Opuestos

The Argentine chapter of my life has come to a close and my Minnesota chapter is beginning. I have been back in the US for a week. My first few days were spent visiting friends and such in Kansas, then I made my way up north to the new house in Duluth, MN. Since my Argentine experience has ended, my blog "Cyndi in Argentina" would be a bit of a lie ... if I start a new one I will let y'all know. Overall my time in BA has taught me a lot of lessons. I believe I learned a lot more because it wasn't exactly what I had wanted or didn't always go my way. I found my second set of parents on the other end of the world, my lovely Argentine and Colombian roommates, some very free and adventurous young adults and grandparents, some great friends from all over the world, my 2 bread bakery men that knew exactly what I would get every day, my favorite security guard at the international office, sprinkle some crazy Argentine men and a few mean people in there as well ... I wouldn't change any of it.



The environments of BA and Duluth are nearly opposites. In BA there is never enough time in the day; always things to do but never enough energy or time to do it. Noise never stops, the city never sleeps, people are everywhere to where you have no minute to yourself, constant awareness of where you are going and if that's the safest route, public transit shared with 10-100+ people, constant awareness of purses, bags, etc., walking everywhere, all that you need within walking distance. In Duluth, my 4 days have ticked by while I have been searching for a holiday job and being the cook and grocery girl. I drive 20 minutes into town in my own car alone feeling like its a waste of gas, rural living, complete dark and quiet at night, deer in our yard several times a day, gas stations called Superamerica, no need to lie about being Canadian just to avoid conflict or extra attention, the most individual time I have had in a long time, a huge comfy bed, lots and lots of time to do what I wish. Surprisingly I have less energy here in MN ... I do less and sleep more ... I still would like to think I am adjusting back to the US culture.

I fear I lost my spicy buds in my time in Argentina. Chipotle was pretty spicy to me ... since then I have been trying to build my tolerance back up. I have a different perspective on food and different dishes after the Argentine cuisine, fresh bakeries and not having a kitchen. My family is celebrating Thanksgiving Argentine style ... that will be fun.

No more meat bites for me. It will take going to another country to let meat touch these jaws again.

After a few days of rusty English grammar and poor word choice, I feel like my brain has flipped the switch back to English. I notice I don't think in Spanish first. I'm working on a place where I can continue practicing. I think I pick up accents pretty easily: my Spanish right now is Argentine tainted, my English adopted a Chicago flavor ... in two months I might be speaking pure Minnesotan ... eh?

Love.

Tourist Bit

With my time slowly ticking away I have been making sure to enjoy my last week here. I have started going to as many vegetarian restaurants as I can find since Manhattan doesn't seem to like that idea. I found a really cute place as small as a normal house kitchen, of a guy that makes whole wheat bread and vegetarian meals. Adorable. I have found that I really like Yucca (like mashed potatoes but better from the Peruvian restaurant. I also took a wheat grass shot ... just to give it a try. It is supposed to clean the blood and help the body detoxify. Tasted like any other plant I eat normally being a vegetarian but in liquid form.

I tried to surround my last week with cultural things that I haven´t quite seen the most of ... tango. I took a few more tango classes; I love it ... I will miss dancing with grandpas that have that old smell. I attempted to go to the world tango museum but a young pop singer was signing autographs across the street so the whole block was closed down by 16 year-old screaming girls. The most touristy thing I have done in my life was probably going to see a tango show at Cafe Tortoni. Its a cafe that has the most history in BA being a famous spot for tango shows and the cafe where many famous Argentine actors and writers would go and for that reason its tourist city. It was a cute cafe .. .but nothing way special to me. Show tango is exactly what tourists want it to be. The low back and high slitted dresses, high leg intertwining, the sensual and movie side of tango ... the opposite of what you see in the milongas and classes. After having a slight idea of real tango (thanks to my dramatic old man professors), I didn't appreciate or wasn't as wowed by the show tango. I did like how there was a real orchestra for the show ... there was a little acting thrown in between the dances but every Argentine joke they could slip in ... just for tourists. The actors did a poll (there were 2 people out of about 60 from Argentina watching the show).
Friday I went and did a touristy gaucho day. I was about the only one out of about 100 people that was under 45 and not married. Married couples traveling through group packages throughout South America or at least Argentina. We took a bus to the estancia (farm) Santa Susana that was about 70 km outside of the city in the pampas (fields, open air, no sight of buildings, plains) of Argentina. We were greeted by people dressed as gauchos (cowboys) and chinas (the gaucho`s woman) dressed in traditional clothing (almost of 1900`s clothes giving us drinks and empanadas. It kind of reminded me Mahaffie Farmstead in Olathe. We had some free time to ride horses, ride in a horse carriage, go to a little museum of the gaucho times, or go to the overpriced gift shop. I did it all ... we didn't get to ride the horses for very long or very far but I was alright with that because my horse skills are zilch so just a little ride was sufficient for me. We had a huge lunch of unlimited drinks, salad, food, dessert ... and they asked if anyone was vegetarian ... a few others were so I joined in and had pasta instead of charred mammal flesh. At lunch I met some interesting people. My favorite was 70-year-old world traveler who was so shy until you got her talking ... she has been on 6 international flights this year and had a list of countries and tips to travel cheap ... she isn't rich by any means just knows how to get deals and use flyer miles and clip coupons at home ... I loved her stories. Then I met some parents who were visiting their daughter who is also studying in BA, they were very friendly and would talk about when they were young and traveled together. There was a dance and music show of tango and gaucho dances and songs followed by a gaucho competition. The competition consisted of little rings attached to a post, the gauchos rode the horses really quickly under the post and snatched the ring with a small pencil-like stick. The competition traditionally won women or money with bets. The first winner of the competition (and gaucho that let me sit up front on the carriage ride gave me the ring in trade for some victory kisses on the cheek. I felt special ... until the gauchos kept competing and giving the victory rings to almost all the women. I fell asleep on the bus ride home and woke up in the center of hustle bustle of the tall buildings and traffic of BA ... the opposite feeling of the relaxing day in the open air.

The church I have been going to had an international party last night: a service and dinner of food from different countries ... it was very interesting and humbling. Lots of people from Brazil and other parts of South America. Sweet people. Different types and styles of empanadas. It has been really great seeing where God has shown himself in my time here and a good reflection of the people and power of love that I have seen here in unexpected places.

Kansas is starting to call me home. At the gaucho day, a man asked where I was from, after saying I was from Kansas he asked if I was from Manhattan ... turns out he was a KSU professor for a long time. Then at the international night of church I met some missionaries who had lived in Kansas before living all over the world. My flight leaves Tuesday night and I will wake up in the lovely Kansas City on Wednesday morning.

One thing I will miss about Argentina is the pastas and pizzas .. delicious.

Love.

Needles and Costumes

This week was basically the end of my work for my classes ... now I just have to go and get a few papers signed and have a few despedida (going away) parties in class. I ate my last lucky gnocchi of my Argentine experience and got a few more things done on my checklist.

I had been curious about acupuncture for a while and stumbled upon a place next door to my University. I last week to just ask some information and ended up getting an interview about ¨who I am¨ and what is unbalanced in my life or my body ... they are difficult questions to answer in general ... non the less with a suppressed Spanish vocabulary... but I managed. I explained my situation of my pain in my feet and the bittersweet situation of running to get out stress but not being able to run sometimes because of the pain. I left with approval that if I wanted treatment I could receive it. I had my appointment this week. It was very interesting. I got a second interview about who I am and how my mind body spirit connection is and the condition of body. She pressed a few spots on my feet and I told her where it hurt. Then she started looking in my ears and started telling me all of these things about myself that are not obvious by just looking at ears:

"You think a lot and struggle to let your brain fully relax"

"You are obsessive about certain things" (Ya, I like things clean I guess)

"Your diet is healthy" (That makes sense ... I`m a vegetarian)

"You drink plenty of fluids" (Yup, liter and a half that morning)

"Overall your body is fairly well-balanced"

Then she proceeded by putting 10 needles in my ears with my breathing. She taught me the form of breathing for the 20-30 minute therapy session and left the room with dimmed lights. I breathed and started relaxing and would occasionally have chills go throughout my body and about once every 10 minutes my left leg would twitch; eventually I reached a state of relaxation I haven´t had my whole time in BA. She came back in the room and asked if I saw a color (I was so relaxed I didn't remember) and then took out the needles with my breaths. She analyzed my ears some more and said the most imbalance lies in my pancreas which is caused by my obsessiveness; I need to work on accepting the grey in life because things are almost never black or white. She went on with more profound analytical phrases and suggestions for improvement. I left in a state of complete relaxation that I practically floated home in my own world. Everything just happened around me. I feel like my body is in more harmony and some of the pain is gone. Very neat feeling.

For Halloween I dressed up as a blackberry ... the fruit. I somehow managed to create my costume by stopping by each specialized store to gather supplies to make my costume on the stormy Saturday day of Halloween. I thought my blackberry outfit would be the perfect defense mechanism against the Argentine men ... I was wrong. I think I attracted more attention with my balloons than if I were to decide to be a sexy whatever. I started with 50 balloons .. after the first hour at this Colombian Halloween dance party I had about 45 ... then we went to another dance club called Rumi ... my balloons vanished in minutes. I had people coming up to me all night arms outreaching to grab my balloons and pop them. Once again I am affirmed that Argentine men know the key to my heart ... I have never been more repulsed by men since my stay here. All I wanted was to dance and have a good time with my roommates ... which happened once my balloons were popped.

Today Analia and I went to the Lujan Zoo, which is about an hour and a half outside of BA. We take a bus to get there and he drops us off at the side of a highway off ramp and points us in the direction of the zoo. All we can see is grass and highway and some back country roads ... middle of nowhere. We find the zoo and are greeted by an outdoor Tractor Museum ... showing the evolution of tractors. The zoo is just a field with random cages and pits ... no pathways or sidewalks; It had been raining the past few days so it was a mud pit to every new animal. There were ducks, geese, hens and others of the sort wandering around the mud pit hissing if we got to close trying to dodge the swamps of the walk paths. Since it was after lots of rain ... the crowd was scarce. We started of petting some full grown lions and tigers sitting right next to them. Then played with some lion cubs. We fed dead fish to some sea lions. Fed milk to pigs and goats. Rode and fed a camel. Rode an elephant that was not obeying ... I felt like I could end up with a fatal injury falling off a stubborn elephant in the swamp of South America. It if happened it would have at least been an adventurous story. I just clung on for dear life. It was great ... not a huge variety of animals ... but when else can you touch with tigers, lions and see bears ... oh my ... best zoo ever despite the lack of safety prevention.

In festivities of Halloween ... some zombie street art.

Love.

Unforgettable

I just got back from my trip to Iguazu Falls. Incredible. Its only a bus ride of about 17 hours to get to the spot where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil form a border of water that is the greatest natural wonder I have experienced in my 21 years of life. It is a never ending network of rivers all coming together to create a beautiful area of waterfall after waterfall. The vegetation is so green ... tropical plants, birds and animals. Upon entering the park I got warned to watch out for the monkeys overhead ... they tend to pee on the visitors. The park is set up in several circuits to see the general area of waterfalls from above and below. I got soaked walking the lower circuit which we did the first day along with the upper circuit; the day was hot and sunny ... perfect environment for creating several rainbows over the waterfalls. Just beautiful. My night in the hostel was spent in a 5 person dorm with a few people I never saw and 2 really interesting girls from Scotland ... they were both about 30 and had worked together for a few years ... together decided to quit their jobs and travel the world and have been traveling for the last 9 months.
I woke up to a powerful tropical thunderstorm ... the power went out throughout the morning in the hostel and the rain did not seem like it was letting up. It was my last day in Puerto Iguazu and I hadn't yet seen the biggest attraction `Garganta del Diablo´ (The Devil`s Throat). I asked around the bus station and the buses never stop and the park never closes to cater to the tourists who might only have one day to see the natural phenomenon (despite the fact that there was thunder and lightening and the trails and bridges of the park are all metal and surrounded by water). I took a risk and decided to go. From my bus ride to the park, I got the impression that Argentines are not afraid of flash floods at all. The water was up to the curbs of the medians in the road ... and the bus just plowed right through. All of the rain water mixed with the naturally red soil of the area making it look like the earth is seeping with bloody mary cocktails. I arrive at the park with my umbrella, poncho and my double zip locked bagged camera. To take the first train into the park I had the train car to myself ... the second train to go to Garganta del Diablo was packed ... which I found surprising with the weather. The trail to see Garganta del Diablo is 1100 meters. Within the first 300 meters, the strong wind and pelting rain had folded my umbrella in two and ripped my poncho into shreds. The wind was so strong I was walking with little to no progress along the long metal bridges over extremely wide rivers that crossed small islands for a breath of semi-shelter. I could not believe the wind and rain ... I thought I was a pretty seasoned from my Kansas thunderstorms ... nope. I take wrap myself strategically in what is left of my poncho to best protect my camera and claw my way to the end. A massive pit that swallows all of the water and rain ... vomiting a mix of mist and rain back out. There were no rainbows this time. It appeared to be the image of what some sci-fi movie would show as the end of the world ... the name could not have been chosen any better. I stayed the minimal time to take a few photos and videos and trekked back to the train station to find that there is no way out. The park is set up very well for malfunctions ... the only way to get to Garganta del Diablo is by train ... there is no walking trail. Luckily the storm knocked down a few trees in the train tracks keeping anyone from leaving the park for well over 2 hours. The park officials did not do a very good job of letting the soggy and cold public what the status of the situation was. After the 2 hours of waiting for a way out of the park ... survival method had already kicked in and I didn't have it in me to stop in the gift shops.

The falls made me feel so small and powerless. A very humbling experience. It is amazing what God created and how the Earth is and continues to be so breathtaking. Thank you.

Apparently the park can always be a dangerous place. Yet I remember faking sick in elementary school to repeat the same image in my windbreaker pants sliding down the stairs really quickly.

Love.

Simulation

Note: Argentina didn't feel like daylight savings this year ... despite what websites say ... the people in the interior of the country (in the pampas, farms and fields) didn't like the idea. The rest of the country abides. So it is still only a 2 hour time difference. Yet just another example of the lack of organization and the relaxed mentality about absolutely everything.

For Mother`s day I went on a day adventure to Belgrano. Visited a little feria of artisans, Museo Arte Hispanico de Enrique Larreta (a rich Argentine author that collected things and wished he was from Spain) Museo Historico Sarmiento (a President of Argentina 1868-1874). The Hispanic art museum was decent ... it had a garden maze with modern statues that didn't really seem to fit the theme. The president museum was a bit boring (I don´t need to know the family tree of historical figures that all mesh together in my mind) ... but I am sure he was a cool guy ... he accomplished a lot in his life. Later that afternoon I enjoyed free music in the rose garden of my favorite park. It was a lovely day so I just sat in the sun and listened to the guitarists that played music (it reminded me of the movie ´Chocolate´ ... jazzy-gypsy-upbeat) as I people watched all of the families and young mothers chasing after kids in the huge garden of freshly bloomed roses of every shape, size and color imaginable.

Analia and I went to Teatro de los Ciegos (Blind Dinner Theatre) ... definitely one of the neatest experiences I have had. We started out in the entrance of the building and to get us acclimated and explain what the night will be like they turn off all the lights so only light from streetlamps outside the window gleams in. We are told that when we sit down there will be 5 courses ... suggested to eat left to right ... each will have a different texture and flavor end with a dessert ... a bread basket is in the middle of the table (the basket too is edible ... but I didn't quite translate that part correctly so when I started eating the basket I questioned it`s food level). They lead us in in groups of four grabbing onto each other`s shoulders in a train to know where to go into a room completely dark. They take your hand and let you feel where you are supposed to sit ... ask you what you want to drink ... leave you to your meal. We described and guessed each course with the couple we were sitting with ... tried each other's drinks ... tried to toast our drinks. There was a musical with fragrances to create the scenes and the characters (vanilla, coconut, coffee, beach, etc.) At the end of the show the main character lights a candle and to reveal the room briefly. What a shocker ... it was the exact opposite shape that I had imagined. After the lights were dimmed on ... we receive a paper telling us what exactly we ate (kabobs of grilled vegetables, chicken, sesame pork, some kind of beef, dessert with cheese and fruit) ... we met the couple we had been chatting with face to face ... met the man that runs the theatre. We stayed to talk over wine and champagne with them. We received advice from the couple at our table on how to live a happy healthy live and work in a job that you love. The man that runs the theatre has such a passion for it ... its an equal opportunity work environment for the blind (our waiter was blind, but others weren't ... they just get used to the darkness) ... its not that profitable because no one knows about it ... he offers free music lessons to the Blind community but not many come. Very good environment ... very good intention ... very good people ... very good food .... perfect experience.

On Tuesday, I took a touristy afternoon and visited Manzana de las Luces (block of enlightenment), Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (National School ... I just read a book in my Literature class that was taken place here), Museo de la Ciudad (Museum of the City) and Cafe Puerto Rico. The Manzana de las Luces is the oldest part of BA, built in the 1600-1700 by the Jesuits and later used by Military ... its a series of tunnels connecting a few important buildings of the oldest part of the city. The Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires supposidly has a library like Beauty and the Beast ... I tried to go ...but they wouldn't let me enter. The Museo de la Ciudad was a historical collection of toys and doorknobs and a nice photography exhibit of life in Buenos Aires cafes. Cafe Puerto Rico is over a hundred years old and has tango dinner shows on the weekends. Good food and cute historical environment. I visited a few Cathedrals as well ... both were old but very impressive architecture ... just not well kept ... paint was peeling off of some of the alters and beautiful ceilings.

To start the birthday festivities of birthday eve, a group of us went to Thelonius Club (a jazz club in Palermo). It was a small narrow room with a very modern vibe to it. The jazz was good and like always made the environment very chill and relaxed. I brought in the midnight with a drink called ´Kirk´ (red wine and champagne ... so my brother was halfway with me on my B-day). My friends bought me an ice cream from the bar and put a candle in it and started singing in between songs of the second set of music ... the jazz band joined in too ... it was great. The day was rainy but it didn't bother me much. I went to a vegetarian restaurant, Bio, that I had wanted to go to for quite awhile ... organically tasty. My night class teacher didn't show so that was a great present. I came back from my day and found my room decorated with confetti and balloons and a cake from my roommates. Later, a smaller group of people ate at Sorrento ... the best pasta in the world ... everything is flavor-blasted (gourmet style ... not the goldfish freakishly flavorful style). A great view of Puerto Madero and the city lights reflecting on the water. Another group was celebrating a birthday as well, they hired two accordion players to come and serenade ... we reaped the benefits as well. So I rang in the midnight with a Jazz birthday song ... had several different Spanish birthday songs ... and finished with an accordion version. It was one of the best birthdays yet.

From the vibe I got from classes this week ... school is starting to tone down. Less effort from now on. Celebrate.

Love.

New Country ... New Day

I have continued taking tango classes. I took one for free that is offered at the Carlos Gardel museum right by my house. The teacher is adorable. An old man that just glided around the room for the first 10 minutes showing us real 'Tango'. Then we practiced gliding. It's great. There was an interesting mix of people at the museum class ... girls my age that danced extremely well, a middle aged sweaty man, petite grandma folk, a grandpa that wore a hat and sweet Nike shoes ... a good mix. Later after the class when the instructor handed me his card I learn that he was in the movie Evita and was Madonna´s dancing partner ... he has reason. I realize that I lack woman shoes. Sneakers were more comfortable for the class ... but don´t 'glide' well. And either way my feet hurt the next day. I am just not a heel kind of girl.


I went to Colonia, Uruguay today. Got my passport stamped and did another country in a day. Woke up early to take the hour long Buquebus across Rio de la Plata and arrived back in BA for rush hour traffic early evening. It is a really cute old town with a historic district of brick roads and very unique old buildings and ruins. Nicole and I rented vespas so we could ride along the beachside and see a few other parts of the city that were farther for walking distance. We saw the bullring, the lighthouse, the historic district. We didn't visit any museums or anything but it was just a nice day out and so much more of a relaxed environment than BA. We ate lunch at what appeared to be a normal restaurant which ended up being probably the most expensive in the country. I paid about 100 Argentine pesos for lunch ... some grilled vegetables and a glass of wine that arrived 20 minutes through my meal. Normally 100 pesos normally buys 3 meals at normal restaurants or 2 nice ones. Its not like I go to Uruguay every day. Overall, Uruguay didn't seem too different from Argentina ... but maybe I wasn't there long enough to feel the difference. I did notice a few more people carrying around their mate and thermos on the streets ... but only a few more than usual.

Cultural note that I learned that applies to most of Latin America ... when you sneeze once 'salud' (health) ... when you sneeze twice 'dinero' (money) ... when you sneeze thrice 'amor' (love). All are meant to bring some sort of luck.

This Sunday 10-18 is Mother´s day here in Argentina ... who says you can`t have it 2 times out of the year. Happy Mother`s Day Mommy. Also it´s daylight savings time Sunday night ... since it is spring here ... we spring forward. In a few short weeks the US will fall back making it a 4 hour time difference...strange the way the opposite ends of the world function thanks to our tilted global axis.

I am learning a lot about myself in my time here and I still don´t know quite who or what I want to be when I grow up...

There are so many possibilities.

Love.

Checkmark

My half marathon was yesterday. Wow. It has been a life goal of mine for a while. I almost did one in April in KS and got hurt the week before. So instead I did one here in BA. It was huge. over 12,000 people participated in the event ... a sea of teal shirted people that never ended. Main streets of the city were closed down for a course that went by major tourist parts of the city: River Stadium, Patio Bullrich, the Oblisk, Boca Stadium, Puerto Madero, Retiro, Autopista General Paz, etc. There was a platform set up with people dancing tango to show the culture of the city to the international marathon. My half marathon went by most of those sites ... I had always wanted to run on a highway ... completed that goal too. It was interchangeably overcast, misting and windy... a.k.a. hardcore conditions. I couldn't tell what was sweat and what was rain. It was definitely a test of physical and mental ability. It is amazing how the brain can force the body to do things its not supposed to. I finished in about 2 hours and 5 minutes and came in 2541st place. (The winner of the full marathon finished in 2 hours and 13 minutes ... ouch) It was very hard to walk yesterday ... today is getting better. Luckily I had my roommate Analia come and support me. I am really blessed to have Analia in my life ... I wish I could bring her home with me. Whitney from the Residencia ran too and her boyfriend Scott came to support her. It was nice having people there for support since it wasn't anywhere close to home. I am glad I did it ... and glad I did it here in BA because I know my body is not made for another half marathon. My one of my life was done in another country at a huge event ... and it makes my study abroad story that much sweeter.

I went to the Carlos Gardel museum. A block from my house. Its small and not too amazing. But they offer free tango classes a few times a week that I will conveniently try. I tried to go to the planetarium today ... but because it is a holiday 'dia de la raza' there were families and kids everywhere and a line out of the door ... so I will wait for a more tranquil day. I do miss seeing the stars ... it has been several months since I have seen them for real. A museum visit in the near future will replicate them enough to satisfy until I am in my Kansas plains again. Instead of a crazy hectic museum, I just strolled (still in pain a bit) through the parks ... one thing Argentine´s know how to do and do well is ... picnics.

Tonight I went to Bomba del Tiempo which is a Brazilian drum show. Hippie city. The Konex complex it is held at is like a garage with the roof taken off. Drum beats and dancing and a cloud of smoke above the masses. People selling happy brownies outside while the police direct traffic. For some reason ... I was not really feeling it. The music wasn't way impressive (sometimes it had its moments) and not really my kind of environment. I also had a great spot ... elbow level behind a dancing giant ginger with a rattail ... my face was in danger most of the time.

Note on rattails: they are common here. Men. Women. Dred rattail. Braided rattail. Beaded rattail. Spiral curled rattail. Gotta love it.

It has been a weird week of city life ... a lady on the bus asked me if I was pregnant ... a man walking on the sidewalk next to me tried to give me wedding rings he found, then wanted something in return (money or food) ... Analia´s cell phone got stolen on the subway ... some punk little kids approached me in a gang to try and take mine (luckily I had been training for the half marathon) ... its starting to get to me ... about the perfect time for coming home.

Sometimes I feel like this:

Love.