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!

La Primera Semana en Córdoba!

Hola!! So i've been here in Córdoba about 10 days now so it's time for my first post! It's safe to say that I LOVE IT HERE!!!  The people are extremely nice and always willing to help me.  To start from the very beginning, the flight here was an EPIC disaster (which is not new to me when it comes to flying).  I first drove from Madison to Chicago, then flew from Chicago to Dallas.  I thought I was going to miss my flight in Dallas because the flight took longer than anticipated.  We actually flew parallel to the tornados in Oklahoma! Of course they did not tell us that until we landed because they didn't want people to panic, but I have never been on a flight with that much turbulence before!  Pretty terrifying.  The man across the aisle from me was actually throwing up the entire flight so that was unfortunate.  Anyways, I made it to my next flight on time (Dallas to Santiago, Chile) so I was really happy about that.  However, once we got on the plane, we sat there for two hours before it actually took off because there was a maintenance problem.  I only had one hour between my flights from Santiago to Córdoba, so I knew as soon as they said there was a problem, that I was going to miss my next connection.  I texted my roommate in Córdoba telling her that I was not go to make it on time, but I could not communicate with her after that point because I didn't have cell phone service or wifi.  Once I got to Santiago, they told the group of us who missed our connection to Córdoba that we were going to have to fly to Buenos Aires, SWITCH AIRPORTS (about an hour taxi ride), and then fly from Buenos Aires to Córdoba. And Buenos Aires is definitely not on the way to Córdoba!  I made friends with a group of random Argentinians and followed them around the different airports because they seemed to know what they were doing.  This is where I learned how to say "Qué lío!" Which is slang in Argentina for "What a mess!" And it definitely was a mess to say the least.

When we got to the airport in Buenos Aires, I was told to take a taxi to the other airport with this 70-year-old man from Wisconsin who did not know a word of Spanish.  He was in Córdoba to hunt some sort of bird and was supposed to meet his group at the airport.  So together we were running through the airport in Buenos Aires trying not to miss our next connection, looking like a couple of idiots.  This was probably one of the most hilarious/stressful moments of my life because he had a cane that he kept pointing at people and yelling at them in English as we ran through the terminals.  Probably did not help better anyone's view of the U.S. but it was still hilarious.  I pretty much learned his life story because we were together for like 6 hours and he was quite the talker.  He kept calling me his "hero" for helping him.  No one in AIESEC had any idea where I was during this whole ordeal because the airport said it was "private information."  My group waited for me for 8 hours in the airport! I tried sending a message from an Argentine cell phone in Santiago, but I later learned that it never reached them.  QUE LIO!!! It took me about 30 hours of traveling but I finally made it!

The night I arrived they had a "Fiesta de Bienvenida" for me so I did not get to sleep until about 6:00 AM the next day. But I guess that's Argentina for you!

A few comments about Córdoba so far-

1. The food- OH MY GOD I HAVE NEVER EATEN SO MUCH MEAT IN MY LIFE!! Argentinians eat meat at pretty much every single meal.  I think it would be impossible to be a vegetarian here.  We went to a restaurant one night and I ordered vegetable ravioli, because I thought it wouldn't have any meat, but boy was I wrong!  The ravioli was covered with ground beef.  We also went to McDonald's one night and I wanted to order a salad, but they don't offer salads.  The only thing without meat on the menu was ice cream.  I'm not saying that I don't like the food here, it's just a lot heavier than I'm used to!  I have never loved something so much as Dulce de Leche yogurt.  It is honestly heaven in a container.

2. My friends- I hang out with mostly Argentinians here.  There are only two Americans, just me and a girl from Texas.  So different from study abroad- but I love it.  My Spanish is getting better everyday!  I hang out my roommate Pam, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's cousin a lot.  Here is a picture of the four of us as well as a picture of just me and Pam...

So far only 3 of the 30 (?) or so trainees are here (including me) so far. The rest will all be coming in the next couple weeks.  Here is a photo of me and my friend Carlos at Mercado de las Pulgas.  He is from Baranquilla, Colombia and he is working at a different NGO in Córdoba for 6 weeks.  He is great and I see him almost every day!

I also have a "buddy" through AIESEC named Irupé and she shows me around the city and helps me with everything that I need.  I went out with her and her friends last Friday night and it was really fun!  We left to go out at 2:30 in the morning (I was yawning and about to fall asleep at this point) and we got home at like 6:00.  I don't know how they do it because I was exhausted!

3. My job- I work at Banco de Alimentos Córdoba, which is the main food bank in Córdoba and surrounding provinces.  It is about 40 minutes outside of the city in "el medio de nada" (the middle of nowhere) and there are like 10 million stray dogs and horses running around everywhere when I walk there from the bus stop.  I'm a Marketing/Fundraising intern, so I'm going to be helping the company with their social media, fundraising events, administrative tasks, as well as finding more companies to donate food/money.  Two days a week I also visit other NGO's to audit the organizations to make sure that they meet the standards to receive food donations from Banco de Alimentos.  I love the people that I work with! They are soooooo nice!  Here is a picture of the Banco that I stole from their Facebook page... 

4. The cars- I have an extreme fear of crossing the street here!  I have never seen so many crazy drivers in my life!  Drivers have no fear of coming within centimeters of other cars and the majority of people do not wear seat belts.  I, on the other hand, wear a seat belt and hold on for dear life!!!!  I think I actually said a prayer once because I was so scared.

5. Fútbol- This weekend I went to my first Argentine soccer game.  It was between Belgrano (the team from Córdoba) and San Juan.  Soccer here is definitely the equivalent of Football in the U.S. in terms of fans and how important the games are to them.  It was really fun but in the end they lost! :( SO sad.

Next weekend we are going to Entre Ríos to visit Pam's family and the weekend after that me and the other girl from the U.S. (Jess) are going to Mendoza! My dentist (of all people) told me that I can't go to Argentina without going to Mendoza, so we decided to make a trip out of it.  I can't wait!

Hasta pronto! :)

Preparación para la Segunda Aventura

So the real reason why I'm back at this blog again is that I'm about to embark on my second major trip- this time to Argentina! I'm going abroad through a program called AIESEC which is an organization that provides students with internship and volunteer opportunities in different countries.  I chose to do a Global Community Development program because I want to spend my time helping others while practicing my Spanish at the same time! A win-win situation! I am going to be doing a program called The Andes Way Project, which hosts about 60 different interns from around the world to volunteer in one of three cities (Córdoba, Mendoza, and Tandíl) for the first six weeks and then move to Buenos Aires for the next six weeks. I chose Córdoba because it is the second largest city in Argentina and it is filled with young people (because of the University there). I hope to also travel to Mendoza at some point because it is known as wine country. Sounds pretty great, right?

All I really know so far is that I'm going to be doing Fundraising for NGO (not sure which one yet) in Córdoba for six weeks and Marketing for Circo Social del Sur- a CIRCUS in Buenos Aires for the other six weeks. Once I found out that I will be working at a circus, I was not thrilled to say the least.  But, I read more about it and it actually sounds pretty cool!  It is not your typical circus, with elephants and tigers, etc.  It is more like Cirque du Soleil, focusing more on acrobatics. This circus was designed as an outlet for kids and teens living in low-income neighborhoods to spend their time in a positive manner. Their mission is to keep children off the street and build a network of support for them.  So it's definitely not your typical volunteer project, but I'm keeping an open mind about it!  I'm just happy to have the opportunity to travel one last time before starting my full-time job as well as use the skills that I learned in college to help better the community. I keep telling my friends that I am running away to join the circus, because I had no idea I would ever get matched with such a program!  Laugh all you want (I know I did hahaha). I'm sure I will get some good stories out of it. Maybe I will come back with some trapeze skills or something random like that.

Here is a link to a review about the circus in English if you want to know more about it...

http://www.circosocialdelsur.org.ar/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/The-argentimes-Julio-20081.jpg

I'm a little nervous to say the least right now because I'm supposed to leave in 9 days, and I still don't have a plane ticket!  I have been having some problems finalizing my contract but hopefully it will all work out!

When I tell my friends about what I'm doing this summer, they think I'm a little bit crazy. I'm definitely taking a risk with this trip- going to a country where I know absolutely no one, traveling by myself, speaking a different language, and living in a hostel for 3 months probably does not sound appealing to most people.  I think it will be a great adventure and I'm excited to see what the future holds for me this summer!

Here are some inspirational travel quotes that I found on Pinterest (HAHA)...

Adios amigos! The next time I post, I will be in Argentina! :)

España- Otra Vez!

I know that this post is about 4 months delayed, but I know some of you want to hear about my second trip to Spain!  So I went back over winter break and I was able to see a few cities that I had not seen the first time around as well as visit my favorite places again.  First, Gonzalo picked me up in Madrid and we stayed there for 2 nights. I have been to Madrid before, but it was a completely different experience the second time around.  It is amazing how different trips can be when you are traveling with someone who is native to the country!  I was able to see a lot of different places that we missed out on the first time. We spent a lot of time shopping and walking around and seeing all the major tourist sites again.

Here is a picture of me at Parque del Retiro...

I was also reunited with one of my favorite Spanish foods in Madrid- Jamón Ibérico! SO GOOD!

Our next stop was Segovia, a small town close to Madrid.  I had never been there before but I learned about the town from my friend Libby, who says that she wants to retire there someday.  I really wanted to see what this cute little place had to offer and I was definitely not disappointed!  Segovia is known for having the largest aqueduct in the world- it was SOOOO COOL.  Here is a picture of me at the top of the aqueduct as well as a picture of the sun setting behind it...

I loved this place to say the least!  Everyone just seemed so happy and there were very few tourists.  I would love to go back someday!

Our next city was Salamanca, where my friend Libby studied abroad the previous year.  I would describe Salamanca as the Madison of Spain.  It is filled with University students, but does not offer as many tourist attractions as other major cities in Spain.  Here is a picture of me in the main plaza and a picture of Gonzalo with one of the major Cathedrals in Salamanca....

Our next stop was SEVILLA- my favorite place in the world (obviously).  I stayed with Gonzalo's family while I was there and I was able to meet Gonzalo's sister for the first time.  She was studying abroad in France while I was studying abroad in Spain, so I never got to meet her.  Here is a picture of me and Gonzalo's family on New Year's Eve...

On New Years Eve, you have to eat 10 massive green grapes within 10 seconds or you will have bad luck.  This is so much harder than you think!  We had just eaten a huge dinner, so I could not even fathom eating more at this point.  Needless to say, I failed miserably.  The bad luck has not hit me yet though (knock on wood) :)

We also visited my favorite place in Sevilla- Plaza de España!  I rode the boats and the bikes for the first time- both things I wish I had done when I studied there.

At the end of the week, we were able to stop by my host family's house.  They were so happy to see me and to finally meet Gonzalo.  I missed them so much!  

In addition to Plaza de España and seeing my host family, we were able to visit all of my favorite places in Sevilla.  We ate Churros at me and Rebekah's favorite cafe, we went shopping at all my favorite stores, we met up with our friend José, and just spent time walking around the city.  This second trip was such a great time and I am so happy that I was able to go back!