Iguazu Falls y Más (and more!)

Wow, the waterfalls truly did vale la pena... so worth it! We (6 girls and I) embarked Thursday night on our 36 hour bus ride. We passed the time drinking mate, chatting, making bus friends, eating snacks, viewing animal crossings of all types and whole families on single motorcycles or bikes, laughing at the pitiful bus food trays (think airplane only 10x worse), and trying to sleep through drastic breaches of climate control. All in all, I enjoyed the time to bond with these girls and stare out the window at the countryside. We arrived in Puerto Iguazu on Saturday morning and went immediately to the National Park where we walked and watched the falls. The photo ops were plentiful. We also went IN the falls. On a boat. It was awesome! Such a rush! We also got attacked by coates (large, scavenging rodents that look like raccoons crossed with anteaters and act like agressive squirrels). This was also a rush! A rush that cost my friend some scratches on her leg and a deserted bag of cheetos. By the end of the day we learned how to scare them away and we had a good time doing it! (You clap and stomp and chase). Revenge was sweet.

Back in Puerto Iguazu we visited the border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, marked by two rivers and some measley monuments. W e went out for a nice dinner and ate homemade pasta and then crashed in the hostel. The next morning we returned to the National Park for more hiking, and a visit to La Garganta del Diablo/Devil's Throat, the biggest waterfall in the park. It was incredible! So powerful. And elusive! There was way too much mist to take good pictures. We returned to the hostel, had a pool party fully equipped with delivery pizza (thanks to the friendly hostel staff) and got back on that bus for the 36 hour return.

The trip was memorable, the company great, and the only negative thing I could say is that we spoke a lot of English in the course of bonding and coati attacks. I felt a little shy to speak Spanish again when I came home. Fluidity in the language really does come and go depending how much you use it and who you are talking to.

This past weekend I made up the difference. Friday I went to a cumpleaños (birthday party) for Meagan's host sister and then went out with her other sister and her sister's friends. We passed the night talking and soon it was almost time for breakfast, so we stayed up to share it together. The same group of friends reunited Sunday (today) for an asado in the home of one of the boys. Meagan and I went grocery shopping with our new Argentine friends and got to see the selection of meats that this country has to offer, which includes pretty much everything, every part that's edible, which is much more than Americans think is edible. I've found that I love murcilla, which is actually blood sausauge, but I prefer the Spanish name :) I also spent a long afternoon with my grandma and my friend Genivieve (a new friend from UNC) making banana bread and drinking countless rounds of mate. My family loved the banana bread. Success! They also love cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies, which I've now made three times. Food plays a large roll in my life here/the Argentine life, and I love it. But here we don't measure things or have a temperature gauge on the oven. Yet another little charming difference.

This week marks what I hope will be my first week of a regular class schedule after 2 weeks of class shopping. Wish me luck! I also start tango class tomorrow. Wohoo! I'm looking forward to feeling like I have the swing of things and hoping to make some more Mendocino friends in my classes. Talk to you soon!

Life in Mendoza

Hola!

It's been awhile! I can't believe I've been in Mendoza 2 weeks now. They've flown by! At the same time though, I felt at home here nearly right from the start. Besides this weird combination of fast and slow its also been an indescribable combination of busy and relaxing. I don't know what to tell you because I haven't DONE that much yet, but every ordinary thing is new and interesting for me. That is the bliss of LIVING here for 5 months, there is no hurry. I'm just trying to live the life and the last two weeks have been practice. And I love it. Some things are not so simple. For example taking the city buses, getting a visa, buying a cell phone and figuring out how to buy more pre-paid minutes. But on the whole, the living has been easy. Que linda es esta ciudad y que amable la gente. I've spent a lot of time with my family, and I love them (me encanta!). I love the amount of time I spend cooking and eating with them, or just talking. Its like perpetual Thanksgiving. I've made some Argentine friends through my brother and Meagan's host sister, at the parque drinking mate, and most recently with the old guy who sells candied peanuts on a streetcorner near my house. Imagine Christmas coziness--fire in the fireplace, baking cookies, and delicious gift sets of candies and nuts-that is the smell that wafts down the street. The same as chestnuts roasting on an open fire, I suppose!

This weekend I went to my first vineyard (bodega) for a wine tasting, took my first tango class, and ate my first asado (Argentine barbeque) with my family. I also had my first real Argentine night--I stayed out til 6:30 am! My new personal record. I don't plan to do this too often, but I feel like a real Mendocino now. This week is my first week of classes so life is about to be much busier because we have 2 weeks to shop around, so I will be going to more than my fair share of courses. I feel capable of communicating in Spanish right now, but its tiring! I had a dream where my brother was quizzing me on Spanish vocabulary and I just couldn't think of any answers. The hardest parts are 1) speaking Spanish right when I wake up in the morning, 2) not being able to add to a conversation as much as I want because it takes a lot of thought, and 3) wanting to be fluent right NOW in order to keep up with my family or my brother and his friends when they talk amongst each other. When I'm tired, though, I just zone out, and listen to the beautiful rolling, crescendoing sound of Argentine Spanish. It's especially fun to listen to heated conversations, which is often the manner of speaking here, even if I have no idea what is being said. To be able to argue in Spanish is my ultimate goal.

The food is great. The people are even better. And every night I go to bed happily exhausted from all the Spanish and all the wonderful new ordinary things that fill my day.

P.S. I am going to Iguazu Falls on Thursday for a long weekend with a group of six girls! 36 hour bus ride...but across beautiful land. Vale la pena (it's worth it), so I hear.