Sunset and Wine

     Watching a sunset in the capital city can be difficult, especially downtown. However, it was still breathtaking. I went with Kristen over to Deb's apartment (the woman from the states who had the asado a few weeks back) to watch the sunset, drink some wine and snack on some fruit, bread, olives etc. We ended up talking for hours, drank the whole bottle of wine, took a bunch of pictures and Deb finished it off by giving me a 'farewell' present. It was really touching, since I've only known her a short time. She got me such a beautiful bracelet of red leather and a bright metal that resembles sterling silver.

Above: Me and Kirsten Below: Me and Deb                      

Happy Birthday GABE!!!!!!!!!

Gabriel, I love you! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!    
  I leave on Friday morning at 9:25 am. I am leaving in a couple DAYS! How crazy is that!? I fly from Cordoba to Lima, Peru to L.A. California to Denver, CO.

                                This flower was something. No clue what the name is...  But they are blooming like crazy right now.

This is the forever popular salami. I think it's rancid.. but the people here love it. You notice the large chunks of fat? Yea.. that's why I can't eat it..  plus they eat it at room temperature so there's a strange smell that perfumes the room when some one eats it. It's horrible. People usually carry it around with a knife, and cut little slices whenever they feel like eating eat.

This is Marina's family (minus her little brother). This was taken in their home the day that I left Villa Maria.

 

Political Nonsense: 

On the news the other day, there was a featured story about an infant that was abandoned by his mother in a freezing river. The infant was found in the river (water level rising quickly due to the rain) with no diaper, only a plastic bag tied around his hips. The woman who found this little guy was holding onto him while being interview by the news cameras, and she was explaining (in very little words) how she came across the baby. And Guess what? Will there be a search to find the mother who did this? No. Nothing will happen to the mother. Nothing. She won't get arrested, she won't get fined, she won't get orders to seek therapy or a doctor, no organization will knock on her door to see if she has other children living in her home... nothing. Absolutely nothing will happen to this woman who threw her baby away to die. And this my friends, is one thing about Argentina that boils my blood. You can quite literally get away with murder! What country doesn't object to a woman throwing her baby away like garbage?

Bachelor Party.. Argentina style.

     I was fortunate enough to see a bachelor party procession last night. We went to dinner at a place called Argentina Bar, and sat outside. We had a view of the street, and guess what we saw? Something so eccentric.. so peculiar yet absurdly amusing.

 The procession actually stopped traffic, and cars were honking their horns loudly in annoyance. The truck, that was full of men (can you see the guy in the wig? he's the one getting hitched apparently) even had a man with a guitar.. and they were singing a song "No te cases!" which signifies "Don't get married!"

          They eventually pulled over, because the procession took off on foot through the streets. I asked Mari, "Can the cops pull them over, or give them a ticket for this? They are holding up traffic and are drunk in public." She said, "Are you kidding! The police here would probably say 'Can I Join you!!!??' " I actually got a video as they marched right past our table.. they stopped and asked us if they wanted us to lift up his dress. But, my camera didn't record it! They decorated this poor guy with horrible makeup suitable for a woman on the vegas corner, and a shirt that barely covered his naked body. They even tied up his arms with a long rope and paraded him around like an animal. It was a bit sad at first.. but he was having fun apparently :)

 The rain is pouring down, the lightening is shockingly bright and we are sitting inside enjoying the t.v. I believe everyone is getting ready for merinda time (where they eat a small snack and drink tea or mate to hold them over until dinner. This usually takes place at 5 or 6pm).
   Mari's dad made an asado with chicken for lunch, and he explained to me that he only used lemon for flavor. We cut up hard boiled eggs, onions and tomatoes and mixed it with oil and salt. And to drink, concentrated juice with soda water. Speaking of soda water, it's a popular item. A lot of people here mix soda water with their red wine... it was a strange sight at first but now I'm used to it. It's either juice or Coca Cola. Like I've told you before, Coco Cola runs in their blood here.. they drink it with almost every meal.

Here was the small section of soda in cans: notice how little there are?

     I went with Mari and a friend to a shopping center, very similar to a Wal Mart. We found the isle where sodas and drinks were, and Mari saw some cans of Coca Cola. She quickly pointed to them and shouted "I haven't seen these in years!!!!!!" I've never seen coke in a can either, or any soda in a can. It all comes in bottles. Everyone saves the glass bottles; you trade it in when buying a new bottle for a small discount.

 Another thing: It's not strange to touch some one's baby while you are waiting in the check out line. Evey one is very friendly in that manner. A lot of the times, complete strangers will start pinching the cheeks of some woman's baby, and she doesn't mind at all. I think in the U.S., that would anger some people... I think it's great though!

This was the woman standing infront of us in line. Mari reached out to hold the baby's hand.. and the mother only turned and smiled.

Graduating traditions

  I wanted to share an interesting Argentine tradition when one graduates from college. I'm telling you this because it's fresh on my mind, and because Mari showed me pictures when her sister graduated. It's quite something:

On the actual day when a student graduates (when they receive the grades from their very last exam) the friends and family are usually waiting for him/her outside the university building and they literally make a mess of the poor student painting him, throwing eggs, flour, Coca Cola, yerba, juice food... basically turning them into a huge mess. Sometimes people will cut their pants or shirt with scissors leaving them a half naked mess in the street. I actually saw this once when I was walking past one of the Universities. It looked so horrible, but they think it's fun:)

Time in Villa Maria

This place is beautiful. It reminds of the Gig Harbor area in the Pacific Northwest. There aren't boats on the lake like Gig Harbor, but it has the same small town feel. It's very clean, well kept up and there are flowers everywhere.  I really like it here, it's not as busy as the capital city of Cordoba, but not too small where you can't find things to do.
 Her family is very loving, and fun. She has a little brother of 18 and her older sister is 25 or 26. Last night her mom made three pizzas for dinner and we ate all but 3 slices. One pizza had cheese and tuna, another had boiled eggs that were shredded like cheese, and another with salami and cheese. She made a dessert where she put whole apples in a pan with sugar and red wine and kept it covered over the burner for an hour. She chilled the apples and served it with a sweet cream.
   Marini, her sister and I slept in the same room and we were asleep within 10 minutes. We stayed up late talking around the dinner table. One of her friends has a 2 year old son, and he says my name perfectly. People here have a hard time pronouncing my name but he can do it perfectly. Everyone was gathered around him telling him to say my name, "Come se llama ella?!" and when he did there was an outburst of laughter. One lady I met last night told everyone to ask me what my name was. When I said, Colleen... they would look at me funny. The following question was, "De donde sos?" Where are you from? It's a dead give away. I'm not from Argentina, because I have a weird name. :)

Pictures above: That strange orange flower is in her backyard, I'm going to ask what it's called. It's crazy looking.  We walked around last night and took pictures by the famous clock of flowers. The last picture, is the one and only flan. Flan is pretty popular here.

It's raining today, so we've been lounging around the house for awhile. We might walk to the river if the weather gets better. Ohh.. for dinner tonight Marina wants to make chicken pot pie. That's a funny story actually. I made homemade chicken pot pie a few weeks back and everyone is in love with it. They've never eaten it before, so Mari wants to use the same recipe and make it for her family tonight for dinner. She's really excited, and so am I. Then, she can pass on the chicken pot pie legacy to fellow Argentines :)


     

Villa Maria

I forgot to mention that I am leaving for Villa Maria this afternoon! Marina (one of my roommates) lives there and invited me to come and visit in her home town! I am all packed, and we should be leaving in about an hour. It´s usually a 2 hour bus ride, but her good friend is taking us by car... so that means only an hour!  I hear Villa Maria is simply gorgeous, so I´m ready to explore it!