was so delicious!  We spent the night talking to people from all around the world who were on the tour with us and drinking free wine.  Definitely the best day in the Argentina so far!

The next day we took a bus tour of the Andes mountains from 7 AM to 8 PM!  It was quite the day but we were able to see Potrerillos (a large dam forming a lake in the mountains), Uspallata (a small town in the Andes between Mendoza and Santiago de Chile), Penitentes (a famous ski resort), Aconcagua (the HIGHEST PEAK in the America's), and el Puente del Inca (a natural arch that forms a bridge over the Vacas river).  Also, no one told us that we were going to be outside for so long/we did not realize we would be out in the snow so we were not dressed very warm.  Good thing I have Wisconsin blood in me or I would not have made it! (it also helped that we rented boots hahaha)

Panorama of the Andes!

At Penitentes with our new friends from Belgium

Parque Provincial de Aconcagua

Puente del Inca

Mendoza is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to and we didn't have enough time to do everything that the city has to offer.  I guess that gives me an excuse to go back someday!

La vida en Córdoba

I'm just going to give you all a quick update of my life in Córdoba!  So basically my life here consists of working at Banco de Alimentos from about 10-4 every Monday-Friday and then spending time with my friends at night.  Usually we get together to eat dinner, to explore the city, or just to hang out.  Here are some pictures of me from the time we went to Parque Sarmiento- the largest park in Córdoba...

One weekend, me, Carlos (from Colombia), Stefano (from Italy), and Gonzalo (from Argentina) took a day trip to Carlos Paz- a town about an hour outside of Córdoba.  Apparently a lot of famous people have homes there and the town is packed in the summer, but during the winter there is not too much to do.  We just took a walk around the lake, ate some gelato, and went back to Córdoba. It was good to get out of the city for awhile and it was a nice and relaxing Sunday!

In Córdoba, more and more trainees are arriving from around the world.  There are supposed to be about 60 of us throughout the entire summer! I was the second person to arrive out of all 60 because I'm doing two internships and staying 12 weeks in Argentina (in 2 different cities) whereas the others are only staying six weeks and not moving cities.  Here is a picture of a lot of the trainees and some of the members of AIESEC when we went out together...

That same night someone from AIESEC taught me how to dance Cumbia.  In the meantime my friend Gonzalo is teaching me how to dance Bachata- which I find is much harder than Cumbia.  I'm thinking about starting dance lessons when I get to Buenos Aires (or even when I get back to Wisconsin)!

An update on the food- so far my favorite foods are choripan (basically like a brat but with more bread and condiments) as well as empanadas.  Jamón y queso empanadas are my absolute favorite!  Another food typical to Argentina are cookies called alfajores.  Usually alfajores have dulce de leche in the center or some sort of fruit/jam.  I am bringing a box of alfajores back to the U.S. for all of you to try! :)  Get excited!

Choripan with Irupé

Empanadas from Mendoza

Alfajores

Banco de Alimentos- The past couple weeks I have just been working on marketing/dministrative tasks for my job in the office.  Unfortunately, I stopped doing audits because of the whole "almost-being-robbed" incident.  At least it means that I get to spend more time with the people that I work with!  I am going to miss them so much when I leave!

Sabrina (volunteer from France), Ariel, and Alejandro

Time has passed so fast here, I can't believe I have already been here for 5 weeks and only have one week left! I leave for Buenos Aires on Saturday.  I'm going to miss it here so much but I'm really excited to see what Buenos Aires has in store for me!

The time I ALMOST got robbed

The time I almost got robbed- definitely not my best memory of Argentina!  So the story goes like this- for my job I have to do audits of other NGO's to see whether or not we should donate food to them.  I always meet the other volunteer at the organizations we are auditing because we live on the exact opposite sides of town and it doesn't make sense for us to travel together.  Sometimes we have to go to the more sketchy areas of Córdoba in order to do the audits and those are the times when we drive together with someone else from the organization.  This time I thought that it would be OK to walk alone since it was 11 AM and the organization was like 3 blocks away from where one of my friends lives (in the nicest part of town!).  So I was a bock away from the organization and someone about a half a block ahead of me turns the corner onto the street I was walking on.  He then crossed over to the side that I was walking down because there was a truck blocking the other side so I didn't think anything of it.  Right as he was passing me I felt him grab my purse.  I fell to the ground and started kicking the guy and screaming bloody murder!  Everything happened really quickly but I remember thinking that there was no way in hell I was going to let him have my purse because my iPhone was in there (priorities, right?)! Thankfully I was wearing my purse under my jacket so he couldn't pull it off my body without breaking it.  He pulled it so hard but the strap didn't budge (thanks to Target for making quality purses! haha) and I continued to kick him as hard as I possibly could.  A ton of people ran out of their houses hearing my screams and the guy escaped without getting anything from me.  I did end up with a huge bruise on my butt from the fall but it could have been a lot worse!  Gonzalo told me that he got robbed with a pistol in Córdoba!  Luckily the person that tried to rob me was unarmed. Everywhere I go now I carry pepper spray in my hand, even during the day.  Don't mess with me randos!

Road trip to Entre Ríos!

So this post is SUPER delayed several weeks ago Pam, Charlie, Gonzalo, and me visited Pam's family in Entre Ríos.  Charlie and Gonzalo kept making fun of me because I kept saying "ROAD TRIP!" like we do in the United States when we drive long distances, and then like 5 minutes later I would fall asleep.  Obviously I am a very fun person to Road trip with!!!  I have learned this summer that I have the ability to sleep fall asleep anywhere at anytime.  It may have to do with the fact that I sleep very little here, but my friends keep telling me that I can sleep when I'm back in the United States. And I guess that is just what I'm going to have to do! In the meantime i will just keep falling asleep anywhere and anytime to get in what little time for sleeping I have.

So the first night in Entre Ríos, we stayed at Pam's house in Paraná because it was too far to drive all of the way to Basavilbaso.  I took this picture from the balcony of her house the morning after.  Such a great view!

The next day we drove a couple more hours to Basavilbaso, where Pam's family lives on the weekends.    It is a very small town but her grandparents live there and her entire extended family was visiting when we were there.  We were able to visit the old train station and take a couple of good pictures. :)

The next day we went to Palacio San José.  The palace is where Justo José de Urquiza, Argentine general, politician, and president of the Argentine Confederation once lived.  Urquiza was actually murdered in the palace and there was still blood on the wall next to where he was shot.  Pretty gruesome!  After exploring the palace a little bit, we rode a carriage to the lake that Urquiza had dug for him.  I didn't actually drive the carriage but the driver insisted that I take a picture driving it so I hopped on over.

Inside the patio of the Palace

That day I also I tried my first ever Torta Frita.  It is basically just fried dough with nothing on it, but it was delicious.  You can see how happy I was to be eating it...

Torta Frita

Also during the weekend in Entre Ríos I tried my first ever Argentine asado! Asado basically means Barbecue in English.  However, Argentinians do not just grill up some brats, hot dogs, and hamburgers like we do in the United States.  They basically cook an entire cow (and sometimes an entire pig and chicken), including the organs.  I was brave and tried almost every part of the cow but Gonzalo would tell me which body part it was before I ate it and that was all I could think about when I was eating it!  But hey, not everyone can say that they have eaten kidneys and glands before, right?  I can! I also had mondóngo this same weekend, which is cow stomach.  I have never tasted anything like it before and I can't say that I would ever try to cook it on my own hahaha. 

Gonzalo and Pam's sister with the raw meat

Pam's uncle grilling

Overall a great weekend in Entre Ríos!