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