Baile de Egresados

Instead of a graduation ceremony, their was a graduation dance or party.  The students dressed very similar to prom and walk through the crowd of parents and friends like a fashion show. The first time was with a parent or sibling and the second time is with friends from class.  Afterwards there was a dinner for the kids which was just a sandwich and at about 2 in the morning there was a toast.  By that point most of the parents had already left the dance (it was uncomfortably hot and crowded so I don't blame them at all)  Afterwards, it basically turned into a club and lots of other community members and kids came to dance until about 5 a.m.   I was fortunate to get cider in my eye when multiple students started throwing the alcohol in the air during the toast.  Despite cider in my eye and feeling exhausted by the end it was a fun last night with all the students from my class and my friends to celebrate the end of their secondary school career.

A taste of Argentine home

ASADO (matambre)

Chorizo seco y queso

Homemade plum jam

My host mom filling the jar

Carnavalito

I arrived back from my trip  on a Monday at about 7 in the morning... however, I didn't get much opportunity to rest because it was a special day at school when all the students in the last year of school (Lindsay include) do a dance and dress as typical Argentine customs for Day of Tradition.    So I slept a few hours upon arrival at home and then took off for school for an awesome day with my classmates!  I have a 10 minute video of the dance, but I am sure my blog will reject it so I am not even going to try.  We threw lots of cut up little papers and afterwards we went to a classmates house and spent the whole afternoon together as a class.

Iguazú

After a 12 hour day and entire night on the bus we arrived in Misiones, Argentina, the province in the northeastern tip of the country which also contains the famous Iguazú falls.  Traveling in such quantity with little break made my legs and body and neck and head want to scream a little bit in the uncomfortable bus seats for nearly 24 hours.  However, arriving at the falls wiped away all those feelings and nature made every hour on that bus absolutely worth it.  All the dirt and ground in Misiones is a beautiful bright red color that looks like someone painted the ground.  It is obviously rich in minerals and is also known for a mine near the falls with semi-precious stones.  The day we arrived, we went to the mines at 7 in the morning upon arrival there and then finally reached the hotel after hours of travel.  In the afternoon I participated in an optional excursion to the jungle where for the first time in my life I got to yell wooo hooooo while wizzing over the jungle below while zip-lining.  Even better... I got to see one of those walking stick bugs trying to hide behind a leaf, but we found him anyhow he he he...
After spending a little time in the pool and gobbling up a yummy ice cream cone we went to the hito triple frontera (triple border) where Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina all meet (where the iguazú river and Paraná river meet in the middle)  and I saw Brazil and Paraguay for the first time in my life!  Yay!!!!   Apparently it has the nickname "capitol of contraband" because there is so much illegal passing of goods like cigarettes, drugs, etc. , but I wasn't thinking about that to much while I was there, I just enjoyed seeing other countries even if I couldn't say that I was in Brazilian or Paraguayan territory.
We spent nearly all of Friday exploring the waterfalls which are impossible to describe they are so incredible.  Pictures fail to do them justice.  You just have to see them and live the experience.  I was mesmerized could hardly pull my eyes away from such natural beauty.  We did a boat ride that went underneath the falls and enjoyed getting entirely soaked!  It felt wonderful in the hot weather.  It was an awesome trip and traveling so far to get there.  On my way back home I was lucky to have wonderful host cousins to await me in Cordoba to spend a rainy Sunday!  An exhausting yet awesome trip!

Estadounidenses in the mine!

zip-lining crew

Gettin' soaked!

AFS students at La garganta del diablo

To the north pole!

Just kidding.  I just went on a trip to the north, but the seemingly endless amount of time spent on a bus to arrive in the north of Argentina gave it the feeling that I was attempting to reach the north pole.  In the 11 days of my AFS trip I spent nearly 100 hours on a bus!  I first traveled overnight to Cordoba a larger city where I spend the day with some of my host cousins.   Despite the rain we ate ice cream anyhow.  That night I traveled again until I reached Resistencia (the meeting point in the north for all the students traveling).  Resistencia is know for having the best chipas (miny breads with a special type of cheese that are absolutely deeeeeeeelcious), so all of the exchange students bought multiple bags of chipas as the would come out of the oven hot and yummy!

  The first leg of the trip was to the western portion of the north, the provinces of Salta and Jujuy.  Such provinces are well know for the mountains with a desert climate, along with folkloric music and lots of traditional crafts. From the hotel room we had a lovely view of the hills and an old church.

The first day in Salta we did a city tour and went up in a cable-car to the top of one of the hills where we could see the entire city and then walked back down. The city of Salta lays in the middle and was an important city in the history of Argentina and the fight for their independence because it was a location in the route from Peru and Bolivia where the Spanish would transport resources to bring back to Spain.  It also has some history with the Incas.  Many of the people have the darker more native skin type which comes from the original inhabitants of such region.  

The plaza in Salta

View overlooking a little bit of Salta

Yep, eating.  As always.

The second day we went to another province to the north called Jujuy (I will not try to describe the pronunciation until I can actually say it in person).  It is one of the poorest provinces in Argentina, but it has an incredible amount of natural beauty and very vibrant culture.

The AFS group in the valley of 7 colors

The kids from Thailand

Chillin for a little while.

We just decided to stop at the tropic of Capricorn on the way back to Salta

Baaaaa!

So, we had another trip to the farm the other day.  Lately I have been eating a ridiculous amount of meat, but it is soooo delicious that it is definitely worth eating a little too much because my adventures in Argentina have a time limit!   Talk about deeeeeeelicious!

Poor pig :(  (Allison Pluger would definitely be very unhappy with me)

¡¡¡¡¡ASADO!!!!!

Picking out tree sprouts to make into Bonsai

baaaa!!!

Give me milk already!

Host brother (Agustín) and host dad (Lujan) at work

More Buenos Aires

I hope nobody is sick of seeing pictures of Buenos Aires because I seem to have the opportunity to visit lots of times, just with a different group of people every visit!

Exhaustion at breakfast.... 

Goin' a bit crazy after so much time on the bus... and so little sleep.

Amigas!

Before the catamaran ride

Basílica de Lujan

Leones y tigres y McDonalds oh my!!!

I can never escape!

Belgrano (flag creator and national hero)

con las chicas in front of La Casa Rosada

At CQC a television show (not the best, but at least we can say we were on television)

Buenos Aires doesn't exist without protesting especially on days like the Dia de la Lealtad (when it takes about an hour to cross a part of the city when you can normally pass in 15 minutes and people have tents set up in the streets)

Tunnel monster

In front of the Jesuit shcurch

Back to caminito in la Boca

Couldn't help but take a picture of the creepy monk statue.  

And the group picture :)