Argentine Adventures

:(

kellimarie — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:46:39 +0000

Holy crap Im leaving. In 5 hours.

¿¿¿Qué hago????

Last night I stayed up, basically all night, finishing a scrap book for my family.I have this lump in my throat that is ready to spring into tears at any moment. And I am dreading this goodbye…

This is really hard. I have another whole family here…and when is it ever ok to leave your family and not know when you´ll see them again?

And not like im “losing” them…but the truth is, even though it hurts, its better to have loved with all your heart and lost…then to never have loved at all.

And, since I´m still typical me, i havent really started packing…

haha, i´ll write my final deal from SEATTLE.

And, I am happy to be home, dont worry. It just kind of sucks to not be able to be in two places at once.

kellimarie — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:13:07 +0000

Wow.

I love this place. I love trees. And lakes. And mountains…

You have no idea how AMAZING it was.

I don´t even know how to put it in words. We escaped into the wilderness, and it was almost impossible to come back. We hiked over 35 kilometers, which included definite lack of trails at parts, wading through freezing rivers, rock climbing, hiking up in snow, scrambling down loose rocks on the other side, swimming in glacier lakes, and sleeping in the most adorable little refugios ever…

I fell in love. 4 days of hiking has left me pretty deadbeat, and I just took my first shower since Thursday, but I am a very, very happy camper.

Oh, and I hitchhiked for the first time, which cut off a good 10 kilometros on the end of our trek back into Bariloche today. No worries, we had two guys with us, and they people were the nicest little Chilean couple with the sutest accents.

Once back in Barioche, we swumg by our hostel and picked up the rest of our stuff, and Whitney and I bid farewell to Scott, our fearless leader (Whit and I would probably be dead on the mountain somewhere without him…) as he headed off to hitchhike farther south, and we got on a bus an hour north to Villa la Angostura, and teensy little town right on more lake and wonderfulness. Tomorrow we´re hiking (again)…but tonight i have to sleep. I am pooped. And…to be honest, I don´t want to come home. Is that bad? I could live here forever….

kellimarie — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:09:32 +0000

Today we spent a day, bien tranquilo, in Bariloche. We got up around 9, showered in our lovely tiny moldy hostel shower, then walked down for breakfast. And I ate cereal for the first time since I’ve been here. Finally, some argentines that believe in breakfast!! We felt like new women with a good nights sleep in a bed behind us, and we set out to the mountain club to figure out the sleeping bag situation. Apparently, the refugios that we are trekking to only provide the mattress. At the outdoor gear store, oddly like REI, we discovered that sleeping bags to rent were 25 pesos per night. And also that even though we only needed them for two nights, since we were coming back Sunday night, and Monday was a holiday, it wouldnt be open til Tuesday. Hence, we could rent for 100 pesos…OR buy them for…100 pesos. So, Whitney and I are now proud owners of new sleeping bags. Sheesh. I already had a lot of stuff to haul back to the states. oh well. We bought flashlights too, just in case the lights don’t work in the refugio, which the nice man at the store either kindly informed us, or he just wanted us to buy flashlights.

Then we strolled around Bariloche, famous for its local chocolate, popping it in all the chocolate factories to sample, of course with the purely logical motive of finding the very best chocolate to bring back the for gifts. Oh, the self sacrifice. We made our way back to the hostel to be ready for our 130 pickup for our kayak excursion.

Kayaking was beautiful, we drove about half an hour to Lake Gutierrez, and hopped into double kayaks. It was Whitney and I in one, then there were 3 other argentine people and 1 hilarious German guy who speaks Spanish with a French accent, and lives in the forest right by the lake in an old military truck. We paddled down the lake for an hour, and then stopped at a little beach and drank mate and hung out. It was so wonderful and relaxing. We swapped Argentine jokes, and our guide informed us that Chile is actually very pretty, and it would be great to go travel there, if it weren’t for the chilenos… they are hilarious.

On the way their, Pablo, the guide, had told us, ‘if you get tired, we can attach your kayak to mine, and I’ll pull you” and a moment later he added ‘If you don’t have any pride…’ I had no intentions of wimping out, but I felt necessary to add ‘Ah but we aren’t argentine!!’ At first I thought he didnt hear me, but after a good moments pause, he turned around and said ‘There is only one answer to that!’ And Whitney and I were subjected to some well practiced oar splashing. Good memories…

Tonight we got back and went to the grocery store to shop for our hike. The current plan, to take advantage of our sleeping bags, is to extend our trek and add on another refugio. Tomorrow we’ll hike about 5 hours up to Refugio Emilo Frey, where we’ll spend the night. Saturday we’ll get up early and trek about 7 hours to Refugio Jakob, which is on a little lake in the middle of the mountains. Then we’re hiking down the mountain and across to another little mountain to Refugio Lopez. Basically, the refugios have beds in a big room, and also a kitchen to use, or you can buy food, but its super expensive to do that, so we’re bringing up pasta and cans of tuna.

Will be quite the adventure. These pictures are from the Club Andino website, who run all the refugios. And tomorrow morning our friend Scott, also a Seattlite, should be getting in and he is coming with us. Which will make this a lot safer. He’s on his way, but hitchhiking, so we shall see when he gets here.

I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories to tell when we get back. I am SOO ready to just be in the mountains, and have tons of time to sit and read and write and just be. We’ll be back Monday, so I’ll check in then. Wish me luck!!

Refugio FreyRefugio Jakob

Penúltimo ciao a Buenos Aires…

kellimarie — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:43:47 +0000

We are all settled in to our lovely hostel in Bariloche, a little ski village nestled into the side of the Andes waaay down south. Its a lot cooler here than it´s been lately in BA (last week it hit 40 celsius…) and the air is just fresh and clean, which I believes i´ve already mentioned is quite lacking the city. Whitney and I keep looking at each other and being like “So…are you sure we´re not in Washington?” There are all these lakes and little mountains and TREES. So beautiful. We got here around 1pm (which, we discovered some time later, was actually 12, because we crossed a time zone!) and hopped in a cab to our hostel, spent some time arguing with the hostel guy who finally convinced we really shouldn´t try to cross into Chile. 99% of his reasons were because “Todo es feo” and his is just the typical Argentine incapable of appreciating the rest of Latin America, but his one point that we were trying to squeeze WAY too much into one week, finally did win us over. So this afternoon we walked around a little bit, and stopped at the Club Andino Bariloche to get info about the trekking we´re going to do this weekend. Then we stopped at one of the many chocolate factories to sample (AMAZING. chocolate is simply …no sé. increíble.) and then we took a bus down the coast of the big lake to do a little hike to stretch our legs. Although it was only a 45 minute climb to the top of this hill, it was STEEP and by the time we got to the top, we were huffing and puffing. We told ourselves, we must be at some altitude. It can´t be that we´re so out of shape right…? At the top some classic Argentine guys were awaiting us, and we could only just laugh silently as one of them whipped out his guitar and started singing away, something about “alcanzar tus labios”…oh my. The view was breathtaking, and I really don´t think my pictures are going to do it justice. We walked/ran down the path and then proceeded to miss two busses because we werent paying attention. When we finally got back to the town area, we headed back to the hostel, and met the other girl who is staying in our room. She is travelling alone, which i ABSOLUTELY cannot imagine doing, especially here. She may join us for some of our adventures, and she´s a pretty sweet girl from Philedelphia. cant spell sorry…

Our hostel is pretty sweet because it has free dinner and so we ate big bowls of pasta and chatted with an argentine and a spanaird (shoot i cant spell that either). and the lisp from spain is SO hard to understand. much easier talking to the argentine guy.

Anyway, tomorrow we´re getting up early and figuring out the sleeping bag situation–apparently we have to bring them for staying in the refugios in the mountains, but we really dont want to buy sleeping bags. someone told us you can rent them…but that, also, is kind of weird. we shall see. and then tomorrow afternoon we are going to another big lake and going kayaking. woo!

oh and did i mention i have NOTHING to study!?!? so fabulous.

oh and nieves sent me an email, and i´ve been texting with mariana to let her know how things are going love it!

and marsha, your comment cracked me up. i am fully aware of my family-ness, but thank the Lord i am not “with child”. oh i miss you. haha.

ok hasta luego!!

flying by the seat of my pants!

kellimarie — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:29:46 +0000

Hello people!

So in about an hour im boarding the bus and heading to bariloche for a week! its 20 hours long, so we´ll get to our hostel at 11:30 tomorrow morning, after a “good night´s sleep”. I am SOOO excited for this trip, im going with whitney, who also goes to UW, and we both love hiking and just being outside, so it will be such a GOOD escape from this huge busy city. a couple of the days we´re doing some trekking in the mountains, and staying a night in a “refugio” where you pay like $6 and get a bed to sleep in for the night! and we might rent a car and cross into Chile! I´ll be sure to update

I get back next Wed, and then I have SIX days till i fly home. Holy cow. Its going by so fast. I think this trip will be a good transition for the kids here though. Nieves and I made an email account for her last night, so that we can practice emailing while im in bariloche and that way she´ll see how easy it is to keep in touch! This weekend i spent a lot of time with my family, and saturday night we made chocolate chip cookies!! of course, they dont sell choc chips here, so we had to chop up our chocolate, (which is how the first choc chip cookies were invented, if you didnt know).

: Our cookies!!

The girls had a couple friends over, so it was quite the chaos in our tiny little kitchen!

Well, gotta run and catch my bus! See you in Bariloche!!

¿Feliz…Thanksgiving…?

kellimarie — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:04:06 +0000

So, as you all go about stuffing yourself with turkey and enjoying your families and/or friends, walking in the cold, getting ready for Christmas, I will have you know that today does not in ANY way feel like Thanksgiving to me. Its about 90 degrees and 60% humidity, and today I went for a walk in the reserve and almost drowned in my own sweat. Prrrretty cute. I also saw this HUGE lizard–like two feet long. Anyway, things are great, and I am doing a “thanksgiving” potluck with some of my friends from the states to celebrate…but still not really feeling it.

I only have one more paper to turn in, and I´m just editing it and will email it in on Saturday!! Woohoo!! And then next week Im off to Bariloche, where we will hike in the mountains and swim in lakes and *perhaps* cross into Chile. Pretty stoked.

And…there´s so much. But I´ve got to run.

Oh and ps. you know those “mosquito” bites I had on my leg? yea, not mosquito bites. Basically my whole ankle swelled up, I got a fever, my host mom marched me to the hospital and they put me on antibiotics to make the infection go away. hipothesis: spider bites, from a dirty, bacteria loving spider. But I´m totally fine, no worries. Just bad luck with the bugs, as always.

Ok, later! Dont get too fat!!

kellimarie — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:01:00 +0000

So last night I shed my first tears about leaving. Yeah. I know. If this is where I’m at 4 weeks out…let’s not think about it. But, I’m really fine, it’s just I have a weakness: I am a very sympathetic crier. Which means if someone loses it, I’m just a step behind. But we started talking about my travel plans last night after dinner, and Nieves got really quiet, her little face crumpled, and her shoulders started shaking. As she ran into her room we could hear her sobbing. When she came out Mariana and I sat her down in the kitchen and asked what was wrong, and she blubbered out through her tears and sobs all of her little heart. Nieves and I have a very special relationship, and she is always first to run to greet me when I come home. We always have “fiestas de estudios” where she comes into my room and we do our homework together, always breaking our “no talking” rule even as hard as we try to focus. She is the definition of affectionate and is blissfully happy just being together. Just last night, my friend Nick called to figure out our trael plans for the weekend, and when I hung up, Nieves said “Did you notice I was crossing my fingers?” No, I say, why? Apparently, I was fiddling with my keys while I was talking, and she was scared I was going to go somewhere. So, that’s Nieves. And as I held her on my lap last night, trying to comfort her, the tears filled my eyes too. And as Mariana explained to Nieves that we should think of it on the positive side, of how good it was I got to come in the first place and be here all this time, I think I needed to hear it just as much as Nieves. They are my family, and it’s really hard to imagine leaving for who knows how long. Mariana and I have become really close the last few months too, and I am really going to miss our long talks.

But time keeps ticking on–I had my last midterm for my politics class this morning (for which our professor walked in AN HOUR late…only in Argentina…), followed by a good two-hour conversation with Lucas about the difference between Buddhism and Christianity, our respective faiths. Good stuff–good to have to explain again exactly what & why I believe. Then we rose above our differences and watched a couple episodes of The Office, our Wednesday tradition. And now I have to finish up my Literature paper so I can turn it in tomorrow!!

I also have the HUGE, and I mean HUGE, mosquito bite on my arm. It’s right below my bicep, and looks like I either have a really oddly developed muscle there, or a tumor. It basically took over my arm, and it keeps getting bigger. Sick. And sorry for the tmi, but I also have two on my leg, that may or may not be mosquito bites, that got all blistery and then popped and have since been draining fluids…so yay for having the most allergic reactions to bug bites ever….Haha last night I sprayed myself in bug repellant before getting into bed, “por las dudas”.

…mi buenos aires querida…

kellimarie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:35:55 +0000

There`s some daily things that I`ve begun to take for granted, for better or for worse, that I think I will miss when I come home. For one, the never-ending shortage of monedas. (monedas = coins) Every little kiosk or shop you step into will have a little sign hanging by the cash register, reminding you if you happened to forget: NO HAY MONEDAS. (there aren`t any monedas) Now, this wouldn`t be such a problem if it weren`t for the fact that 1) you have to pay for the bus in monedas, the machine doesn`t accept bills and 2) oftentimes, it means you don`t get change. simple as that. I cannot tell you HOW many times I`ve walked away from buying something with the moneda “substitute”: a few pieces of hard candy (every cash register is sure to have a bag on hand for the inevitable moment when the monedas run out). So, this morning, moneda-less, I had to take the subway to school. Which brings me to the other thing: the subway, or better, the subte. The subte is an experience in itself–while memorable, its one I try not to have too often. When I have morning class, its the worst–its rush hour, and this city is chock-FULL of people. So the subte faithfully rolls up–Línea D, arriving every 7:45 minutes–I swing my backpack around to the front (SO many people have been robbed on the subte), and prepare to board, along with the others waiting on the platform, pressing in toward the doors, trying to anticipate where they will stop. The people getting off wriggle their way out, and it truly becomes transportation for the fittest, because you have to throw yourself into the wall of people, trying to wiggle in so you dont get caught in the door when it shuts. Not by a handrail? No problem, you have a body in front, to the left, to the right, and behind, all plastered together–no one is going anywhere. So, even if you showered that morning no one would know: by the time the subte reaches Plaza de Mayo, I have sweat dripping down my back. (PS. argentine women don`t sweat. How annoying is that??) Then there´s the old man that sits in the subte hallway at the stop on my way home, with his cd player on his lap, crooning along to the tango music, eyes closed. Or the guy selling socks, or the guy selling bootlegged movies, or the old woman selling tissues. It´s just these little things that make life seem like life, and its just real and somehow kind of raw. You feel like a part of the surging mass that is this city, along with its joys–the little baby smiling at you over dad´s shoulder–and right along with its pains–the homeless man trembling as he makes his way up the escalator of the subte, and then you notice the dark spot spreading down his pants, and as he walks away, he leaves a trail of urine behind his tattered shoes…

It´s Elida, the woman I met at church yesterday, who lives alone in a really poor area called La Boca, who`s daughter died at 21, leaving her alone in the world. She`s losing her vision, but the only thing she wants is to be able to read her Bible, because she just needs more faith that God is good and that He will redeem her. It`s the tears that fill her eyes as she recounts the last years of her daughter`s life, that cutting pain she explains, as she blames herself for not taking better care of her, it`s the loneliness and the despair she battles with day after day…and yet it`s also the joy that lights up her eyes: “¿Usás hojas en la facultad? ¿Sí? Ah…es por eso que el Señor hizo que los guardé, son para vos, para vos…te los traigo, son muy buen calidad…” (Do you use loose-leaf paper at school? Yes? That`s why the Lord had me save them, they are for you, i will bring you them) And then it`s her anger at the injustices she has experienced, her neighbors who ridicule her and rob from her, the people at the shelter that serve her dinner without so much as a hello, contrasted with her great faith that her daughter is at peace and happy in heaven…and then, as she dictates to me the spelling of her street, so I can go visit her, M…a…g…e…l…l…(doble l, she says)…e…(de “enano”, she clarifies, a little giggle escaping her at the word (means dwarf)….

And that´s life, in it`s fullness. And everyday I´m learning how to live it…no matter where in the world I am

kellimarie — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:19:54 +0000

Ok, so I’ve been getting a little lazy with the whole blogging thing (posting pictures is my excuse for not writing. a picture is worth a thousand words, you know). I think all the writing I’ve been doing for my classes has really just pooped me out on the “expressing your ideas on paper” front. On the combined total of pages I will write for this semester, I’ve done 23 out of 40. And 23 is a lot. But, I just turned in my beautiful little 15 pager titled Evolucion: Una amenaza a la fe cristiana? (Evolution: A Threat to the Christian Faith?) to my Science and Religion profesor, who so happened to casually inform us (last week) that our papers are actually only part of our final grade, and we have to prepare a 30 minute presentation on another topic and give it as an oral exam. (as in, he can ask us questions about it.) Come on…but, to his credit (or, rather, to the credit of the class’s demand) we really haven’t had much work throughout the semester. But, I like the class and it’s fun stuff to think about. I’ve definitely revamped a huge part of my thinking about evolution and how to interpret the Bible. A Beka books would flip… Basically, my paper explains how you can be an evolution loving biologist and also love Jesus, without compromising the truth of either. But, in lieu of telling you all here, if you want to read my paper (and….shoot, you read spanish :/) I’ll send it to you! Or I’ll explain later

But, not to worry, I have not been neglecting enjoying myself, despite the mass of pages that call to me. Friday night I had a movie night with my siblings! SO FUN. When they got home from school, we all walked down to the Blockbuster (yes, they have blockbuster) to pick out a movie. Now these children, though all dear and lovely, are pretty much just not apt to agree with eachother, so I was a little apprehensive about the host of potential controversies that the trip would elicit. So, before we opened the door to walk in, I gathered them around to discuss the “rule”–they were not allowed to discuss their movie choices with each other, they had to bring them to me, and I would decide. Oh how mean I am. But you know what? It totally worked! And of course, they didn’t follow the rule perfectly, but it made them realize they had to make their discussions tame enough that I wouldn’t stop them. It took FOREVER to pick the movie–Agustin kept picking horror or action films (“I hate Disney”, he tells me), Nieves couldn’t leave the Barbie movie section, and Josefina kept walking around clinging to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But, miraculously, and I still am a little bit stupefied as to how exactly this occurred, we all came contently to agreement on “Horton Hears a Who” (or, more correctly: “Horton y el mundo de los quien”). I let them pick out a treat from the snack section, which took another good 10 minutes, and then finally we headed home.

By the time we got started with the movie, it was probably 10, due to the fact that Nieves had her heart SET on playing a few round of Tutti Frutti, and then we had to eat dinner (empanadas). We all piled on to the couch, and put my computer on the coffee table. Mariana came and joined us, so Nieves saton my lap to make room. So cozy…except for the fact that it was like 85 degrees out, and the body heat was kind of unecessary . I made some microwave popcorn, and they were all so tickled to have a “theater at home”! Loved the movie–Dr. Suess with always just have a special place in my heart. The kids were so pooped though, that they were all completed out by the end. So again, SO thankful for my host family!!

Then on Saturday Ignacio (the guy that runs the company we go through for our housing) had invited a few of us to go rowing in Tigre with him, so Caitlyn, Jackie, and I all got to spend the day learning how to row! The boat had those slidey seats, which makes it a lot easier, and I had a blast. Tigre is really beautiful, and is basically a ton of little islands all broken up by little rivers. We rowed to one, got off and just hung out, ate lunch, went for a walk in the woods–very “tranquilo”, and a very nice escape from the city. Made me really want to go camping and just “be”.

When we got back, I worked on my Evolution paper, and then we went to a party with some friends. It was fun to just hang out, until I had to ward off the advances of one of the guys. Sheesh. Argentine men. It’s like…you talk to them…and they think you fell in love with them. Oh well. I’ll let their own women deal with them

Sooooo what else? Life is good…two more weeks of classes and then I’m FREE to just live and enjoy myself here until I board my plane on December 15. Everytime I see a road sign that says “Aeropuerto Internacional” I get sad and excited at the same time. Saturday will mark one month left, which seems SO short. It will be REALLY hard to leave, especially not knowing when I’ll ever be able to come back. But, I am soooo excited to be home too–to the land where peanutbutter is common, where people drink large amounts of coffee, and where all you wonderful people are!!

weekend out of the city!!

kellimarie — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:35:44 +0000

Happy Halloween! Just look at the influence of our country...Mariana just kept shaking her head:

The BEAUTIFUL house of Aunt Agustina. Therewe went biking all around the neighborhood--such a great escape from the city.