mood: avoiding homework is always a good idea at firstmusic: enrique iglesias - dimelo

there is much to be said. to say that the past couple of weeks has been eventful is quite the understatement. for now, we'll stick with travel.

--two weekends ago i went to iguazú falls. it´s in the far, far northwest corner of the country (it actually crosses the argentinian borders with brazil and paraguay - but no, i couldn´t go to the other sides because we in the united states are assholes. we hassle other countries with visas so they make the process just as complicated and expensive as retribution...) that meant 18 solid hours of travel on the bus. however, as much as argentina can be a bootleg country, they truly do have some high-tech buses. we sucked it up and dropped the 17 extra pesos to travel full cama con aux's. which basically meant we could turn our chairs into beds and we got free wine, champagne, and/or whiskey during and after our meals. pretty sweet deal if i do say myself.

the falls were absolutely sick. there aren´t even words. there´s just so many of them. they expand on and on as far as you can possibly see. and you walk along all these bridges that wind up and around and through the falls and the park. there are times when you stop to look down and you´re directly on top of the drop off. it´s truly dizzying. and all you can think is ¨jesus, i hope this rickety shit doesn´t break.¨

the falls are also technically located in the jungle. now i know i´ve always said that the selva was one place you would never find me. most of the time when people are maimed out in the wilderness they had no business being there in the first place. thus, i tend to stick to developed and populated areas. since iguazú is, at it's heart, a national park, i figured i could bend my rule this one time. and in return for my trust, the wildlife was very friendly. the capibara (animals that look like giant guinea pigs and which are commonly recognized as the largest rodent on the planet) mostly kept to themselves, and the other things that looked like anteaters were only curious about us insofar as our relative willingness or unwillingness to share jodi´s cookies.

add to that a pretty sweet hostel, an amazing parilla (basically a huge barbeque with and endless plate of different types of grilled beef) a new brazillian drink called a caipirhiñi (which i will be making for you regularly upon my return), and a couple of nights dancing salsa and samba at a fun little club (which had the most ingenius name of club bar). i give this experience an A+.


--last weekend i went to colonia del sacramento. it's an incredible and incredibly tiny little town on the coast of uruguay. settled by the portuguese way back when, it's the oldest town in the country and still retains most of that traditional charm one finds in places like this. i absolutely fell in love with it. literally everything is beautiful there. from the flora and fauna to the water (it almost looked clean! a welcomed change from the frightening appearance of the argentinian side of the rio de la plata) to the cobblestone streets and the 15th and 16th century-style architecture.

now granted, the place is literally a village. but i felt we were able to make our own fun. the first thing we did when we got off the boat (yeah, you take a sweet-ass first-class style boat ride to get there) was to check into the hotel and then find a supermarket where we bought a jug of wine and some snacks. we then consumed said purchases and took a lovely nap. we woke up just in time to go to our free traditional uruguayan dinner. this consists of a chivito completa (basically something like a large and better version of a skirt steak which is then topped with chese, ham, a fried egg, and then laid to rest on a bed of french fries), salad, green olives, hearts of palm with morrones (sweet red peppers) and salsa golf, and an apple-filled pancake-roll with ice cream for postre (dessert).

needless to say, it was spectacular. the fact that ies was footing the bill made it taste that much better.

after dinner practically the entire group was on my ass about going to the one boliche (club) in the city, but my roommates and i decided to stay in and have girls night while gorging ourselves on more wine and bloquesirios de leche (essentially blocks of candied dulce de leche which taste almost exactly like pralines - a reference which is only helpful if you know what a praline tastes like). i admit, it was a tough decision to make. since we were only spending one night there i wanted to go check the locals out and see if they were any more enjoyable than the snooty porteños of buenos aires. but it was a little cold (we´re at the end of fall, beginning of winter down here) and of the 6 block walk to the club, 3 of those blocks were uphill.

sunday we had the best breakfast i've had since i've been down here. whole wheat toast, ham, cheese, croissants, fresh peach marmalade, dulce de leche, fresh-squeezed orange juice and hot chocolate. we had a couple of vegetarians/non-ham-eaters with us, so i took full advantage of my great luck. after sitting and chatting for nearly 3 hours we all got ready and took a walk around the city. exploring. window shopping. admiring the amazing sweaters and hats and scarves and things made mostly of llama or lamb´s wool or pashmina silk (i bought some gifts...one might even be for you!). again, i can't really explain to you how gorgeous everything was.

after a bit, our group of 4 split up. two girls went off to be boring ambassadors of lame while susanna and i broke the number one commandment of ies and went to rent a golf cart (no, seriously. they are REALLY anal about us being prohibited from renting motorcycles, mopeds, cars, atv's, or other types of things that would allow us to have a good time). we drove towards the more residential area of the city and discovered a park where we commenced to play for almost an hour and get stalked by a guy who was supposed to be having father-son time with his child. we then went out on a main road which follows the water up the coast - we went fairly far, and when we realized we had gone almost the next town over, decided to turn back. at roughly 25 mph we cruised for quite a while, wind in our hair, devil-may-care. it was very teen movie-esque.

i must say, even though we thought ourselves great rebels, we were scared shitless the whole time, holding our breath and never spending more than 20 seconds at a time on the main drag through the time. whatever, i still count it as a victory of rebellion.

it was just what i needed. a change of pace. a more chill tempo. it actually reminded me quite a bit of aix in a smaller format. i´m totally going back for the last extra days i have here. just some time to be alone and decompress after the madness that has been this trip. although i hear that montevideo (the capital of uruguay) is a nice place as well. considering hitting that up while i'm there. but at this juncture, who knows what could happen?

i give this trip an A+++. other people found it to be a little boring, i thought it was the best thing in the world. the only downside was the fact that we went with ies and i generally don´t enjoy cavorting around with 45 very loud, very american students. wears on the nerves. but all in all, it was worth every moment.

i think that should suffice for now. to come: the city's recent mayoral elections, my geographical semantics beef with the term ¨rio de la plata¨, reflections and perspective on this trip, why writing an 8-page paper in spanish is not exactly my dream come true, my future plans (ie where i´m spending the rest of the summer), the enigma that is ¨josh¨, the sexual prowess of the police and security force, and more. stay tuned.